Building a Bolt Guitar - now BUILT

jaytmon

Very interested to see how this turns out. Thanks @TTony for sharing the process. 

@BoltGuitarsUK apologies if this is clarified elsewhere but a glance at your website looks like the T-style is currently the only one on offer. Is that right? Are there plans to do more? Or even specify a contoured T body…

TTony

@freakboy1610 ;

freakboy1610 said:

How many coats is that? 

4, I think.

freakboy1610 said:

Do you think it could be built up into a more solid looking finish?

Definitely - it's cumulative, so the more you add, the more solid the finish becomes.  Which gives me a thought, maybe I'll add a couple more to the back, just to demo the difference.

freakboy1610 said:

Is there enough colour left over for many more coats if you were so inclined?

Yes.

I've used around half, maybe less, of the amount included in the kit.

Sporky

How do I get a free kit? 

LastMantra

What a cool idea for a business, seems so obvious now.
Smart thinking from TT too 

Looks really good quality. Be good seeing how turns out. 

TTony

Sporky said:

How do I get a free kit? 

A man of your means ....

BoltGuitarsUK

jaytmon said:

Very interested to see how this turns out. Thanks @TTony for sharing the process. 

@BoltGuitarsUK apologies if this is clarified elsewhere but a glance at your website looks like the T-style is currently the only one on offer. Is that right? Are there plans to do more? Or even specify a contoured T body…

Hi @jaytmon the 'Thunder Road' is our flagship model, but we will absolutely be releasing new models as soon as we're able. The current feeling is a Les Paul Jnr double cutaway, or a Strat? Would love to know what the Fretboard thinks. 

BoltGuitarsUK

LastMantra said:

What a cool idea for a business, seems so obvious now.
Smart thinking from TT too 

Looks really good quality. Be good seeing how turns out. 

Thanks for the kind words @LastMantra, we're basically just a group of friends who play in bands and love guitars. 

BoltGuitarsUK

freakboy1610 said:

Looking good. How many coats is that? Do you think it could be built up into a more solid looking finish? Is there enough colour left over for many more coats if you were so inclined?

@TTony is right in saying you can build up the coats, and we do provide plenty so you can go for as many as you like. We're currently working on providing the colour system individually so you can really get creative with the process 

BoltGuitarsUK

TTony said:

Getting there.

I was aiming to have the body prep work done this week, thinking that I'd then manage to get it all assembled over the Bank Holiday weekend.  

Still on track for that.

The touch up is looking good


Still just visible, but I put a final coat over it 10mins ago, so it's probably looking better now.

I'll leave it to cure fully overnight, then a light rub down and the gloss coats tomorrow and assembly over the weekend.


There's certainly less than 10hours gone into it so far, the finishing products have been painless to apply and work well.  

Another coat there @TTony and you'll never know there was an issue in the first place. Great job, looking forward to seeing it all put together!

vanlooy1

BoltGuitarsUK said:

jaytmon said:

Very interested to see how this turns out. Thanks @TTony for sharing the process. 

@BoltGuitarsUK apologies if this is clarified elsewhere but a glance at your website looks like the T-style is currently the only one on offer. Is that right? Are there plans to do more? Or even specify a contoured T body…

Hi @jaytmon the 'Thunder Road' is our flagship model, but we will absolutely be releasing new models as soon as we're able. The current feeling is a Les Paul Jnr double cutaway, or a Strat? Would love to know what the Fretboard thinks. 

I’d do both Strat and Jnr/Special single and double cut with set neck with a pre glued option. Not enough decent LP kits around IMO.

freakboy1610

BoltGuitarsUK said: The current feeling is a Les Paul Jnr double cutaway, or a Strat? Would love to know what the Fretboard thinks. 

A Les Paul DC Jnr would be fantastic!

TTBZ

BoltGuitarsUK said:

jaytmon said:

Very interested to see how this turns out. Thanks @TTony for sharing the process. 

@BoltGuitarsUK apologies if this is clarified elsewhere but a glance at your website looks like the T-style is currently the only one on offer. Is that right? Are there plans to do more? Or even specify a contoured T body…

Hi @jaytmon the 'Thunder Road' is our flagship model, but we will absolutely be releasing new models as soon as we're able. The current feeling is a Les Paul Jnr double cutaway, or a Strat? Would love to know what the Fretboard thinks. 

A DC Jr with set neck (if possible in a kit) would be an instant buy for me I think! So long as the headstock suits.

TTony

TTBZ said:

BoltGuitarsUK said:

jaytmon said:

Very interested to see how this turns out. Thanks @TTony for sharing the process. 

@BoltGuitarsUK apologies if this is clarified elsewhere but a glance at your website looks like the T-style is currently the only one on offer. Is that right? Are there plans to do more? Or even specify a contoured T body…

Hi @jaytmon the 'Thunder Road' is our flagship model, but we will absolutely be releasing new models as soon as we're able. The current feeling is a Les Paul Jnr double cutaway, or a Strat? Would love to know what the Fretboard thinks. 

A DC Jr with set neck (if possible in a kit) would be an instant buy for me I think! So long as the headstock suits.

The issue with that, @TTBZ might be the additional tools that you'd need - ie glue, clamps, etc.

The kit that I'm putting together today/tomorrow has needed no unusual tools at all (so far).  A couple of drill bits, a drill, and a couple of screwdrivers.  Soldering comes later ....

TTony

Update.

I've been finessing the finish a bit - I could spend more time, but if I did that, I'm not sure when I'd get the time to put it all together and get it finished (I've a backlog of workshop jobs at the moment!).

So, body;





The finishing process is *very* *EASY* to apply!

Each coat dries very quickly (20mins), so there's no need to rush it.  The stain builds up gradually - as you put a coat on, it doesn't look like it's doing much, but as it dries, the colour thickens more.

It's not perfect, but that's down to me.  Any finishing product that I've tried has taken me a few attempts to get right (and some products have taken more than that!).  I reckon that, if I did another one, it'd be a bit neater.

TTony

The neck is a thing of beauty.




That was a "wow" moment for me when I originally opened the kit, and the simple oil finish has only made it more wow.

I've not checked fret heights yet, that's a job for tomorrow, but the fret ends are finished very nicely.  Frets need a bit of a polish (the fretboard was oiled too), but I'd do that anyway on a new neck.

TTony

Neck fits in the pocket nice and tightly.





And alignment is pretty much spot-on;





Hopefully I'll get another hour or so this evening to do a bit more assembly.

I'm going to watch the rest of the assembly tutorial videos first - I'm trying to do this following-the-instructions (as someone who might be doing this for the first time might do) to check whether I'd do anything differently, or whether there's anything missing from the Bolt guides.


So far, only one suggestion - I used a bit of wax on the bridge screws to help them go in smoothly, and because I guess they might need to come out again to fit the bridge earth wire in place (as I said, I'm following the video guides!).

hollywoodrox

How exciting is this , it looks great & you don’t appear to need fancy too,s just basic stuff everyone has . That flame neck is absolutely gorgeous 

Jeremiah

BoltGuitarsUK said:

jaytmon said:

Very interested to see how this turns out. Thanks @TTony for sharing the process. 

@BoltGuitarsUK apologies if this is clarified elsewhere but a glance at your website looks like the T-style is currently the only one on offer. Is that right? Are there plans to do more? Or even specify a contoured T body…

Hi @jaytmon the 'Thunder Road' is our flagship model, but we will absolutely be releasing new models as soon as we're able. The current feeling is a Les Paul Jnr double cutaway, or a Strat? Would love to know what the Fretboard thinks. 

A Strat kit would be great if it had universal pickup routing and a choice of pickguards with SSS, HSS or HH configurations.

Oh, and a decent 2-point tremolo rather than 6-screw.

Keefy

Jeremiah said:

BoltGuitarsUK said:

jaytmon said:

Very interested to see how this turns out. Thanks @TTony for sharing the process. 

@BoltGuitarsUK apologies if this is clarified elsewhere but a glance at your website looks like the T-style is currently the only one on offer. Is that right? Are there plans to do more? Or even specify a contoured T body…

Hi @jaytmon the 'Thunder Road' is our flagship model, but we will absolutely be releasing new models as soon as we're able. The current feeling is a Les Paul Jnr double cutaway, or a Strat? Would love to know what the Fretboard thinks. 

A Strat kit would be great if it had universal pickup routing and a choice of pickguards with SSS, HSS or HH configurations.

Oh, and a decent 6-screw tremolo rather than 2-point.

FTFY

Jeremiah

Keefy said:

Jeremiah said:

BoltGuitarsUK said:

jaytmon said:

Very interested to see how this turns out. Thanks @TTony for sharing the process. 

@BoltGuitarsUK apologies if this is clarified elsewhere but a glance at your website looks like the T-style is currently the only one on offer. Is that right? Are there plans to do more? Or even specify a contoured T body…

Hi @jaytmon the 'Thunder Road' is our flagship model, but we will absolutely be releasing new models as soon as we're able. The current feeling is a Les Paul Jnr double cutaway, or a Strat? Would love to know what the Fretboard thinks. 

A Strat kit would be great if it had universal pickup routing and a choice of pickguards with SSS, HSS or HH configurations.

Oh, and a decent 6-screw tremolo rather than 2-point.

FTFY

The thing is, you can get Strat bodies drilled for 6-screw tremolos in any number of places, but if you want a 2-post you generally have to go with a much more expensive custom option, e.g. Warmoth. It would be nice to have a UK alternative.