benh

Unfortunately no to the dog pic 😂 cheers. Sticking with JJ for now but certainly room to experiment in the future! Thanks - the more I look at it the more I like the single big cover. Piece of cake to make too, although I had to make the top out of 3 separate pieces of oak. Looking forward to seeing the singlecut come to life!

Things sent to test us - rather stupidly I left it perched between two chairs while I went to find some string to finalise the bridge placement. The dog then knocked it off 🤦🏻‍♂️ leaving a large, unsightly - and most importantly unsaveable - gouge between the pickups. My own fault really. Couldn't bring myself to take a picture! Ummed and ahhed about letting in a piece of contrasting wood and making a feature out of it, in the end I knocked up another pickup cover to cover both routes, and routed the cavity for it - rather happy with the outcome!

Bit of a slow burn due to other commitments, but getting there now! All fretwork done, just the last of the wiring and hardware to fit.

Just read back through this thread @mhoss32 - still boggles my mind how good it turned out!

+1. I've had excellent service from the Wood Veneer Hub every time I've used them

Thank you! Yeah I do love the Osmo Polyx oil. The joy of it is, you can get away with just a few coats, so it feels "closer to the wood" than many other finishes, if that makes sense. Any oil will though. Osmo doesn't play as nicely over previous coatings/oil etc as other finishes however. Most of my experience with finishing is with household woodwork/furniture (ex painter and decorator, but done lots of refinishing work) so I'm sure some others on here will be able to give you better information regarding instrument finishing. I think @Andyjr1515 has done a fair bit with Osmo on guitars/basses? (He'll get sick of me tagging him in posts soon 😂) So long as any previous finish is removed, and a good wipe over with meths to remove oils etc, I think Osmo Polyx would do the trick - a teeny 125ml pot would be more than enough.

Coat of the thin Osmo on the body to show up any scratches, rather looking forward to this being fully finished

I've used M4 on both my builds, perfectly suitable so far - I believe @Andyjr1515 uses M4 bolts and inserts too if I remember one of the build threads correctly

Second, and possibly last, coat of Osmo on the neck!

Without the scratchplate + with matching headstock is my vote, looks great so far!

Not bad for a first attempt at a decal I think!

First 2 thinned coats of varnish on the headstock - this is mainly to seal the wood prior to applying the decal. Will drill the tuner holes when this is dry - it'll be getting rattle can satin lacquer over the top of the decal once applied. The rest of the neck and body will be finished with Osmo - 2 coats of the thin 1101 Osmo, applied with 800 grit wet and dry, followed by a single coat of 3032 satin. Hopefully this will look OK - I've finished solid wood doors using this method in the past and it always looked and felt better than just the 3032. Fingers crossed! Loads of sanding to do first though.

Not much progress recently, but the body is much closer now (including both pickup covers), tiny bit of routing for truss rod access then will be ready for the dreaded task of sanding and finishing. Oh, and side dots done too!

Thank you! The block inlays and neck carve have definitely been my favourite parts of the build so far. Just keeping my fingers crossed it sounds good! I feel like I've avoided lots of the mistakes I made the first time already, so that's a plus.

Had a bit of a break with this due to life in general/family/work/uni, but got the rasps and files out this afternoon for a spot of neck carving.

A semi hollow would be cool, reckon that pallet wood would look great as a top - very "rustic" (in a good way!)

I watched that too, bog oak does look great. Tempted to stain these covers black (not the fretboard though!)

Gotta love an @Andyjr1515 build thread. Always lots to learn!

Decided to make some wooden pickup covers. In various stages of completion!

Getting there!

Love it! Bet your son will be over the moon 🙂

Absolutely no idea if I'm doing this the correct way, but binding and block inlays done before I attach it to the neck. Note to self: remember to put the truss rod in before I glue the fretboard on...

Couldn't resist!