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Still using factory made neck for now, thinking of making my own at some point but this one feels nice and will do for now. Surprised to see Jinho Korea stamped on back of tuners, they make Wilkinson and Grovers found on most Korean guitars.
Pre-drilled holes were quite small so I splintered the dowels instead of drilling out to fit, filled holes with glue and tightly packed, lightly hammered in, cut and sanded flat.
Drilled a couple of holes, checked everything was still inline, all good so carried on.
Wanted to do a quick test but forgot a couple of things, channel for the pickup wires to the electrics cavity for one.
Started drilling from top/bridge pup cavity but couldn't get a good angle, cavities are quite far apart and I think it would've ended up going through the back of guitar if I continued. Ended up using the jack socket hole to get a better angle, managed to drill without going through surface of guitar.
Tight fit but enough room for both pickup wires and ground wire (other hole I forgot), easier to drill into bridge pup cavity and route it that way than directly into controls cavity.
Using this build to experiment with the finish, common trick with figured wood like flame maple is to dye black first, sand back and re-dye with colour. Not much grain pattern on the front but going to try it anyway, can always spray it black if it looks bad.
No going back now! poplar soaked up the dye but seemed to sit on top of the maple and walnut. Didn't expect the maple to take any but should've wet the wood first to help it absorption, saturated it with a second coat.
Wiped off excess, worked well with the iroko grain on the back, looks great close up
Lots of sandpaper and red raw fingers, took ages to sand back the end grain on the top/bottom of sides.
Looks a bit patchy in places but I was kind of expecting that, once colour dyed it should look nice, bloody hope so after all that sanding!. Tested red dye on a scrap piece and it looked a bit plain, plus it was a bit bright on the light poplar. Hoping this black coat will darken it and add some contrast/shading when done.
Just want to get it done now, eating into my spare time, barely had time to play guitar in the last month! |
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