First build, order of operation!

A couple of comments. I bind almost all of my guitars and wrote up a little thread about is, might be worth reading thru

https://www.tdpri.com/threads/binding-101.1002709/

I would reverse the order of a couple of your steps. Do the veneering first - get it glued down perfectly flat and tight around the edges. The route your binding channel, you want your binding to hide the seam between the veneer and the body. Acetone or acetone based glues have kind of been the standard for plastic binding for years and I used it on my first couple, as I discuss in the thread I have switched totally to wicking thin CA into the seam after the fitment is perfect. Acetone cements fail after a period of time and it is extremely messy trying to tape binding in place while its covered with goopy cement.

Each of us comes up with a pore filling system that we like, some of it depends on the effects that we want in our finish. I used paste pore fillers on my first few guitars (and still do when I'm not trying for the most stunning finish possible) but I now use finishing resin.

I don't know why you need to soften the veneer - an LP Jr should be flat and not require the veneer to be bent. I have bent veneers over a hot pipe but only to bend in one plane. Veneers are frequently used in laminates (like an ES335 top or side) - in that case they are bent under pressure in a mold.

For filling gaps do not use wood filler or pastes or mix sawdust with any sort of glue - it will show up under finish. In fact you should test whatever you are going to use on scrape of the same wood with your finish. The finishing resin that I use for pore filling will fill and stabilize small cracks and does not show under clear finishing.

I have no experience with your finishing material so I can't comment.

Good luck, post some pictures.

 

Thinking about this a bit more, I want to caution you on one thing. I don't know what kind of neck joint a DIY LP Jr has, a real one would be a set neck with probably some angle and some overstand. I'm guessing the kit is a screw on, but either way when you add the veneer to the top you will effectively be moving the neck down with respect to the bridge by the thickness of the veneer. The simple solution would be simply to shim the pocket with a piece of the veneer to bring the fret plane back up relative to the top. I'm guessing that your veneer is 50 or 60 thousands thick - that would be enough to screw up your whole geometry.

 

1 - I can't see your links. It tells me I don't have permission

2 - When you say "change to a ToM bridge" what did it have before? An LP Jr should have been a wrap around bridge. I am noted on this forum for being anal about guitar geometry - I'm constantly checking my guitars as I am building them to make sure there will be no surprises at the end. My rule of thumb is that as long as the fret plane hits the top of the saddles at their very lowest adjustment I'm pretty sure that I will have enough adjustment to get playable action. I check this with the actual bridge that I'm going to use. If you would like more information I did write a thread about how I think about geometry.

https://www.tdpri.com/threads/building-for-playability.991659/

3 - CA is cyanoacrylate, ie super glue. For binding I use the water thin stuff - StewMac sells it as their #10 (you will have to find an equivalent). The nice thing about this method is that I can bend and tape the binding in place completely dry, take all the time in the world to get it right, then wick tiny drops of the thin CA into the seam. It will be pulled into the seam and hold the binding in place, I can take the tape off and then wick it the entire length of both top and side seams. There will be almost no CA on the outside wood and if there is any it doesn't appear under finish, the joint is very strong (I have two guitars on my bench now with failed acetone glue joints that I will fix with CA). I think I pretty much explain in that thread.

4 - The finishing resin I use is Zpoxy. Forum member in various parts of Europe seem to be able to find it altho I hear its expensive. Once again I did a thread

https://www.tdpri.com/threads/zpoxy-for-pore-fill-and-grain-enhancement.940522/

5 - I don't have a lot of experience with veneers, I've used small pieces on headstocks and pick guards but never a complete guitar. I agree that you will want to have it as flat as possible and really clamped well. I know they make some special veneering glues but I used AR (Titebond) on my small projects. Be very careful with any glue that might work its way thru at the center seam - AR glue just really stands out under finish

6 - I'm not surprised to hear about your quality issues. If possible I would like to see your pictures.

 

1 - can see the pictures now, pretty much as I expected

2 - I've never really cared for wrap around bridges but they can be made to work. I was more interested in what the geometry of the original kit was and how that would change. If you had 4mm of action with the original bridge and you raised it by making the top thicker it would be even worse. Get your new bridge and do something to simulate the additional thickness - get that right before you go too far.

3 - Don't ask me about an early attempt at using CA to glue binding on a guitar. It was a LP clone, I had the tape already, put my latex gloves on, ran a bead of medium CA in the channel, tried to hold the binding in place while putting the tape on and totally glued my gloves to the top. Thats when the light went on that said "wick the glue into the seam".



4 - I'm sold on the finishing resin for all my pore filling now, but there are sure other choices. I personally have only used lacquer over it but others report success with other finishes. As with any finishing operation, experiment on scrap

5 - My veneering experience is very limited. I have put it on several head stocks, when I do it on a Fender style head I bend it on my hot pipe.









I also used some of the same veneer on a couple of pick guards





They were less than successful since the thin woods wanted to warp with every change of humidity - they wanted to look like potato chips.

6 - My limited experience with any of the PacRim kits has been less than stellar,

 

Have you tried shimming the neck pocket the same amount as the thickness of the veneer? Possibly kicking the angle a degree or so? I think I would try to avoid recessing the bridge if at all possible.

As far as book matching the veneer, remember how book matching is done. You take a piece of quarter sawn wood and literally split it down the middle, the two halves fall apart like the pages of a book and have mirror images of the grain on both sides. You loose the saw kerf but otherwise the pieces are identical and you line up the grain as it crosses the spline of the book. Veneers are peeled off the log so they are neither quarter sawn nor mirror images.

Also the veneers are very thin and I was worried that glue could be forced thru small cracks only to haunt you on the show face. I do like the burl however.

 

I'd like to see a picture of the neck sitting in the pocket - how much does it stand proud of the body? Is there any angle? Without the veneer would the geometry have worked?

What you are doing with the shims is exactly what I do when I build a guitar, in fact I am constantly checking and rechecking that as I build and I always breath a big sigh when the strings finally go on and I know its right. My thinking is that if the geometry was OK without the veneer, the simplest thing would be to shim the neck by 0.020 (just use a piece of the veneer). Another possibility would be to run the body thru a thickness sander (which most of us don't have) before gluing the veneer on and take the 20 thou off the top. Angling the neck is perfectly OK too but it gets complicated if you have to do very much. StewMac and others even make little 1/2 or 1 degree shims for this purpose.

 

I'd still like to see a few pictures of the neck and pocket - both with the neck out and in place. I'm not crazy about what I see in the first picture you posted of the kit, I'd like some better views.