Getting Shiney...

After a bit of judicious sanding to get rid of the dye that bled through the masking on to the sides we started adding a shellac French polish coat.

The shellac has really brought out the gorgeous colour of the mahogany!

Then gentle sanding with a fine grade wire wool

My turn, very naughty and not using gloves.

 After spending two days getting shellac off my finger nails I would definitely recommend that gloves are worn!

Looking good

Well it's finally dried and with the masking tape off and the guitar is really looking superb

The light's a bit naff in here so we're off outside to take some better pics...

And here it is looking truly gorgeous!

Next job is to sand down the mahogany where the stain bled through the masking tape, then we're ready to start the shiny shellac finish

Finally time to add some colour!

In the end after playing about with some other colours we opted for Emerald Green

Starting with a watered down stain

After the first coat... 

Building up the colour increasing the concentration of stain with each coat. 

After two coats those stripes are starting to really come out!

Five coats and the depth of colour is really looking good

And finally with neat stain we're done!

Getting ready for some colour

Now that the black contrast stain has fully dried we carefully sanded it back to reveal the grain pattern

Sanding done, lets get rid of the dust!

Now for the messy fun stuff...

Lets get staining!

In order to make sure we got the stain finish we wanted we did some practice on some scrap wood...

To start we add the black contract stain

Once sanded down we added the 'purple'.  This was initially watered down for the first coat

And over time we gradually increased the stain level concentrating on the edges to create a burst effect

Another good thing about practice pieces - This was supposed to be purple, not fuchsia pink.  Sooo glad this didn't get put on the guitar first!

Time to start staining the guitar...

Lets get masking...

Okay now the guitar is sufficiently masked up we got busy with the watered down black dye.  This will soak into the 'flame' grain and when sanded back will really bring out the grain through the translucent top stain colour.

Despite a light sanding prior to the black stain we still have some grain locked by the glue from the binding.  Unfortunately because the veneer is so thin we can't risk sanding it down too much otherwise we may sand through it leaving none for the top stain to sit on.

Carving the headstock shape

First of all, to anyone considering a project like this - cut the headstock shape out before you glue the neck to the body it will be a darn sight easier!!!

Anyway too late to worry about little things like that...

After much consideration Lil decided on a spider web shape

Yep, I think this will look good!

After a bit of careful sawing with a fret saw, grinding with a hobby drill and lots of saw dust we have this -

Next job is the colour.  We've decided on a purple transburst so after we've done a few test pieces we can make a start on the guitar which is really starting to take shape now.

Next job, the neck

 Right then, the neck!  This isn't simply a case of just gluing it in place.  The joint cavity needed a little bit of work to ensure the neck fitted squarely with wood to wood contact.  On this kit it required a small bit of work with a sharp chisel to remove the tool marks left by the factory router.

I also needed to add some hard wood veneer strips ensure the neck sat securely a squarely in the hole.

To make sure the strings run properly and evenly over the finger board, we placed the bridge posts into their holes without hammering them in but enough that the bridge and stop bar could sit on them and hold the strings.  By doing this we can be sure that there won't be any danger of string drop off when playing.

We then carved some fret slots in to a piece of scrap wood in order to make a neck clamp brace.  The prevents pressure being exerted directly on the frets by the clamps and allows for a more even clamp pressure during the glue setting process.

Wiping off the excess glue and some last minute adjustments before it sets solid.

Lets make a start!

One of the reasons I opted for this kit over some of the cheaper eBay alternatives is because the body doesn't come pre-drilled which then offers the flexibility of using which ever style bridge you wish to.  After careful consideration we decided to stick with the traditional tune-o-matic option that was included in the kit.

So after carefully lining up the template included, we marked out drilling points and made a start...

Being a clumsy oaf I managed to catch the body on the drill bit as I lifted it out.  This gouged a nasty little hole in flamed maple veneer.

After a bit of careful grinding out to enlarge the hole we glued in some of the maple drill dust and then sanded it flat.  So we now have a stunning flame top with a small 'knot' in it...