Official Luthiers Forum!

Yeah, I hear ya bro - I have been spending WAY too much $ on the first guitar - and I am definitely going for a simpler build on #2 - I heard somewhere that Brian May build his guitar out of a hutch!

My wife is gonner hate me when she sees the kitchen table missing!

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"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

I'm glad I wasn't eating or drinking anything when I read that!

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

In the last couple of days I've gotten 8 coats of wipe on poly on this guitar. I went to try to get some more on today, but after I looked at it, to me it was on the edge of starting to look plastic-y to me. So I decided I'd try to even out the surface and polish.
I knew I really needed a few more coats on before I could really take a block and truely level sand, so what I did was use 0000 steel wool to smooth everything out. I then hand buffed with polishing compound, and followed that with a couple of coats of Minwax Paste finishing wax. Here are the results.






And a front on shot.





The second pic is a pretty accurate representation of it's true color. It's definately not perfect. There are some slight imperfections. The surface isn't as dead flat as I'd like, but for having never used this finish before, I'm OK with the results. Would have liked to have used nitro, and may go back after this Build Challenge is over and strip it and redo with nitro, but for now, it's on to assembly and set up.
Since I am out of cash, in order to complete this build in the allotted time I'm going to cannibalize one of my earlier builds to finish this one. All the parts are good qualty, so I'll replace them on the other guitar when I have the chance. It got cold-checked pretty badly this last winter, so I'll be refinishing it while all the hardware is off.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Looks great Mike!
I like the wood on this - it has lots of character - what kind of pups ya puttin in?

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"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

Thanks, Virgil. I'm using GFS Vintage '59 Humbuckers. I used them in my first build(which is the one I'm stripping to finish this one), and like them a lot. For the price they're really hard to beat. If i had the money, I'd have either used those, or the GFS Fat Pat, which is supposed to be a hot version, but i would have used chrome covers and cream rings. These will be your basic black.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Very cool! You sound like me with the lack of funds - I have spent every last dollar over the past several months to get my build going and looks like I may be coming to a dead halt soon - sounds like you are "doing what you can do" for now - that's cool. I think for the next build, I am just going to save my money for everything I need, then just buy everything at once - I hate to lose momentum. For now, I still have a couple small things to do before money "magically" shows up for the rest of the parts lol. Keep it rolling bro!

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"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

I'm going to be stripping some older builds myself.
A sign of the depression we're in, I guess.
Just buying the parts for an electric is costly.

Yeah, that's basically it. As for buying all of the parts at once, that's not possible. The only way I can afford to build is a piece at a time. Not complaining. I love building, and am blessed to be able to do it at all.



You got that right! I have considered focusing on one type of design, taking one set of parts, and going through build after build until I got the design as perfect as possible.
Thanks for the comments and interests, guys.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Got the tuners in yesterday.



They were donated by our very own Coe Frankilin. They are generic, but they work just fine, and look great! He also sent me a couple of corian nut blanks with a marble-like pattern(no pics). They'll make a unique looking nut for a future project. Thanks, Coe.
The guitar is in set up. Once I get it finished and ready to go, I'll post final pics. I hope to post another thread with some 35mm pics in the near future, to show the guitar in greater detail than what is possible with my cheap digital.
Thanks to everyone who followed.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Hey, I missed that shot with the finish on.
Looks great, Mike!
My doug fir git has the same look.
I sprayed on min wax poly.
Pretty hard surface.
I imagine the wipe on is about the same hardness.
Crank it up!
Looks like it took you a little over a month,
pretty good!

Thanks, Alan. Yeah, it's a lot harder than I expected. I have read quite a few posts here and elsewhere saying it wasn't as suitable for a finish because it was much softer than regular poly. Maybe so, but the stuff I used is harder than nitro, IMHO. But I'm still probably gonna strip this and refinish with nitro after the contest is over. I know i can get an almost flawless finish with nitro, anf this build is worth the extra trouble to do it.
About your douglas fir build, do have a thread here on it? Pics?

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Looks schweeeeet!

_________________
"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

Thanks, Virgil.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Hey there. Haven't been around for a couple of days. The guitar has been in set up, and I've just now gotten finished.

Pickups are GFS Vintage 59s. Love these pickups. IMHO, they are as nice as any I've ever used. Will be using them again.
Love this guitar. Was afraid it was going to be bright, being maple. Not at all. In fact, this guitar has a deep, rich bass that I truely love.
The thin sides and deep top carve are a joy to play.
I have enjoyed this build. A big thank you to all who followed this thread.
Special thanks to Alan Stassforth and Coe Franklim, without whom this build would have been a lot harder.
Now, some parting shots.






Again, thanks for watching.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Wow , Mike,
that turned out great looking, and sounding!
Very original looking beast.
Those pickups do sound sweet.
They sound almost like single coils.
I think the hog neck adds warmth to the tone.
I think it is actually most important wood on an electric slab.
IMO, don't refinish!

Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh, after your finish dried, what was your polishing schedule?
Alan

Now ya got me totally jealous! Sound awesome, looks awesome congratulations!

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"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

Thanks a lot you guys! I'm pretty proud of it for a second build.
Alan, I probably will not refinish after all. It turned out better than I thought. Actually, as far as a finishing schedule goes, all I did was wipe on 8 really thin coats, did a slight and very careful level with 0000 steel wool, and buffed by hand with Meguiers Scratch-X. In retrospect, i would definately recommend about double the coats, but i was pressed for time, so just went for it.
As for the neck, I agree. I don't have a whole lot of build experience, but I have a lot of playing experience, and I really believe the neck absolutely is the most important piece of real estate on an electric guitar. I used the 'hog hoping it would mellow out the maple. Can't say definitively, but I got a tone out of this guitar I've been searching about 20 years for. Here's hoping I can repeat it.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Wow!
She looks great!
I couldn't wait to see how she looks finished so I skipped the middle part of the thread to see how she looks finished and now I'm going back.
I love that all the covers are wood and the natural finish fits her well.
Keep it up !

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Thanks for your comments and interest, Hillel! Welcome to the forum!

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Mike, you da man!!!!!!!!!!