Looks great Mari really like to follow this kind of subjects. I needed to sand, prime and paint 3 bedrooms before I moved in so I already feel your pain in doing that but additonally on a wood, you are definitely up for an adventure 
good luck!
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Bravo, Mari, congrats on progress made on the project. Sounds like youâve learned a lot, had fun, and have a playable guitar to show for your efforts.
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Excellent stuff Mari, the guitar looks good.
I really like the natural colour of it. It also sounds good too. Have you decided what finish you are going with? Is there a special paint you use?
I canât wait to see the finished product.
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Looks as if itâs gonna be good Mari, welcome to the world of messing with guitars! Now youâve got the feel for what needs doing you may find that you can do some routine maintenance and save yourself some money!
When I started messing I bought junk shop guitars and got them working properly, it made me a bit of cash (for the next one 
) and was fun. Being able to build your own gives you the tools needed to make a Custom guitar that is unique, when you get there itâs very satisfying! Looking forward to seeing and hearing the finished instrument! 
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Looking good Mari, youâve done a great job.
Intrigued about the solderless connections. When I pimped the Affinity and added the Iron Gear pickups, it was more like welding meets a lava lake !!
Plan was to upgrade one of my Washburnâs with some wilder HBs or P90s but I bottled it and put things on hold because of the soldering side of things. I looked a kits like Obsidian but still in two minds. Your methods seems easier and I could use the existing Pots and Caps. Are they guitar specific connectors ? Canât seem to find anything similar.
Cheers
Toby
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Looks like great progress and sounding good - looking forward to final finish!
I think they look like a type of crimp connector where you strip the wire back, put it on a âpinâ and crimp it down and it slots into the plastic casing with a click. They then connect and clip together. This sort of thing I think: JST RCY Connector - Male/Female Set (2-pin) - PRT-10501 - SparkFun Electronics
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@Jozsef @adi_mrok @DavidP @SgtColon @DarrellW @TheMadman_tobyjenner @grayal Iâm really enjoying this project, although I donât know when Iâll get to the finishing work. Hopefully Covid restrictions wonât delay it too long before I can do the work in my friendâs shop . I do have a plan for the finishing but Iâm not going to share it just yet as I donât know if thatâs what Iâll end up doing. I do have a picture in my mind though.
Al, thanks for sharing that connector info for Toby, I googled it yesterday when I insert the picture but I couldnât find a name for them. The link you provided seems to me exactly what they are.
Darrell, yes I am already brave enough to try a few minor maintenance things on my other guitars, when before this all I would do is change strings
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Thanks Mari, may be a quick way of get the HB32 smoking. 
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Looks great Mari. Canât wait to see it finished.
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Love the update Mari and the little demo. Sounded great. Will continue to follow closely.
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@brianlarsen I know a few songs by Tom Waits, but not this one. Iâm guessing this is a preview of your OM6 offering??? I like it!
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I wish!
I melted his chocolate Jesus a couple of years ago, but not many folk can pull off a decent TW 
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Lol I agree, I tried Saturday Night a while ago but really need to redo it and get my gravelly-voiced cousin to sing for me.
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Looks like a fun project Mari. Iâve never built a guitar but have done lots of other DIY stuff over the years. The secret to the finish is in the preparation. Sand, sand and then sand again. Use wood filler where necessary and sand, sand and sand again using progressively finer paper.
One of the main reasons guitars like Gibsons and Martins are expensive is because of the man hours put into the finish. Look at a Gibson Les Paul. They cost a fortune and itâs purely down to the finish. Dozens of coats of varnish/nitro.
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@sairfingers So I take it sanding is important then, Gordon? Lol Iâm lucky to have a friend who does a lot of woodworking stuff and to be able to use his shop. He was already talking to me about sanding and going through the various grits not just jumping from first to last (presumably I said that correctly). Hopefully wonât be too too long before I can get started on it.
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Nice, best of luck with your new solo tele.
I just finished mine. I took off the binding and added a fore arm and belly cut. sairfingers is right there is lots of sanding to be done 
I started with 180 and worked my way up to 400. depending on your desired finish, if you want a smooth outcome grain filler is a must! dont skip this step, else you will have to apply way to much paint clear coat to try and fill in the grain.
I experimented with a polycrylic to transfer a printed image on mine. I would not recommend polycrylic unless you spend alot of time building it up. my image started to chip off so i went with
Nitrocellulose Lacquer primer/paint in the end. Nitrocellulose Lacquer from solo seem to work pretty well.
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Well worth the extra effort and re-paint, finish looks stunning for a kit !
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Guitar looks fabulous, headsmell. The contrast of the black parts against the solid colour really pops.
Assume this is shaping the body similar to a strat-style body?
And âbellâ is a typo, should read âbellyâ?
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Thanks!
yeah I donât find traditional teles that comfortable to play, so shaped it strat-style. Randomly that was the easiest part of the build, every thing had a set back or two
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