Category: Guitars

Now that the body is finished, it is time to finish the assembly of the guitar. First things first, adding the tuning pegs. You would think that a guitar that came as a kit would have all of the holes lined up correctly. But you would be wrong. The tuning pegs have a small screw to hold them in position and the neck came predrilled to accept the screw. Well, someone forgot to line the screw holes with the tuning pegs. I had to fill all six and redrill new holes to accomodate the screws. Minor setback but quickly overcome. With the tuning pegs in place, I attached the neck to the body, added the strings, and, voila, I have a new guitar.

After spending some time tuning the guitar (about 5 times) I finally got it to stay in tune. Now to test it out. I hooked it up to the amp and got nothing. Maybe it was the cheap cable that came with the guitar. Swapped it out with a cable I know works, same result. Tried the other electric guitar and everything works. Back to the bench. I took out the cable jack and found out that the shielding in the jack cavity was touching the end of the cable and grounding it out. I read afterwards that shielding the jack cavity is not necessary, but it was already done. A few layers of electrical tape (yeah, yeah, I will fix this later) to stop the grounding, and the guitar now works. I still need to fine tune the neck and the bridge and the strings to make the guitar sound good, (AND learn how to play) but that is a work in progress as I wait for tools ordered online to arrive. I will be tinkering with this for a while until I am happy with the sound.

Once I am happy with the sound, I will find someone who can really put the guitar through its paces and post a video.

Last thing – I will be changing out the pickups, the tuner pegs, the electronics and more than likely, the tremelo bridge. I will then start a new series of posts to document that process. All part of my self taught training to become a luthier or at least, a guitar builder.

Until then, I hope you enjoyed my journey of building my first guitar.

Now I am starting to see progress on the Black Pearl Strat. Today I added copper foil tape to the electronic cavaties to shield the electronics to prevent buzz. This took longer than expected, but I am not in any hurry to get this finished. Then I disassembled the pickups and electronics from the pick guard and added copper foil to complete the shielding creating a Faraday Box which blocks unwanted electrical interference. There are mixed feelings about this step. Some insist that it be done, others say no, because the added hum is part of the vintage sound. For me, I don’t need any additional noise. I reassembled the pickguard and ensured that everything was working just fine.

Time to assemble the guitar. I grounded everything including the foil lining and the pickguard fed the grounding wire to the tremelo cavity and the wires to the jack cavity. After several minutes of ensuing that everything was correct, I screwed the pickguard onto the body. I put the temelo bridge onto the body and added the springs and claw. Once assembled, I started to solder. The first was soldering the ground to the tremelo claw. Looks good to me. Hopefully it will stand up. Then the only other soldering was the jack. This also went well.

Next steps – put the neck on and string the guitar. That’s for tomorrow.

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I finally got the painting on the body completed. After many coats of black paint and a lot of cursing, the job is finished. Is this a work worthy of Michaelangelo? Of course not. Is it OK for a first time painter? Of course not. But it is the best that I am going to do on this guitar without stripping it down to the bare wood again and starting over. That is not going to happen at this time. This may be something I attempt if I want to get into refinishing guitars.

When the paint was dry, I put on 3 coats of clear coat to protect the paint. Two light coats and 1 medium coat. Then I let this dry/cure for 5 days before sanding it down and then polishing it. Three more sandings using 800 grit, 1000 grit, and 2000 grit. First time using anything this fine. I have to say, I like it. It scratched the hell out of the clear coat as intended. Sorry, I forgot to take pics. However, all is not lost. I used a rubbing compound and then a polish to bring it to a nice shine. Still lots of marks in the paint job, but it looks good. Note to self: buy an orbital sander and a polishing tool. I did everything by hand and my arms are about to fall off.

During the 5 or more days since the last post, I also finished the neck. I went through lots of websites as to what to use, and finally settled on using Tru-oil and gun stock wax. Several experienced luthiers use this method for finishing necks, so that is what I decided to use. 6 coats of tru-oil and 3 coats of wax, the neck is finished. I like the feel so far. Time will tell after the guitar is assembled.

Next steps: Learn how to solder so I can assemble the electronics. Then put all of the pieces together. Stay tuned… there will be more to come.

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NOTE: There was no Day 4 as it was a repeat of Day 3 – Sanding, sanding and more sanding.

Well today, I finally get to painting. As you will see in the pics, I build a “spray booth” in the garage and a jig for holding the guitar. I had to turn on the portable heater to bring the garage up to a temperature that was compatable with painting.

I break out the primer/filler paint to prime the guitar body and everything went well. I got 2 coats on it without any issues and was smuggly thinking to myself, this is a piece of cake. Then it was time to paint it black. According to the all-knowing internet, a couple of sites recommended placing the paint can in warm water to make the paint flow easier. So I did this. And then …..

DISASTER STRUCK!!!!!!!!

The paint was either too hot from warming it up in water or the spray nozzle was clogged. The paint came out of the can in bubbles. Blobs went all over the guitar. Runs were all over the guitar. A giant mess was all over the guitar, the floor and the walls of the booth. I was screaming at the horror of it all!!!! It was a NIGHTMARE!!!!.

Now what to do? Carry on as if nothing happened? Paint it as if that was the look I had in mind? Try to fix it with more paint?

All of those questions flashed through my head in an instant, so I took a deep breath and carried on. I knew that I would have to sand the mess off and as I didn’t want to have to repaint the primer, I just painted as if nothing happened.

Day 6 of building a guitar had less to do with building and more to do with fixing the disaster. I sanded down the guitar and it now looks as if it was on the road for 40 years and had a lot of paint scrapped off from misuse and abuse. Kind of a cool look but not the look I am going for in this process. Maybe later.

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