Gav's Super-Strat Build (Thank's Andy!)

[Adam Barnes]

Hi gav i used the blue painters 3m tape and left it for 24 hrs to take before staining the blue dingotone, only had one small run under the tape

[gavinturner]

Hi gav i used the blue painters 3m tape and left it for 24 hrs to take before staining the blue dingotone, only had one small run under the tape

Thanks Adam! That gives me heart. I'll be using frisket, but hopefully I can expect similar results!

cheers,
Gav.

[gavinturner]

Hey guys,

Been a long time since I posted anything. I've been lurking a bit, posting the odd note of awe, but I'm so damn tired from commuting it's getting harder to do anything. Not to mention, and anyone who commutes along the NSW northshore line can attest to this, the 4G coverage on my commute sucks the big one. Would be the perfect time to contribute! Damn those guitar gods are making it hard right now.

Anyway I found an hour today while the wife walked to dog to actually get some building done in the makeshift man-cave. There's no lighting, but I've got some rubber mats and some carpet down on a temporary bench. I got the sanding done down to 360 grit, with a few water wipes to raise the grain and 400-grit cutting back. Pretty happy with the smoothness - this is a nice piece of wood! With the surface nice, and time running out (is that the patter of dog feet I hear?) I slapped on a slurry of ebony timbermate.

I took a couple of photos, one in the dim recesses of the man-cave and one in the Holgate sunshine - w00t! It sure feels good to building something again.

A far as the flames are concerned, I've been able to do a few tests, both with frisket masking and with using clear (poly) on the flame area. Unfortunately the results weren't as good as I hoped. Each time I got bleed of the dye under the flames (both masked and poly) - no matter how light handed I was with the dye application. What I really need is to be able to shoot some clear lacquer, then mask the flames, then more lacquer with tint. Alas, I dont have the equipment any more to mix and shoot my own, so maybe rattle cans are the answer.

Stewmac sells colortone red mahogany tinted lacquer, but not black. Red mahogany might be good - I've been tossing up red-mahogany dye as an alternative to the whole flames thing - but I'm not sure I want to re-mortgage my house to buy from stewmac. Does anyone know of any local products that might do the job?

cheers,
Gav.

[dave.king1]

Try your auto paint shop generally they'll mix rattle cans in whatever colour you want in most paint / finish types.

[wazkelly]

Hi Gav, good see you back on the horse.

How did things end up with your insurance claim? Hopefully they paid you something towards all the lovely creations that were damaged?

[gavinturner]

Hey Waz,

Yeah I'm finally all paid up. In some cases they paid me for the kits, and in some cases paid to replace the hardware. Cost of finishing wasn't taken into consideration. Unfortunately, they took the majority of the guitars away to be landfill . Suffice to say my collection has dropped from double digits to just a few, and those are in need of a complete hardware re-fit. The man-cave has also been internally stripped and we're waiting patiently for it to be put back together. Once that's done I can think about working on them. In the meantime I have this kit, and a garden shed! But definitely something I can work with.

cheers,
Gav.

[dave.king1]

How did you go with the amp Gav from memory you had a Twin or something equally desirable

[gavinturner]

Hey Dave, it was a Fender solid state amp - Deluxe 110. It was OK, but it's now in amp heaven. Once the workshop is back I'll be looking for a new one, hopefully something tube-driven!

cheers,
Gav.

[wazkelly]

Oh well, some form of payment will not replace them but help you make a start on some new ones.

[gavinturner]

hi guys,
I finally got some time to progress this beast today. The ebony Timbermate is sanded it off with 400 grit, and the body is now smooth as a baby's wossname. It might be even too smooth. We'll see!





I then got out the Colortone black dye and applied a first stain coat. I've been agonising about colour for the last fortnight, but trans black finally won out now that I've binned the natural flames idea. The stain is drying as I type and soon I'll be able to apply a second round. Starting to look good, although there's a couple of spots where the dye hasn't taken as well as I'd like. Always seems to happen with black dye (well mine anyway). Too much sanding I'll wager. I may need to hit these with a stronger soluton, or add some Colortone to the Tru-Oil when the time comes.





Either way, she's finally coming along now!
cheers,
Gav.