Begin with sandpaper soaking in water overnight. Here I have the following grits: 800, 1000, 1200, 1500, and 2000. I also have a rubber eraser at hand for use as a sanding block. For the whole guitar, I only needed about a 3"x5" piece of each grit, as shown.
Beginning on the back (the side with the least amount of obstructions), I used the 800 grit to level the orange peel. I used the sanding block and sandpaper to hold a little bit of water, dripped it onto a fist-sized area, and sanded in circular motions until the shiny orange peel divots disappeared. I did this over the entire guitar. 800 grit took the longest, while the others took no time at all. One must take care to not miss any spots between grits, since it's hard to see where you have/haven't sanded.
After 2000 grit, the surface was dull. Here is the back after medium polishing compound (ScratchX). I used the StewMac's buffing wheel on a power drill. This changed the dull surface to a candy coating that tastes awful, but looks nice. Tight spots like the body cutouts required hand polishing, which is exhausting. I went over the entire thing again with Swirl Remover afterwards.
The holes for hardware were filled with epoxy/sealer/lacquer and needed to be re-drilled. This is tough, as doing so cracks the lacquer. I accomplished satisfactory results by slowly drill the area in reverse until the lacquer in the hole is removed, then forward to hog out into the wood. This picture also shows the tenon in the pickup cavity. Since adjusting the neck angle, the neck shifted further into the mortise by about 1/16". This prevented the pickup from being placed. I used a sanding drum on the dremel (which I've finally found a use for) to trim out the wood.
Bridge pickup installed with the wire pulled through the f-hole.
Tuning machines installed. The A string tuner seems slightly off in the picture, but not so much in real life. Still need a truss rod cover.
Neck pickup installed. The bridge and stopbar mounting holes along with the potentiometer and switch holes needed cleaned of finish. Shown are the bridge and stopbar mounts installed.
I gave the fretboard a few coats of Fret Doctor. The first is shown, which I then wiped right off. I applied another heavy dose and left it to soak overnight. In the morning it had soaked it all in. I then gave the fretboard a good ol' wipe-dahn and applied yet another coat.
Silly Strings. Looks great.
I'll need to replace the nut as I'm hearing a lot of buzzing on the high E string.
Fretboard's looking amazing.
The cheap tune-o-matic bridge buzzes on a few strings and will need a modification/replacement.
Electronics are ready for soldering. They will then be forcefully shoved through the F-hole.
BAM
The action is perfect. It's just as I planned. Here is a comfortable/low string action height I set. The bridge still has a good 1/8" drop before bottoming out. The neck reset was flawless.
POW
Other than the slight buzzing on the bridge and nut, I also noticed how noisy and intermittent the potentiometers are. I'll need to swap them out eventually, but they aren't a big deal. I will order and install a truss rod cover and pickguard at some point in time. I finally have some money to spend.
Beyond this project, I purchased plans from Matthias Wandel's (http://woodgears.ca/) for a wooden bandsaw. He is a brilliant woodworker so I'd recommend checking out what he has on his website if you're interested. I plan the start the bandsaw soon.
I hope you enjoyed the build. It only took me 3 years.
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