looking good. How long to you leave it to cure?
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looking good. How long to you leave it to cure?
I will leave it about a week. I find this has been long enough for water-based poly. Folks using Oil-based poly leave it for a few (3-4) weeks to gas-off I think!Quote:
Originally Posted by fender3x
That's intersting. My water based poly says it needs at least 3 weeks (General Finishes High Performance). Curious what you are using?
I'm using Cabot's Clear Water Based Polyurethane. But, I'm not sure where I got this from! The spec sheet does not mention curing time.
FYI I used Cabots on my favorite spalted maple bass, and it was good in a couple of days! I pretty much use exclusively water-based paints and surface treatment.. so much more forgiving for my amateur hands!
I know that TD sprays his on. Is that how you apply it as well. Looking for something I can wipe or brush on indoors...Quote:
Originally Posted by Tim Rattigan
I like the sound of it, and folks seem to get good results with Cabots. My quick search was not terribly successful. I am not sure the product I was looking at was the same one that appears on the dot-au site for Cabots. Also it seems only available here in gallons. The price for a gallon was MUCH better than what I have been using...but I'd like to make sure it's the right stuff before making that sort of commitment ;-)
While waiting for the finish to cure on the MBM-1, I thought I would start the custom MBM.
So far:
The body and neck have been sanded up to 240 g, including deepening the body contours a bit.
I was very careful with the spalted maple veneer (which had a couple of deep scratches).
Stamped my serial number on the back of the headstock.
Fret levelled, fret filed, filed the fret ends and polished the frets.
Wiped on a coat of Ubeaut Sanding Sealer (a shellac-based sealer) to the body and neck. Gently, with one pass, rubbed back with 600 g paper.
Stained the veneers with Feast Watson Golden Teak stain (diluted to 50%).
Coated the body and neck with 2 brushed on coats of Wipe-on-poly.
I will now allow the poly to gas off for a few weeks before some final coats.
That is dramatic. What a great color and pattern!
Thanks fender3x,Quote:
Originally Posted by fender3x
The middle section has a great quilted maple pattern! I'm very happy with it.
I wonder if it was always planned at the factory to make that a one pickup guitar, or if they just could not bear to cut into that beautiful figuring?
Good question. This was a custom order that was rejected. There were some machine marks on the veneer, and the book matching is not perfectly aligned. I assumed they were not happy with that!Quote:
Originally Posted by fender3x
Their loss. Hope they tune in and see what's become of it. How did you fill the machine marks? I have sometimes been able to fill small ones with AcuaCoat clear filler. It dries clear so you don't see the gouge. I have one build that has more filler in it than a teenager's first car.
I could sand the machine marks out luckily. I was very careful. Filler was the next option!Quote:
Originally Posted by fender3x
The Aquacoat clear filler looks great. For small fills I would normally use CA glue!
Back to the MBM-1.
I have polished it today with:
Kustom Creations Kustom Grit step 1 (cutting compound) and step 2 using a Random Orbital Polisher and micro-fibre pad.
Then applied Maguire’s Ultimate Compound and then Scratch X with the Polisher and micro-fibre cloth.
This is looking amazing!
Can I ask why you chose to use both the oil based poly and the water based one? Was there a particular reason/different result you wanted or did you just have some leftover?
Thanks brandfbr.Quote:
Originally Posted by brandfbr
The idea of the oil based first coats is to not raise the grain of the timber (like water-based coats would). I have been spraying water-based poly final coats on my last couple of guitar builds but found that the grain still raised a bit. So, this is another trial at trying to reduce raised grain.
Note: I also use a Ubeaut sanding sealer (shellac based) before the stain to raise the grain a bit (and it can be lightly sanded (de-nibbed)). I have also used Timbermate grain filler (water based) to grain fill and raise the grain. Others also wipe the timber with a damp (water or metho) cloth to help lift the grain.
This is probably only an issue when using a stain, on open grained timber. After staining, you do not want water-based coats raising the grain of the wood and making it rough, since you cannot sand it back too much as you may remove the stain layer.
For non-stained timber it is not a problem as you can sand the raised grain back and then add more water-based coats.
Seeing fender3x's work, I have thought that Shellac may be a better alternative to the oil-based poly first coats!
Assembled, stringed and rough tuned.
Wow! That came out spectacularly well! You've got to be pretty happy. I really like the headstock. Cool inlay. Did you make that truss rod cover? That's a really nice tough. I also like the shape of it. Classic vibe without being something you generally see.
Does the guitar sound as good as it looks?
Thanks fender3x. Yes, very happy with the end result. Yes, I did the truss rod cover (it is the same style cover as used for the axe bass!) and the mockingbird emblem is a Cricut vinyl sticker.Quote:
Originally Posted by fender3x
It is not sounding great at the moment! But I'm sure some nut work, string height adjustment, and intonation will set that straight. That is this weekend's work.
Final setup is now complete - adjusted the truss rod, set the string heights, filed the nut slots, set the intonation. Now it sounds good!
I can't remember if you said what pickups you used. Are they stock? I have a set of the PB stock humbuckers and have been thinking about what I might do with them....
This one has the stock pups. On the weekend I can hopefully give them a good test! And also decide if I need to add a treble bleed.Quote:
Originally Posted by fender3x
I also have a couple of stock humbuckers and single coils hidden away. I was thinking of making a few "Guitar Nut" paper clip stands or a magnetic knife rack!
Will be interested in the type of treble bleed you use.Quote:
Originally Posted by Trevor Davies
I was thinking along the lines of swapping out the magnets...but now that you mention it they would make a very rock-and-roll way of sticking the grocery list to the fridge ;-)
Actually, the MBM-1 did not need a treble bleed. I only tested it on my practice amp, but it sounded nice on the clean and distorted settings. So now I can call this one done.:DQuote:
Originally Posted by fender3x
It has been over a month since I added the oil-based wipe-on-poly to the custom MBM-1 build. It should have gassed-off by now!
So, today I sprayed on 3 coats of Cabot's water-based polyurethane. The headstock also has a Cricut cut vinyl sticker for the logo.
Wow that is a really gorgeous color! It's going to look great! Now that it's getting close, what are you thinking of putting in it. Curious about the pickup and circuitry.
As usual, I am also impressed by tidy portable workbench. You could market that. Mine is made from stuff that was lying around, including old boards my kids broke in Tae Kwan Do--and it looks like it. Philadelphia Luthier Tools is not interested.
Thanks fender3x.
The pickup will be a Tonerider Zebra Bridge Humbucker (if it looks cool with the colour combo!), and the electronics will be volume and tone, plus a multiple coil tap circuit and a Varitone circuit. See https://www.buildyourownguitar.com.a...l=1#post227525.
Today I have also completed burst 1 - Sprayed on Cabot's water-based poly with a maroon dye.
That looks amazing!Quote:
Originally Posted by Trevor Davies
Sent from my LE2125 using Tapatalk
If that baby sounds as good as it looks when finished, it will be a showstopper. Great work.
Thanks fender3x and XP Rider. I'm very happy with the way it is looking, and I hope I don't stuff it up on the next part. This weekend I can hopefully get a few more clear coats added.
It has been a while, but I have finally got around to adding 3 more coats of clear poly.
Burst 2. I was very worried about this - but I think I've pulled it off. More clear coats to follow!
4 more clear coats of water-based gloss poly added today to the body and headstock. Also gave 3 final coats of w-b satin poly to the neck. Hopefully this should be enough! Now to leave if for a week or so to gas-off.
Also made a spear head truss rod cover, and applied a mockingbird decal.
Oh my, that looks good
I didn’t know you could put water based over oil based.
Thanks DarkMark.Quote:
Originally Posted by DarkMark
It may not work for all! I got the idea from DickyBee! I give the oil-based coats (I have been using Tru-oil!) a few weeks to gas off. Then apply the Cabot's water-based poly' coats. It helps prevent the raised grain issue when using water-based materials. Fender3x also promotes using a shellac coat between different layers to reduce compatibility issues (but I have not tried, or needed this).
I have also used water-based top coat over oil based paint...but at the mfg's suggestion I made sure that the oil based paint had completely gassed off first ;-)
The guitar looks fantastic BTW. Really amazing burst!
Thanks Fender3x.
Today I have soldered the electronics:
volume and tone,
Varitone circuit,
coil tap to coil split.
I think I need to get some heat shrink to tidy it up a bit!
It already looks pretty tidy by my standards ;-) Not sure what you'd need the heatshrink for. Unless you think there are some connections that might cross when it's installed.Quote:
Originally Posted by Trevor Davies
More progress:
Today I have given the body a wet rub from 1500 to 2000 g, polished them with Kustom Creations Kustom Grit step 1 (cutting compound), and step 2 using a Random Orbital Polisher and micro-fibre pad. I then applied Maguire’s Ultimate Compound and then Scratch X with the Polisher and micro-fibre cloth.
Also drilled the holes for the electronics and added the electronics. (I probably should have drilled the holes for the electronics before finishing the body - but I was unsure what I wanted!!)
Looking very shiny! There is always the danger of cracking the finish if you drill after the finish hardens. But if you drill early there is a danger of wood swelling, particularly with water based finish. I generally do it the way you do. I try to remember to start the drill on the reverse setting to get started and then switch to normal. I also tend to use a reamer very gently and slowly to make small holes bigger. In your case, it looks about perfect the way it is.