The Les Paul is finished too

Like the Rick kit, the Rick kit was finished a while back (it only really needed the neck attaching and a bit of a set up) - but this is the first chance I've had to get some photos of it for the blog. It's looking and sounding great.

Pictures below:




Just because these guitars are finished though, keep an eye on the blog. We're planning to use it to continue to blog about all sorts of new guitar rebuild and restoration projects - not just kit built guitars either. So watch this space!

Finished one!

We finished the Rick kit over the weekend by reattaching all the hardware including the stock tailpiece that came with the guitar and screwing down the tailpiece and truss rod cover.

The truss rod cover in the kit in no way lined up with the screw holes on the headstock and was cut unevely at the bottom. We sliced a millimetre or so of the bottom off with a craft knife to get it to fit properly and drilled new screw holes for it. Fortunately all of the poorly alligned holes were still hidden by the cover.

The kit did not come with any risers to make the top of the scratchplate higher, so armed with some small white plastic tubing from B&Q we set about cutting 1cm lengths off with a dremel. We then placed the 1cm tubes over the existing screw holes on the lower scratchplate and placed the upper scratchplate on top of the screws. We used longer screws than those supplied with the scratchplate to screw down through the whole assembly and hold both scratchplates firmly on the guitar body.

Because the tailpiece we had bought from http://www.axesrus.com/ wasn't really intended for this type of guitar (it's for an archtop jazz guitar) we needed to cut its mounting plate down with a dremel and drill new screw holes for it, both in the metal mounting plate and in the guitar body. However because there were pre-existing screw holes for the stock tailpiece we decided to screw it on and string and tune the guitar to see what it would look like - and to get a photo to send to http://www.themusicking.co.uk/, the vendors of the kit. (They ask for photos of completed kits to put on their website). The following pictures show the guitar with the stock tailpiece:



We then set about attaching the new tailpiece from http://www.axesrus.com/. removed the stock tailpiece and drilled new holes in the guitar body for the new tailpiece having previously reshaped its mounting plate with a dremel to fit this guitar. We also removed some of the metal from the hinge around the pin to allow the tailpiece to have a little more 'play' so we could adjust its postition with string tension a bit.

Finally we screwed the tailpiece in place - it covers the existing screw holes nicely and is nice and straight when under tension. The pictures below show the finished guitar:

By adjusting the bridge height we achieved a pretty good action and apart from that the guitar was actually set up pretty well out of the box. The only problem is that the truss rod is fully loose and the bass strings still buzz slightly on the first few frets. This is because the tension from the strings of a guitar are supposed to bend the neck up slightly, and the truss rod should be adjusted to counter this bend. However, when the truss rod is not tightened at all and the neck is still too flat (as is the case with this guitar) that presents a problem.

I have only put Fender XL strings on at the moment (.009 to .040) so hopefully this can be corrected with some heavier gauge strings.

Sanding and Polishing

I spent some time yesterday polishing up the Rick body to try and make it as shiny as I could. I used the instructions on the Manchester Guitar Tech site as a guideline having bought all the bits and pieces I'd need in Halfords.

I treated the the back and front as two separate jobs and did the back first. I used a sanding block and sanded down with Halfords P800 wet and dry paper, using plenty of water. I then sanded down with Halfords P1200 paper, again with water. This left the surface of the guitar fairly smooth but matt.

I then rubbed down the guitar with Tetrosyl rubbing compound by applying the compound firmly with a cotton cloth and rubbing it off when dry with a clean cloth. I did this twice to achieve a very smooth but still matt finish.

Next, I used Safe Cut scratch remover to start to buff up the shine, applying like the rubbing compound - firmly with a damp cloth and polishing it off when dry. I kept on doing this until I could see no noticible difference in the reflections of the ceiling lights on the guitar body. It took about eight passes to achieve this.

Finally I applied two coats of Autoglym Super Resin Polish to really bring out the shine.

It all took quite a lot of hard work, but I think it was worth it. The surfaces of the guitar are now shiny and mirror like as shown in the pictures below. (The marks in the finish are where the hardware was previously applied and removed. They will be covered up by the hardware again when it is reinstalled)

Almost There...

The lacquer on the Rick body has had plenty of time to dry hard now, and we tried screwing the hardware in place. Unfortunately we hadn't followed everyone else's advice and tested the screw holes were correctly alligned before painting the body.

There were several misalliged holes on the body. The hole adjacent to the neck pick up was completely wrong and there was no way the pickup could be screwed down with the wire correctly passing through the hole so we had to improvise:

We carved out an area of the wood with a knife blade to the right of the neck cavity to allow the cable to pass through unhindered when the pickup is screwed down. The carved area is hidden entirely when the pickup is in place so all is well.

We also found that the some of the holes for the scratchplate screws don't line up. Fortunately they're so innacurate that we will be able to carefully drill new holes for them without coming into conflict with the existing holes.

Despite thinking that the inside of the neck cavity would require sanding to get the neck to fit, it actually fits OK - there's just a bit of a knack to getting it in.

We attached the neck to the body and screwed in the two humbuckers. We also attached the control knobs to the scratchplate.

The two photos below show the guitar in its current state of completion. The tailpiece that we ordered and mentioned in the last post arrived and is shown in the photos (not screwed in) - but it's a bit too big really. I'm still deciding on whether to use it (it leaves very little space between the tailpiece and the bridge) or the original one that came with the kit. It looks great - just that little bit too long.



The tuners that we ordered had also arrived - but annoyingly weren't quite the right ones. After thinking we had thought of everything (Chrome, 3 left hand, 3 right hand, to fit 10mm holes) we hadn't considered where the screw holes need to line up on the guitar neck. The Wilkinson tuners we had ordered have the screw directly beneath the tuner. The kit necks come pre-drilled with holes down and slightly offset from the tuner.

We've returned the Wilkinson tuners and ordered some Gotoh ones from http://www.highlystrung.co.uk/ (We've ordered the SG381-20C ones. At least I hope we have - as of tonight the website is showing them as out of stock. Hopefully we got the last set!)

The Black Stripes

With the bodies of the LP kit and the Rick kit pretty much finished colour wise, this evening we focussed on the neck of the Rick kit and tried to replicate the Rickenbacker stripes shown to the left.

We achieved the effect by placing masking tape down the centre of the back of the neck, and down the centre of the headstock where the black paint should be. We then used this masking tape as a guide for placing more strips of masking tape over the areas of the neck that should remain blue. Finally we removed the central strip of masking tape exposing the areas of the neck that should receive the black spray.

We then used the transparent black spray paint we had ordered from SS20.com to spray the exposed areas. The intention was that some of the grain of the wood would still show through the paint - but the paint dried a lot more opaque than it appeared when wet and when completely dry the effect is just like normal black spray. A coat or two less would have left more of the grain showing through.

However, when the black paint had dried and we peeled off the masking tape any worries about the grain not showing through were cast aside as the finished result looks brilliant. A few pictures of it below:

To complete the Rick kit we've ordered some better quality tuners and a nicer tailpiece than the one supplied with the kit, again from http://www.axesrus.com/

Cutting Necks, Fitting Hardware and more blue paint

A few developments since the last post:

The Les Paul, with the colour finished has been fitted with hardware - before and after photos below:

Some of the hardware is better quality than that supplied with the kit. The scratchplate and humbuckers are from http://www.axesrus.com/.

The headstock has been cut to a Les Paul style shape too and sprayed black - but I don't have a photograph of this at the moment.

The Rick body, which was looking very green due to the yellowness of the wood underneath has had many, many more coats of clear blue lacquer to try to bring some more blue to the colour. Finally, it is looking really good. It's not blue like the originally intended colour, but is now a fairly deep turquoise which looks quite spectacular - far better than the photos do justice.

The "Sunburst" finish is more apparant in real life too with the outsides of the guitar appearing a deeper turquiose than the centre.

The neck has been cut into a Rick style shape and sprayed the same colour as the body. The next step for this neck is to attempt the translucent dark/black areas that feature on a real Rickenbacker. We were unable to find black, transparant nitrocellulose lacquer like the paint that the rest of the guitar is finished in, but have found some "Transparent Black" aerosol spray from SS20.com, a site that sells aerosol paint for skateboards and graffiti art.

The cans are cheap and we're going to test some of the spray out before applying it to the neck in case we ruin what we've already done! If it is suitable then we should be able to mask parts of the neck and spray the sides of the front and the centre of the back with transparent black.

Finally, a couple of pictures showing the guitars side by side in their current state and the Rick body and neck side by side:

Glorious Technicolor (Well, a greeny blue actually!)

The coloured laquers arrived today and we started spraying the bodies of the guitars. The guitars were screwed to small planks of wood through the screw holes where the neck would be attached and hung from beams in Neil's garage. We placed a fan heater in the garage to warm the air to assist the drying of the lacquer.

The LP was given 5 coats in total - leaving it a rather nice turquiose colour. The first coat hardly made any difference to the colour of the wood at all, but subsequent coats left the guitar first green, and then progressively blue with each coat.

The pictures below show the guitar after no coats, two coats and four coats.












We sprayed the Rick body too, but this is a bigger job as the whole body has to be sprayed, not just the top. Also the lacquer did not seem to take as well to the wood. So far it has had three coats and still looks clearly unfinished. After the first couple of coats on the LP, the colour started going on much quicker, so hopefully after another few coats we can bring the Rick body up to the level of the LP body.


The photo of the Rick kit is a bit misleading - the guitar does look a bit more blue (well, green really at this stage) in real life - but it's still going to take a few more coats to bring it up to the standard of the LP finish.

Matt Black, and a change of plans

The back of the Les Paul body got sprayed black today - the finish looks excellent:



The Rick kit hasn't been touched yet because it's going to be blue all over and we haven't got any blue stain yet. It turned out that the shop around the corner that sells the bright coloured wood stains mentioned in the previous post has closed down. Also we tried applying some wood stain to the back of the LP kit before spraying it black and the stains don't hold very well - the Saga kits have got quite a bit of sealant over their basswood that prevents the stains getting into the wood. Rather than spend ages sanding the guitars down, we're going for plan B.

Plan B is to get some spray on nitrocellulose laquer from the Manchester Guitar Tech web site which they recommend for colouring guitars. Some of the laquers they sell are translucent allowing the grain of the guitar body to show through - the effect we're trying to achieve. We've gone for the "Clear Blue" colour.

They claim it's fairly light when sprayed thinly but "more coats result in a deep blue" - so we're hoping to achieve the desired blueburst effect by spraying more heavily around the outsides of the guitar than in the centre.



As shown to the left, the sunburst finishes the lacquers can create is incredible.

Time will tell whether we will be able to get anywhere near that finish!

Picking Colours

Last night we had a look on the Internet for wood stains to stain the bodies and necks of the guitars. We've both decided on blue as a main colour - all over for the Rick and just on the top for the LP which will have a black back. We'd rather stain the wood than spray it to allow some of the wood grain to show through, particularly on the LP that has a lovely flamed top.

We've chosen stains from Hannants - the colour range is great and they sell them at a shop around the corner. Hopefully we'll be able to pick them up today and start the staining next week. We've chosen the colours Toy Blue and Jet Black.


I've seen the type of effect I would like to recreate on the Rick kit - a lovely blue burst effect on the body, and a blue neck with the Rick style stained skunk stripe running up the back of the neck. I need to figure out how I can make that work though...



The Rick pictures above are of a Rickenbacker 360 rather than a 330 but show the overall effect we would like to achieve on the guitars.

The Les Paul has arrived

We've finally managed to sort out a replacement for the Les Paul Jr. that was sent by mistake - the Les Paul kit arrived in the post yesterday. It looks good with a nice flamed arched top. Much nicer!




The neck fits snugly on this one, although it sits a little high and may require some sanding to get a decent action. Like the Rickenbacker, I placed the hardware on the guitar to get some idea of the look of the assembled look:






Next we're going to buy some wood stain and have a go at testing some colours on some test pieces of wood before applying the stain to the guitars. We're hoping to stain the wood rather than spray it to keep some of the grain visible through the finish - particularly on the Les Paul where the flame top is very nice indeed!


In other news, I found another blog, Ash's Guitar Build of someone who has been through this process on a PRS style Saga kit. I think their finished guitar looks amazing!


Also, there is an article on building a Saga PRS style kit on the Manchester Guitar Tech. site.

Hopefully these will prove themselves as useful resources as we continue the build.

They've arrived! (Well, sort of...)

The guitar kits arrived this morning in a big box. However, upon opening I realised that despite ordering a Les Paul kit, we had in fact been sent a Les Paul Jr. kit - quite a different guitar.

We didn't want to disturb the packaging of the LP Jr. too much as it is going to be sent back for a replacement - but there are a few pictures of it below. It arrived well packaged and in good condition - it's just unfortunate it is the wrong one!






The Rickenbacker style kit on the other hand seems to be OK. It too was well packaged:







Like a kid with a new toy, I placed the parts of the guitar together and took some photos. The neck will need a bit of sanding to get it to fit where it joins with the body which is why it's not quite connected in the photos:






The neck seems good - and the frets level, at least from a visual inspection.



We're going to contact the vendor tomorrow to try and get the Les Paul kit replaced, but this was the last one they had (or rather, didn't have!), so there may be a bit of a wait to get another. Or maybe Neil will just pick a different model. I'll update the blog when we know what's going to happen - then hopefully we'll get started trying to assemble the guitars and shaping the headstocks. This could be a bit of a challenge because I've noticed that neither of these kits came with instructions - something else we need to remedy.

Building Electric Guitars

I've always loved guitars of all sorts (whilst not being able to play them especially well), so when my friend Neil and I saw these guitar kits on a website that you build yourself we just had to give it a go.

We think they're actually Saga guitar kits and they're pretty cheap. If they are indeed Saga kits, they get extremely diverse reviews ranging from very good, to one guy who decided to take his completed guitar into the woods and shoot it!

Anyway, we're not expecting too much from the finished guitars - and even if they play poorly when completed they should still look pretty nice as long as we don't mess up too badly!

We ordered the kits last night - one Les Paul style and one Rickenbacker style which is, I think, based (loosely) on a Rickenbacker 330.



I'm planning on using this blog to document our progress - lets see if as complete novices, we can put these things together successfully, make them look good and play decently...

The kits should be arriving this week - unboxing photos will be shared as and when they arrive.