Thanks, Ken. I saw that Les Paul. My jaw is just now coming back up! It looked so good. I'll be getting with you and Johnparchem when I buy one to learn to do that sunburst finish. I like how it looks over that wood. So nice.
Here's a pic I just took.
I got all the innards done, and put the neck on to see what it looked like. One thing that didn't go well, was that all of the 11 screw holes for the pickguard/pickup assembly disappeared! (One Piece At a Time - Johnny Cash). I did my best to locate it where I thought it should be, clamped it down and drilled pilot holes. The pickguard ended up partially in the channel for the neck, so I had to shave that down. Didn't do a very good job. Also, while trying to remove paint from the insides of the channel, I broke a small piece on the treble side of the guitar. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. I guess that'll be the signature flaw in it to show it wasn't store bought.
When putting the tremolo contraption together, the diagram showed very small screws. The same size as the ones holding the pickup assembly down. I tried that. When one of the springs was in and I was putting on another, the sumb***h gave way. Missed me tho! I found two screws about 1 1/2" long and used them. Terribly misleading. I was afraid when I first screwed it in that they were the wrong ones, but you know how that goes. No damage though. Lesson learned. Also, the upgraded Mighty Mite pickup assembly did not have the same connectors that the rest of the kit had, so I just cut off the connectors and just soldered the 3 wires and wrapped them in electrical tape just before I found the shrink wrap included in the kit. I really make an adventure out of building these things. Keeps it interesting.
Ken, 3 wires, that was it. I know you can probably buy pickups separately and do all the wiring, but I don't think I'll go that far. We'll see how it sounds though, and maybe I'll try something different next time. I have a good golfing buddy who plays and re-builds guitars, so maybe he can coach me along.
Another lesson is to tape the neck where it is covered by the guitar body. The fit was tight before I did anything, and of course adding clear coat to the neck, and paint and clear coat to the body made the cavity small enough to be unworkable without some sanding and such. Next time, I'll tape it just shy of the "show" side.
The thing with electric kits is that the painting and finishing takes a long time, but assembly is pretty quick. Strings were not included, so I didn't put on the tuning keys yet. I don't think I need to level the frets, but I'll check to make sure. All that's left is stringing up - which is something I've never done. And then setting the bridge so that intonation is correct. Another new challenge.
Tomorrow I buy strings, set the action and intonation roughly, and play it a bit before taking the neck back off to let it cure.
Oh, any comments on how I did the headstock? I took the Peavey I have an roughly imitated it, but changed it a bit. Does it look like any other brand?
Thanks for looking,
Bob
