Official Luthiers Forum!

Hello everyone, have just joined and this is my first post.

Have decided to get myself an SG kit for 68 quid, the cheapest SG kit I could find just in case I do something horribly wrong lol

I'm just wondering about painting and finishing the neck and body. I'm guessing that I'm going to need some sort of undercoat and maybe treat or varnish the neck in some way too..?

I'm guessing that I'll need some sort of spray gun so would appreciate any advice you could give me regarding that. I've seen various electric spray guns that are as cheap as chips and don't fancy going to the extra expense of buying an expensive one with a compressor. Will an electric one do the job okay..?

I'm also wondering about what sort of paint to use..?

I'd be very grateful for any help and advice you can give me, ta!

Sounds like the clear ticket for you would be to look into rattle cans of nitro.
Check out the aerosol lacquer at Stewmac or Lmii.

good luck,

Dave

Great stuff, cheers. I'll give aerosols a go.

Is there anything I need to do to treat the wood or can I just use fine sandpaper, wipe the wood clean, use a white undercoat and then spray away..? And what sort of paint will be okay to use as an undercoat?

I'm also thinking about using a stencil of some sort - not sure what yet lol - and was wondering what sort of material I should use..? Will cardboard do the job okay or will it soak up the paint..?

I think that you'll have to use some pore filler and the undercoat will depend on the paint you use. You'll likely need to use several coats and wet sand then polish to get a nice finish. The finish you use on the neck will greatly affect the playability of the guitar so do some research.
The stencil depends on what kind of look or effect you are trying to achieve. Cardboard will soak up the paint and allow bleed-through if you are using a lot of paint. You can use it for quick shadow type lines but if you want hard lines with stark contrast, for instance a tribal pattern, you'll need to use some vinyl masking. You should be able to get it from an art supply store or an auto paint supplier.

Cheers for the advice!

Woo hoo!!! Have just ordered it!!!

Have decided to forget about stencils for this project seeing as it's my first one, don't want to over complicate things lol. Just over 68 quid including delivery which is pretty cool.

Okay, so I'm doing a checklist, please let me know if I'm forgetting something because I have absolutely no clue what the heck I'm doing lol.

[*]Buy the guitar kit
[*]Shape the headstock
[*]Sand the neck and headstock
[*]Sand the body
[*]Bung on some pore filler
[*]Sand the body
[*]Bung on a couple of coats of white undercoat
[*]Sand the body
[*]Bung on conductive paint where pickups and electrics go
[*]Bung on Dakota Red nitrocellulose aerosol paint
[*]Wet sand and polish
[*]Bung on another coat or two, wet sanding and polishing after each coat
[*]Lacquer the neck
[*]Bung on a coat or two of Dakota Red on the headstock, wet sanding and polishing as I go
[*]Put guitar kit together


Does that sound about right..?

Edit: And is there some sort of polish I should use or can I just buff with a clean lint-free cloth..? And is wet sanding dipping the sandpaper in water or have I got that wrong..? And will tap water be okay..?

Sorry for the 1001 questions

I would build it first to make sure it all goes together properly and the neck sets in correctly at the right angles. then take it apart, bung it, and finish.

I don't know what a quid is - but 68 of almost anything can't be that bad - good luck with it !

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It's this new idea from recent decades that everyone gets a participation award. - MUX

A quid is a pound, he's getting all of this for a little over $100 US, which seems a pretty fair deal.

You don't need to sand and polish lacquer between coats.

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I don't know what bunging is, but it sound's fun.

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Whoops, sorry everyone...wasn't taking into account that Americans would be the majority users of this forum and not understanding English slang! A quid is slang for a Pound Sterling and 'bung' is slang for 'put' or 'piece together'.

So that's a fair exchange I reckon, you guys can teach me about making guitars and I can teach you about fitting in if you guys decide to hop on a plane!

So I don't need to sand between coats..? Great stuf! How about polishing..? And what should I need to polish..? Just a lint free cloth and elbow grease..? And do I need to let the nitrocellulose paint/lacquer set for a couple of weeks in between coats..?

I've decided to use my washing line and pieces of string (and my flat roof to save me and my two pussy cats getting high on the fumes lol) to paint it all in one go. I'm guessing that I'll need to cover the pre-painted conductive parts with masking tape but is there anything else I should or shouldn't do when spraying it..?

And will my Dakota Red paint be enough or will I need to bung some other sort of lacquer on top..?

Sorry for all the questions, I'm a walking talking disaster area so want to make sure I'm going to get everything right!!!

I understand the Queen's English, my wife's from Ashford

I'm from Kent originally too, but from Broadstairs!

Guitar has now been shipped from Germany, should get it delivered between 4 and 8 days.

Hi Harv,
Post some pictures of your kit after you receive it.
Best Regards from Texas,
Dan

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I looked up some pics of Broadstairs, it looks beautiful! My wife almost went to college there. She assured me though that all of the pictures were taken on the one sunny day per year in that part of the country.

I want to see some pics when you get your stuff, I'd like to see if I should have my Nan-in-law pick up a set and ship it to Oregon for me!

Broadstairs is great if you go for a few days in the Summer or during Folk Week (can't remember when that is now offhand) but any more than a few days and you'll likely die of boredom lol. About 23 years ago there used to be a great pub in each of the towns of Broadstairs, Ramsgate and Margate and the village of St Peter's that used to have live rock bands every week on Saturdays and Sundays but that doesn't happen these days unfortunately

I'll definitely take pics when it arrives and will also take pics as I go along with the build and finish and post them here

Hi Harv,
Here's a link to the first kit I put together.
http://www.guitarattack.com/saga/2011_3/2011_3.htm
This website also has some good tips about kit building.
Dan

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Cheers for the link, will have a look at that tomorrow.

Woo hoooooo!!! Got it delivered!!! The wood grain on the body and neck looks great, not so good on the front of the headstock but I'm painting the body and headstock Dakota red anyway so won't make any difference to the price of chips. Very pleased to say that the headstock is shaped so it's going to save me bugging my step-father to use his tools to shape it lol. It came delivered in two boxes, an outer box which was huge and a smaller inner box. I've taken pictures of the inner box unopened and opened below. The packaging was very well done so it's very unlikely that it'll suffer any sort of damage in transit. Delivery took 5 days including Sunday so am very pleased with the time it took to get to London from Germany. The only caveat is that the instruction book is in German but not a big deal, can't be too much trouble to put together and there's plenty of info out there on the interwebs!

Here are the pics:











Ooops, pic above is upside down lol







Apologies for the crap camerawork lol.

Have ordered a DigiTech RP255 multi Effects pedal and an emergency backup guitar tuner. You can use headphones with the RP255 so I may wait a while before I get my Marshall MS-4 mini stack. Very happy, now need to pop over to wood green and get myself some decent screwdrivers and some allen keys and I'm all good to go!

Edit: Finished! Haven't put the strings on yet because I need my guitar tuner or RP255 to arrive before I can get the intonation sorted. Am going to ditch the plastic thingy from the switch because it looks a bit pants. Managed to put a couple of small dinks in the body whilst I was putting it together but I'm going to need to use pore filler, sealant and plenty of sanding before I paint it anyway so no biggie. The only complaint I have is that the back cover's holes are drilled in the right places but that's easily solved too. Very easy to put together in the end, although I do have a nut left over for some reason lol. Final pic here:

Aaaaaaargh!!!

Got my RP255 delivered today and it's seven kinds of awesome. Really happy with it, not going to be great for gigs because using the pedals to switch effects is going to be too fiddly but it's perfect for practicing at home and you can get just about every sound imaginable out of it, it also has Cubase LE free with it and you can connect it via USB to your PC.

So why the cry of frustration..?

I think one of my frets is buggered!!! The top E (is that the right name for the thinnest string..? Am a bass player so only used to one lol) plays the same note on the 13th and 14th frets. Anyone any ideas if I can fix this easily..? Am getting a steel ruler tomorrow so I can check things out. I've got a pair of fret pliers and a soldering iron and have removed the frets from my bass neck so can replace that offending fret if necessary if it's bunged in too far or is worn for some reason or I can heat frets with my soldering iron and bash them with a hammer lol.

Am I on the right track or is there another way of sorting this out..? It's really annoying because it's the only 2 notes on the entire fretboard that is causing a problem, I've tried adjusting the truss rod and bridge but it isn't making any difference to the price of chips. Many thanks in advance for any help!

Wow Harv, you've done a bang up job bunging that guitar together. Great job. Looks cool.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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"After forty-nine years of violin building, I have decided that the search for a varnish is similar to the fox hunt. The fun is in the hunt."
Jack Batts Maker and Repairer of Fine Violins

Harv I don't have a ton of experience but I'd say your 14th fret is a little high. You'd be much better off filing it down until it doesn't play when you hit the 13th fret than going through and pulling the fret, which will be a lot more work. Go get yourself a set of needle files and start knocking the top off of that 14th fret. Take it slowly and be careful to keep your strokes under the string that's being affected and try not to ding the fret board. You should notice as you go that the note of the 13th fret will start showing up, first with a buzz and then it should become more clear. After it rings without buzzes or interference you can use a couple strokes to remove any file marks and then hit it with some 320 grit sandpaper, then work it up to a higher polish with higher grits.

I've done this with my guitar strung up, I just work the file under the string. That way you can check for buzzes without having to string it up again. I'm pretty sure this is standard practice for guys doing fret set ups.

Cheers for the advice but I think I'm on my way to sorting out the problem. The neck was bowed a bit too much which seemed to be raising a couple of the frets, the 13th or 14th one (forgotten which now) and one of the frets nearer the top of the fretboard. Have started to adjust the truss rod slowly, leaving it overnight so that it has time to settle and now the notes on frets 12, 13 and 14 can be distinguished but there's a little buzz from fret 13 still. Just got to make sure that I don't adjust it too much and have it bending the wrong way lol.

I've also messed up some of the screws in the bridge which is annoying so my intonation is a little off, but I've ordered a black bridge and tailpiece because I wasn't too keen on the chrome ones anyway. Just got to make sure that I get the right sized screwdriver next time I start messing about with it lol.

Am also going to order some Ernie Ball Super Slinky strings because the strings I got with it are a bit pants and also too heavy a gauge so it's bloomin difficult (and painful!) to bend notes.

Check out Guitar Reranch for finishing supples. They also have their own discussion board on the subject.
http://www.reranch.com/

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