Amber top EVH kit. "Whatta Ya Think?" First kit build

[lawdog89429]

Hello all, new to this forum and new to kits. Have been playing for about 20 years, have repaired, hot-rodded and customized my own guitars. I couldn't afford an EMM Axis and missed out on an OLP MM1 with a FR bridge so I started googling and came across this kit from BYO guitar (no affiliation, btw). Anyway, I was really impressed with the quality of the Chinese made kit. The body is 4 pieces though! lol The paper-thin maple veneer is not too bad either. Anyway, I got the top done and wanted to see what y'all thought.

[mnmusic]

There's some nice figure in that maple. It should turn out to be a nice guitar. Keep the pictures coming.

Ed

[lawdog89429]

Here is the top with just one coat of Tru Oil. Grain has an almost 3D look to it, looks better than I had hoped so far.

[tippie53]

love the quilted effect on that

[lawdog89429]

Here's a quick update:
Got a few more coats of Tru Oil on, getting a nice buildup. Time to wet sand and assess. Really starting to shine.



Near tragedy almost ensued, I was inspecting the headstock when I dropped the heel of the neck onto the body!!!! >:D By the Power of Grayskull, the "wound" happened where the pickup ring will completely cover it. Thank the maker! (to quote C-3PO)


And another hiccup came when I was mounting headstock hardware. The cheapest of the cheapest Chinese steel was obviously used with the tuner screws. One sheared right off while screwing it into the headstock. Not even forcing the threads to cut much into the hard maple and it came right off. Had to drill it out and replace with a "less than matching" hardwood plug. It's on the back and will be mostly covered by the tuner so not too worried about it. Got the grain to line up pretty close though. NEVER seen a screw do that. I've used plenty of Chinese hardware too in the past.


And finally, I just had to. Obviously to the even the most untrained eye, this isn't a true Music Man, as the truss rod adjustment is at the top. I see it as a tribute not a counterfeit as I'm not trying to pass it off as the "Real Deal."

[lawdog89429]

Ok, I am just plain, flipping amazed!! I put about 5 coats of tru-oil on this body. Two fairly thin (with a cloth), one thick (with fingers), then 1000 grit sanded smooth, then two more paper-thin coats (with fingers). Figured I'd be buffing and polishing it smooth. Checked the dried final coat and it was smooth as glass. I used nu-car polish (the no rubbing, no buffing kind) and look at this! :D I never in my wildest dreams thought it would come out like this!

[justrfb]

Nice!...

Sincerely,
Rich

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Very purty.

[lawdog89429]

Here's the final product! Very happy with how it turned out. Hardware is beyond cheap, the switch is garbage and the feedback is insane in the pickups. Switch back out, pickups are being wax potted and the volume pot is going to because why not?