koa soloist project

[mejoshee]

hey all. as promised, i'm starting a thread on the koa soloist.

here's the body i found on ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120362997333&ssPageName=ADME:X:AAQ:US:1123#ebayphotohosting

would you say that looks like 5a flame  ? i think it looks better on the back than the top. do you think i got a good deal? we'll see when it gets here. since the guy shipped it from singapore, it'll probably be another week at least (already been 1). as you can see, it's already got the neck plate and screws, as well as wilkinson bridge, claw, etc. saves me $$ on that part, even though i'd probably put a wilkinson in it anyway. it's not recessed, but hopefully i can live with that.

i ordered a neck from the showcase. warmoth white korina/brazilian rw fingerboard. figure wasn't really prominent on the fingerboard that i recall, but i'll post pics later since it's coming via ups today. also going for all-chrome hardware to match the wilkinson. i should've gone with gold instead, but i'll probably end up selling this so i'll leave that up to the next owner  :icon_tongue: also ordered locking schaller mini-tuners, and some other junk. i need to get a superswitch and a push-pull pot still.

i'm going to take my time on this project. i don't have to finish it, but it looks like i should try to re-oil it or something. what do you guys think? can i tru-oil a korina neck, or will that be weird? i could also just leave it raw, right, or does it need to be sealed?

electronics will be air norton s/area '58/steve's special. the idea is that the area 58 can help to give it a more traditional strat sound--however possible that may be with a koa body.

as i said on the other post about soloist woods, i was going to just "practice" on this build. i don't need to do any finishing work and the main ordering process was already taken care of. all said, i did the numbers and i can put this thing together for under $950 usd including the body, hardware etc. depending on whether or not i go through the trouble of doing anything beyond simply assembling it and setting it up. so it's not a ground up build...it's like 50% there already.

any thoughts friends? anyone interested in buying it at this point?  :icon_biggrin:

 

[exalted]

Yeah, I think you got a pretty good deal. My body is costing me about $550. So $330, bridge included is pretty decent if you like the look of it.

Myself, meh. Maybe I'm not a fan of Koa, but that doesn't look very appealing to me. But hey, pay no mind to the guy waiting on his candy tangerine Jazzmaster.  :icon_thumright:

 

[sekt88]

I wathced that body for a while. It took a long time to go. Maybe they lowered the bar, but it doesn´t look like 5A me where as this in does:

http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=6374.0

have fun none the less, it is still a nice body.

 

[exalted]

Maybe they lowered the bar, but it doesn´t look like 5A me where as this in does:

http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=6374.0

Yeah, that looks much 'nicer'. Still not my thing, though.

 

[blimpo]

Decent deal.

I'd strip it and begin working. You'll have hours of fun with it.

Post pics when you've made it to suit you..

 

[mejoshee]

i agree about the koa. rare wood. very nice when it's figured, but to me i see it more as furniture material than playable tone monster lol  :icon_tongue: but that's what i grew up looking at. either way, there's no way that was 5a, but who cares that much? it's still got some figure and the fact that it could potentially still be about $500 or so for just the body at even the lower grades means it's fine by me.

do i really need to strip it? i'm really lazy and have little time to work on this at any given time.  :sad1:

 

[jackthehack]

That looks like it was shot with nitro lacquer without being filled and properly wet-sanded/polished after the lacquer cured. You could just leave it as is or try polishing/buffing it out better if you don't feel like stripping it/refinishing.

 

[blimpo]

I have the time so that puts us in a different spot.

In doing mine, I've found that with filling and such, not much time is involved.

Most of the time is spent sitting around waiting for something to dry.

 

[mejoshee]

alright, here it is friends. neck + hardware came in monday, body came in yesterday. so, i don't know about it being 5a, but it's definitely a 3a. very 3d flaming. nice golden to rich brown hues. you'd really still have to see it in person. when i got it, i looked at it and thought, man that's kinda flat looking. but when i started turning it back and forth in the light, it's like a hologram! the grain pops right out at you! anyway, feast your eyes. take care about drooling  :icon_tongue:

any thoughts on the finish? it's got major real orange peal pitting but i kinda like that. is that an undesirable characteristic? will that affect resale value? should i try to refinish in clear gloss? i know it's a long time, but i think i might be able to get some help from my guitar tech friend. he builds amps too and should at least be able to get me started in the right direction. it's also got some gunk on it from the previous owner and some not-so-careful looking surface gouges that i would like to deal with. will there be much i can do about the gouges? i think the gunk would come off with goo gone or something, but then would it even matter if i was going to sand and refinish it?

(neck in the next post)

 

[mejoshee]

and the neck. not that exciting as far as figuring, but as you can, white korina/brazilian rw with an ebony veneer. ss 6115 frets and mop inlays.

is it ok to put tru-oil on korina? if so, how long does that process take?

ps sorry for the glare in all the photos. i know how to take a good photo, but i also know how to take a quick photo.

 

[blimpo]

Here is what I'd do, remember, I have plenty of time.

Strip-sand the body to bare wood
Apply a few coats of black filler
Apply clear coats til grain is filled
Apply an oil finish

Neck-
Strip if necessary
Apply a coat of black filler
Apply clear coats to fill grain
Spray with amber nitro
Spray with clear nitro until satisfied.

 

[tfarny]

Hard to tell from the pics, but it looks as if the guy just sprayed on some clear nitro and never buffed it out at all. If that's the case, the easy solution is get a sanding block and some 600 grit, get the orange peel out, then start on the wet sanding and buff. Could look fantastic if that's the case. And I wouldn't choose black grain fill on that beautiful koa. A personal choice either way.
Edit; that's a great looking neck; did you get that on ebay too?

 

[mejoshee]

you're probably right about the nitro. i need to think this through, but i also agree that black filler doesn't make sense on figured anything.

the neck was in the showcase. also a steal. i think it was $275 after the ss frets and inlays. good deal, especially with the bonus veneer.

hopefully i'll have a small amount of time this weekend to sit down and work on it.

 

[blimpo]

I still think one coat of black filler well sanded would really give a 3D look to the little slits and pores in it.

That's one I'd love to tackle...really nice piece you have there.

 

[DangerousR6]

What a beautiful build you have in store, I love koa, and that neck is frickin awesome... :icon_thumright:

 

[mejoshee]

alright, i pulled the trigger. i will finish it myself. i read up on it @ stew mac and project guitar and i think i can handle it. especially since i don't have to do anything as far as staining/painting the guitar. just strip it down, then start over and clear gloss it.

i bought some luthier's sandpaper (super high grit), lacquer aerosol, sand & seal aerosol, and grain filler online.

i also found some 220 and 400 grit sand paper @ home depot for the rough stipping and stripped the god-awful orange peel that was left for me. the grain is so nice underneath! i am surprised the finish job was that bad.  :-\

all i have to do is wait for the products to come in and i can proceed. i need to go out of town for almost a week so i think if the stuff comes in right away, i can get to the hard-curing part of the clear gloss by then.

i also put some danish oil--mostly cause it's smaller than the huge jugs of tung oil--on the korina portion of the neck back and there's flaming on that! is that even possible?! anyway, i'll try to put up some pics of that one of these days. i'm going to clear gloss the ebony peghead and vintage tint satin seal the back.

do you guys have any suggestions for fretboard conditioning, like lemon oil, or what?

 

[mejoshee]

still no comment about fretboard conditioning?

 

[blimpo]

I bought a bottle of Dr. Stringfellow Lem-Oil.

It is a fret board conditioner. It's not real expensive, but it does a great job
on rosewood, ebony, etc...

I'm planning on using it to harden and condition my truoil finish on my guitar body after it cures.

 

[mejoshee]

thanks for the tip about the oil.  :icon_thumright:

does anyone have experience with guitar re ranch? i ordered a bunch of things last week but they have yet to even contact me about it. i doubt they ran out of stock, but it'd be nice to know if the timeline fits in with my schedule these days.

anyway, once that gets it (and assuming it stops raining as much), i can continue with the rest of the finishing process.