Plays like shit but it’s really pretty
Hell yea you did! And I applaud your bold choice to not bury that top in gloss. It looks like one of those intense pencil drawings. Take it to the nearest guitar shop and pay the set-up guy to do his magic.
This thing plays like a dream and I promise you that is not my fault.
That’s sick dude wow! I like the stripes over the wood it looks sweet.
What you’re seeing here is 4 layers of rattle can satin lacquer and then I wet sanded with 2000 grit to knock down the orange peel. The dye job is sage green Rit dye, it came out this blue grey color that I wasn’t necessarily targeting but it looks sick nonetheless, I am definitely not complaining. I left the neck unfinished , I have to do something with the headstock but I hate the feeling of finished necks so I left it raw. I ordered some tools to level and dress the frets I think it’ll be better after that 🤞🤞
The stripes are red oak (stained grey) and yellow poplar (stained blue) for a top over what was the spruce cabinet of a 60s transistor organ. Neck, hardware and electronics are all Chinese. The chickenhead knobs cost more than the pickups, but I love how those filtertron clones sound. I did put orange drop caps on the pots though. Lots of variation on the tone knobs.
Holy shit dude that’s legit as fuck!
Thanks. That’s what swallowed my time one summer about 9 years ago.
I’ve used Tung oil on maple necks for the same reason.
Tru-Oil works fine if you just put a coat are two on, basically as a sealer.
If you’re using mahogany for the neck you might want to grain fill first.
But yea, I swear the hardest part of making a guitar is getting the neck right and doing a good setup.
It is a mahogany neck, I sanded it to 400 and it feels good! I gotta get something on there though. I’m going to dry tung oil I think they sell it at Lowe’s
They def sell it at Lowes. Get the regular old generic tung oil. Two or three coats with some 0000 steel wool. Let dry between coats and you’ll be set.
After it hardens if it starts to get shiny, just hit it with some green sink scrubby to knock back the slickness.
Plays like shit
I applaud your honesty, but you still deserve credit for doing it!
And now someone will build a city with it.
Oh wow that’s very nice looking. Congrats. Got any more pictures?
Why does it “play like shit”?
The action is stupid high. It’s a kit so I expected to have to do some fret work but some of the top frets are really tall. It wouldn’t even play any lower and I still have buzz where it’s at. I’ve got some tools coming in the mail, I’m hoping I can get it to play as good as it looks 🤞🤞 I don’t have any other pictures but I’ll take a couple when I’m back at my desk
Yea, this is the main problem with kits. You can’t even really assume you did everything right so you end up problem solving the quality of the kit as well.
If you haven’t already, check the StewMac Dan Erlewine videos, especially for setups.
For some all around high quality fixing guitar stuff, Ted Woodford on YT is phenomenal for explaining the whys and what fors.
The first thing you’ll need to establish is that the neck angle is correct.
But since you’ve already glued the neck in, etc., you’ll have to do at least a fret-level so that you can lay a straight edge across the frets to see where the strings meet the bridge.
I can’t tell from the pic, but if the bridge is decked and your action is still high, that’s a problem. That means the angle of the neck is too shallow.
The “easiest” solution would be to recess the bridge and tailpiece. Basically just routing down about 1/4"-3/8" a sausage shape that fits the bridge and tailpiece so they sit lower. That would mean removing the studs, making a template, routing, and then drilling the studs deeper.
So hopefully doing a fret-level will help.
In the end almost anything can be fixed, it mostly just requires new knowledge/skills or at worst taken to a luthier for help.
That’s a tremendous resource thank you so much
The fret level helped 😎 now it’s just sweet, plays great, feels awesome, and it’s beautiful. The whole package. I was really scared that I messed up setting the neck, this project gave me a lot of confidence though.
Good deal. I’m glad that solved it.
Did you crown and polish the frets too?
Sure did 😎 I’m not a guitar tech so I probably did a bad job but it plays now and I’ve got like .06 on my low E (it’s actually a C right now but you get it)
Cool, well if you’re happy with it, you did good. Congrats!
Now you can start building your next one! :D
It’s absolutely beautiful! If you can make it look like that I trust you’ve got the skill to make it play nicely too
Second looks sweet! Why is it not playing right?
That quilt top is 🔥
Looks fantastic. I second the other suggestion to take it to a luthier, specifically one who will get into it with you about what you can improve on in future builds.
what are you playing on it?
Mostly doom, stoner, little bit of sludge
I don’t know the first thing about building guitars, (Maybe it’s because I’m a drummer) but DAMN that’s beautiful work!
Looks cool, what pickups did you go with?
It’s a kit so they’re hella generic ones, I’m trying to decide on a real set. I’m going back and forth on warpigs or draigs but I’m always open to recommendations
Definitely a set of Gibson '59 collector’s edition humbuckers for a paltry $1000. 😜
No expensive pickup can make up for my utter lack of guitar skill 😂
