Sanding, sanding and more sanding

I spent about an hour sanding last night - it's coming along nicely.

There's still some shine showing in places - it needs another round of sanding to get things totally smooth and ready for the dye.

If you look closely, you'll see glimmers of the shininess I'm talking about.

Man, that figure is going to be intense...

Not at all typical for a fingerboard - normally you see tight, straight grain, but I'm digging the swirl as a feature. It looks this intense with one application of lemon oil...it'll only get better!

Tonight, more sanding...

Gluing up the set neck

Measuring from the nut end of the fretboard to the 12th fret equals 12.5", so I need to set the neck so the distance from the 12th fret to the center of the bridge post holes is also 12.5" to give me a 25" scale length.

The neck is a nice, snug fit so I got it close and then tapped it into position using a hammer and a block of wood to get proper alignment. 25" on the money - that will allow for saddle adjustments either way for intonation.

 

Test fit on the neck and neck pocket.

Properly lined up - now I make a light pencil mark on each side of the neck to make aligning after gluing easier.

Sorry - no picture of spreading the glue -

Just the clamp up...

Let it set overnight and removed the clamps. Me likey...
Next up will be sanding and any necessary surface prep.

Opening the box...

Actually it was already opened, but I thought I'd document the nice packaging job they do...

My first thought was "Uh-oh, UPS strikes again!" But fortunately there was no internal damage. You'll see why shortly.

Important stuff - the instructions...

This packaging was kind of like one of those Russian nesting dolls...packaging inside of packaging.

Nice foam wrap on the body and neck - the foam for the neck is not pictured due to me shredding it getting it open.

Very nice figure on the flame maple veneer - it is not a full cap, just a thin veneer so I'll need to be cautious with my sanding.

Nice headstock design...this is going to be a looker!

Sharp looking flame to the body as well - I wish it had been two-piece, but overall very pleased.

Building a BYOGuitars.com DIY Kit Guitar

Here's where the build starts - might want to bookmark this page - or sign up for updates over there on the right...

Image: BYOGuitar.com Used by Permission