Done! semi-hollow body kit guitar

[dude]

Being a cabinet maker, I'd say you did a great job. I use dye stains all the time but your method of applying is a little different then mine for a sunburst, I think you just taught an old dog a new trick. I usually spray the dye, let it dry then rub it out a little. I usually have the problem of dry lines between the coats (if I use a rag where the dye stain dries), leaving a slight line. You have a good touch. Very nice finish.

I usually thin the lacquer a little more for the first few coats with lacquer thinner or a slow drying solution. I use a per-catalyzed lacquer, not as hard as a catalyzed (where you add hardener and use in 24 hours). There is a brand made by "M.L. Campbell", called "Magnalac", it's a pre-catalyed lacquer, just thin it and use right out of the can (it's actually pretty thick so you thin it a little more than usual). Comes in various glosses. the more gloss the harder the finish. Takes around 30 days to fully cure but in 24 hours it's 80% as hard as it gets so put the guitar together a few days after spraying.

Adding a slow drying agent gives a better finish, no fish eyes, no dimples, levels nice and dries a little slower giving the lacquer a chance to even out.

As far as the neck width, I'm with Ed, use the 1 5/8" width but cut a new nut cheating a bit on the width, this gives me the room to get my bigger fingers down the neck, I never had a problem with the strings falling off the board either as long as I didn't get too extreme.

You probably already did all this, so for a guy who is used to 1 11/16, how was the new nut on the 1 5/8?

al   

[tubenit]

so for a guy who is used to 1 11/16, how was the new nut on the 1 5/8?

Worked great with new nut spreading the strings a little wider. I like it just fine.

As an FYI,  I use T-shirt rags for the different colors and wet rags and Windex to blend the color changes.

With respect, Tubenit

[tubenit]

Updated photo.  got about 5 more coats of lacquer to put on and then polish.

Tubenit

[Ritchie200]

Oh man, look at those huge finger marks at the bottom of the guitar!!!  What did you do?!?!

Jim

[tubenit]

look at those huge finger marks at the bottom of the guitar!!!  What did you do?!?!

 

What!!!    This is from a guy whose avatar shows someone flinging a broken guitar into a crowd?? 

We need to start a new line of insults since the Tele - strat thing has grown to old.

How about I take 335's as the "good" guitar and you can have the Fender Starcastor as the "other" guitar? 

Best regards, ................ Jeff           

[Ritchie200]

Well it could be a shadow from when you took the picture....I guess.  I, however, would like to think it is a handprint from a guy who insists on playing a guitar (a tele) that forces you to be ham-handed in operation and that muscle memory probably overlaps into your daily life!  You haven't realized it yet, but I have been trying all these years to put you on the path of recovery!

Jim

[Ritchie200]

Oh, and how DARE you call the person in my avatar "someone"!!!!  I thought I taught you better, Grasshopper!

Jim

[tubenit]

So, ............. is the guy like "famous" or something?   

 

[sluckey]

I think that's Bob Dylan at his first show during his electric daze!

[jjasilli]

Back to tubenit's guitar photo, looks to me like he caught a fleeting glimpse of the shadow of the Mojo Hand! 

[Willabe]

 

[tubenit]

Got the guitar done for my friend.  It sounds fantastic!  Very warm resonant tone.  Tonally and appearance wise, this one turned out better then the first one. 

With respect, Tubenit

[Willabe]

It's beautiful! 

[Ed_Chambley]

Love it Jeff, great work as usual.

A 335 is really a versatile instrument and I love to feel them howling.

[Ritchie200]

Wow that looks GREAT!  Man you do some fine work (on your amp heads, cabinets, and THESE guitars only....)!  How about some sound clips?

Jim

[sluckey]

Beautiful! That just makes my old '72 walnut stained flat sawn maple 335 look ho-hum plain.

[tubenit]

Thanks to all of you for your kind remarks!   My friend is pleased with it.  Keeping in mind it was a CHEAPO kit,  it turned out pretty good.

He played some jazz on it for maybe 30 minutes thru the Tweed BluezMeister.  Sounded incredible.  I did not know he could play jazz? 

Only changes were graphite nut,  Alnico 2 & 3 magnets, roller bridge and oval strap buttons.  Pretty low cost upgrade.  The tuners that came seem to be pretty comparable to the Gotoh tuners I have on a guitar.  And I put waterfall bubinga veneer on the headstock.  That's it.

Sprayed it with spray cans of Min-wax lacquer from Home Depot.

with respect, Tubenit

[casssax]

@tubnit, Where did you get the kit from?

I tried to build a guitar a long time ago but I didn't know what I was doing at the time and it turned out so-so. I got all the parts from Carvin (except for the body that I made from an old counter top).  I have a neck, two humbuckers, the Gibson style bridge and all the pots/switches/jacks.

I'm thinking of trying again but I need to find a body that will work with the parts I have. I'm thinking that an SG style body might be perfect for what I have.

Thanks.

[tubenit]

five star products on ebay

[FranciscoPerez]

Wow tubenit, 
Awesome thread, really inspiring.
Both guitars look great!! 

[tubenit]

Franco,

Thank you for your kind remarks!

Best regards,  Jeff

[tubenit]

Update and upgrades ……………

I added a "string butler" for $46 and now this guitar stays in tune as well as my Tele's do.

https://www.amazon.com/String-Butler-Guitar-Tuning-Improvement/dp/B074CNX799/ref=sr_1_1?crid=340TL4ZXNEFCY&keywords=string+butler+v3&qid=1563047933&s=gateway&sprefix=string+butler+%2Caps%2C145&sr=8-1

And I got some new Alnico 2 pickups for the guitar that had lower resistance values and provide a cleaner tone.  $35
I've used these on 3 guitars now and like them as well or better then the DiMarzios and StewMac pickups I've used.  I've wired the neck pickup on a switch from series to parallel.  I play the parallel setting the most.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/HUMBUCKER-PICKUP-SET-CREAM-ALNICO-2-MAGNETS-VINTAGE-OUTPUT-FOUR-CONDUCTOR-WIRED/362596032906?hash=item546c68618a:g:~GYAAOSw6~pcUg7V

So ………. for $81,  I have a guitar with a cleaner more transparent tone that stays in tune significantly better then it did.  I just finished playing the guitar for about an hour and never had to retune at all.  That would be unusual for this guitar.

Just an FYI.   Jeff

[CraigB]

Jeff, WOW...those are simply beautiful.  It's crazy you have transformed these inexpensive kits into such exquisite and classy looking instruments, and I will take your word for it how they sound, I know you've got a great ear for tone.  And thank you for all of the accompanying info on the finish and upgrades, an interesting read.  Well done my friend!  Craig

[Willabe]

I was looking at that string butler for my Gretsch Falcon, because of the wide 'split wing' head stock and Bigsby. The D and G string would go out when I used the Bigsby.

It looked like it would work.   

But I went with this zero fret, because I didn't want to drill into the head stock face.

https://goldtonemusicgroup.com/zeroglide/

Works great on my Falcon.     

[tubenit]

I have never of that product before this post!  Pretty nifty idea.  If it works as well as they indicate, it would be a great investment. 

Did you find it relatively easy to install?  How long did it take you?

As an FYI,  I had NO drilling on my headstock for the string butler.

THANKS for sharing this!  Jeff

[Willabe]

I have never of that product before this post!  Pretty nifty idea.  If it works as well as they indicate, it would be a great investment. 

Well, doesn't go out of tune when I hit the Bigsby now.   

They now sell a S.S. zero fret.

I had a guitar shop guy put it in. They make some that are already set up for certain guitars. They leave them just a little larger, so you have a little to fine tune with.

They also make a 'blind' head nut, so you can't see the zero fret ends, like on a bound guitar neck. I have the blind nut, looks better. 
 

As an FYI,  I had NO drilling on my headstock for the string butler.

Nice. 

I forget now, but there was some reason I would have had to drill the face on the head stock to put it in.

I think it was either the width of the headstock/space between tuners or my tuners didn't have enough thread height sticking above the face of the headstock to slide the string butler under and tighten it down? I think it was the tuners? Their Grover Imperials.

In the pic below you can see how the strings are splayed out to the sides, D and G were the problem strings, they go furthest out. (Not my guitar below.)

On a Strat or Tele the strings go straight through to the tuners from the head nut. So vibratos don't get hung up any where near as easily when the strings splay outward.     

[jjasilli]

I have never of that product before this post!  Pretty nifty idea.  If it works as well as they indicate, it would be a great investment. 

Did you find it relatively easy to install?  How long did it take you?

As an FYI,  I had NO drilling on my headstock for the string butler.

THANKS for sharing this!  Jeff

+1.  Seems very cool. I'd do anything to brighten my Martin D28.

[tubenit]

OK,  I added the zero glide nut also along with the string butler.  Guitar easily stays in tune as well as my Tele's do.

I thought it was a little bit of a challenge getting a good fit initially with the nut on the guitar. Was more like an hour + project then a 15 minute project to do. Sand the bottom of the nut truly flat & perfectly parallel is not all that easy, IMO. 

Once getting it installed, it really is a nifty system and it makes sense why it works well. You have to look carefully to see that fret wire at the nut.  It is there, the picture simply doesn't show it well.

With respect, Jeff

[Willabe]

Nice. 

[Latole]

Very interesting and well done project.
I just came across this post.
About the String Butler that I did not know, an unusual and original gadget.

To adjust guitars for a very long time, my opinion is that this gadget is useless if the nut is well trimmed on the string sluts.
From the photos I see, there seems to be room for improvement and the String Butler would become useless.
I have a 335 Gibson Custon Shop and have had several copies before.

[Willabe]

To adjust guitars for a very long time, my opinion is that this gadget is useless if the nut is well trimmed on the string sluts.

Disagree.

Depends on how much and how far you bend the strings.

Any guitar that has the strings splaying out on an angle from the head nut to the tuners, no matter how well done the nut is, the strings will bind.

Even more of a problem if the guitar has a vibrato bar.

That's at least 1 of the reasons Leo Fender designed his guitars head stocks so the strings would go straight back from the head nut to the tuners.

Gibson Les Paul's are well known to have tuning stability problems because of how their strings splay/angle out from the head nut to the tuners.   

[shooter]

newbie here 

Depends on how much and how far you bend the strings.

as in playing, or angle to tuners 

[Latole]

How can you explain since more than 50 years ES -335 guitar style exist, I never saw serious ( and hard bending ) guitar players use this gadget.

Don't get me wrong Tubenit do a very nice job with building this guitar.

You have the right to buy any gadget you want to work around the problem instead of fixing it.

IMO since fews years many people like to fix their own guitar and amps without luthier tools or skill.
This gadget may do the job if you don't want to work on nut sluts.

[Latole]

Here is what method I use to cut the nuts slots.
From the book; "how to make your electric guitar play right" by Dan Erlewine, pages 29 to 36.

If you size your slots this way, I would be very surprised if you have problems bending strings.
It is very rare that I saw well-cut nuts, but most of the time it does not matter if we do not push the bending too much


DSC08043

DSC08044