Day 12 Plus

 Day Twelve Plus

Following some advice I received on an internet group of guitar builders, I’ve given the body – front, back and sides – three thorough buffings with Meguiar’s compound and the difference is stunning, even if I say so myself. Although the top still has the surface texture of the flame element of the veneer and the sides and back (especially) retain the grain of the mahogany, nevertheless the gloss is quite mirror-like. Although it’s clearly not professional I think I’ve about exhausted the limits of my ability and it’s time to start adding the hardware and electronics. 

Today had to be a 'plus' because when I came to fit the machine heads (tuning gears) I discovered one of them didn't have a hole in the shaft in which to insert the string. Almost in disbelief, I contacted the kit supplier and, once again, they stepped up to save the situation. By overnight courier, they delivered a new set of machine heads so that I could do the basic completion of the guitar in time to make a sort of presentation to my grandson for Christmas. I use that term because his present is actually a ukulele on which to have his first lessons since, at 5, his fingers don't extend to any sensible guitar. The home build is a goal for him to achieve.

Although I detect a small change in the neck/body joint the guitar has fulfilled most of my hopes by not folding into an unwanted 'travel guitar'. I used the supplied strings which, although they're unbranded and unpackaged, seem to be very lightweight and are quite adequate for the present purpose.

The instrument seems to be quite playable with a very straight fretboard and a very fast action. That aspect pleases me greatly. I'm somewhat less enthusiastic about the pickups but I've only had a few minutes playing through the amplifier to make sure that they both work and some post-Christmas fettling will probably improve things.

Would I do it again? Yes, in fact, I've ordered a short-scale bass guitar kit for delivery in the New Year. I'd have preferred an ash-bodied kit but they're no longer available so mahogany will have to do.

Would I use UK Music Supplies and their Coban brand? Again yes. The quality of the wood, especially the neck and the fretboard are the clincher, that and the company's attitude to its customers. As far as that's concerned I can do no better than repeat her an entry in my main blog which sums up my whole experience.

One of life's truths is that we all make mistakes. Happily, most of them are insignificant or can be corrected but even then, there are degrees of errors. At their heart, they're all human failings but even so when the person is acting for a company it's the company's reputation that invariably suffers. Since the ability or even propensity to make mistakes is universal, it's not practical or realistic to simply stop using or supporting the company that's dropped a clanger. Instead, I've come to apply another measure; how does the business react when they've made a mistake?

I've recently encountered two instances (both on e-Bay) in which the individual responsible for the mistake completely failed to act properly. As a result, their reputation and standing have suffered and in one case they were financially penalised by the portal as well.

In contrast, a company from which I bought a kit from which to build an electric guitar (a Christmas present I was allowed to start before the actual day as a lockdown therapy). In total, the company has made three mistakes yet, even as I write, the manner in which the company – really the people working for the company – has responded has not led me to rule out buying from them again.

Initially, the kit was supplied with a one-piece bridge/tail unit suitable for another style of guitar. The cavity in the body has to match the design of the unit so it was simply not possible to use the wrong part. I sent the incorrect parts back at once and the company despatched the correct bridge and stoptail parts. Unfortunately due to the prevailing season and national state of health, these didn't arrive so I complained. The company responded by sending another set of bits. Coincidentally the two consignments (sent at different service speeds although the slower was also further delayed en route) arrived in the same post.

However, when I came to assemble the hardware elements of the guitar I discovered that although I'd counted the number of tuning devices supplied – one for each of the six strings – I'd failed to notice that one had no hole through which the string could be pushed to fasten to the tuning head. Not only is this unusual – the company entirely plausibly claimed it to be the first time such an error had occurred – but it makes one wonder how such a mistake could even occur.

The guitar might have been a Christmas present which would have been spoilt by the error but the action of the supplier – sending a replacement part by overnight carrier – has left me as satisfied with the company as I would have been had the errors never occurred.

In other words, my measure of the company as a supplier isn't reflected in the quality of its product but by the way it has handled its mistakes. Have I always felt this way? Probably not. More relevantly, did others treat me like that when I made my mistakes? I hope so.

Day Eleven

The last topcoat (the third) has been applied to the front of the body and the front of the headstock only. When yesterday’s topcoat on the headstock was adequately dry, I wrote my signature on the headstock, eliminating any suggestion that the guitar was a throw-out from a Maryland factory! I used an ultra-thin nib Posca pen. By this morning the writing was dry and firm and when I gave the headstock and the end grain of the scoop cutout a final topcoat there was no smearing or spreading of the signature.

Finally, I have given a coat of the same ‘stronger’ dilution to the front of the body and, for the first time, dried it initially lying flat. This eliminated any possibility of a stray run and has left the surface as close to a high gloss finish as I was going to get with varnish on the unfilled flamed-maple veneer top.

However, that’s not going to be the end of work on the body. I discovered I had some Meguiar’s and T-cut rubbing compounds and bought a pack of three buffing wheels for my drill. Once today’s coatings have thoroughly dried I’m going to buff and polish the body to maximise the gloss and, with luck, even get a bit of a wet-look about it. 

 

Day Ten

 Before I started the final rubdown I took the opportunity to feel the neck as the player would. Whilst it’s true that although the previous (and last) thin coat had been 24 hours earlier, at once I felt the sensation a number of builders have noted, of not having direct contact with the wood of the neck. I decided to leave the neck as it was, namely with just half a dozen coats of the thinnest poly mixture.

Since it is still my intention to ‘sign’ the headstock before the final topcoat, I applied the 4:1 ‘strong’ mixture of poly and white spirit to the face of the headstock only. I let that dry a little to be sure of the gloss look before applying the same mixture to the front, sides and back of the guitar body.

The result is very satisfactory. I’m resigned now to the fact that the body won’t have the glassy gloss typical of PRS professional guitars but will nevertheless be a decent amateur attempt.

Unfortunately, the replacement bridge and stoptail have yet to arrive from the UK importers, but that’s partly due to Royal Mail apparently losing a bag of outgoing mail from the company, partly due to the seasonal pressure on the Post Office and partly, I’m sorry to say
because the company waited until I’d returned the incorrect bridge they’d initially supplied before they despatched the correct items. When it’s the company’s fault, a little trust and immediate despatch of the correct parts would have been a nice gesture.

If there’s any silver lining to this particular cloud it is that my impatience to get to the ‘interesting’ stages of the build – sanding and waiting for gloss to dry are not ‘interesting’ – are effectively restricted.

Days Eight and Nine

These are days when patience pays off. Resisting the urge to apply too much thin gloss at one go or to apply the next coat before the previous one has properly dried is difficult if you’re anxious to see the instrument finished but I’m told the wait is worth it.

 

In addition, I felt some remedial work was necessary on the treble side of the top near the neck joint and that’s going to need some additional time. The cause was a small over-application of thin gloss and needed a stronger rub-down. I think it may not be entirely right until the first of the topcoats is applied.

In addition, I’ve decided to sign the headstock much in the style that the owner of PRS guitars uses his signature. After some experimentation, I bought a fine-pointed white Posca pen that, when properly dried, seems will not smear or be affected by the gloss. By its nature, the script will not need much protection so I intend to leave the signing until the penultimate topcoat of glass is dried and cover it only with the final topcoat.

Day Seven

Since I’d made up a decent quantity of thin polyurethane gloss, I decided it would keep, at least for the period of the build. That meant there was plenty ready for the next thin gloss coat. 

Technically, because of my mistake on Day Six, the front of the guitar has one fewer proper coats of thin gloss but I’ve decided to continue applying the thin layers to the whole of the instrument in each coat. If I feel the front looks distinctly different to the back after the thin coats I’ll either give the front alone an extra coat od the thin mixture or maybe step up the polyurethane in the mix before giving the final coats at ‘full’ 4:1 gloss. 

Day Six

First big mistake - I forgot to oil the front of the guitar before applying the first very thin layer of diluted polyurethane gloss. The result was that the front remained dull unlike the back, sides and neck that all looked as though they’d had the first thin layer of gloss.

Is this the solution? Who knows. I searched the internet, found no relevant answers but decided that one thin application of 80% white spirit was something I’d have to live with. Given the thinness of the veneer rubbing it back to raw wood wasn’t an option so I decided to ‘pretend’ I’d not made the mistake.

I rubbed the front lightly with 1200 grit wet and dry then applied two coats of penetrating guitar oil. After just two coats with a couple of hours drying between coats the body looked much better as in the first photo. 

After five coats, (bottom photo) I was satisfied I could do no more to rectify my mistake so I put the guitar to bed and resolved to renew my thin layers of glossing tomorrow.

 

Day Five

 Ever since I decided to build a guitar with a set-in neck I realised the moment when the clamps were removed would be something of a test of my woodworking inexperience. In the event, once the neck and body remained firmly joined together it was almost a let-down. Of course, I’d told myself that the bodies of violins to double basses have been glued to their necks for centuries but the satisfaction at realising that I’d done the job in my kitchen was a moment of satisfaction.

Clearly, I’d probably applied too much pressure through the clamps since the outline of the woodblock protecting the back of the body had become imprinted in the mahogany. The woodblock was an oak offcut left after our kitchen was extended a couple of years back; maybe a softer wood would be better next time. In the event, some determined sanding solved the problem. That has delayed the build by a day since the latest sanding needed another coat of penetrating guitar oil.

That left time to mask up the fretboard with painter’s tape and to line the sockets for the pickups and the controls with copper tape. Now it’s just a matter of patience.