LP Kit Build

DannyP

My Uncle bought me one of these for my birthday:

 

DannyP

I fancied an open book headstock, not because I want to pass it off as a Gibson - but just because it looks "right" to me

DiscoStu

Which company is this? It would be good to know for pros and cons.

DannyP

I made some cuts with a fretsaw, roughly sawed along the line, then rasped it and sanded it into shape.

DannyP

This is how it ended up - though I did refine the shape later on

DannyP

DiscoStu said:

Which company is this? It would be good to know for pros and cons.

@discoStu - It's KitBuiltGuitars.co.uk

Pros would be it was well packaged, seems well tooled and sanded to a decent standard.

Cons -
- machine heads look crap and innappropriate,
- tiny pots that will go in the bin -
- pickups: who knows, but I don't have high hopes. I'm tempted to save myself time and discard them without installing - just buy some IG Blues Engines or similar (can't stretch to Oil City despite loving the Stone Tones in my Strat!)
- Not really "cons" at this price point but 3 pieces of mahogany in the neck, and 4 in the body (plus thin maple veneer over the mahogany top)

The biggest con, which I've only just realised, is how much smaller it is than a proper LP. Glued together it stand about 1.5" shorter than the real thing, despite having the correct scale length. This means the (SPOILERS) Bigsby B7 will hang off the end.

DannyP

Here's the body and neck. I'd just given it a rub down with lighter fuel prior to grain filling

DannyP

I used a mahogany tinted grain filler. Here's the body after I'd sanded it back.

TOP TIP: Make sure you scrape as much of this off as possible before it dries, as it sets hard (as indeed it ought!)

DannyP

I used water based dyes to get the mahogany most of the way there colour-wise. In the past I've found it took too much cherry lacquer to get the depth of colour I like, so I gave it a head start with the dyes - red and black, mixing and sanding till I liked the colour.

DannyP

The top has a nice figure, though kind of 'shallow' looking

DannyP

Scary dark stain!!!!

DannyP

Went a bit too dark and deep with the brown/black dye, really. I had to sand it back quite hard. I stopped when I could feel myself going throughthe veneer at the edges. Ideally I would have liked to get it back a bit lighter.

TOP TIP: don't go too deep and dark with your stain in the quest for stripes!

DannyP

Using yellow, red and brown dyes, I went for a sort of dark unburst.

DannyP

Quick mock-up before gluing:

DannyP

...and gluing. I used Titebond Hide Glue, just because a quick google reveals that that's what everyone uses!

DannyP

Few coats of red gloss lacquer

DannyP

And a few coats of gloss clear coat - this is all from nitro rattle cans btw.

DannyP

Now the hardest task of all: Leave the damn thing alone for a couple of weeks...

paulnb57

Good effort, that looks great!

Jalapeno

Superb !

SteveRobinson

Yes the clear lacquer has really made the colour stand out on the top, it looks great!