It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Subscribe to our Patreon, and get image uploads with no ads on the site!
Base theme by DesignModo & ported to Powered by Vanilla by Chris Ireland, modified by the "theFB" team.
Comments
Thanks very much dchw!
Quite a bit of updating to do:
First up, having sanded the headstock face back to the wood (and removing the old Starfield logo in the process), I have been gradually building up layers of Plasti-Kote clear satin acrylic spray. Early this week, I had reached a point where I had a good smooth surface, and could apply a logo transfer. I printed the logo several times onto Lazertran inkjet decal paper:
Just patting down the decal with kitchen towel, and making sure no air bubbles:
Once dry, the decal backing turns white:
But fear not, it will all come right in the end...
Here I have sprayed a layer of clear acrylic over the top, and the logo backing turns clear again:
Built up quite a few more layers, allowed time to cure, and then used a cork block with 1000 grit wet and dry paper to sand the surface flat over the logo - due to the thickness of the decal, the finishes visibly rises over the logo otherwise:
Everything nice and flat here:
A few more layers of acrylic over the top, and it is looking nice, so job done. The acrylic finish is bringing out a bit of flame in the maple, which is cool. Hope you like my Gothic letter "C" logo!
When the guitar will be in playing position your gothic "C" will look like a pram or a bed with a canopy.
OK, more things have been happening, so some more catching up to put in the thread. One is I have been making a nut from camel bone, just some pics of the process - I'm using the milled-flat surface on my B&Q box level to get the bone piece to the right width to just fit in the nut slot:
Then a case of checking the fit, so the nut sits nice a stable, with no gaps. And then carefully sanded the excess bone from the ends to get a nice flush fit with the sides of the fingerboard. That's all I've done on this so far, will probably wait until I'm fitting some strings to shape the top and cut the slots.
And have been working some more on the body finish in the last week - I pronounced the job finished a couple of days ago, and am just letting the whole thing cure and harden for a while, before fitting any parts. In the end, I used 3 Wudtone base coats, and 3 layers of the Wudtone clear satin top coat. Really I'd call the result more of a soft gloss than a Satin, but actually I really like it and wouldn't want to change it now. I think the reflections help to highlight the curves nicely. Pleased with the wood colour too, it has darkened a little compared to the bare wood, but it's not too warm in tint, and the grain has been brought out nicely. To my eyes, the wood has a kind of milky/buttery look that I really like. The light colour is going to contrast very well with the black chrome hardware too.
One more lol:
Cheers dd - a definite plus for Wudtone I think, I can't deny I'm pretty pleased with it.
Nil Satis Nisi Optimum
Have got a bit behind with this thread, so time to get it back up to date. One thing I've done is designed and made a truss rod cover:
Testing the shape with a paper cut-out:
Making the cover from black pearloid:
Cut out the outline with a fret saw:
Then bevelled the edges, and finished with fine wet and dry:
A last couple of shots of the plain finished body, plus neck, before I start shielding the cavities, and fitting all the hardware:
Still can't believe what a great job www.guitarbuild.co.uk did on that body... I spoke to Phil (the owner) and he confirmed my suspicions that he'd used a super-lightweight piece of swamp ash to make it, nice one that man!
Shielding the cavities with copper tape - I love the look of the copper tape against the ash, and for some reason I find this about the most satisfying bit of the whole build. Apart from finishing the guitar of course...
Then put linking strips of copper tape through the wiring ducts, and some time needed with a soldering iron blobbing solder along all the seams between adjacent sheets of copper tape, to ensure electrical continuity:
Was just about to check the fit of the neck pickup in that shot also.