GuitarFetish Factory Sale Build

NileshHansjee

A while back (before I registered here), someone posted about GuitarFetish's factory sale...
Basically they bought over a factory and sold the contents for pretty cheap. Building my own guitar/bass is something I've wanted to do since I first started playing way back when. So I picked up a body and neck a while back and started accumulating the other bits and bobs.

Anyway, I've finally completed the build and thought I'd share.

First things first: I apologise for the camera-phone pics: I was originally going to tweet the build and then decided that I didn't want to bomb the timelines of my 39 followers and two bots with random pics that wouldn't mean much to most of them.
I also really wish I had read singemonkey's blog on how to photograph your guitar (housed in the "How To" section of this forum) before I started snapping away.

Secondly, the pedant in me wishes to make it clear that this isn't so much a "build" as an "assembly" since I had no part in actually making any of the major components. I try to keep said pedant in a cage, 'cos let's face it: no-one likes a smart-ar$e.

The components:

Body: I'm guessing it's basswood, but I'm not really sure. They sent me the wrong body when I ordered the first time around - they gave me credit for the value + shipping and let me keep the mistake as an apology for the inconvenience. A similar body to my original order turned up, so I scooped it.

Neck: Bolt-on, 5-pc maple, with bound rosewood fretboard. It was marked as condition 3, meaning it needed more than just a clean-up, but other than a little gouge in the fingerboard in the first fret (that I barely notice when playing) and the lack of a nut, I can't see too much wrong with it.

Bridge: Gotoh T-o-M (StewMac)
Pickups: Tonerider Generators
Electronics: Two pickup wiring kit (StewMac); Free-way (6-way) switch (StewMac)
Tuners: Wilkinson EZ-lok (GuitarFetish)
Nut: Black lo-friction polycarbonate (GuitarFetish)
Other hardware: Stewmac

NileshHansjee

I wanted this:

But received this:

(shoe optional)

Emailed Laurie at GuitarFetish; everything cleared up. I bought a new neck when I ordered the next body to go with their gift.

Explorerlover

That's a sexy red

NileshHansjee

It's on like Donkey Kong!

But first, a message from our sponsors:

Note: I am not affiliated to any of the companies/products in the above photo.

NileshHansjee

Explorerlover wrote: That's a sexy red

Thanks ? Finished product looks even better - the red is a bit richer.

NileshHansjee

Ok, first issue encountered - little lumps in the neck pocket preventing the neck from sitting flush (or close enough) to the body. Bring out the sandpaper, files, chisels and masking tape!

You can see the main lump parallel to the pickup cavity. The other one (not too visible in the photo) is where the manufacturer drilled the conduit for the pickup wiring.

NileshHansjee

Next issue is that the neck sat at too great an angle. I would've had to set my bridge ridiculously high to stop any buzz against the higher frets.
Quick fix - found a sheet of plastic, cut to fit and sanded down to bring neck to sufficient angle.

Note: Tune-o-matic bridges - especially those on a carved top - require the next to be angled slightly. The plastic shim seen in the photo was a wee bit tall, so I sanded it a little bit more. In truth, it could still probably do with a wee shave, but it doesn't seem to affect playability so I'll leave it as is for now.

NileshHansjee

Next up: bridge ground. After careful consideration, I decided it was too finicky to drill to the bridge post via the control cavity, so we went through the pickup cavity.

Step one: camouflage!

Steps two - fifteen: measure carefully. DIY chambering not recommended for novices.

Step sixteen: drill.

Finished product:

Believe it or not, this is the best photo I have of the bridge ground...

It took a bit of fishing to get the wire through and wrapped around the bridge post.

NileshHansjee

Innocent bystander:

Back hardware installed:

You can also see a few of the dings on the body.

Ferrule installation is a lot trickier than you would suspect:

First, place the ferrule into the hole so it sticks up perpendicular to the body.
Heat the ferrule up with a soldering iron (I used the chisel tip for this). This melts the lacquer around the hole, preventing any chipping of the finish.
Hammer the chisel home, protecting the ferrule with a cloth. Make sure ferrule is still warm while you hammer.
Repeat until ferrule sits flush to surface.
When the ferrule cools, the lacquer hardens around it thereby ensuring a tight fit.

NileshHansjee

Mocked up: looking good!

guidothepimmp

Handy tip with heating the ferrule

Thanked

NileshHansjee

Next up: nut installation. This was a minor pain in the proverbial, since I had to sand away the finish where the nut was supposed to go and continually measure the depth of the nut to avoid the strings sitting too low.

Final sanding:

Nut installed with a bit of contact adhesive:

I've read about instances where people use string tension to keep the nut in place (instead of glue), but I wasn't keen on taking any chances.

NileshHansjee

guidothepimmp wrote: Handy tip with heating the ferrule

Thanked

My pleasure. There are a few YouTube videos on this - mainly with tele's - that make it look really easy. One guy didn't even need a hammer ???

NileshHansjee

Now to touch up some of the dings. In my opinion, they were too minor to bother with sanding, respraying, clear-coat etc, so I just borrowed black nail polish from a friend. Works pretty well over small areas - if you don't squint too hard.

I had to convince my friend I wasn't going emo, so I sent her this photo as proof:

Explaining that the image is of the lower horn convinced her to part with the polish... ?

NileshHansjee

Headstock front:

Since I measure only once instead of fourteen times and then proceeded to drill like a jacka$$, I wound up drilling one of the holes for the truss rod cover too close to the gap and split the wood slightly. My younger brother (who happens to be a bit more useful than I am) made a bigger cover out of the rear control cavity cover, which I thought was too thick for its primary purpose.

You can (sort of) see the gouge on the fingerboard I referred to in my first post.

NileshHansjee

Headstock rear:

The second string tuner is slightly skew. It's annoying, but hasn't quite set my CDO on edge (it ain't obsessive-compulsive until it's been alphabetised)

NileshHansjee

A quick note on the electronics:

I was originally going to install a rotary switch and wire it PRS-style, but apparently the body is too thin for the switch to fit.

Next best thing: the Free-way switch. It's a six way toggle switch (essentially two three-way toggles with one bat).
This way I've managed to have Bridge HB - Both HB's - Neck HB on one axis and Bridge SC - Both SC's - Neck SC on the other.
Switching between positions on-the-fly is very easy; I've read on some reviews on the StewMac website about people missing the middle positions, but I can't say I've had this issue.
It is really finicky to solder though...

Other than the switch, the rest is standard - one volume, one tone. I seem to get a huge tonal response from the tone control; pretty surprising (in a good way) considering it's the simple ceramic 0.022uF cap from the wiring kit.

NileshHansjee

Finished product - more or less:

I still need to put the rear control cavity cover on. As I said earlier, I found the one I bought a bit too thick so I made my own out of the same piece of plastic I used for the neck shim. I just need to paint it and install it.

NileshHansjee

And at home with the rest of the family:

NileshHansjee

Coming soon: the Accidental Axe: