So December Rolled Out and my Birthday / Xmas gift from my loving wife was a choice of
- Luither course with Murray Kuun.
- a Blackbeard's den kit
- A project Guitar
So first things first, email Kuun, next spot available end of 2020... Sooo that went out the window,
Option 2, Wanted the LP set neck but really didn't like the woods. The mahogany body was on the bolt-on with a spalted maple veneer, and the set neck was an ash body with flame maple, what I really wanted was the best of both, a Flamed Maple veneer on a mahogany neck and body set neck. and then I trolled the Facebook groups for a beat-up project guitar, all while trying to decide what I really wanted.
After several weeks of uming and Arring I happened to come across a Ali-express Les Paul that was almost perfect,
Set-neck ✔️
Mahogany body and neck ✔️
flame maple veneer ✔️
So place order end of December and wait, ( and I was like an Impatient kid on a long drive..."Is it here yet?".)
So finally after not to long a wait it arrived by mid Jan some 3 1/2 weeks after ordering it.
So cut and shaped the head-stock.. (went classic open book shaped) and started staining the maple veneer, as the rest I was going to do once glued, used water based stain , and then finished off with Tru-oil,
finally after much trial and error i got the top to look glossy and smooth,
glued the neck on and used watered down black wood filler as a grain filler, sanded smooth and applied Tru-oil over,
I also managed to get get some headstock logos Laser-cut, and Silver-leafed the plastic covers,
Boy was I Getting excited, wanted this Guitar finished yesterday, so drilled the holed for the Trumatic bridge and string retainer, and this is where I made my fatal mistake,
In my haste I dinged the top badly a few times while putting the bridge anchors in, Upset dejected and just not feeling confident in myself, I withdrew from finishing the guitar, it stayed up on the wall for about 2 months reminding me everyday what a failure I am..
Lock-down happened, and still didn't want to touch it, until 2 weeks in, a nice sunny day arrived, I gathered the courage to attempt to correct my damage, grabbing the sander I removed the finish, careful not to remove the ultra thin veneer, and re-applied the stain and reapplied the Tru-oil, Spent Several Days until finally I was Happy,
and now My new Addition is on the wall, getting used to been a guitar for the first time,
