Big fat final update... the finish.

What a month... where to start... between weddings and out-of-town gigs, I couldn't really work on this for about 3 weeks. My goal was end of September, and thanks to some luck, it happened on the final day of the month.

First off, I HATE wet sanding. Twice attempted, twice damaged my otherwise perfect finish, twice had to touch-up critical spots and wait a week to dry before attempting again. Ultimately, I got it as close as I could, it's not perfect, but i'm completely satisfied. Buffed it out with some 3M Finesse-it polishing compound, and there's a bottle of 3M Hand Glaze on it's way to me right now that should add the final showroom shine.

Anyhow, here's a shot of the finished body, with the neck attached:

The next step was installing the tremolo studs... i was worried about chipping the paint, since it's a very tight fit, but I got away with it pretty clean. The only problem was that the holes were drilled for 9.5mm, but the studs were 10mm. Since they need to fit tight, I didn't want to use a drill, so I wrapped some 100-grit sandpaper around the end of a pencil and just worked it in there til the studs started to go in. Got them halfway by hand, then used a hammer via woodblock to avoid chipping/splitting.

 






Next comes loading up the pickguard & electronics... wired it up last week on a bored morning. To summarize:

Neck pickup: Duncan Jazz
Middle pickup: Duncan Vintage Strat
Bridge pickup: Duncan JB

5-way switch settings:
Position 1 - neck full
Pos 2 - neck split + middle
Pos 3 - neck split + bridge split
Pos 4 - bridge split + middle
Pos 5 - bridge full

The 3rd pot is wired up as a blender pot, which allows you to blend the full neck into the bridge, and vice versa. Really fun & versatile option, did this on my G&L Legacy and use it constantly.

Popped it on with no trouble, got the tremolo happening, strung it up, and whaddayaknow... the son of a bitch worked! Took some time to tweak the string action, intonation, pickup height, trem springs, etc., and by the end of the night, I had a new favorite guitar. The neck feels perfect in my hand, the tone is fantastic, and I couldn't be happier or prouder of this.

So, in closing, thanks to everyone who helped me out, followed along, etc. I hope you found this blog informative, fun, or just another way to waste time at work. I'm sure i'll be back with another one someday!