Matt's WL-1 build

[ILRGuitars]

Sand it, spray it, sand it, spray it, etc,etc,etc. Preparation is everything!! Put the colour on only when you are happy that the prep is perfect, otherwise you will be sanding, spraying, sanding, spraying all over again...only in colour.

[D.K]

looking good so far, those scratches from the 400 are fine and will give the top coat something to bond to. where you have cut through will need to be recoated so that your colour will have a uniform base colour underneath it otherwise your topcoat will always look a touch motley( and not in the crue way). the goal is to use a sanding block and remove all the orange peel, if you hit timber in any spot before the orange peel is gone it means you have high spots and low spots. as soon as you hit timber stop sanding and apply another couple of coats of primer then sand again, it sounds painful but it is the only way to get a dead flat surface to lay your top coat on, the good thing is that primer dries fairly quickly so within a few hours you can start sanding again. this is where you get a whole new respect for the quality of some of the finishes you see on this site, they must have heaps of patience that's all I can say. Sorry hope I haven't rambled on too much.

[Simon Barden]

Yes, more primer. The high spots on the flat surfaces are where the wood wasn't flat enough to start with. I believe Phrozin advocates first spraying a dry 'mist coat' onto the wood when doing solid colours (spray from further back with a light dusting so it doesn't go on wet) so that you can then sand the wood and the mist coat will show up any high/low spots which you can then sand flat. Repeat the process until there are no bumps. Then spray the primer properly. This makes it far less likely that you'll get those sorts of issues, apart from maybe on edges and round surfaces where it's hard not to apply too much pressure in places.

Likewise, he then sprays a couple of light dry mist coat gloss sprays after doing the colour coat, so that it's easier to see the effects of sanding and whether any high/low areas have been created whilst spraying. It's very important so sand with a flat pad on the flat surfaces, and the larger the pad the better it is for getting it really flat.

And pay attention to the small details. In that last photo you posted, there's a lot of orange peel around the corner of the pickup cavity. Yes, it will be hidden by the pickup ring (if you are using one) but you really want to get the whole surface flat for the best results.

[mjg]

Cool, thanks. I'll keep at the sanding/spraying then. It is certainly looking better than the first effort... just surprised at how many cans of primer I'm going to use.

It has given me a whole new appreciation for a glossy paint finish... and I'll probably just stick to natural wood finish for any future builds!

Thanks Simon, yep I knew that I hadn't got all the bumps out around that pickup (and a few other places), but I stopped at that point as I wanted to confirm I should keep going. When in doubt, stop sanding and ask the internet.

[FrankenWashie]

Cool, thanks. I'll keep at the sanding/spraying then. It is certainly looking better than the first effort... just surprised at how many cans of primer I'm going to use.

It has given me a whole new appreciation for a glossy paint finish... and I'll probably just stick to natural wood finish for any future builds!

Thanks Simon, yep I knew that I hadn't got all the bumps out around that pickup (and a few other places), but I stopped at that point as I wanted to confirm I should keep going. When in doubt, stop sanding and ask the internet.

Yeah I feel your pain. I rushed into colour on an SV-1 without reading up and found all of the problems you have run into. I actually stripped it right back to raw wood, fixed up the surface dings i hadn't noticed and then made some wide sanding blocks to do the whole guitar surface in a pass. It is sooooo easy to ding the basswood, that even dust build up will mark it if it clogs on the paper. For now its sand, clean, spray, sigh and repeat.

[JohnH]

MJG, let me know if you get that peddle making workshop up and running - I'd be super keen to join (depending on finances), and I suspect my bro and a few of our friends would be too.

[mjg]

Thanks JohnH, I'll let you know if it gets off the ground. Trying to set it up with the place where my kid learns guitar. They're keen, but it is a lot of work to get it organised and running smoothly.

[JohnH]

No worries, I know how slow those kinds of things can be to get rolling.

[mjg]

So, finished off the sanding from previous primer spray. It looked pretty good, apart from the few spots where I've sanded too much off or hit a low patch.

Did another primer spray today. Finished off the 2nd can of primer, and it was going on beautifully - nice coverage, wet but not running. Grabbed the 3rd can of primer, shook it for four minutes, started spraying... and it comes out dry and a little like spraying silly string. WTF? Kept shaking it and spraying on some cardboard, I think it took about 10 minutes of shaking before it started to come out wet. It's still covered the guitar in really obvious bumped primer, kind of like a hammered effect.

I'll let it dry and see how it looks tomorrow, then spray some more on to thicken it up and even it a bit before sanding again. Hopefully the rest of the can will come out a bit more smoothly. :-/ Definitely a real difference between the cans though. Or maybe I didn't shake it enough.

[wokkaboy]

Hey MJG, what brand of primer is it ? I would say the 3rd can has a blocked nozzle or is a dud. Try one of the other nozzles on it and if no luck I would take it back for a replacement. I usually stop spraying if something isn't right.