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Fretwire LP Guitar Build Thread


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Overview!

 

Edited by Old Guy
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Nice overview @Old Guy we'll be interested to see your progress on this kit. I'm sure there are a lot of guys who have thought of doing this but weren't sure whats involved so they will be happy to watch you do it!

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What fun @Old Guy,!!  Please keep us up-to-date on your progress on this.  I am one of those guys Neil mentioned that has thought about doing this.  (Very briefly thought about it!?

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18 hours ago, matonanjin said:

What fun @Old Guy,!!  Please keep us up-to-date on your progress on this.  I am one of those guys Neil mentioned that has thought about doing this.  (Very briefly thought about it!?

Will do! Every step will be documented!!

It is brutally cold in the NE right now, so I have to wait a bit to sand it down, get the neck right and glue everything in place. I also want to shape the headstock before gluing which will send sawdust flying everywhere, LOL.

I'm super excited to try to stain the top. Hopefully, I won't screw it up when sanding as that veneer is only 2mm thick! I have a lot of painting experience but nothing like this.

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Looking forward to following this project.

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very cool.. thanks for sharing!

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I changed the title of the thread and will put all my vids in this thread so I don't clog up the forum for every segment.

Here's the REAL Part 1, LOL!

 

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@Old Guy This isn't the kit you started with, is it?  ??  If I bought a kit it is probably what I would get?

GuitarKit.thumb.jpg.a3bd82d6e8305e77fc3976b65b794907.jpg

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Just nail some strings on it and you can make believe you're Les Paul...??

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Old guy, you asked in the video about any advice regarding the neck fit to the body. After many years of experience woodworking and I have all the tools. I would sand or shave the neck joint until it is a perfect fit. It would be a weaker joint if you used glue to fill the gaps. A perfect fit also evens the vibrations transferred from the neck to the body reducing any stress points. Just my take on it.

Henk

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9 hours ago, Oldjock said:

Old guy, you asked in the video about any advice regarding the neck fit to the body. After many years of experience woodworking and I have all the tools. I would sand or shave the neck joint until it is a perfect fit. It would be a weaker joint if you used glue to fill the gaps. A perfect fit also evens the vibrations transferred from the neck to the body reducing any stress points. Just my take on it.

Henk

Thanks for the feedback! The guys at Fretwire suggested I glue it as is, as they were concerned that if I filed it down too much, it would change the geometry of the neck to body. I did all the measurements before I glued it to the body and it seems to be to tolerance.

Worse case scenario is that if it's not right when I'm completely done, I will steam the neck joint apart and really adjust things after I see what the geometry is with everything together.

I agree with you though about it being a weak joint. That is a big concern of mine once all is said and done. I just glued it today, so tomorrow I will see if I need to fill that gap with wood filler. We'll see.

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Part II:

 

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Thanks for posting your progress, I subscribed and I am looking forward to see your progress! And of course to hear it...

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1 hour ago, guitarben said:

Thanks for posting your progress, I subscribed and I am looking forward to see your progress! And of course to hear it...

Thanks!

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Some pics on the staining process. Putting a full video together soon.

Beginning stain is Brown (although it looks Black). Sand it off as much as the thin veneer would allow. Then Yellow base, and Orange on edge. Let dry, build up some more. Will sand it one more time and then repeat Yellow and Orange, so not quite done yet.

 

IMG_0826.jpg

IMG_0827.jpg

IMG_0829.jpg

IMG_0830.jpg

Edited by Old Guy
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how thick is the maple top?

my Les Paul top measured in the pickup cavity is pretty thick 9/16th an inch..

Edited by Eracer_Team-DougH
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2 hours ago, Eracer_Team-DougH said:

how thick is the maple top?

my Les Paul top measured in the pickup cavity is pretty thick 9/16th an inch..

It's a very thin veneer. 2mm at most. That's what the kits are like. They are only $180 so I didn't expect much.

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As promised...the staining video!

 

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As a quick update, I am working through putting the Tru-Oil protective top coat on the flame veneer. It is taking FOREVER as each layer is taking a few days to totally cure enough to sand. The first full layer I put on took a full week as the veneer absorbed a lot of it so I had to put super thin layers, one a time until it stopped absorbing and started building up a coat.

I put up pictures here and there on my IG at oldguysguitarvlog if you want to take a look.

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Great looking top! The curl is nice and deep; good work with the finish so far.

-Greg

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Looking good. Can't wait to see it with your finishing oil.

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Top is done!! Have to let it cure for a week and then tape comes off and build continues. Full video of Tru-Oil process coming soon.

 

 

LP.jpg

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Tru-Oil video is up!

 

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Sadly, I'm not sure I can finish the build. We had a massive flood in our basement, which I put up a post about, and it got so humid that the guitar took on a lot of moisture. I'm still drying it out to see if I can continue the build, but it looks like all the hardware and electronics were damaged in the flood as well. Still working on drying everything out to see if I can finish up. Sorry about that, folks.

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It's alive!!

 

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