GSP RB6 Thinline build

Fuengi

And so it finally begins.... 

I'm butchering Graham's work here. Plan is to install a Staytrem bridge, AvRI Jag/Jazz Vibrato and a couple of Mojo Wide Range Jazzmaster pickups - all of which have been ordered and some of which have arrived.

Got a bit of routing to do once all the hardware lands, in the meantime I'm starting to look at the neck finish so I can decide what to do with the body. 

The wood is London Plane which I've never worked with before. I have it a light coat of yellow stain to see how the grain reacts. Actually, it hasn't really popped, but that's ok because it's so prominent maybe it need to be slightly subdued anyway. 

Have rubbed it back after stain (which it needed anyway) but left ala lot of the stain on the marked frets. Still thinking about this, but tempted to stain the rest of the frets red and rub back a bit. I'm thinking about a Fireglo type finish to the body...

I'm pretty sure I'm going to finish this with Nitro over the top of any stain I apply. I think the body will just be nitro finished, although I might stain the back, which is Ash, first then rub back. 

I've got some metal pickup surrounds being made which will cover the existing routing. Might get a scratch plate made, might not. 

Jalapeno

Looks great !

Fuengi

Went for it with the red. The flame seems to pop a little more, possibly the extra rubbing back? 

I can tone it down with sanding, staining and tinting nitro over to suit so will be fun to play around with it.

The grain of the Ash on the back is fabulous. Put some yellow stain on it to bring the grain through which has taken nicely. Will rub that back and see how it looks / feels before deciding how to proceed. 

ThePrettyDamned

Corrr I love it. My recently finished rb6t (which will go to Bill for a setup imminently!) is beautiful, graham's work is top notch and the guitar is a beaut despite my efforts!

Mine is insanely loud unplugged and has a very nice semi acoustic vibe, rather than a thinline vibe - bags of volume and really fun to play. 

Fuengi

Have lightly rubbed the red back with 400 grit. The London Plane reacts nicely to a little bit of oil on it. The flame / grain starts to shine. 

Fuengi

Some fun playing with this London Plane.

Rubbing back the stain and exposing the grain, then oiling it gives it an almost pearloid effect.

Looks great, and the red and yellow grains are exposed in different light, not together. 

I'm thinking to hit it with some vintage tint nitro when it's dry to reduce the contrast. I'll also use clear brown on the back and just let the overspray take the edges of the neck and hopefully cloud the fret edges slightly. 



The Swamp Ash grain has lots of lovely reds and brows in it which the stain and oil has emphasised. Probably use a clear yellow nitro over the top of this. 

Fuengi

Custom surrounds for the Mojo Wide Range Jazzmaster pickups have been cut. I have one spare to use as a routing template. 

Need to file the edges and de-burr but they should come up nicely. 

PeteC

Wow.  Just caught up with this thread and loving what you are doing with the stains on the plane and the ash - looks excellent.  

Fuengi

PeteC said:

Wow.  Just caught up with this thread and loving what you are doing with the stains on the plane and the ash - looks excellent.  

Thanks Pete. It's very much a "by eye" process with this, which is really enjoyable. The last couple have been for friends / family and i have had a brief to work to but it's liberating looking at the finishes and trying different things that I think might work.

The fretboard now has a couple of coats of tinted gloss nitro over the stain and oil which has reduced the contrast but deepened the colour and added some gloss. I like it, you get a depth of colour adding clear laquer over stain that neither on their own seem to produce. I'll upload some photos next week when I get some more coats on it.

The london plane grain is really quite beautiful when it catches the light.

Fuengi

Starting to take shape now. Have finished the woodwork to the cavities by hand chisel. All the parts set out and a coat of stains.

A bit of oil next.

lovestrat74

Cool! What are your plans on routing the trem? Do you have a template?

Fuengi

lovestrat74 said:

Cool! What are your plans on routing the trem? Do you have a template?

I traced one out myself and overlaid it. Drilled the corners and routed. It's a hollow body with the fixings in the rails, although I ended up having to glue some wood back it to make sure I had six good fixings. 

lovestrat74

Fuengi said:

lovestrat74 said:

Cool! What are your plans on routing the trem? Do you have a template?

I traced one out myself and overlaid it. Drilled the corners and routed. It's a hollow body with the fixings in the rails, although I ended up having to glue some wood back it to make sure I had six good fixings. 

Nice one. I did the same on a t-type. Hardest part was getting it aligned. 

Fuengi

lovestrat74 said:

Fuengi said:

lovestrat74 said:

Cool! What are your plans on routing the trem? Do you have a template?

I traced one out myself and overlaid it. Drilled the corners and routed. It's a hollow body with the fixings in the rails, although I ended up having to glue some wood back it to make sure I had six good fixings. 

Nice one. I did the same on a t-type. Hardest part was getting it aligned. 

I laid masking tape across the top and drew a series of lines to set it out. I guess the final analysis will be when I string it up, but it looks ok based on the string lines I ran down the fretboard. 

Fuengi

Bit of a delay in the updates due to paint saga and holidays.... I couldn't get a finish I was happy with retaining the grain through so opted for a solid colour, Oxblood.

Nearly there now. I need to work out the wiring and string it up. 

lovestrat74

That looks the bits! Well done you

ThePrettyDamned

Blimey, that looks amazing. I'm having my RB6 set up soon, it's a fabulous looking guitar shape. Love it with the trem. 

Fuengi

lovestrat74 said:

That looks the bits! Well done you

ThePrettyDamned said:

Blimey, that looks amazing. I'm having my RB6 set up soon, it's a fabulous looking guitar shape. Love it with the trem. 

Thanks chaps, it is a nice looking thing. The pickups are a bit of an oddity, never fitted JM's before but they seem to need some foam below them to push the pickups up into the covers. Also a spring on each of the four screws means it's a fiddle-ass job fitting them. All part of the fun I suppose!