Jackson-Style Flying V: Poly and Shielding

The Jackson-Style Flying V was my first kit; a project that was not only a learning experience, and one that produced a great guitar, but which cemented new love for guitar building. All those months ago, in those naive early days of my burgeoning new hobby, my knowledge on the subjects of finishing, electronics, and many other aspects of the luthier's craft was sadly wanting. Consequently, there are a few things about the build that, with hindsight, I could have done a good deal better. Whilst the guitar came out remarkably well given my lack of knowledge and wood working skills, there were 3 key areas in which the guitar could have been improved.

The first was in the finish itself. I used Behlen vinyl sealer and nitro lacquer to apply clear coats over the automotive acrylic colour coats. Whilst this is not in and of itself a bad idea, my execution was found wanting. The clear coats were very thin and after sanding through a couple of times, I was too timid at the end of the day to polish them properly to give the mirror finish the paint job deserved.

Secondly, although the electrics were all professionally wired and soldered (I can at least wield a soldering iron with some confidence) the wiring was not properly grounded to the bridge and there was no shielding at all in any of the cavities. In my naivety I tried to solder the ground wire to a bridge post (which I eventually suceeded in doing) but the act of hammering in the post cut the wire. As far as shielding was concerned, I didnt even realize such a thing was done, let alone how important it was for noise elimination. Despite the noise introduced by the combination of these two factors, the Entwistle Dark Star pickups really sounded excellent. But alas the noise was there buzzing away in the quiet moments.

Lastly, although the action straight out of the box was impressively low and comfortable, I did not perform a fret level and re-crown on the neck. In addition, the neck was badly in need of a shim as the tune-o-matic bridge had already been reduced to its lowest setting leaving no room for fine tuning.

And so, desiring one of my beloved guitars to play and sound even better, I thought it high time that the Jackson-style V went back on the bench and receive the finishing touches that it so richly deserved.

First came the poly. Using minwax wipe-on poly, I applied around 15 coats, wet sanding every 2 coats with incrementally decreasing grit sizes: 1200, 1500 and 2000. The body now has a nice thick build up of clear on it, and the sparkle in the metallic auto paint is dazzling. After the wet sanding I went on to the polishing compounds, with Stewmac Medium, Fine and Swirl Remover called in to apply the final touches. The V now has a lovely mirror finish!

Second came the shielding. I used copper foil with conductive adhesive to coat both the pickup and control cavities. Even the plastic control cavity cover got the treatment (this is important if you want to create a complete Faraday cage around the controls). The shielding in each cavity was soldered to the next using joining wires, and the wire from the bridge post was correctly inserted (with vertically hanging bare wires this time) and the connection duly tested with a multi-meter.

The next step for this bad boy will be the re-wiring of the pickups and controls, as I had to completely un-solder all the components to remove them for shielding. After the body has been completely re-assembled and re-wired, the frets can be levelled and this baby can sing again. Stay tuned for the next instalment! I may even make a bone nut if I'm feeling particularly enthusiastic. Yes, I think I will. That's something else I've had experience with since moving on to other building projects and the V could definitely benefit from it.

Jackson-Style Flying V - My First Guitar Kit

I finally completed my first guitar kit build this week. I'm no woodworker or luthier. Hell, I'm not even that good with a hand-drill, but this was a great experience (and relatively simple to complete) and I encourage anyone who is contemplating putting a kit together to give it a go. Guitar kits start cheap (in Australia you can source them from Pitbull Guitars or DIYGuitars) and everything you need except for sandpaper, paint, and lacquer is supplied.

The Kit

The kit was a solid basswood kit sold on eBay and shipped in two pieces with a bolt-on neck from Guitar Kit Emporium Australia. As the kit was a present from my brother, I can't tell you what it cost. However, I've seen identical kits with basswood bodies at Pitbull Guitars and DIYGuitars, so check those guys out to get an idea.

The style of guitar is a Jackson Flying V -  not the larger Gibson V - but smaller and elegant in its own way. The electronics did not come pre-soldered, but the holes for bridge and stop bar were pre-drilled as were the holes for the bolt-on neck. The kit was routed for humbuckers and came with volume and tone pots, and a 3-way switch. The headstock came un-shaped, and some effort with a jig-saw was required to get some kind of reasonable look to the thing. I didn't waste too much energy trying to think of something cool, but here's how it turned out.

With my limited woodworking skills this could have been a disaster (and almost was), but I ended up with an OK (but not very metal!) looking shape in the end.

Sanding, Filling and Inlay

The body was sanded from 260 through 360 and 400 to 600 grit. The pores were then filled with a Timbermate slurry, rubbed in with a cotton cloth and then squeegeed off. After allowing the filler to dry completely, I lightly sanded with 600 grit paper until only the pores were filled. After filling, I drilled and set inlay for the headstock and body of the guitar using a jig and router bits purchased from Blues Creek Guitars. The inlay jig works very nicely indeed and, if handled by a professional (ahem), would have allowed for effortless inlay insertion.

As it was, I did a very average job and there were quite sizable gaps between the inlay and the surrounding wood. Not to worry - these gaps were filled with 30 minute epoxy coloured with a little black Colortone dye from Stewmac. I ended up adding Maltese Cross inlays to the headstock and the body. Setting these inlays was the start of my masking woes. The moral: Never go too hard too soon! I should have been satisfied with the simple kit and saved more complicated finishing techniques for my next projects.

Painting

After my final sanding with 600 grit, it was time to get the colour on. I went with a simple black metallic paint and gunmetal grey stripes running down the centre. This was 'Power Plus' touch up paint purchased from my local Supercheap Auto store. Simple yet effective. I still like the look every time I glance at the finished guitar. The simplest finishing (if not the most original) ideas are often the best!

The problem, of course, was what to do about the inlays now that they were epoxied in. In the end I bought a frisket sheet, stuck it down over each inlay and cut around them to mask them off. Not as easy as it sounds as the process of cutting the frisket with an Exacto blade invariably left slight marks along the edge of the inlay in the epoxy. Another lesson learned. Also, I put too many layers of paint on in the beginning (4 all up when you include primer and colour) and this made removing the frisket all but impossible without damaging/ripping/gouging the paint in one way or another. Suffice to say it took me several attempts at masking and painting before I got a satisfactory paint edge around, but not covering, each inlay. Never again!

Sealer and Lacquer

With the whole inlay + painting ordeal, at least I was through the most stressful part of the finishing process right? Wrong. Now the application of the clear coats started in earnest and unfortunately that too would prove to be a real challenge. I decided to use Nitrocellulose lacquer in rattle cans from Behlen. It's great stuff - easy to apply and providing an even finish with little fuss. I also used the Behlen vinyl sealer that is recommended for use with this lacquer. I sprayed one whole can of the sealer onto the body and neck and then assumed (quite stupidly) that this would be enough to support some wet sanding to flatten the surface prior to adding lacquer. I was wrong (!) and proceeded to sand-through within 10 minutes of starting to wet sand with 800 grit.

It was back to the paint cans for the third time to repair the damage and start clear coating again. The moral of this part of the story is that you will need 3 times as much sealer and nitro lacquer as you think you need (if you are a first timer that is) so once you think you've finished - keep spraying!

In the end I got 1 can of sealer and 2 cans of nitrocellulose lacquer on the guitar before I was kind of satisfied with the look. I could have probably used 4 cans of lacquer, but 2 was all I had. The finish I ended up with is a little too thin I think and may not stand up to day-to-day usage. Given my experiences with sanding though I didn't event try to polish the lacquer and the end result is a kind of semi-gloss. It still looks pretty darn good however with the metallic black colour underneath.

Pickups

The kit came with two generic, white, uncovered humbuckers in plastic mounting rings. After all the effort I had gone to to get the guitar finished to this stage, I wanted something a little better (but not too expensive) to power it. I had heard great things about Alan Entwistle's pickups and decided to give a set of the Entwistle Dark Stars a go. I chose these as the guitar has a metal vibe (it's a V right?) and I thought they would be in keeping with the look of the thing.

Anyway, I found a pair of zebra Dark Stars on eBay in a cream ring mount. I liked the contrast they would bring to the simple black and grey guitar top. Black pickups and rings would have been ok too, but to my eye the cream looks even better. Long story short, the Entwistle pickups sound awesome. As good as any other pickup in my collection, especially for that heavy rock lead and rhythm sound. Amazing for the price, and I recommend Alan's product to anyone in the market for a great sound.

Wiring and Hardware

With the pickups chosen and in my hot little hands, it was time to wire this bad boy up and fit all the remaining chrome hardware. With the Entwistle pickups providing  wires for coil splitting, I decided to add a micro-switch to the setup to tap the single coils of each humbucker when desired. The 3-way switch remains to select between each or both of the pickups, whether in humbucking or tapped single coil mode. The bridge earthing wire gave me some trouble as the wire was cut as I hammered in the post, but i managed to get the wire attached in the end. The setup is generating the faintest hum, but I think maybe that is because i haven't insulated the pickup or control cavity. It's something to think about in the future when I have a spare second.

 

Anyway, that's the build. I'm very happy with how the guitar has turned out. It looks great, plays great (even without a decent setup), and most importantly of all - with the Entwistle pickups it sounds great. I couldn't be happier with it, and I haven't put it down since i tightened up that last screw.