Biggest building pain in the butt?

[RLW]

Well, for me, it's the body ferrules. Hour upon hour upon hour with tiny little bits of sandpaper, up and down, around and around, blow of the dust, test fit, yell at the dog because yet more needs to come out, repeat, and then repeat six more times. There has to be a better way.

At any rate, what's the one part of assembling a Warmoth that you dread most?

Rich

 

[David]

I have a sanding bit that goes in my drill that works pretty good.  But I'll agree that they are the biggest pain in the ass.

I still have issues getting solder to stick to pots.

I have only painted one guitar myself, and that was much harder than I expected to get a good gloss finish.  Mine still looks pretty flat.

 

[jackthehack]

On ferrules - get a set of jeweler's diamond rasps/files, you can find them pretty cheap on the net. And use a hammer.

For me, filling mahogany is the biggest pain in the ass...

 

[ildar]

Drilling holes for tuner screws or alignment pins. Can never get them perfectly straight.

 

[Liam]

Drilling screw holes.

First time I drilled for a pick guard (on my old tele), I didn't even think to worry about keeping the drill level. So I started installing the pickguard, and nearly all the screw heads sat at a noticeable angle. Second time (on a j-bass), I used a drill with a level on the back, and only managed to fudge one. My last Warmoth build, I used a drill press whenever possible.

Then there's lining up the tuning machines for marking and drilling. I got lucky last time, since I was able to use a t-square on the machines I got. Pressed firm against the bottom of the machines, they lined right up.

Also, I wanted a tight fit for the parts on my last build, so I drilled a bit smaller than the all the screws I drilled for, and came real close to stripping a lot of those smaller screw heads.

 

[guitlouie]

The hardest thing I have yet had to deal with was getting the bridge grounding wire through from the jack hole to the bridge area on my hollow hardtail strat.  I used a piece of stiff jewelry making wire as a guide, then taped the wire to it and pulled it through, but when I was trying to get that jewelry wire through the first time, it kept going into one of the chambers that make it a hollow strat.  I pushed like a foot of that wire in there and it just kept disappearing.  Finally got it though after much swearing.  As far as the ferrules go, I have taken drill bits that fit very snugly in there and turn them by hand to remove just the smallest amount of finish that had lipped over, and then just a hair of wood.  Worked for me.  But really the biggest pain I have encountered is trying to convince my family that I NEED one more!

 

[RLW]

Drilling holes for tuner screws or alignment pins. Can never get them perfectly straight.

Get a cheap 6 inch metal ruler. Insert the tuners, line them up, shove the ruler against them, and blue-tape the holy living crap out of everything. Over, above, and in between. Blue tape is WAY cheaper than a neck. Flip it front and back and just LOOK at it a while. Once everything looks peachy, grab the (non-electric) drill.

 

[DocNrock]

Gotta tell you guys, get a black and decker variable speed cordless drill.  Costs about $40.  You can control the speed of the bit by the depth of the trigger pull.  I do all my pilot holes with this and feel very much in control.  Slow rotational speed and minimal downward pressure.  I put a tape marker on the bit to let me know when I'm deep enough.

That said, the biggest pain for me is painting the routes with conductive paint...3 coats, and 24 hours between coats.

 

[ocguy106]

Drilling holes for tuner screws or alignment pins. Can never get them perfectly straight.

Get a cheap 6 inch metal ruler. Insert the tuners, line them up, shove the ruler against them, and blue-tape the holy living crap out of everything. Over, above, and in between. Blue tape is WAY cheaper than a neck. Flip it front and back and just LOOK at it a while. Once everything looks peachy, grab the (non-electric) drill.

That doesn't work with Sprezel's. They have a guide pin instead of a set screw. took me about 2 hours and one key is still slightly off but was close enough. As for the string ferrels what I did was ream them out with the appropriate size drill bit just using my hand. Didn't use a drill just used the bit. The front (little ones) I just installed them but the rears I had to use this tecnique. I also did this with the tunning holes for the tunners.

 

[RLW]

>jackthehack wrote...

>On ferrules - get a set of jeweler's diamond rasps/files, you can find them pretty cheap on the net. And use a hammer.

Okay. After several hours of tedium, I'm way past the finish, and into the wood. According to my digital micrometer, I'm still a full 16th of an inch from the ferrules even beginning to fit. I am obviously doing something very wrong.

 

[dbw]

Back ferrules are a pain.  I wouldn't try it on a finished body.  My luthier did them for my on my first Warmoth.

Tuner holes are tough too.

 

[jackthehack]

>jackthehack wrote...

>On ferrules - get a set of jeweler's diamond rasps/files, you can find them pretty cheap on the net. And use a hammer.

Okay. After several hours of tedium, I'm way past the finish, and into the wood. According to my digital micrometer, I'm still a full 16th of an inch from the ferrules even beginning to fit. I am obviously doing something very wrong.

Hammer Time!

 

[DocNrock]

>jackthehack wrote...

>On ferrules - get a set of jeweler's diamond rasps/files, you can find them pretty cheap on the net. And use a hammer.

Okay. After several hours of tedium, I'm way past the finish, and into the wood. According to my digital micrometer, I'm still a full 16th of an inch from the ferrules even beginning to fit. I am obviously doing something very wrong.

Hammer Time!

"You can't touch this"

Seriously, I'm not sure about this, but what you have told me about the ferrules tells me what I am going to do.  I'm going to measure the diameter of the ferrule with my calipers, then find the matching drill bit.  Then drill out the hole with my power drill to the depth of the ferrule.  Am I missing something?

 

[Uff-Da]

I read through posts on this site before I set my ferrules -- and it made it super easy!

Take a soldier iron, heat the ferrule (I use about 20 seconds with my 15 watt iron), pick it up with a pliers, put it in the whole and push it in (I used an allen wrench that is the same size as the ferrule).

The heat melts the paint and seats the ferrule.  If it wasn't hot enough you can stick the iron on the ferrule to heat it up, but you have to be careful to not overheat it or it will burn.

Yes, this is as easy as it sounds.  I never did it before and it worked great.  I let the last ferrule cool before I did the next.

 

[Patrick from Davis]

I have to vote for grain filling.  Ugh.  Just seems like a never ending process.
Patrick

 

[Wana_make_a_guitar]

The biggest assembly's pain

The assembling of money.

 

[RLW]

I have to vote for grain filling.  Ugh.  Just seems like a never ending process.
Patrick

I have a Mahogany Explorer body that's been sitting here for a year and a half since I bought it off Ebay. Got a brand new bucket of Stew-Mac black filler sitting here, too. I can't start because I know that once I begin, there's no going back, and there's no relief on the horizon.

Edit: Oh, all the weathermen today were falling all over themselves with glee, the humidity dropped to 70%.

 

[Volitions Advocate]

3 coats, and 24 hours between coats.

+ 5 billion

I hate waiting for that.  I was too exited on my last build and started assembling after the 2nd coat.

but the biggest part for me was the solder on the back of the pots.  Turned my wiring into a 6 hour ordeal.

 

[Orpheo]

I have to vote for grain filling.  Ugh.  Just seems like a never ending process.
Patrick

I have a Mahogany Explorer body that's been sitting here for a year and a half since I bought it off Ebay. Got a brand new bucket of Stew-Mac black filler sitting here, too. I can't start because I know that once I begin, there's no going back, and there's no relief on the horizon.

Edit: Oh, all the weathermen today were falling all over themselves with glee, the humidity dropped to 70%.

lucky you. here its 70%,with 35 degrees celcius ( i believe 100 degrees fahrenheit; something like that).

o.t.: I think the biggest pain for me is to hammer in the bridge studs. i hate that job.

 

[koshersteel]

Grain Filling, Soldering the back of Pots, Waiting for a finish to cure, and my favorite... not having the right tools for the job although I did manage to make a pretty decent nut with a small hack saw and a jewelers file.