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dbrian66

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I want to try my hand at building a guitar from a kit. I also want to see if I can build a nice guitar for not alot of money. Just a fun challenge. I found a Saga PRS copy kit on craigslist for fifty bucks. I figure that with some used pickups and tuners from ebay and I might be into this for around 150.00 USD. Any thoughts? Is it worth trying?

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Yaeh i know. I guess I should have said assemble. I think most people knew what I meant.

Starting as far back as the late '40s Leo had unskilled workers assemble all his Broadcasters, Teles, Precisions, Strats...............

 

How hard can it be?

 

P.

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Go for it man... You never know until you try and a kit is a good place to start.. and if that goes well maybe try building one from scratch....

 

Wood itself is not that expensive or hard to get hold of... When I started I was using old pine doors for the body (you obviously need a harder neck wood)... But in the end I found a local joinery company who make large bits of furniture and frames and stuff like that.. Their offcuts are perfect for me and I get a whole boot load from them for £10 :) (and I get Oak, Maple, Meranti and Ash as well as some Padauk and other oddments so its of decent quality).

 

The bit that really costs the most is getting nice pickups... But again I have found a really cool place to get some good priced ones from.. I haven't actually wired any of them in yet but if they sound as good as the sound clips I heard I will be probably buying exclusively from them.. Also Searcy did my first set of pickups (which sound amazing) and the only reason im not going back to him for more is import tax issues.

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Starting as far back as the late '40s Leo had unskilled workers assemble all his Broadcasters, Teles, Precisions, Strats...............

 

How hard can it be?

 

P.

 

 

Putting it together doesn't scare me. I put this one together back in the mid 90's. Might be my best playing guitar.

photo_zpsbdfbbcc9.jpg

 

It is the painting that is going to be the challenge. I have an image in my mind of what I want it to look like but making it a reality is going to be tough.

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Starting as far back as the late '40s Leo had unskilled workers assemble all his Broadcasters, Teles, Precisions, Strats...............

 

How hard can it be?

 

P.

 

Yes, and we all know how that ended, you have to pay a boatload of money for a pre CBS tele or strat, i think you´r on something here [cool]

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  • 2 weeks later...

Ok guys and gals. I went ahead and bought the kit. It is a Saga kit that is supposed to be like a PRS. The body and neck look decent buut everything else is junk.

 

 

 

I watched some videos on youtube of people using waterbased stains to bring out the flame and add color. What I want is a green top that fades to black. Any input on what to do or not to do is welcome. Doesnt look to hard, just gonna have to take my time.

 

 

The other thing I want your opinion on is how to prioratize the rest of the guitar. Like i said earlier, I want to see how cheap I can build a decent guitar for. I am $50 into it right now. I am going to need pickups, tuners, and a bridge and tail piece. The way I see it, I need to get good pickups first. Then tuners and last the bridge/tailpiece. How bad are the parts from China that you see on Ebay?

 

 

Again , I look foward to any input you guys have. I will keep putting up pics as the process goes on.

 

 

 

 

DSCF1047_zpsb685e1cd.jpg

DSCF1048_zps2fdcd456.jpg

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For cheap but reasonable hardware try Wilkinson stuff.. ive used it on a few builds and so far all is good :)

 

As for what to or not to do.. id say if you arnt sure of a certain step, get some scrap wood and test it first.. Only when you are sure you can do it without screwing it up then you should go ahead and do it on the kit.. (that's what I reckon anyway) :)

 

And you can get scrap wood from say pallets in an industrial estate.. Or me I found a joinery company who has loads of nice offcuts of wood :)

 

Good luck with it all man [thumbup]

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I don't know much about finishing stuff but you might want to use a "filler" before you paint or stain it. The filler, stain and clear coat/paint need to be compatible. All the stuff needs to either water based or solvent based.

 

Here's a link to Stew Mac's finishing supplies page. They probably have some good info on their site about it.

 

http://www.stewmac.com/Materials_and_Supplies/Finishing_Supplies/

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I don't know much about finishing stuff but you might want to use a "filler" before you paint or stain it. The filler, stain and clear coat/paint need to be compatible. All the stuff needs to either water based or solvent based.

 

Here's a link to Stew Mac's finishing supplies page. They probably have some good info on their site about it.

 

http://www.stewmac.com/Materials_and_Supplies/Finishing_Supplies/

Thanks . I bought some water based dye off of eBay. Should be here Thursday. I don't think I use the filler on the top of the guitar where I am just staining the flame maple. I do think I will need it on the back where it will be solid black.

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The wood doesn't appear to be too bad quality at all.

 

...I figure that with some used pickups and tuners from ebay...

Have you thought about having a look in junk/pawn/exchange type shops for 'unwanted present' guitars that you could cannibalise?

Even have a scan through the local small-ads or car boot sales (or however they are known 'thereabouts').

 

You might be able to pick up everything you need in one hit and just transfer all the hardware across.

 

P.

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If I was looking for hardware and pickups for a project like this I would use parts from GuitarFetish.com

 

They have a wide variety of good quality pickups and hardware, all at very decent prices.

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Guest Farnsbarns

Thanks . I bought some water based dye off of eBay. Should be here Thursday. I don't think I use the filler on the top of the guitar where I am just staining the flame maple. I do think I will need it on the back where it will be solid black.

 

I would definitely use grain filler on all of that. I think you'll thank yourself if you do.

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I would definitely use grain filler on all of that. I think you'll thank yourself if you do.

The videos that I have watched say that the water in the water base dye "raises" the grain. After you get it to the color you want, you use several layers of clear to smooth it out. Supposed to give a deep almost 3-D look. Grain filler would prevent that right? Mabey I'm not understanding right. I'll watch it again.

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If I was looking for hardware and pickups for a project like this I would use parts from GuitarFetish.com

 

They have a wide variety of good quality pickups and hardware, all at very decent prices.

I checked that website out. A lot of cool stuff. If I don't find a doner guitar I might be doing some shopping there.

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The videos that I have watched say that the water in the water base dye "raises" the grain.

 

Warm water applied with a rag will raise the grain. The water penetrates the damaged (sanded / scratched) wood fibers near the surface, and causes them to swell and warp. When the wood is dry it'll feel rougher than it was before, sand it again with fine grain paper. Repeat as desired. After you're done raising the grain with water, then apply stain or dye. There's no sense applying dye only to have to sand it evenly and reapply a few times. If you just use water, it'll be easier to sand and you won't have to worry about blotchy color.

 

Also ensure that there isn't a sealer applied to the wood already. That would lock out the water and would have to be removed.

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Warm water applied with a rag will raise the grain. The water penetrates the damaged (sanded / scratched) wood fibers near the surface, and causes them to swell and warp. When the wood is dry it'll feel rougher than it was before, sand it again with fine grain paper. Repeat as desired. After you're done raising the grain with water, then apply stain or dye. There's no sense applying dye only to have to

sand it evenly and reapply a few times. If you just use water, it'll be easier to sand and you won't have to worry about blotchy color.

 

Also ensure that there isn't a sealer applied to the wood

already. That would lock out the water and would have to be removed.

Thanks for the advice. Tell me if this sounds right. The first application of water will be with a black dye. Like you said that will have to be sanded down. But the black dye enhances the flame in the maple. Then go over it with the color you want the guitar to be. In my case, green. And yes there is already a sealer on the guitar that I will have to remove. Worst case scenario I mess it all up and then just paint it a solid color. :)

 

Here is a link to the video I watched

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I think we're talking about different things. That video shows how to use dye to accentuate the grain, and because it's water-based, it happens to raise grain at the same time -- for better or for worse. To simply raise the grain, you can just use plain old water. If I were doing it, and I'm not an expert and have never used water-based dye to finish wood, I'd raise the grain with water once or twice before applying color.

 

Either way, I'm sure it'll come out great, and most importantly, you're going to learn a whole lot!

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Next question for you guys. I found a new set of Mighty Mite Blue Bucker pickups for under $70.00. Are they any good? A few of the reviews that I could find sound pretty good. Would love to hear your opinion.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Here are some updated pics. Not sure about the color. My eleven year old son thinks its great. LOL. I am going to do the back and sides black ant fade the green to black on the front. I have got all new black hardware but still need pickups. Thinking about p-rails. Anyone like or dislike them?

 

image_zps41c7172d.jpg

 

image_zpse34bb7fb.jpg

 

image_zps68f0ecc4.jpg

 

image_zps0b0f7f54.jpg

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