Phil's Guitar

After the success of the last guitar, Phil has asked to make him a guitar. This time we went with a different kit that has offered new and exciting challenges. I suggested we upgrade the bridge and neck pickups and switch out the saddles to brass ones. This gives the guitar a vintage sound similar to a Fender Telecaster. The body is made of pauwlonia which is a super light wood. The body was routed but needed all the holes drilled for the hardware and electronics. Once everything was drilled out and soldered the rest of the body went together without a hitch. The neck was a different story.

The tuners for the neck were a lot better then the ones from the saga kit. They bolted on rather then the grommets that the saga had. Only problem was that the holes still were not big enough. I had to drill the holes but I only had one bit big enough and it tore the wood up bad. Although the tuners cover most of the chips, there were a few that extended beyond the metal that I needed to fill with wood filler. The next step was to cut the headstock. I got to break in my new skill saw to cut the shape out. I used my dremel to sand down the troubled areas and hand sanded the finishing touches. Overall I am extremely happy with the end result and can't wait til tomorrow to paint the name on it and clear coat it.

I assembled the whole guitar and played it for the day. It sounded absolutely amazing and better then the first guitar.  Since then, I have disassembled the guitar, sanded, and primed the body. The body is raw wood and needed to be sealed extensively to hide the wood grain. I'm looking forward to applying the top coats tomorrow depending on the weather.  

Along with Phil's project, I am also working on a Fender Strat body, customizing the headstock to my Fender, and swapping out the saddles on the Drift guitar. I hope to have the Drift guitar on Ebay by the weekend!

Image area is being completely carved out and then painted. The image wraps completely around body to the back. I'm not sure about the color. This is the color it came in and it's too bright. Any suggestions for changing it? I was thinking about going to another textured pattern with the remaining metallic blue I have or maybe a darker green or even black. Let me know what you think.