I loved the sound of this from the start.I've gone for the cheapest Tele kit.......and whilst I have a reasonable tool kit, built mostly around motorcycle maintenance, I'll be adding to that with whatever else I need for this sort of build, and hopefully end up with what I need to mod and maintain any guitar, and the confidence to do it myself.
I'll be asking for help, a lot.
Not looking to achieve anything spectacular, impressive or groundbreaking, but I will be painting it, and since I like bursts I'll have a crack at one of those I reckon.
Edit: Success. I built a guitar I like and learnt a whole lot along the way!
EDIT 2: After a month I decided to make some changes. New hardware, some black screws in the scratch plate, new headstock design, refinished the body, and an Iron Gear bridge pickup. Ten times better than before.
Comments
Instagram
Instagram
Instagram
Can't advise you on nitro, having not done it, but it's probably your easiest way to do an opaque finish. Neither a nitro lacquer nor modern poly varnish will come off in sheets, but both will need to be left a bit to cure. You can also get gloss with oil finishes, but they do wear and will take a bit longer to cure. If you really want to avoid spraying you could check out wudtone, but I don't think they have a true opaque finish (conch girl and vintage blond look close). They don't do quite the green you're after as standard though, but Andy is on here occasionally and might be up for a challenge. There's also a wudtone neck finish, but don't know much about it. People have successfully used tru-oil and tung oil, lots of different wood finishes that should work. I'm planning on trying a liberon finishing oil or varnish for the neck.
Edit: this thread might be interesting for painting http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=988194
Looks like a nice shape. possibly a bit oversized but that leaves you room to play with if you change your mind
when you say "automotive" do you mean spray cans from halfords. These stay soft for ages and i would recommend against them. Thye have loads of additives which extends the shelf life but keeps them soft. Other automotive paints from proper suppliers can fare better - btu there is always teh issue that a finish that sprays well and cures hard on metal stays soft on wood for much longer
if you are after a glass like gloss for your first one I would rethink. it pushes up the difficulty and expense a fair bit and if using nitro will also increase the cure time massively
You should be able to achieve a thin glossy version of the finish you are fater using cans from manchester guitar tech or rothko and frost
for the neck I would use tru-oil. Contrary to popular opinion this also works on fretboards, but you need to rub it in and buff all the excess off straight away.
Instagram
yes I mean rosewood for the advice above, although its a great finish on maple too. On maple you have the option of using it as a lacquer by building up mutliple coats and cuttigng back with wire wool. Obviously you can do this on rosewood too, but why would you
My wetsanded tru-oil technique for other areas of the guitar is well documented in other areas of the forum, but that doesn't work so well between frets
I use it as a base treatment on dry rosewood boards (tehse ktis are a bit dry), maybe rinse and repeat a few times, and they need very little extra treatment after that. On oilier boards I usually use danish oil, the same technique though. I use lemon oil only as a cleaner and refresher on a board I am already happy with
Instagram
Instagram