Guitar kit parts

10 September 2019

This chord CAL-K1 self-build guitar kit is quite comprehensive, and contains all the wood, hardware and electrical components required. Assembly is fairly straightforward, and the build time largely depends on how long is spent preparing the body to meet personal tastes.

The first decision therefore concerned the type of finish to apply to the body. Some of these could be quite specialised, and given my skills I opted for a Danish Oil finish. This involves alternately applying the oil with a lint-free cloth and rubbing down with 1200 grit wet and dry abrasive paper. This process must continue until the desired finish is reached - I'm currently treating the rear body surface and will extend elsewhere when satisfied.

The constituents of Danish Oil vary with supplier, and mine is a blend of pure tung oil and other natural oils.

Tung oil, or China wood oil, is a drying oil obtained by pressing the seed from the nut of the tung tree. All of these natural oils suggest a harmless end-product; however it has a very high VOC content, which contributes to air pollution and is not pleasant to inhale. The oil should therefore be applied only in a well-ventilated area, which is not so easy in the dining room as winter approaches. Despite all of this, the can states that it is safe for toys - presumably after it is thoroughly dried out.

3 October 2019

The idea to apply the oil with fine abrasive paper is a popular approach, but it failed to provide the required standard of finish. This was partly due to my habit of applying finishes too liberally and having to remediate the inevitable runs and blemishes.

Research on the Internet showed a huge variety of approaches from seasoned practitioners, but fortunately I found a reliable source of practical information close to hand.

Ben Crowe of Crimson Guitars is a local luthier who I first met at a Henstridge farm stall about 10 years ago. He subsequently moved just over the County line to Stalbridge, where he ran a most appealing vintage tool shop (where I bought the antique wrench featured on the menu page). Ben maintains a YouTube channel showing how he creates electric guitars from scratch. Although Ben builds high-end instruments he provides down to earth advice on the techniques he uses.

After reviewing Ben's videos the decision was made to dilute the Danish Oil and to apply it with Liberon 0000 Ultra fine Steel Wire Wool. Rather rashly maybe, I diluted the oil with some quite old Wilco brush thinners, which thankfully rose to the challenge.

(Interestingly Ben professes to abhor steel wool, but he uses it partly because he has a large stock of it and also because, annoyingly for him, it works!)

27 June 2020

21 July 2020

15 September 2020

16 September 2020

18 September 2020

Repeated sessions applying and rubbing down successive layers of Danish Oil eventually led to an attractive finish. The question was then whether to apply any final coating. One suggestion was to apply some coats of Teak Oil, the idea being to provide a more interesting darker patina. However this just showed my ignorance, as Teak Oil is used for treating Teak and not for giving wood a darker Teak-like finish. A better approach was to apply Renaissance Wax, a product heartily endorsed by Ben Crowe.

3 October 2020

Have acquired a small tin of the much praised Renaissance Wax.

This micro-crystalline wax was apparently developed by Dr Werner of the British Museum in the 1950s and is widely used by museums around the world to polish and protect artefacts. Ben Crowe is also an ardent supporter, waxing lyrical despite his aversion to its petrochemical lineage.

4 October 2020

The initial application of wax was not successful, leaving a rather smeary finish. However by warming the tin in hot water beforehand the wax became less crystalline and more easily applied.

Now that waxing is complete and the weather is getting cooler, the guitar has been brought back indoors for final assembly.

The first stage is to fit the tuning machine-heads to the headstock, fit the two string trees and then fit the neck to the body. This latter stage appeared to be tricky, due to the tightness of the fit. However when perfectly aligned the neck fit snugly.

The machine heads were actually more problematic, as two of the pilot drill holes did not line up correctly. New holes had to be created with my Dremel drill.

5 October 2020

The scratch plate and associated electrics are now connected and screwed on, as is the jack socket.

9 October 2020

The kit has been largely successful, although a number of minor issues were encountered.

The instructions are sometimes ambiguous and not helped by the poor quality visuals. Have since found full colour instructions online, which would have been helpful earlier! It has sometimes taken a while to work out which screws to use, as these are not identified. Also some wiring changes were not reflected in the instructions, and this had to be worked out.

Overall however the kit is of a reasonable quality for the cost.

10 October 2020

Happy Birthday Ruth!

Further accessories have now been acquired: A strap.

A Snark chromatic tuner. This clips onto the head stock and allows even a tone deaf operator to tune each string accurately. The display on the Snark tuner indicates the note that you are playing, detected from vibrations through the neck. The bars on the left in red show if the note is flat, and the yellow bars sharp. The instructions state that the green bar in the centre should show if the string is in tune, but for some reason this displays as blue on my device, and stranger still the yellow bars display as green when filmed on a mobile.

A small 10 Watt amplifier from Gear4music, which has a headphone jack should Linda ever find music practice distracting.

11 October 2020

The initial stringing followed the procedure in the kit - 'ensure the string sits smoothly over its saddle and keep taut whilst winding a couple of turns on the relevant tuner, then thread through the string post and bend the string back on itself to anchor it in place'.

This led to a rather messy headstock, as illustrated, and for some reason the top E string snapped later on when actually releasing tension.

A search on the Net showed an alternative approach, threading the string through the tuning post when slightly slack, bending the string back and then tightening up before trimming off the end.

Further browsing showed that there is a huge variety of guitar string types and manufacturers, all a bit bewildering for the beginner. Eventually a light gauge set was acquired, which apparently is easier for novices to master as they require less effort to press down and thereby help to prevent muscle soreness or repetitive strain injury. We'll see!