Finished Pics! impmann's Alembic-esque Electric

Andyjr1515

Can I sing the praises, by the way, of Axesrus's new "Axesrus 'Aluminium Lockers' Machine Heads"

I've used their own thumb-lock tuners for a number of years and, at first, was a little alarmed that they seemed to be phasing them out.  Somewhere along the line I'd missed that there had been any change.  I emailed Craig at Axesrus who explained that the original lockers were being progressively replaced by a new custom design of lightweight locking tuners.

First impressions are VERY good

Bear in mind they do not do a mixed gold and black (I bought two sets for this build so I could mix and match the components from a black set and a gold set) but regardless - they are beautifully made.  And they are noticably lighter than the originals.  And they are more stylish.  And I have no doubt whatsoever that they will be just as reliable as their predecessors.



Assuming they do indeed perform as well as the old ones, these will be going on all of my 6 string builds from now on.

And no - I'm not on any commission

Andyjr1515

Final build task before starting the finishing is tidying up the neck profile. 

I will do one last tweak once the guitar is finished and all strung up but to get it pretty close, I go by feel and then, holding the guitar a bit like a back to front cello, I use a scraper - drawing up the neck length very lightly - to take away any lumps or bumps along the length or facets around the profile curve.


And that's it!  Basic build is complete and finishing has now started

I use a variation of @WezV's excellent tru-oil method as a combined sanding lubricant, grain filler and sealer.  The body will actually be gloss varnished eventually, but I have found this method to be just as good as a gloss prep method as a finished method in its own right

The only difference (if at all) is that I probably use coarser abrasive cloth at first - typically 120 grit but sometimes even 80 grit.

This is the first application following the normal 'final sand':
 

Five minutes later, I have this:


And then fifteen minutes later I have this on the back and neck too:


The slurry from the sapele, wenge and purpleheart will, if not wiped off, discolour the maple, so I always wipe off the wet tru-oil from the maple even before I start the actual slurry and buffing.

When dry - this will look a bit naff - as the oil soaks in differentially.  I will probably repeat with a coarse grit once more, once it has fully set, before starting the proper slurry and buffing Sunday/Monday-ish

In the meantime, to MrsAndyjr1515's delight, there are a couple of small guitar and bass jobs that have been waiting a while that I'll be getting on with.

 

Andyjr1515

After all the faffing with the fretboard, it's a pleasant change that the finishing is going surprisingly quickly and well.

Other than leaving it for a few days for the tru-oil to properly harden before I gloss the body, it's already ready for just that!

If this had been a satin finish, it would actually already be in its final finished state!






However, the gloss will be worth it...it will make SUCH a difference to the figuring of the top

BigMonka

A mahoosive WOW from me, it's looking stonkingly good.

Andyjr1515

BigMonka said:

A mahoosive WOW from me, it's looking stonkingly good.

Thanks, @BigMonka

Andyjr1515

And here we are with the first coat of varnish:

randella

Andyjr1515 said:

And here we are with the first coat of varnish:

Hell's teeth.  That's a big 'wow' from me, looks the business.

Teyeplayer

randella said:

Andyjr1515 said:

And here we are with the first coat of varnish:

Hell's teeth.  That's a big 'wow' from me, looks the business.

Bloody hell that’s good. Another ‘wow’ awarded, tbh you are sapping me dry or ‘wows’ on this thread!

Andyjr1515

Thanks, folks

 I told you that the gloss would bring out the figuring...

The additional coats will bring it out even more.

Legionreturns

Holy mother of dragons that's splendid! 

Andyjr1515

Legionreturns said:

Holy mother of dragons that's splendid! 

Hopefully it bodes well for future projects, @Legionreturns

Teyeplayer

Can see I’m going to have to sign up for one of your builds myself at some point, it’s the only thing for it.

Legionreturns

Andyjr1515 said:

Legionreturns said:

Holy mother of dragons that's splendid! 

Hopefully it bodes well for future projects, @Legionreturns

It does indeed! If only we had planned one!

impmann

Oh boy that’s amazing 

Legionreturns

impmann said:

Oh boy that’s amazing 

You are one lucky lad Tim! 

How's the health? 

impmann

Legionreturns said:

impmann said:

Oh boy that’s amazing 

You are one lucky lad Tim! 

How's the health? 

:-)

On the mend, I think... its been a long road.

Legionreturns

Good to hear bud! You need to be healthy to shred the hell out of this beauty soon!

Andyjr1515

Teyeplayer said:

Can see I’m going to have to sign up for one of your builds myself at some point, it’s the only thing for it.

Andyjr1515

The back has had its first coat:

The neck will be left unvarnished - the @WezV truy-oil slurry and buff method has to be felt to be believed on a neck...

Meanwhile, the top and sides have had their second coat:
 

Andyjr1515

With the slightly odd way I do gloss finishes, I generally stop when I think 'Yes - that's pretty good!'  The reason is that sometimes the more you do to try to get from good to perfect, the worse it gets!

Well - I may have got to the 'Yes - that's pretty good' stage quite quickly on the back.  While there are a couple of things I'd tweak if I was doing a further coat, this in real life looks pretty much there:





The top needs one more coat at the very least - and sometimes that will result in redoing the back, in which case I would make the further tweaks - but we'll see how it goes