SG Custom BYOG Build

[likea45]

Originally Posted by Aleksander

Hey,
At a time when you threw the pictures, almost everyone had slept sweetly,(at least on this side of Atlantic) so do not worry.
Nice looking guitar

Yeah I was having a thread pity-party thanks for slapping me out of it

Thanks,guys. Lacquer is on in droves. Soon it will be launch time!

[loveboat]

Really nice work! Keep it up!

[likea45]

Thanks man!

[Greenman1976]

Im going to get their LP standard kit and you gave me a great idea to put on the headstock! Great guitar btw its very nice i hope i can come close to you workmanship.

[The Refugee]

I'm waiting

[likea45]

Originally Posted by Greenman1976

Im going to get their LP standard kit and you gave me a great idea to put on the headstock! Great guitar btw its very nice i hope i can come close to you workmanship.

Ok I'm intrigued...what are you gonna do to the head stock?

[Maniack]

Hmm can't see any pictures =/

[likea45]

Originally Posted by Maniack

Hmm can't see any pictures =/

Make sure your browser isn't blocking images. Loading and working fine for me.

[ddroz60lp]

Come on man! Where are we at!?!? Any new pics?

[silverkw]

yeah can't wait to see some new pix!!

[Johan68]

That stinger looks really cool!

Looking forward seeing some more pics!

[likea45]

Soon very.

[ddroz60lp]

I hope it won't be one of those "And here it is, all finished!" threads.This has been really cool to watch. I love these build threads! You have been doing a great job with the build, as well as documenting. Cannot wait for the next pics. Your doing an awesome job!!

[likea45]

So after about 2 weeks of working. The finishing stage is now complete.
The paint coats went on without any issue, however there was some sort of chemical or containment on the wood itself that once lacquer was applied caused it to bubble in some areas. This after a few sandings and multiple wipes with naphtha. I'll be emailing BYOG to see what this might have been but caused some major stress as the finished needed to be taken down completely. She turned out a really nice dark ebony gloss which I am really excited about. This was my second black job and easily the best one to date.

At any rate to the pics.

This is the finished headstock, it went on beautifully and finished with no issues. I highly recommend the crox overlays for any and all projects:





This a shot of the back of the headstock with the 'Phantom' graphic I inserted for the model name. Also visible is the finished stinger:




Here is the back and front of the body fully finished, ABR-1 studs in and bushings wound on:





And last but certainly not least are back and front of the whole thing:





Next comes my favorite part of any build which is wiring her up, getting the tuners and finally stringing it up and giving it's first test drive.

As always more to come soon

[silverkw]

Wow that looks really good!

[ddroz60lp]

Kick ass!!!

[BYOGuitar]

We get the Mahogany in the rough. Plane it down, cut the bodies and sand. There is nothing that was put on the body that wasn't part of the tree. I'm not sure what could have reacted with your paint. We do work with a number of very experienced finishers. I'll ask a few of them and see if they have ever come across it before.

[likea45]

I was told it could actually be contaminants in the wood itself. At any rate it bubbled in certain spots when lacquer was applied. Once the finish was sanded off and re-applied it seemed ok. Just a pain to have to re-do it.

[venijake]

Could I get the name of the company you got the kit from?

[SG Lou]

The body could have easily been contaminated by you handing it.

Did you wipe everything down with a Wax & Grease remover or Naphtha before you started.

[SG Lou]

Originally Posted by venijake

Could I get the name of the company you got the kit from?

BYO Guitars

www.BYOGuitar.com - Build Your Own Guitar - Guitar bodies and kits from BYOGuitar

[Tim91]

Aw These kits are COOL!

[likea45]

Originally Posted by SG Lou

The body could have easily been contaminated by you handing it.

Did you wipe everything down with a Wax & Grease remover or Naphtha before you started.

Originally Posted by likea45

"...The paint coats went on without any issue, however there was some sort of chemical or containment on the wood itself that once lacquer was applied caused it to bubble in some areas. This after a few sandings and multiple wipes with naphtha. I'll be emailing BYOG to see what this might have been but caused some major stress as the finished needed to be taken down completely."

[venijake]

Originally Posted by likea45

I of course ordered some VERY custom items compared to the standard custom shop SG kit they offer.

I'm looking to get one of these and just wondering if I could get exactly what you told them to make custom. I am looking to make an SG and basically want everything yours is... If you could do this that would be very greatly appreciated.

[likea45]

Originally Posted by venijake

I'm looking to get one of these and just wondering if I could get exactly what you told them to make custom. I am looking to make an SG and basically want everything yours is... If you could do this that would be very greatly appreciated.

Call them leave a message and be prepared to wait.
The build is near complete. I'll be emailing BYOG some concerns I have, their decision and response as well as the final outcome of the build will be coming shortly.

[likea45]

After some truly grueling circumstances I was able to get her together and finally complete the build. I would rate this project on a difficulty level of about 7.
1 being a bolt on screw together kit and 10 being cutting down a tree and building a guitar from scratch.

I'm very happy with the end result, it plays like butter. I dare say better than some of my Gibson counter-parts. It will be my main touring axe for a bit so I can break her in, so without further adieu I give you
The Phantom:

With some friends:


It's so shiny I was hard pressed to try and not be seen in the pics:


Her backside is as good as the front:




Front and back Neck:




Not a bad turn around for 3 weeks of work. Sounds as mean as it looks. I'll be doing my final run-down on BYOG and this kit in a later post when I receive a response to some concerns I had about the kit.
If you want my opinion on "Should I order one of these?" wait for that post.

Thanks all for watching

[ddroz60lp]

All I can say is "WOW!" That turned out awesome! I am thinking about taking the plunge when they come out with their Korina Explorer kits. Outstanding job.

[silverkw]

Wow looks great!

[likea45]

My final word on the kit and BYOG:
So I had a few issues with the kit that were mostly little things. Some channels were not routed for the wiring and some sizing was off here and there. I won't get into to much detail but it was some little things that added up to wasted time/money with some QA issues.

I sent them some of my concerns early on and they did offer to fix some of the routes if i was willing to send it back, but with shipping I found it cheaper to have it done by a luthier in my area. the other items I corrected myself.

At any rate, BYOG is top notch, the Kit overall plays like a dream and they went above and beyond my expectations when I sent my "concerned" email with my final list of issues. They also let me know they are experiencing some growing pains and as a result that stuff has sometimes slipped through but that they are making a great effort on their QC before shipping guitars now especially the custom shop pieces.

They could have easily told me where to go but they didn't and for that they've found a repeat customer in me although I need another guitar like a hole in the head

Good kit. Good Company. Don't hesitate. They got my approval.

I scored a 65 SG Special for $200 that I'm about to start a restoration on so that's the next project.

[ddroz60lp]

Nice to hear. How about the fretwork?