Guitar Of The Month – July, 2022
Congratulations goes out to Jay Feenstra for his guitar build, to earn him Guitar of the Month for July 2022.
Jay used our JMK-90 DIY kit as the basis to create his guitar.
“This is my first DIY guitar kit and it was a B-stock from Solo. The kit was very good, just a small blemish on the fretboard of the neck that is hardly noticeable after oiling the fretboard. Everything fit together very well.
After receiving the kit, I knew I wanted to upgrade almost everything. Solo Pro Vintage tuners, Solo Pro roller bridge, Fender Tremolo and Graph Tech TUSQ nut all purchased through Solo. For Electronics I upgraded the pickups to Lollar P90 Soapbar pickups. All the upgraded wiring, pots switch and output jack were also purchased through Lollar.
I wasn’t a fan of the red colour of the pickguard that came with the kit, so I purchased a tortoise shell blank to make a new one. I also wanted to move the bridge pickup back as the current position seemed too far from the bridge making it more of a middle pickup position. So after drawing up a template and transferring to a piece of MDF, I cut out the MDF and then used that to route out the new pickguard.
For finishing I used all Nitrocellulose Spray paints from Oxford Supply Co. All finishing was 3 coats per day, and then waited overnight before the next coats. I started with grain filler. Next 3 coats of Sanding Sealer followed with a light sanding. Next was 3 coats of Primer followed by a light sanding as well. Then on to colour coats. I went with Olympic white for this guitar. Not sure why, but it just felt right when I saw this kit. After 3 coats of colour it was time for gloss clear. This again was 3 coats per day. I used up 3 cans of clear for a total of 12 coats of clear. After that it was left for a full month to let the finish cure.
Once the finish was cured, I moved on to Wet sanding and polishing. I wet sanded with mineral spirits to avoid the wood swelling. I sanded with 1000 / 1500 / 2000 and 2500 grit, then finished with polishing with medium and fine compound that was also purchased from Oxford Supply Co.
The back of the neck was finished with 3 coats of Minwax wipe on poly in Satin. After that dried it was already quite smooth so all I did was buff it out with a bit of the medium polishing compound by hand. The neck feels great with this finish and it went on very easily.
The pickup cavity was then painted with conductive shielding paint before assembling.
Assembly was quite easy. I did find the neck needed a small shim to get the action right but that’s normal. The finished product is a great guitar. It plays easily as good as my Fender strat and sounds absolutely incredible. The P90’s are great and they have an awesome sound. I’m very happy with how this kit turned out and wouldn’t hesitate to build another one. Solo would be my choice again!”
-Jay Feenstra
