Les Paul Custom build

roberty

Wow mate super impressed by your skills. Looks fantastic 

PeteC

Looking fantastic - super neat work as ever 

davros

Thanks, definitely not perfect but better than a lot of Gibsons I've seen 

davros

Colour coats done! It took almost 2 cans of white to make it fully opaque but I'm happy with the result.

I left the last coat 15 minutes and began removing the masking tape. I used 3M vinyl tape and the line is very crisp.

But, because the paint doesnt stick to the vinyl, there are a couple of areas where there's a little flap of paint (see the last photo). There's also a little bit of build up all the way around. I'm thinking I'll let it dry until next weekend and carefully go at it with a scalpel to slice the flaps and prevent them snapping beyond the original mask line, and hit the build up gently with some 400 grit to make it easier to cover with the clear coat.

Is that the best approach? Any other ideas?

davros

Knocking down the raised buildup with some 320 worked fine. Now onto the clear coats - it's proving to be a challenge to stop dust and tiny fibres getting into the finish. I'm tack cloth-ing rigourously and sanding them out before every coat. It will be impossible to have it completely dust free, but will hopefully be acceptable. 2 more cans to go!

davros

6 cans down, and the spraying is done. I'm never spraying white or light colours again, at least not with my current setup. Dust and tiny fibres are a nightmare!

Now for 2-3 weeks watching paint dry before wet sanding and the really fun bit of putting it together!

gretschthumper

That looks so good Davros, waiting for finish to dry is painful though …

davros

Thanks! It is painful, but I've learnt the hard way how necessary a good 2 weeks hardening time is.

I might have to do a cheeky mockup in a couple of days when it can be laid down 

davros

Paint film thickness check...

This is the masking tape from the tailpiece studs. A thin film but should be sufficient for wet sanding.

This is
1 can of sealer
2 cans of colour
3 can of clear

davros

A couple of shots of how it looks post paint. No grain showing and not too much orange peel. I'll need to be careful with wet sanding, but I think it's going to turn out nice.

Colour wise, I'm very happy. The clear has given it a very slight creamy yellow tinge so it's nit quite as stark as the pure white was. It will obviously yellow over time as all good white customs do.

Itching to do a mockup, but will give it another day to harden.

euan

Making sure your tack cloth is also anti static can help avoid some dust and fibre particles hitting the surface when painting. 

The one disadvantage of when painting with drier humidity is that that everything can be charged more and attract particles. 

davros

I didn't know that, will bear that in mind next time as it's been a nightmare.

davros

Saturday morning mockup. I'm getting excited for polishing this up and putting it together in a couple of weeks!

webrthomson

^ Now that looks amazing

LastMantra

euan said:

Making sure your tack cloth is also anti static can help avoid some dust and fibre particles hitting the surface when painting. 

The one disadvantage of when painting with drier humidity is that that everything can be charged more and attract particles. 

Would an air ioniser/purifier in the room help? 

davros

Maybe I should rub some balloons on my hair and leave them in the corner of the room!

roberty

I'm excited for you as well :-) 

LastMantra

Looks really good BTW. 

I'd personally have went with two p90s and possibly nickel hardware, just to be different. 
That's just me though.

davros

I love a dual P90, but this setup is going to get more use for me. I wanted a pickup twin for my red LP build for gigging. And, I could just buy a custom with 2 P90s (albeit with a tuneomatic bridge). Maybe one day I'll do a black evil twin for this one with P90s!

Seziertisch

Such great work