"Spirit" Kit: Lots of Mistakes but Lots of FUN

[8livesleft]

Hi guys,

This is my 3rd headless kit project, this time a Spirit kit. First 2 were from a no-name brand and weren't very good. The routing was very bad and I had lots of trouble. This one came from Solo. Much better routing...to be absolutely clear, I'm an absolute noob hehe

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I had no clue about painting and simply used regular black paint and brushed it right on the sanded body. I know, I know...

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Not only did the paint smell stay forever, it was slso stayed sticky forever. So, I ended up sanding down the front and putting stickers and stuff in the back. I know, I know....it played pretty good tho...also installed Entwistle pickups. Good pickups. Nice distorted and cleans up very well.

Eventually, I decided to add a kind of legrest. I'm no woodworker or anything but this is what I came up with...

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Wasn't happy with the stock bridge, a generic "Overlord of Music" bridge, trem system that was very unstable and had these sharp saddles that would end up breaking strings. Another issue is that the whole thing was high so I couldn't bring the action lower. So, I swapped in a different bridge. Unfortunately, it was a slightly different shape and needed material to be taken out. Again, I'm no woodworker and don't have tools. All I had were these chisel things that I'd hammer to get material out. Unfortunately, it doesn't necessarily just remove what you want. It ends up taking out more. I know, I know...

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It works tho. And what I like is that this has 4 screws instead of just 2 from the old system. Problem is this bridge is really low hehe. So, I needed to mount the bridge on 4 nuts to raise it. It also doesn't doesn't do divebombs as well but I'm alright because I keep it locked anyway. Might install a fixed bridge down the road but I'm good now.

To be continued...

[8livesleft]

Part 2...

About the neck, it's basically just been sanded down from 400 - 2000 and "finished" with a few coats of natural wax - coconut if I recall (smelled good!). I was thinking of finishing it with clear but I just love how this feels. Smooth and soft feeling for some reason. So, once in a while, every other year or so, (this is an old build) I recondition with 2000 grit paper and rub a lemon based wood polish.

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That's not warped, it's just some weird lensing thing.

At this point, I've decided to use a superglue finish on the top to smoothen things out some and get rid of the sticky edges...

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I'm also in the process of fixing the legrest...

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It looks like a rough tangram now since I find it easier to adjust smaller pieces vs having to saw off and carve big pieces to fit.

Still deciding if I want to keep the end rounded or to make it concave or curved inward so it conforms to my leg better. It's comfortable as is tho...

Also plan to add a push-pull pot at the tone so I have 3 additional singlecoil sounds.

So far...

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Plays great. My action is 1.6mm at the 15th fret. No buzz. Great sustain in spite of the trem and additional metal and reduced wood.

That's it for now, if you guys have some suggestions, I'm all ears. Thanks for reading!

Cheers!