14 Steps Backward, 3 To The Front

Well, what can I say? Other than the pickup and leccy-bits to be fitted (and if my measuring-stick-ness is right, I won't even have to widen the hole for the SD Jaguar pickup) The Iceblink One is pretty close.

All I need to do is fit the nut and tuners, oh and oil the neck. I started to stain it yesterday, but unfortunately forgot that I'd managed to overlap the lacquer, so it got an interesting odd skunk-flattened-under-the-wheels stripe on the back. Which didn't really do it for me.

I do think that I may well be re-doing the fretboard veneer as looking closer the little raised bit isn't great and I'm not sure is fixable. Also, a friendly luthier, the wicked Wes Venables, has pointed out that the lacquer would wear off over time and that I would have been better using a good quality epoxy. Which hadn't crossed my mind, but is a good point.

So, my plan is to finish what needs finishing and see how it goes with the general understanding being that I'll have to replace the veneer and do it better at some point in the nearest and dearest future.

Which is good in a way as of course I'll just have to keep it until it is good enough, which is a hardship, but such is life. I might even get a note out of it, with a bit of luck.

Buggered the staining up, then

As for what is next, well the Explorer will be another fortnight until I even see it again. so it is my little Esquire project that I should be looking after. Unfortunately, I am lacking a few things such as bronze paint, a pickup, an Esquire pickguard...etc.

What I can do is strip it down, but that is always a bit boring, it has to be said.

So, tis the Iceblink neck, I guess, and a bit of shopping for veneers and other bobbins.