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New guitar incoming for finishing and assembly
Base theme by DesignModo & ported to Powered by Vanilla by Chris Ireland, modified by the "theFB" team.
Comments
Really happy with location from the front. Unfortunately, the bridge volume is a little bit too far forward from the back of the guitar, maybe by half a millimetre or so - which means the body of the pot is touching the body. Not a problem electronically (it goes to ground anyway) but it makes fitting difficult - so I'll use a stick with sandpaper on to just eat into the cavity wall a tiny bit to make it a bit more comfortable.
Phew. About time to start sanding. I wanted to grain fill today but running out of time now unfortunately, so I'll spend a bit of time masking and begin sanding the body.
@Corvus @paulnb57 headstock repair worked a treat. The CA has effectively grain filled that area but it is holding strong with tuner in place. Appreciate your help!
I hope I can do it justice. Got to sand everything and grain fill back, sides and neck before I get to the top... There is a bit of a scratch that I need to try to steam out as well.
Loving it. Trying to take is as seriously as I can - I want this to be as good as I can manage with my space and equipment. Learning a lot along the way - I'm very excited though, my test pieces feel incredible, super slick and smooth. Just need to not-ruin-it now.
Feels like a super solid piece of kit. Nothing rattles anywhere. Love the huge bolts and locking collar, that'll save my finish from lots of dings!
This was drilled for a vintage plain-bar wraparound. These bridges have no real compensation, beyond the angle of the bridge and a grub screw on each side.
The bridge I've chosen is typically mounted flat, rather than at an angle, which means the treble side saddles don't need to be as far forward as usual, but the bass-side saddles need to be further forward than normal. This made it look slightly different to usual, but more importantly, I got close to perfect intonation first time when stringing up. Obviously tuning stability was a bit poor because of the neck settling in (and the strings are already off once more) - but I am very confident it will easily be within good intonation range, and I'm not even sure the grub screws will be required - although for now I just left them at about 1-2mm in use.
This guitar will be going for a pro set up, as I don't have the right kit to properly sort the nut. Although the saddles are notched, because of the angle, new notches are needed just off-centre.
Otherwise, it is always so good to hear those first few chords when testing these things.
I also got the strap buttons and the output jack sorted today - so all holes are drilled. Just need to sand, grain fill, stain and clear coat before I finally get to electronics and setup! Maybe it will be ready for Pro fettling this side of Christmas...
The grain filler dried. FAST. I wasn't able to scrape effectively, so it will be a lot of work sanding I fear. I won't attack it with sandpaper yet, but I have rubbed it down with white spirits to remove some excess - this worked very well on a test piece so keeping fingers crossed.
I used a mix of 3/4 teak and 1/4 mahogany colour rustins - this got me something that matched a bit closer than either of them alone, and I'm quite happy about that because the body mahogany has some subtle figuring in that I'd hate to ruin with a "dogs hair" type effect.
Meanwhile, maple was also sanded to 320 grit and looking good. I'll probably run through the grades again just in case any white spirit or grain fill made its way (I can't see any, but even a small amount won't be welcome!).
Edi: picture time! Note the colour - a bit redder than the wood, but much better matched than the teak colour or the mahogany. I think it will turn out pretty darn lovely! Gave the binding a bit of a clean before snapping, and the grain filler has highlighted a couple of scratches I missed - I'll do my best to clean that up.
When finishing the neck, I'd like to have a good, solid finish. I don't want it oiled or anything - I want it to be a super slick polyurethane, because it's tough and feels really excellent.
This finish will want to be on the rosewood fingerboard on the edges, but I am not sure this is desirable. It's an oily wood and I'm not sure the finish will adhere well, which may lead to the finish lifting off the neck.
It won't be a thick finish at all, so I'm not worried about feeling a "ridge" as such, but how can I avoid the finish hitting this area? My first (obvious) thought was to mask it off, but if I let it cure, removing the masking tape would damage that finish.
Should I apply, then wipe over the edge with a rag and white spirit to remove the excess?
Tips appreciated! I thought I'd thought everything through but I am an ultimate rookie.
Instagram
Now it looks a bit uglier but it should be pretty darn level after this application.
Side note - I get why lower cost guitars are not grain filled. This is definitely a labour intensive step - lots of sanding, application, waiting, checking, reapplication, waiting, sanding, checking... Much easier to just spray clear coats and let it sink.
Plan for the afternoon:
- sand back, sides and neck to clear the grain fill, 180 to 400 grit.
- sanding sealer sprayed on back and sides
- unmask maple cap and give one final 320 grit sand to ensure surface is completely clean
- possibly stain maple. Depends whether I have enough blue or not. I have another being delivered tomorrow so I'll probably get the first stain application done today and let it fully dry and review tomorrow.
As I hoped, I sanded back the grain filler. This was HARD WORK. Pro tip - do small sections and scrape back as you go. If it does dry on top it is a sandpaper clogging nightmare to remove. This was a halfway point - still a way to go!
And after:
However... Once done, I tack-clothed it, remasked the front side of the fingerboard, and sealed - when wet, it looked incredible. Ignore the obvious blotchiness - this stuff dries in minutes and is there to be sanded flat!
Looks wicked good. The figuring is still present and the grain fill doesn't dominate the look - I'm really glad I blended the two colours, as when wet/under finish it looks a bit more natural.
So, tomorrow/whenever I next can get here:
- remove masking from top
- sand top. Make sure it is flawlessly clean
- clean it - white spirit to remove any residues
- stain it!
Once stained, I can seal the top and then it's just flatting the sanding sealer and getting on with clear coats.
You can see where I have over-applied the sealer, it goes a milky white colour - not a problem, it sands out really easily. Starting to look more like a guitar now.
Nice figure popping out on the back!
Ooo that's interesting! Yes, it was... Moist... Today!
Can "bloom" happen to oil based polyurethane? If so, I'll need to wait for warmer, drier days before applying.
Not sealed yet. Going to give it a few minutes to dry and work out if I want to lift more stain off.
This is after two applications of the blue, then a very heavily diluted blue and green mix, the purpose of which was more to lift old stain while adding a hint of deeper green tones. Sort of worked - certainly lifted the stain to increase contrast!
May yet add a hair more yellow. Not sure. Don't want to ruin a good thing, so I'm probably done now.
- seal top (should be able to within an hour or so)
- scrape back binding to clean
- sand back sealer
- clear coat
I think! Is that order correct?