BYOG LP Jr Double Cut kit build - The Other Dog

[megawzrd]

Well some of you may have seen Woodsy's build thread:

 

http://acapella.harmony-central.com/showthread.php?2714761-ordered-a-BYOguitar-LP-Jr-The-Rock-Dog&highlight=byog

 

I ordered the same kit probably a day or two before his but I am only getting around to it. I am still rethinking everything though but I wanted to start the thread.

 

I don't want to go into thorough detail in reviewing the kit as I have pretty much the same observations as he did though I think the frets on mine seem to be seated slightly better.

 

As far as my first impressions: I am surprised the neck made it in one piece. It was floating around pretty freely with only a 1/16" poly styrene wrap for protection. There was a pretty big dent on the back edge of the body but I can live with it because I have plans to route the back edge to a larger radius for comfort. And finally as far as wood matching goes...I thought the 50s goldtop tributes were pretty bad (at least some of the bad ones I have seen including the one I had to return). Wood matching looks pretty atrocious and completely washed my plans for a stain and tru oil finish.

 

Overall I guess it is...you get what you pay for; I do think it is fairly priced for what it is but would I spend 189 on another kit, nope. $150 maybe.

 

 

 

 

Plans:

 

1) I have some golden age soapbars from stew mac for it so I will need to do some routing, I am debating adding the neck pickup only because I am thinking I may not want to dump so much money into this project.

2) I am also thinking about plugging, trimming and re-drilling the headstock to more of a Hamer headstock shape. This one is also an "do I want to invest the time and effort".

3) I have some reservations on the wraparound bridge and don't particularily like the fact the the post holes are not offset so I am wondering how bad the position adjustment screws may need to be used in order to compensate for intonation.

 

Well, back to stewing on some ideas. The garage isn't to inviting in the winter so I expect this will be slow moving thread.

 

Cheers.

[Hubert Stumblin]

I'd say stick with bridge PU only.

 

As far as wraparound bridges go, hows about a Badass?

[StevenJM]

that dent can EASILY be fixed. just take a damp rag and wrap a layer of it around the tip of your soldering iron, and steam it out. almost every unfinished body i've ordered has come with a dent and even some necks, and this trick fixed it every single time.

 

works like a charm.

[megawzrd]

that dent can EASILY be fixed. just take a damp rag and wrap a layer of it around the tip of your soldering iron, and steam it out. almost every unfinished body i've ordered has come with a dent and even some necks, and this trick fixed it every single time. works like a charm.

 

That sounds like a good trick to know. If I wasn't already planning to go to a larger radius on the back of the body then I would probably be heating up my soldering iron right now.

[megawzrd]

 

I'd say stick with bridge PU only. As far as wraparound bridges go, hows about a Badass?

 

 

I have looked around at different bridges not specifically the Badass but I will have to check it out. One thing that is funny on it is a non standard ~3.20" post spacing for the funky bridge (maybe woodsy cans comment). Pretty much just like this one.

 

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Bridges,_tailpieces/Electric_guitar,_non-trem_tailpieces/SG_Junior_Bridge.html

 

So I may just have to bite it and plug it and start from scratch.

If I do that then the possibilities are endless. Tune-o-matic with a Vibrola tailpiece has crossed my mind.

[MahaloVision]

 

that dent can EASILY be fixed. just take a damp rag and wrap a layer of it around the tip of your soldering iron, and steam it out. almost every unfinished body i've ordered has come with a dent and even some necks, and this trick fixed it every single time. works like a charm.

 

 

My first job was in an unpainted furniture store, and we were constantly steaming out dents with a regular flat iron. You can do it with a damp rag, but just a few drops of water on there will work just as well. Don't linger too long, though.

[w00dsy]

cool, good to see you doing a build thread. I see what you mean about the wood not matching as well as mine did, i think mine was borderline for a natural finish. I was fairly determined to have a natural brown Jr so i was probably going to keep it that way unless it was really bad. It's ok but it's not great.

 

Have you considered just swapping the regular soapbar cover for a dogear? I did it with mine just to save the effort of routing, plus having the dogear holes predrilled it meant i had to fill them so i just went with the dogear to save on the hassle. I had grand ideas before i started it, but as the kit was fairly low quality i decided it wasn't worth investing too much money in. I've been treating mine as a basic practice build for doing a better quality one next. I've got no hassle putting time into it, but i don't want to go overboard on parts for it.

 

Looking forward to your updates

[megawzrd]

Yeah I thought about just swapping the dogear cover out or the other way around...i did buy a spare soapbar cover, filling the holes is a simple as a couple of toothpicks and some glue. Anyways, I am with you on the not going overboard on parts for it sentiment but I figure if it doesn't turn out I can always gut it for parts.

 

I'm thinking i will go with the standard tuners, headstock shape, and bridge but I am going to route it for that second p90 so the option is always there. I am gonna have to route a larger control cavity for the possibility though.