Prairie Custom Guitars

Well this should be the final page

The body is pretty much cured out

Now that the neck is here

Oh that beautiful neck

And the bridge should be here any day

 With some wonderful saddles

Time to start piecing things together

First on the list

Lets get that logo on the neck.It will need time to cure

First we have to print it out on some waterslide paper

Then mist it a few times with some lacquer to seal it

I did a few different fonts

We will see what looks the best or which

one Barney likes the best? 

I will let this dry overnight,spray it before I go to work

and then it should be ready to apply tomorrow night 

Got the nod from Barney last night

He has picked this one

 Lets get this thing on there so I can get some clear over it

and move on to the assembly

Cut out the decals from the water slide paper

Trimmed them up nice,did a test fit and I think we are ready

Hope this works.I usually screw one up.Only have one ready though

We will do the "Prairie Custom" one first

I have 5 of them ready,work out the bugs

And I did it

First try,didn't screw up any of them

 Put a coat of lacquer over it tonight

I will do one more before I head to bed.Not

sure how many it will take to hide the edges of the decal

Got a couple more coats on it.Getting hard to see the edges now.I think a wetsanding and we will see how she looks.Have to go to town to get

some supplies first though 

Got to town and got some supplies

Did a wetsand on the headstock,still needs a bit more

 But........

The last piece of the puzzle showed up today

I think we are all set

The neck is going to match pretty good 

Tonight I think I will make a template so I can trim the pickguard

to miss the f-hole

Still think a single ply black guard will look the best

I will make one of each so we can pick when the time comes 

Did a light sanding on the logo

Pretty much ready

Guess I better get after that body

I will sand it out about half way,then fit everything

Once I am happy with the fitting I will sand it out the rest

of the way,that way I wont scratch the final finish,hopefully

After the first pass of wetsanding with 600 grit

 Man I have to get my butt in gear

Barney will be here in 4 days

Last night I did all the control cavities with shielding paint

While that was drying I installed the tuners

Next,I need to install the nut

This neck is wider than regular

It is a full 1 3/4" wide

Can't get a pre-slotted nut that wide so we have to cut it from scratch

I cut it to length and slid it into the slot

Now we mark the two outer strings and get out our

home made string spacing ruler.This thing is slick

Here is a link to how to make it and how they are used

Nut Spacing Ruler

Then we use the ruler to mark the other string positions

Now I start to cut the two E string slots

I will use these to line up the neck and bridge

Now I run string through the ferrule holes and bridge

Down the neck and through the nut slots and line it all up

With everything line up I drill one hole for the bridge

Things look pretty good

Next I will have to cut the guard around the f-hole

I cut the guard and forgot to take pics

 Also I decided,even though Barney liked the guard going out to the horn

With the 3 layer binding and the 3 colors of the guard,it was just too much

I will cut a regular on for it too but the hybrid guard just looks better

It is just to busy looking at the end of the horn with all those layers

It looks goofy

Anyway after the guard,it is time to get it buffed up

I wet sanded up to 1500 grit and then used my 2000 and 4000 pads

Here it is after 2 compounds

Still the polish to go but my arms are tired so thats tomorrow

Tomorrow I will put it together and set it up

Well Looky here

The man has arrived

 Here is the proud new owner

Sure hope it serves him well

What a great weekend!!!!!!

Here are a couple links to the parts and neck used

Parts

Neck