P / L-1000 kit bitsa build

[80Hz]

A few months ago I moved to a house with a cellar, so I finally have a space where I can use some tools that's not a) my work desk, or b) the kitchen 😆

 

This gives me an opportunity to try some of those DIY things I've always wanted to have a go at, and I decided to start with learning to prep and oil finish a guitar body. I figured a good way would be to get a cheapy body to mess around with and worst case it's firewood.

 

Gear4Music had a sale on natural precision bodies for about £35, so I bought one - keeping my expectations low!

 

Although listed as "finished" I assumed it would be finish sanded or some kind of light sealer coat for that money, anyway turns out it's got a poly coat 😳 In case anyone has looked at these, I can say that nothing looks like it lines up, the blank was cut at an angle, and it may be an optical illusion but I don't think the neck pocket and pickup route are on the same plane!! Still, it was £35. And it's not a bad colour.

 

I have no desire to sand off the poly but I'm keeping the body to try out another idea:

 

For a while I've been thinking about a cheap hybrid Fender/G&L bitsa. There's something about trying to cross-pollinate the two that appeals. I snagged some MFD humbuckers recently so this seems like a good opportunity. Basically I want to try L-1000 electronics in a P body, implementing the parallel/single coil/OMG switching. A poor man's Wunkay, if you like. I have two MFDs so I could try a different arrangement if I felt more ambitious - perhaps add a bridge bucker in the L-1500 (i.e. roughly Stingray) position, rather than the conventional J position in the L-2000.

 

To source a neck I may just buy a Harley Benton P kit. That would give me another body I can have a swing at an oil finish, and also attempt to carve an early 80s G&L headstock 🙂 These fellas on YouTube make it look so easy 🫣

 

I was measuring string spacing on the MFD today and as best as I can tell the poles are 23/32 apart (18.25mm), so 2" 5/32 from E to G. So something to ponder will be an inexpensive 18mm spaced bridge. (I think a genuine Saddle Lock bridge is out of scope for this budget!!) Or maybe it will be okay to fudge it with a standard 19mm bridge. 

 

Anyway, this is probably a bad idea for reasons I have yet to realise, but we'll see.. what have I missed? Why will this be doomed? Experienced builders please look away now!

Edited January 15 by 80Hz
Changed title

[BassApprentice]

Looks a great starting point - for me I'd go for a L-1000 route. Whilst you have 2 pickups, you can still pickup an Tribute L-2000, so you'd be building a budget L-1000 which you cant get.

And if you want to offload that spare pickup - I might be interested 😂

Edited Friday at 11:58 by BassApprentice

[80Hz]

37 minutes ago, BassApprentice said:

for me I'd go for a L-1000 route

 

Yes that's the plan. Re-route for the L-1000 position. I'm new to wood working, but I think I can knock together a routing template. It shouldn't be too difficult to calculate the edge radius of the MFDs and get it neat (he says, with confidence 😆).

 

I'm hoping to share info and measurements as I go, as there doesn't seem to be a lot out there.

 

Let's see how far I get and I'll let you know if the spare MFD is up for sale 😀

 

 

[ChrisLovatt]

Im interested in doing this exact thing, ill definitely keep tabs on this. 

One thing to keep in mind is the fretboard radius of whatever neck you get. Unless the pole pieces are height adjustable, in which case ignore me