Having taken a reverse approach to this kit-build, in that I built it all first before I applied any finish, I now have to ‘unbuild’ it so I can apply a finish to the mahogany body and plain maple neck. It seemed like a blooming good idea at the time because – to put it somewhat bluntly – if the final guitar wasn’t very inspiring, then I wouldn’t need to spend time and money finishing it myself or indeed calling in a professional.
The thing is, I’ve taken a bit of a diversion from StewMac’s instructions: I’ve ditched the supplied scratchplate and made a couple of separate Perspex plates for the toggle switch and the volume, tone and output jack, leaving the central ‘swimming pool’ rout open. I then loaded in a pair of Fender Jazzmaster pickups and, via a small screw-in connector block, I can actually fit any pickups I want in the future without using a soldering iron (so long as they will direct-mount to the body). Inspired or plain daft? That’s the beauty of doing things for yourself.
Since the guitar was still assembled, I put any thoughts of finishing to the back of my mind while I just enjoyed StewMac’s and my own
