Gabriel - SG

[rockmof]

HI Guys' been a while but a SG kit arrived the other day, an 8th birthday present for my grandson, Gabriel.
Now I sure have been slack this time, usually take heaps of pix so I can make a slide show showing the progress.
This time I haven't, but started to take a few now to post in the diary.

I found the body very easy to sand and it came up nice after a bit of rubbing with 180, 240, then some 600 I had floating around.
I really like the Gibson headstock shape but thought maybe some thing a bit different this time. Got out my French curve and, after a lot of scribbling, decided on a shape. It almost came out exactly as I planed but somehow manage to sand the small end (see pic.) smaller that I planed, but still good.

Have been told that it should be a gold finish. I wanted to use a coloured dye, but grandads' do what they told. SO found a white primer and have given it one coat. I was surprised at how good it came up. Am using the same "method" that Dennis used on his Hank Marven start. I all so remember the trouble he got into when the overspray covered the ranch garage floor (for some reason he won't let me do mine at his place). So last Thursday morning I was up at 4:30 (to go SUP'in) there was no wind and very still. Over to the park with the spray tin and presto a nice light coat with the grain still visible.
Today I sanded it ready for a coat of the gold I have, hope it is as easy to apply as the primer was.

In the spare time I shaped the headstock sanded the neck and applied a mahogany stain. Now the neck was so white the stain made it look very red, but after it cured for a day or so it didn't look so bad after steel-wooding it (4x0000), I thought it wasn't so bad. so instead of giving it another coat of stain I put some try-oil on. Today it got a second coat.
It looks a bit blotchy but I sort of like it so will continue with more coats.

A few pix, nothing great but this is how it's looking at present.

[FrankenWashie]

That's a lucky Grandson! Look forward to seeing how it turns out Rockmof!

[Andyxlh]

Looks good so far!

[rockmof]

ARrrrrr! ok was up early this morning and gave it the first coat of gold.

I think it will turn out ok, maybe another two coats of gold then a few clear coats. The future coats should even the colour.
Haven't worked on the neck and will leave it until Friday for the next coats of gold and tru oil.

Rick

[Simon Barden]

I'd think one more coat of gold would do it. It's amazing how well a second coat evens things up. I'd then spend more time on building up clear coats so that it's thick enough to sand back flat without getting through to the gold, before final polishing.

If the clear coat isn't from the same range of paint as the gold spray, check for compatibility on a piece of scrap wood first. You don't want them reacting and bubbling up.

[Andy40]

An SG for an 8 year old....niiiiice.

Gold looks good and the mahogany stain looks great.

[wazkelly]

Maroon & Gold theme??? Must be a Broncos fan.

Looking good so far. Might need to sand off some of the finish on the part of the neck that gets glued in the body otherwise it won't hold under string tension and most likely break the set neck joint.

[Simon Barden]

Good point Waz. You'll certainly ned to sand off all the stain and tru-oil on the neck where the glue is going to go, or it may not stick at all. I don't know if you taped up the sides of the neck pocket either before spraying, but if not, you'll also need to sand the paint off those.

You may need to do a bit more on cleaning the neck than just sanding, as the oil and wax will have penetrated further than you think. I'd suggest using acetone (pure, not the nail-polish remover which often has other things in) or naptha (liquid lighter fuel) to try and help degrease the wood surface. Use these outside, and be careful, because they are highly flammable liquids.

[andrewdosborne]

Looks great and one awesome gift for a lucky 8 year old. I think I was still on the Lego at that age lol

Sent from Android N

[rockmof]

Yeah I know about the neck needing to be clean but that is not my biggest stuff up on this build.
I was giving it the second coat of gold when I ran out of paint on tin one, now I knew that was going to happen and I had shaken tin 2 to be ready. When it ran out I threw it in the bin gave can 2 a shake and started to spray well nothing came out so stoped and pressed the button again while the can was stationary facing the guitar. pic shows the result, also there is a strip which I must have missed also visible in the pic.
However the front is ok, I have sanded the 'mark" out so will give it another spray tomorrow morning all being well.

Also happy with the neck, but not liking the uneven stain as much as I first thought (but still ok)