True Rose

Added 3 clear coats today after a 2 hour search for another litre of acrylic - not much seemed open today.

Happy to say it matches nicely with the back of the guitar.

http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-con...uhjy-image.jpg

Ended up with 2 coats of japan black + a run (ah well), sort that later. Seems to have done the trick.

http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-con...f8wy-image.jpg

Ended up staining the fret board with one coat of japan black then quickly tested some beeswax polish which darkened it that little bit more.

Should look alright - pics on assembly in a couple of days once it has dried properly.

looking good, want to see the finger board, i have similar ideas for a coming project

Stan,
Will finish the beeswax tonight & try a get a pic tomorrow with real sunlight.

Love the back of the headstock and neck! The grain hghlighted in black looks great. I am also interested in the fingerboard stained and waxed. How do you think it will play?

cheers,
Gav.

Gav,

I used one of those market stall home brew "leather conditioner/furniture polish" blah blah blah. Used it on my bike jackets a bit seems good.
Once it has had time to soak in, should play slick. All done now. Might assemble it tomorrow for a pic on the lawn.

Anyone help my with type of decal paper to use for a white logo? My cream logo on clear decal paper wouldn't show through the stain.

For white decals, the best option I have found is to get a vinyl decal printed at a commercial printers. It usually doesn't cost too much. Our very own Andyport does this kind of stuff and can definitely sort you out. I can highly recommend him - his work is awesome! You can contact him at City Signs and Print in Port Lincoln SA - email address is: citysigns@internode.on.net.

cheers,
Gav.

Thanks Gav. Will send Andyport an email.

Here is the guitar. 3 coats of clear & 3 just completed now.

http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-con...h5j1-image.jpg

Couldn't get a great shot of the fretboard. Once it is dry will try again and then show a comparison. It is nice and slick.

http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-con...e7y7-image.jpg

Yay, my presents just turned up. Pickup winding in my spare time waiting for clear coat to dry.

http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-con...6p6e-image.jpg

Lastly - does anyone know how to get rid of stain from fret dots? I have lost a few of the top ones from 12th down. Metho didn't remove these ones.

Also I noticed that a few of the frets have been hammered in so hard the fret board is cracked in a few spots. I was going to tap a few of the high ones down as there are gaps but not when I noticed this. Anyone else have this issue.

Kane it looks truly stunning, My question to you is with your acrylic clear do you use anything to seal the wood before you apply it. I use 2pk but due to the health hazards I am seriously thinking of moving to acrylic clears so I was curious to know if the wood needs to be sealed or does the clear do that anyway.

Jarrod,
I normally seal with timbermate after the first batch of sanding on new wood. The timbermate seals and fills the grain. Although I am starting to think once I have sanded it flat filling it with timbermate again. With this guitar I had a few spots where the clear coat seemed to have sunk in a few spots leaving a couple of grain holes. For me it just wasn't 100% smooth. Still considering wet sanding an adding another clear coat or two yet.
Once I have the timbermate sanded flat and happy with the sanding I used the feast and Watson stains. Once they had a day or two to dry I hit them with a light clear coat, followed by two heavier coats on the first day. After 24hrs I give them another 3 coats. From here is usually some levelling work preparing for final clear coats.

Almost there, playing it a bit before trying to get it setup right. Small adjustments here and there.


http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-con...x659-image.jpg

OK, so the stain obviously still shows up the grain after the timber mate is applied , and although now sealed you can stain over it?

Yes Jarrod. Go back through my pics and you can see where I added the timbermate then sanded it right back to make the surface smooth. The timbermate will take on the stain as well.
You can also colour the timbermate with the stain to give different finishes.

Thanks Kane I appreciate the advice . I do a lot of air brushing but wood is very new to me.

No probs Jarrod - happy to share what I know, which isn't much.

Here are a couple of pics from late this arvo. Better ones once I have completed it.


http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-con...1g44-image.jpg


Colours aren't quite right, couldn't find the right angle with the sun.


http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-con...t0bu-image.jpg

Just beautiful Kane. Just beautiful. Your bro will be stoked!

Here are a couple of pics better showing the colour of my past couple of months of work.

Just because I can.
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-con...au4l-image.jpg
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-con...gl2v-image.jpg

Beautiful work Kane...

I have placed some audio demos over in the demo section of the forums.

This is because I have some custom pickups going in tomorrow and wanted to record the sound prior to changing them out. Have a listen and see what you think a paulownia body sounds like using Garage Band to record.

Brendan - My brother was stoked with the guitar and thought it was awesome, this is what he wants when I progress to building from scratch.

That's a stunning grain, mate. Some of these lesser-known timbers come out really well, and they're worth the gamble at the price of a kit.

Here is an upcoming GOTM entry. More pics to follow.

Can anyone tell me why my clear lacquer top coats can still be scratched with a finger nail?
It has been cured for weeks, is it just not thick enough?



http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-con...-LP-edit-5.jpg

Kane, could be a number of reasons why the clear hasn't fully hardened, maybe sub coats weren't given enough curing time. Looks a treat though ur LP, well done

I've been admiring this one for a while now, very tasty. Look forward to seeing more photos.

Thanks Wokks. Really been scratching my head of the prep on this one compared to my strat. 3 coats on one day followed by 3 on the next. Mind you this was only a few weeks ago in WA when the weather was warm. Waited until late so temp was around 28deg. Keep thinking maybe not quite heavy enough coats but not that much lighter than the strat. Maybe just not as many, only went 6 coats of clear total so by the time of some light fine sanding and polishing it wasn't enough. It more like 8+ with my strat.
I have also considered the timber. Compared to my test pine piece the paulownia only needed one coat with stain where the pine needed two to have same colour depth. Maybe this wood absorbs the clear coats different as well.

Adam, you now have the first Feb GOTM. Cheers.

Kane I think the answer is what you just told me, 3 coats of clear per day for 2 days in a row seems a bit too frequent, I'd think each coat of clear needs more time than 8 hours to cure. That would explain why the top clear surface is still a little soft. Unless you are drying these coats with an infra red system ?
I would personally give it at least 24 hours between single coats.

Just posted some updated sound files over in the demo area