New guitar incoming for finishing and assembly

ThePrettyDamned

@andy_k I didn't ignore your advice - I just chose not to worry for this first coat, which was thinned down a bit to help it soak into any remaining unfilled pores. Bushings will be installed before future unthinned coats. 

WezV

andy_k said:

I'd just try and neatly plug the bridge posts with rolled up tape, and put a strip around the inside of the control holes.
Definitely try and leave a neat finish around the bushes (if they are in there), and if they aren't in there, get them fitted before you put a lot of finish on, usually they are set just a hair below the top and taped over, some Gibsons even still have the tape intact after delivery ( I had one like that ).
The control holes can be cleaned up after with a reamer, but be careful when tightening stuff up on top of fresh finish, could chip maybe?

I just run a hand drill backwards to clean out holes. It's pretty safe

I only really tape the bridge/TP holes when the bushings are already in situ

andy_k

I hadn't spotted that the bushes were not in situ, and I don't have experience of the type of finish being used, personally I would prefer to have bushes fitted and masked to prevent possibility of chipping occurring if bushes are pressed / hammered into a finished top.
Pot / switch holes are an easy clean up, but again, I would be careful with the tightening up onto a fresh finish.
Maybe the tester piece would be worth a visit to see the effects before doing it on the final instrument ?
I have no real experience of using thicker sprayed finishes, polished up to a gloss, so it would be a shame to have chips and cracking appear after such a fine finishing job.

WezV

The other issue to consider is buffing out a finish when the holes are masking raw wood.   If you use anything  water based it can quickly  seep under and swell the wood/ damage the finish.

Having some lacquer in the holes at that stage gives a bit of protection.

I've known some skip both issues and drill, even route,  after the finish is done.  I think people like collings build that way...  easier with CNC routing

Edit... yup

ThePrettyDamned

WezV said:

The other issue to consider is buffing out a finish when the holes are masking raw wood.   If you use anything  water based it can quickly  seep under and swell the wood/ damage the finish.

Having some lacquer in the holes at that stage gives a bit of protection.

I've known some skip both issues and drill, even route,  after the finish is done.  I think people like collings build that way...  easier with CNC routing

Edit... yup

Yes, I actually "sealed" the inside of the control panel holes for this very reason. The bridge post holes won't need redrilling beyond maybe running a hand drill backwards, but I might install studs. We'll see - seems either way works, and either way requires care. I'm probably still a good few weeks away from installing hardware yet, I need to do at least 3 coats and I've only done one coat of the front - tomorrow should be back, sides and neck first coat, then I won't be able to get back for at least a couple of days...

ThePrettyDamned

Managed to slightly sand back that first coat today, I'm not going to try to get it perfectly flat yet because it's so thin at this stage, but all dust removed and the worst high spots are gone.

Sadly, it's too cold to apply polyurethane - it needs 10 degrees Celsius as a minimum, and we're way below that at higher humidity. Hoping next coat is Tuesday on the back and sides. 

Jazzthat

ThePrettyDamned said:

Greened it slightly and removed a bit more stain but using a diluted blue-green-yellow mix. It looks killer in person. Now to let it dry before I clean the binding a bit and seal it.

 

Lovely 3d effect already on it ! I like the colour a lot too .

ThePrettyDamned

Managed to get the first coat on back, sides and neck - it isn't fantastic again, lots of dust, but should sand out no problem. I'll find out in a while anyway.

It looks good, but uneven and a bit drippy, about as expected for the first coat. Should even out over the next couple. 

ThePrettyDamned

Thought I'd show what I mean when I'm sanding back the finish between coats. Here is the back today, half of it slightly rubbed back with 400 grit paper. You can see shiny bits - these are low spots. Ideally, the whole thing would be an even scratch pattern.



It's unrealistic for me to get a perfect flat back. I'm doing this by hand, no spray equipment, cold weather and complete amateur. However, I can reduce it - this is the back when I finished (very light pressure!) sanding and you can see it's more even. My hope is the low spots will fill with finish - it seemed to be okay when testing, but we'll see.



I did accidentally burn through a small patch on the sides - which is a pity. I am hoping that it will finish out okay. Anyway, after rubbing back the front and sides, they look like this after application of the next coat. 




The sides will be the hardest part, as the finish goes on so thin (it can't just "sit" - it runs off down the back). I remove the worst of the run off and accept the rest. I can always rub that back. 

Anyway, that's my progress update and hopefully illustrates my process somewhat. I'm not aiming for perfect flat finish on every coat - but hopefully each coat will become more even. We will see, and I might be making a huge mistake! But the top certainly is turning out great. 

WezV

you tend to find it doesn't even out a you go on, the ridges already there just become more pronounced on the next coat.

But you are taking the right steps. just repeat what you are doing every few coats.  been a while since i have done a brush on finish, but i used to get them pretty damn good that way.   you need to be building up more finish to allow for the amount you have to remove in these steps

ThePrettyDamned

WezV said:

you tend to find it doesn't even out a you go on, the ridges already there just become more pronounced on the next coat.

But you are taking the right steps. just repeat what you are doing every few coats.  been a while since i have done a brush on finish, but i used to get them pretty damn good that way.   you need to be building up more finish to allow for the amount you have to remove in these steps

Yes, indeed. Thanks for confirming - I will keep doing what I'm doing and see how it goes. Appreciate the advice mate! 

Brush on is better than I expected to be honest! I love an oiled finish as much as the next man, but I do like a nice, high build shiny finish especially on this sort of guitar. I was expecting it to be much, much worse but most comes out relatively flat, and it sands out fairly well - as you say, it's just about building enough to not burn through... 

ThePrettyDamned

Woof. Second coat looks good. Neck looks fantastic, bar one streak, top looks excellent - I reckon just one or two more and we're there.

Back looks nasty because of drips, so more sanding needed before I can get the next coat on. Sides are looking very nice and will also get another coat today, but not expecting too many more. 

Headstock isn't great - due to the angle, the finish has run a bit and built up at the top. Not a huge issue, but needs managing - I'm going for a satin headstock anyway, rather than full gloss, so will probably run back to 1000 grit or so. May not apply any more to the headstock face, it's not desperately needed at this stage and looks nicely protected as-is but this will depend on how well my sanding goes. 

ThePrettyDamned

New coat on back and sides is on. Good news - looks pretty good and is definitely more level than the first coat was after a couple of hours of curing.

Bad news - a fly landed in it! I used a pair of tweezers to remove the bug, but it has left a mark in the finish and it has cured just enough that I do not believe it will self level in any way. I'm glad this wasn't my final coat... 

ThePrettyDamned

There are some scratches in the top. sadly. I tried sanding them out but they're deep and I didn't want to risk further damage. I'm not sure how it happened, but it seems likely I got unlucky when sliding on my towel and there was something hard on it... 

Still looks good, though. 

Next problem I may run into - finish on the fret board! Some has run under the masking tape, so I'll need to clean it as best I can with white spirits and probably sand any remaining finish off. Rather a shame, but I can't beat myself up over that.

WezV

You can scrape the fretboard with a blade and roll it into the edges at the same time

davros

My suggestion for the fretboard (it always happens because it's impossible to mask right to the bottoms of the frets) is to scrape with a razor blade, rather than using sandpaper or potentially messing up the sides with white spirit.

Just go careful and check it's not chipping as you go. You can put a slight burr on the blade to speed it up too.

ThePrettyDamned

Wizzes to you both! I'll give that a go. I'll YouTube it for technique. 

ThePrettyDamned

Minor update - top is pretty near flat now, gave it a good sand back today. Still not perfect, but I'm getting close. I chickened out of sanding more for fear of burning through, and just painted on a thin top coat. Looks lovely, and definitely nearly there. A couple of tough areas to sand, mind, so not sure how we'll finish... 

I trialled scraping the fretboard - works an absolute treat. Got the worst of the finish off for now, as I'm about done with applying to the neck now, and will properly scrape before I polish. 

Neck is very nicely done now, just needs sanding back to remove two drip areas and polishing I think.

Getting there! I just wish everything dried quicker so I could crack on! 

ThePrettyDamned

Wet sanded the back to 600 grit and it's nearly flat - but not quite. I'm scared of burning through, so I'm going to apply another coat I think. I'll work it out while I do the sides. Mostly flat but a couple of high spots...

  

ThePrettyDamned

Wet sanded the back to 600 grit and it's nearly flat - but not quite. I'm scared of burning through, so I'm going to apply another coat I think. I'll work it out while I do the sides. Mostly flat but a couple of high spots...

 edit: sadly I did burn through in a couple of edge spots on the top. Very minor, you need to be up close to see... 

So I've finished flatting the top, and applied one more thinned coat to it to ensure the wood itself is properly protected. This has self-levelled mostly and I don't anticipate it will take long to get properly flat once more. 

It's turning into a beautifully thin (like, REALLY thin) finish that should protect well enough while still wearing with dings and knocks as it's played, as any finish would. 

The neck is feeling fantastic, super slick. I'm looking forward to going up from 800 grit to 2000 to get super slick!