Two weeks? No, the instructions on the clear said 24 hours. If I had to wait two weeks I'd have to buy another kit to work on!
Thanks Wokka, I'll go back to the 400 wet and dry. I've got four coats of clear to play with.
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Two weeks? No, the instructions on the clear said 24 hours. If I had to wait two weeks I'd have to buy another kit to work on!
Thanks Wokka, I'll go back to the 400 wet and dry. I've got four coats of clear to play with.
Hey Swanny what sort of clear did you use ? 2 weeks might be on the long side but I assume you used a spray clear ?
usually after the last coat it's just to be on the safe side to let it cure properly.
24 hours is probably the minimum time between coats but if you are polishing worth waiting much longer
Wokka, I used a Septone Acrylic Topcoat Clear, which I sprayed on using a compressor.
Instructions on the tin say to "apply 3-4 double wet coats allowing a flash off time of at least 10 minutes between coats. Allow to dry for at least 24 hours before compounding"
The body had a good bake in the sun yesterday, so I'm hoping that helped evaporate the solvents!
ok Swanny, according to the instructions on the can should be ok.
If you got to a soft spot rubbing polish you would have noticed by now so sounds like it's cured enough
Personally I always use the smell test. Keep sniffing it til there's no chemical smell at all. Then it's cured!
cheers,
Gav.
So, Gav, it's sniff until you no longer get that chemical high?
A lot of rubbing back happened today... I'm going to have to recoat the clear after rubbing through it in two places. Hopefully tomorrow won't be raining!
Hey Swanny that's what I was worried about rubbing through the clear coats.
Good luck with more clear coats hope the weather is kind to you !
General rule of thumb, regardless of what it says on the can is to leave any finish at least 21 days before cut and polish.
Also, unless it is a UV cure finish, don't leave it in the sun.
Exposing uncured finishes to UV light and the heat of the sun can and will cause some funky things to happen :(
It may feel like it is cured, but it will only be a skin that has hardened on the surface. Below that the finish will still be uncured.
The key to a good finish is patience, Grasshopper :)
Thanks dB, I just checked the data, and the clear is a UV resistant, quick drying acrylic lacquer.
I can't promise I'll wait 21 days... but I'll find other stuff to do while I ignore the body... and all the bits and pieces just waiting to be fitted to it!
Buy another kit!Quote:
Originally Posted by Swanny
Was thinking that, Keloooe, but with the GFS pickups, Grovers and other bits and pieces I've got for this one, I have to wait till after Christmas.
My 17yo son is waiting to see what this turns out like before he buys a kit for me to build for him though...
Well I'm 17 right now and 2 years ago I built a LP-1 kit, last year did the ST-1 and am nearly done with a kit that DB made up for me, so get him to do it instead hahahaha
That was my secret plan... he doesn't know it yet!
Though it was overcast and there was an occasional shower around today, the humidity stayed in the 60's, so fresh coats of clear went over the body.
Today Mr Aussie Post smiled on me, and I had a new set of knobs, vintage style shielded cable, some decal paper and a radius sanding block (for when I get to level the frets) arrived.
Here's the new knobs with one of the kit supplied lurking at the rear....
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/e...psvbdp3re5.jpg
Since I had the cable, and the body is busy curing it's clear coat, I decided to wire up the pots, switches etc. When I come to assembly I can run the shielded cable into the pickup cavity and make the connection there. I twisted the wires of a pickup onto the setup, and I got noise through an amp when I tapped the pickup with a screwdriver.
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/e...psploirzl8.jpg
Next up will be to put a logo on the head, so I can clear coat the neck.
love the new control knobs Swanny. Also the wiring looks tidy. Love the cardboard wiring jig. Looks like the middle piece of a 30 can block of beer or soft drink ?
The F hole in the cardboard looks almost 1:1 scale well done hahah
Now what self respecting apprentice guitar maker would buy soft drink in those quantities?
Yep, it's the first floor from a carton of cans!
I marked in the hole so I could route the wires away from it, to keep them out of sight.
just checking Swanny glad to hear it was a block of beer !
good thinking with the make shift F hole.
Do you have a bit of wire slack between the actual body pot holes ? Don't want the wires too tight between pots
Yes, there is a bit of movement there, though I guess the bridge V & T does look a bit taught. Once the body clear coat has cured a bit I can test fit them from the front to make sure there's enough length before I try fitting them.
good move Swanny, sounds good. The distance between bridge vol and tone look much further apart on the cardboard than the real thing though
I just had to go measure the gaps, there's a difference of about 15mm between the bridge pots (65mm) and the neck pots (50mm).
It probably looks better against the lower curve of the body, sort of radiating out from the centre.
so sounds like your wire lengths should be ok Swanny
I did a bit of wet sanding with 1200 wet and dry on the body today... then out came the polish, and before I knew it.....
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/e...psls7f3qvi.jpg
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/e...ps0fvekptb.jpg
To say I like it, is a gross understatement... it looks fantastic! It's turned out better than I expected, that's for sure!
Swanny that looks amazing that Blue pops.
Thanks Tony, I'm loving the colour!
Professional finish loving this blue burst
Sent from my SM-T700 using Tapatalk
Cheers, Andrew! It's not perfect, but has character flaws!
I've got a week of leave left, so I have to match the neck in with it. I've stained, sanded, restained a couple of times now...
it's so shiny :cool:
Nice work Swanny, looking the goods
Dang Swanny! That looks amazing!
Wow I like that blue burst and the grain looks good on that body too:cool:
Looking awesome Swanny! That's some shine you got there. Gonna look fantastic all assembled.
cheers,
Gav.
Thanks guys, I guess the downside to the high gloss finish is having to polish it every time it's touched!
Today I decided on how to match the neck to the body (colour-wise) and painted a sort of burst on the back. I followed this up with a few coats of clear. I'll let this sit and dry for a few days before it gets polished. The clear coat I'm using seems to dry through fairly quick.
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/e...psxyutm1bf.jpg
I decided to fit the wiring to the body. I bought some silastic tubing, and using a combination of tubing and wire I managed to fit it all in. It took me around 30 minutes. After that, it was tap in the posts for the tail and bridge, and with the pickups put in place I could see how it will look....
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/e...pscp0omsdf.jpg
I just have to change the tip of the switch to black.
I should have tomorrow off playing with the guitar, give the neck a chance to dry, and wait for the tuners and bone nut to arrive.
that looks hot as Swanny the mock body build. This will be a stunner when it's in one piece.
So once the neck has cured and been polished glue it in and string it up ?
You tested the wiring in place ?
I tested the wiring before it went in, Wokka... I suppose I should test it again now it's in place!
yeah sure it's fine Swanny but I'd test the wiring in place. Fingers crossed no solder joins came lose or we may hear you curse from Bris Vegas !
The gold hardware really sets that off Swanny.
Wowwww!!! :)
Looking sweet. The Gold Hardware makes a world of difference. The hard part will be keeping it nice and shiny.
Blue + gold h/w is always a stunning combination. Mock build looks all class Swanny!
cheers,
Gav.
Thanks for the comments!:) I've even gone as far as replacing the output jack with a gold replacement... even though the supplied jack had a gold washer and nut, the barrel was silver.
Another win from Aussie Post this morning, all the way from WA.....
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/e...psydowczoh.jpg
Twelve good reasons to keep her in tune! They are pretty cool how they work, with the locking cams built in.
Test fitted the neck to see how the colour matched, and it seems good. I also found the best way to keep it clean :rolleyes:
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/e...psvccde5k8.jpg