Saga Sagas!

Note from GuitarAttack: What a great-looking guitar. Killa sunburst! ROCK! From John Curry John, Here is another of my Saga creations, this one from an HT-10 PRS style kit. I’ve attached a few pictures to this email, but here is a link to some more: http://es335.0sites.net/HT-10/index.html So here goes . . . I wanted to try to do a “burst” finish guitar and decided on a cherry burst PRS style. With past strat style Saga kits I followed the advice I received here, and assembled them before applying the finish to make sure everything fit and the guitar played properly. Since this kit has press-in bushings for the bridge and tailpiece, I wasn’t sure what to do. I wanted to make sure it worked correctly before applying the finish, but I didn’t want to have to work around or remove the bushings when it came time to paint. In the end, I decided to finish it first without pre-assembling.
The neck was straight, but the frets were a little uneven, so I leveled and crowned the frets. I got new cream colored pickup rings to replace the stock black ones, but the screw holes in the new pickup rings did not line up with the screw holes in the body. So I had to plug and re-drill the holes in the body. I pre-fitted the neck and checked the neck angle as best I could without installing the bridge. It seemed like it would be OK, so I went ahead and applied the finish. I used Behlen “Starcast Amber” lacquer for the yellow, Rust-oleum red lacquer for the cherry, and Behlen “Encore Brown” for the back and neck. I sprayed the brown on the back and sides first. Then I masked the faux binding with quarter inch auto pinstriping tape and the sides with blue masking tape. I sprayed the whole top amber. Next, I used a cardboard mask the shape of the top only smaller and sprayed the red. After cutting the headstock to shape, I used the same method to paint it. I used Behlen Stringed Instrument Lacquer to clear coat the guitar. I let the parts sit for several months before sanding and rubbing out the finish. On to assembly.
I replaced the stock pots with better quality ones from Stew-Mac. I also replaced the stock black switch tip with a cream colored one, and the stock knobs with amber speed knobs. All the other hardware and electronics are stock. I did rewire the controls and solder all connections. I used this wiring diagram from GuitarElectronics: http://www.guitarelectronics.com/product/WD2HH3T11_00/Guitar-Diagram-1-Humbucker-1-volume-1-tone-3-way-toggle-switchView-Download-Free
After assembly and setup the guitar plays well and sounds good. With respect to the finish, I think it would look better with a more gradual transition between the yellow and red. Overall, though, I’m pretty happy with the final product. Thanks for all your hard work with this site. It benefits us all. John
*Killer job, John* -- Thanks for the great photos and story!