Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Categories
- 248.2K All Categories
- 22 >> Start Here <<
- 12 New Members
- 8 FAQs
- 88.9K Gear
- 40.4K Guitar
- 3.5K Acoustics
- 1.3K Bass
- 15.1K Amps
- 17.6K FX
- 359 Digital & Modelling
- 785 Other Instruments
- 8.5K Making & Modding
- 432 Gear Reviews
- 108 Guitar Reviews
- 74 Amp Reviews
- 119 FX Reviews
- 90 Other Reviews
- 756 Made in the UK
- 988 Theory
- 1.9K Technique
- 2.2K Live
- 3.2K Studio & Recording
- 2.2K Making Music
- 232 Events
- 15 Guitar Show 2018
- 867 Plug My Stuff
- 108.2K Classifieds
- 42.3K Guitars £
- 2.9K Acoustics £
- 146 LH Guitars £
- 925 Basses £
- 11K Parts £
- 18.8K Amps £
- 35K FX £
- 2.9K Studio & Rec £
- 6.3K Misc £
- 472 Personnel
- 56.2K Chat
- 37.5K Off Topic
- 1.2K Tributes
- 6.8K Music
In this Discussion
Become a Subscriber!
Subscribe to our Patreon, and get image uploads with no ads on the site!
1Q22 ffs build something - ThePrettyDamned
Base theme by DesignModo & ported to Powered by Vanilla by Chris Ireland, modified by the "theFB" team.
Comments
The quick dry times mean it is entirely possible to get a beautifully finished neck in a day, easily. I reckon I've used 10-12 coats. They dry in 20 minutes, but I've given longer because I was working - each coat took about 3-4 minutes to apply and cleanup the rag. Very cool. Rubbed it back very, very gently with 1000 grit mirka Goldflex and now it is super slick feeling. It's a very hard finish, too - expecting it to be quite resistant to wear, although I'm not sure how it'll cope with sweat so a long term review will be needed.
Sadly, there are a few over runs on the fingerboard. I'll scrape that back if it annoys me, but I expect it'll wear off with play time pretty quickly.
Job for today - rub back body with 320 grit (it's already sanded, but wetting it has raised some fuzzies to remove) and grain fill it. Hopefully I'll post a success story this evening...
Before:
Note big ol holes!
After (different part!):
I'm not going to go for a complete, flawless flat finish. Not because I can't be bothered to (I think 2 applications, sanded back between, would give a flat finish) but because I think the milk paint will go well with a bit of grain. It's naturally got some variation it it's colour/tone so I'm going to apply one grain fill today, then sand back tomorrow and see where we are. With luck, it'll be fine - mostly filled, with some sinkage available. If so, I should be able to start paint tomorrow - if not, I'll apply more grain fill and will need to wait until I can sand again.
thin coats! The back had thin coats and is much more even. The front was thin, but had one heavy coat last night that has dried more textured and variable.
So I've rubbed it back, it looks worse now but hopefully a few thin coats will restore it to a nice even colour.
It has sunk into the grain the perfect amount. Not so much that it might risk the finish cracking terribly, but enough to give the guitar a bit of character. Love this. Might refinish another guitar with it!
I've got a lefty Tele coming from GSP and I'm planning a milk paint finish too, so very interested in how you are getting on!
Ta! I am really enjoying it. Very different process and final colour - I think some colours will be more even/flat - I've seen good dark greens, blues, yellows and off-whites, the pink I have is a tiny bit uneven in tone, but still looks good.
I am waiting for another coat of paint to dry having sanded maybe 3/4s off the front, and thought I'd see how well the general finishes high performance gloss buffs up. I dry sanded from 600 to 2000 grit (and did burn through a bit, oops!) - then polished through three stages by hand with cloths.
Yeah, that'll do!
Binding does help set it all off. I have not yet drilled all holes - I need to add strap button holes, jack socket holder holes and the P90 mounting holes. I hope I don't regret this decision later, but I am feeling the fear. I will probably start with a 1.5mm bit and work up to reduce damage.
Turns out milk paint means easy repairs! Just mix a tiny bit up, brush it on, let it dry, rub back and clear coat again. Amazing. I could have done with a bit more milk paint on the repairs, but they're near invisible now.
Front and back are nearly level sanded, so I'm going to build the finish up a bit more with thin ragged on layers like I did the neck. This deepens the gloss quite a lot, even before polishing, and should give a bit more of a buffer for that final level sand.
The sides I'm a bit scared of, that's where I burned through a lot on my last build. It's got a good coat of finish on but I'm scared anyway. I'll do it a bit at a time, and rag on a new thin coat each time to ensure the thin spots are continually being topped up a bit. Fingers crossed it's okay.
All going well, I should be buffing tomorrow evening or Wednesday evening.
Before polish: 2000 grit. Not perfect, but about as good as I can manage by hand...
After polish by hand:
Shinies! It's actually not a bad gloss, I think with lots of time and energy I could get much better but that's perfectly good enough for me.
@TrentGuitars is right - water based finishes are possible. Any flaws (like burn-through or sanding marks) are down to me and my skill level (and patience), not the finish.
In terms of toughness, I had to tap the rear ferrules in. I used a test piece (that I polished to a gloss) and a rubber mallet. After hammering in all 6 ferrules, the finish was obviously marked but still completely intact. Impressive.
Should have Alegree old timer p90s and other bits and bobs arriving soon.
Gloss is an acronym I think.
Gah! Lots Of Soreness and Shine.
Might do satin to save on efforts next time...
Milk paint is amazing though. I can't really recommend it highly enough. I've gone for an opaque finish, but it still has a bit of it's own character. However, it can absolutely be semi-trans by mixing with a bit more water. Might refin my prs like this, maybe go for a washed pink or blue.
I also found it filled remaining grain - milk paint has a lot of solids, and after a few coats my half-filled grain was completely level. Again, this can save time and work, and milk paint isn't terribly expensive compared to how much lacquer can cost. Maybe I will skip grain fill next time.
Sands beautifully too, dusty but clean and smooth - not chippy or gummy at all.
The general finishes top coat feels great!
I assume I need springs for the pickups as well, so I'll be on the lookout on ebay for those. Need to ream the switch hole to accommodate the switchcraft toggle, mark which wire on it is which pickup but otherwise, not bad. Starting to look like a guitar.
You can use foam under the pickups, generally its a bit more stable than springs too.
Personally i'd look out for some lighter pickup covers 'light ivory' perhaps, to better match the binding.
The finish feels hard and smooth. After bashing with a mallet, it cracked on the test piece - so not a soft finish. However, with a blade (like nitro) you can cut it - but it's a hard finish, harder than wudtone for example.
Feels very slick and smooth. Not sticky. The neck I sanded to 1000 grit very lightly, just to denib any bits. Feels amazing.
I will see if I can find foam! Any idea of supplier? I might look for ivory covers, but won't be too fussy right now. Easy to change them at least.