My GFS Kit

[w666]

I found my way to this forum because I wanted to build a Les Paul style guitar. Although I have built several Fender style guitars, I have never attempted anything with a set neck. So I thought I would start with a kit, and, since I thought there was an equally good chance that I would screw it up, I chose the cheapest kit I could find (in hindsight, that may have been a mistake, because "you get what you pay for" as the old saying goes.....).

This is what I ended up with.....

[w666]

And this is what I started with......

[C Squared]

Welcome to the forum!!

Nice color. What did you think about the overall quality and fit of your kit? How does she sounds and play now that's she's together?

[w666]

I got it on eBay. It looks like a Saga kit, but it turns out to be from GFS. The main difference, I was told, is that the GFS wood is completely without finish of any kind, whereas the Saga kits are "sealed" with some space age polymer that requires months of sanding to remove. (Note to self....I should have paid more attention to this concept, because it turns out that the GFS body had small repairs made with the same mystery substance).

Material:

The body is claimed to be Alder, but it's as light and soft as basswood. There are at least 4 pieces in the back, so I quickly decided on an opaque finish.

The top is claimed to solid maple, with a flame maple veneer. This seems to be more or less true.

The neck is claimed to be maple, and I guess it is likely from some Chinese tree remotely related to what we know as maple. But again, this wood was softer and lighter than any I have ever seen (I needed to find similar stock for headstock wings and neck joint shims).

[w666]

The next step was to discard nearly all of the parts included with the kit. The plastic is some sickly shade of yellow unlike anything I had ever seen before (at least until I ordered replacement cavity covers on eBay, and surprise.....the same stuff arrived!)

I kept the pickups, tuners, tailpiece and bridge. (I didn't want to invest in nice ones until I knew the outcome of the build). As it turns out, the pickups aren't all that bad.....but more on that later

[w666]

The next thing to do was to cancel the gruesome headstock shape, and create something more familiar. I sawed off the sides and then glued on some wings. I cut maple plugs for the tuner holes (which were the wrong size, and in the wrong place). And then I cut out a new shape, and sanded.

[w666]

Finally, I applied a thin sheet of veneer, and painted it black.

[w666]

If I had known at the time I would be creating this thread, I surely would have taken more pictures. So for some of these steps, you're just going to have to use your imagination

Let's talk about the neck. First of all, the neck joint was cut very loose and sloppy. There was at least 1/8" of slop in every direction, and there wasn't a 90 deg angle to be found anywhere on the mortise or tenon. Now here's the interesting part (I wish I had a picture). The tenon was cut on only one side (treble side) of the neck. The heel of the neck on the bass side went straight up to the fingerboard binding. So the placement and alignment of the neck was dependent on this angle and location of the body mortise, with no room for error. The final joint would be visible, and not hidden under the fingerboard. (This is where the "you get what you pay for" mantra started to loop in the background).

[w666]

Soooooo, I sharpened up some chisels and got to work. I squared the heel of the neck on the bass side, and then fit it to the corresponding side of the mortise. I found the center line of the body (and yes, you guessed it...it was no where near the center line indicated by the veneer joint), and then used a string to get the neck lined up right.

Next I focused on the neck angle, removing material from the bottom of the mortise and the neck as required. I used my string, and couple of wooden yard sticks to get the right neck angle relative to the pickups and bridge.

Finally, I measured up the huge gap that remained on the treble side of the tenon (and thankfully covered up by the fingerboard) and laminated a new piece of maple to fit. Now everything was nice and snug, ready for glue up.

[w666]

Well that was fun, and I may have actually learned a thing or two in the process. But this work alone cost me ~ 4 hours of effort. I hope the next kit I buy has better workmanship

[w666]

Ah....I found a picture that sorta shows the tenon....

[w666]

The fingerboard is some kind of tropical hardwood, but rosewood it ain't. It's very pale. Later we'l try and darken it, but for now, let's check out the frets. I knocked off the nut and laid a straight edge across the length. Hmmm, not good. A 1/4 turn on the truss rod, and then find something else to do 'til tomorrow. And another 1/4 turn, and then another. Finally the neck is flat enough to think about leveling the frets.

I don't have all the cool expensive tools that Stew Mac sells. But I do have a very nice 24" level with machine faces. So I attach some 320 sandpaper with double sided tape and use this for leveling. On ether necks I've done, it generally takes just a few short passes to get all the frets just so, and then little or no crowning afterward. Not so this time.

It turns out that there were two frets that were much higher than the others, and I had to remove more material than I thought, and I was left with some very flat frets! And then some serious re-crowning ("you get what you pay for...."). In hindsight I should have just ripped them all out and installed new wire.

[w666]

I had some ebony stain laying around, so I tried some to get the right color on the fretboard (too black). I added some rosewood stain on top (too red). Finally, a couple coats of lemon oil, and accepted what I had.

[StrangerNY]

You definitely made a silk purse out of a sow's ear with that one!

It looks great! How does it play?

Oh, and welcome to the forum!

- D

[w666]

BTW....the stain does a great job of darkening the binding and perloid inlays, creating more time consuming rework

[w666]

OK....now we can glue up the neck....

[C Squared]

in reference to the wood, I remember Guitar Fetish site having something up about paulownia wood. Supposed to look like ash and be very light weight.

[w666]

I obsessed for days over the great glue dilemma.....Hide Glue or Titebond. I read well reasoned postings about how the crystalline structure of hide glue enables resonance to pass from the neck to the body, blah, blah, blah. I looked at pictures of Les Paul's that had been band sawed in half to reveal the glue joint (OMG....here I am slaving away over this POS kit so I can have my own Les Paul while someone else is band sawing them in half just to see what's inside!). And countless other well reasoned and documented opinions on the matter.

About the only constant information to gleaned from my research was to use a glue that I or subsequent luthiers would be able to remove. So at the end of the day I chose Titebond (original, not Titebond II) to avoid the hassle, expense and learning curve of hide glue. Seems to have been an OK decision. The guitar sustains all day long! You can ask me about glue joint creep in a few years, if I still care.

[w666]

One of the things I've learned from other builds is to assemble and test before the finishing takes place....just in case it turns out I have more wood working to do. This build proves to be no exception.

Next step is to locate the bridge and tailpiece and then string her up! (one of those rare moments of potentially instant gratification).

But you'll have to wait until tomorrow.......

[theodoropoulos]

using epoxy for glueing the neck is wrong?please,tell me your opinion

[w666]

Dude, what time is it in Greece (it must be tomorrow already....no wonder I'm sleepy!).

I don't know if using epoxy is "wrong"....but you'll surely never be able to remove the neck again

Originally Posted by theodoropoulos

using epoxy for glueing the neck is wrong?please,tell me your opinion

[theodoropoulos]

haha,i am on my work (08:55) and surfing in net....
as far as sustain concerns?

[w666]

The sustain is great....seems to be no problem. But I think that's because I have very good wood to wood contact in a tight joint. I saw another post (I think on this board) where the manufacturer just filled the sloppy mortise with glue (like 1/4" think), and of course this glue did a great job of absorbing any vibration.

I think (and I'm sure there are others who will disagree) that with a properly constructed joint that the acoustical difference between the glues is "esoteric".

Originally Posted by theodoropoulos

haha,i am on my work (08:55) and surfing in net....
as far as sustain concerns?

[w666]

I found a picture that describes the neck tenon problem....



See how the edge on the bass side became critical, because the tenon is cut only on the treble side? I don't know what they were thinking, but apparently they're all this way.

(BTW, this is also a good shot of the crappy seemingly freehand pickup route).

[bfcg]

I would have asked if that was a BullDog kit by the looks of it.
If that neck is some kind of soft Chinese maple looking wood, you might have big problems with it being almost flatsawn.
What you saved in cash will be paid in sweat and I hope not a lot of greif in the end.
You will certainly learn a lot either way though.
Good Luck.

[w666]

Nah, I think the Bulldog kit is way nicer than this. And I regard the "sweat" as "tuition".

I am a little worried about what the neck will do after it has string tension on it. It's been a few weeks so far, and all is well. I'll report back on this point in a couple of months.

Originally Posted by bfcg

I would have asked if that was a BullDog kit by the looks of it.
If that neck is some kind of soft Chinese maple looking wood, you might have big problems with it being almost flatsawn.
What you saved in cash will be paid in sweat and I hope not a lot of greif in the end.
You will certainly learn a lot either way though.
Good Luck.

[bossman302]

Nice work w666. I also put one of these kits together and know what you mean about, you get what you pay for. My neck was so bowed that I have tighten the truss as far as it will go but still can't get the neck straight. In the end I made it all work and sound pretty good and plays nice. Can't wait to see more of your build.

[Natedogg]

Very well done...i have a saga bolt on kit that i have refinished twice now because i cant keep my hands off of it, the gfs kits are superior because of the set neck, i hope yours holds on for life. After my builds i figure its better to find a budget set neck guitar and mod it out, but thats a dicussion for later..

[w666]

OK, so now the last words on the neck joint......

After all of the attention paid to the critical surfaces on the bass side, I wound up with a pretty bizarre looking joint on the treble side:



Hmmmm, this doesn't look right. A quick trip to Guitar Center to examine some other instruments quickly confirms my suspicion.

Ah, nice....another chance to practice my chisel skills. But first I had to carefully peel back the binding (god knows where I'd ever find a piece to match) and secure it out of the way. (I wound up slicing off a hunk and removing it. The resulting seam is unnoticeable on the finished guitar). Using a chisel and sanding drum I repaired the joint where the neck meets the body at the cut away. Then I re-cut the groove for the binding (by hand, with an exacto knife and chisel), and finally re-glued the binding piece I had earlier removed.

Here's the result:

[w666]

I left a message on your profile page.

Originally Posted by Natedogg

Very well done...i have a saga bolt on kit that i have refinished twice now because i cant keep my hands off of it, the gfs kits are superior because of the set neck, i hope yours holds on for life. After my builds i figure its better to find a budget set neck guitar and mod it out, but thats a dicussion for later..