That's amazing. Who does that?
'Yeah no worries it's only a few hours be there soon'
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That's amazing. Who does that?
'Yeah no worries it's only a few hours be there soon'
I know. It was on a Sunday and maybe it got him out of visiting the in-laws. :)
Great story Simon!
Kick, how's your build going? Made any progress?
Due to circumstances I do not have much time right now. I am hoping to continue tomorrow with the headstock. I have made some sunburst on that to (similar to the burst on the body) but it needs more layers of stain.Quote:
Originally Posted by cazaron
And then I must decide what to do with the back and sides of the body and the neck...
I simply love what you've done with yours so far. It just looks absolutely stunning. I've got your build thread saved, mate. Hope it sounds even half as good as it looks
Thanks Cazaron! :)
I've got the guitar sitting in a clamp now, getting the neck secured to the body.
I measured and everything seemed ok. I guess now we just wait and hope.
Next steps: Grain fill the body and neck join, sand, stain the back/neck black again, then source some sealer and lacquer for the top coat.
Some quality time spent there. But all progress is, if nothing else, progress.
Hey all, starting to think about clear coating this, definitely going to need an aerosol like Behlen stringed instrument lacquer.
Like https://www.guitaraust.com.au/finish...-aerosol.html/
I'm noting two things about it though; 1) it's very expensive in Aus, especially as I'll need four or five cans apparently, that's almost the price of the guitar on spray... and 2) it seems to be out of stock.
Are there any good alternatives?
That's just a clear nitro lacquer, so any clear nitro lacquer cans will do. But they do tend to be expensive (mainly because nitro is a more specialised spray now acrylics have taken over the car spray market) and are around £12/A$19 in the UK and generally mail-order only, so there's postage on top. But you should be able to finish a guitar with two 13oz/400ml spray cans; three at most.
This place seems to be more reasonable, especially for multiple cans. http://luthierssupplies.com.au/produ...oducts_id=2768
Or you can go for a clear acrylic car spray lacquer, which is a lot cheaper.
But I'd get compatible sealer and lacquer and would go all nitro or all acrylic for best results. In theory nitro and acrylic are compatible, but I'm never 100% sure about this. It depends how much the spray nitro sinks in as to whether a sealer will help. Probably not needed on the maple veneer but maybe the rest of the body. And you could just get a 3rd can of the clear rather than a sealer and use a couple of coats from that
With either acrylic or nitro, you need to budget for a vapour mask. I've seen videos of people spraying outside without a mask (primarily because they were talking at the same time), but any paint spray is bad for your lungs, and the nitro solvent vapours are a lot worse for you than than with acrylics, so take care of yourself first.
Or you could use a wipe-on water based poly. Look at the finish Toshi got with it on his P-bass: http://www.buildyourownguitar.com.au...l=1#post136720
It's probably a bit harder on the sanding back flat stages, but you can get just as good results as with nitro in terms of the finish. I think nitro ages better and is also easier to repair than any of the other finishes, which is why I use it, but poly gives a harder finish that's less likely to mark.
Thanks Simon.
Very helpful advice. I really appreciate it all mate.
I've ordered a few cans of nitro aerosol, hopefully they'll arrive soon.
Minor check-in on the day off, been doing a little bit of work on it.
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I uh, reliced the front of my LP.
Casually dropped a pickup on it, naturally lands corner first, nice dent just under the bridge.
Sanded it back so it wasn't as bad, restaining the front. Can still see it, but I'm honestly not as annoyed as I thought I'd be. It has character. And while I personally really dislike relicing a guitar deliberately (If it looks beat up from years of love that's awesome, but otherwise, not my thing) I'm really happy to have gotten past the 'everything must be perfect' stage, now it's my beast that I've dented and messed up and did some makeshift fixing for. I'm really bonding with this thing.
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Happy Anzac Day? Not sure if that's how you're meant to say it or not, but so much respect and honour go to the servicemen and women, past and present who sacrifice so much to give our nation peace and prosperity.
You guys are awesome. One day to acknowledge you isn't nearly enough for what you do and did for our country.
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Pickup rings: Does getting metal ones affect anything on the guitar? I'd like to get gold ones to match the pickups; I really like the covered look.
Something like http://www.realparts.com.au/hardware...ched-gold.html are already arched; would these work on my guitar?
On the subject of pickups, how pro-upgrading them are you guys? How expensive do you go?
Hi Caz, those pick up rings wont make any difference, so if you like em , get em!
Pick ups....I've not built a kit yet using the stock ones, I did however use them in budget scratch build and they sound OK.
How much to spend is entirely dependant on your budget. There is a point of diminishing returns I think where after a certain point you are paying for a name or are getting custom made pick ups wound by the Deli llama. I've used Toneriders and Entwhistles from the Pitbull store and been very happy with them, also used Guitar Fetish's own brand and been happy with those so far. I guess it depends on your level playing as well, I personally wouldn't get the best out of a set of expensive Seymour Duncans.
Unless the rings are of a metal that is affected my magnetism e.g. steel, then they'll make no difference to the sound. As I expect they'll either be brass underneath or even a cast alloy, with a gold plate, those will be fine.
A Telecaster bridge pickup is the only example I know of where the pickup often has has a steel plate surround (some are chromed brass) and it does affect the tone of the pickup, but having never heard a Tele bridge pup on its own, or the same pup used with both steel and brass bridge plates, I don't know quite how it affects it.
I do know that I tried to fit a Roland GK-2a MIDI pickup onto a Tele (It has to go between the bridge pickup and the bridge i.e. on the steel plate), and had real trouble getting a reliable signal and had to move it over to a Strat. But that's with the pickup magnets a lot closer to the metal than if you did actually have steel pup rings.
Cheers guys. Might pick up (I'm so sorry) a set of the covered pickups from Pitbull, grab that pickup ring set and see how we go.
I have a little to spend on this project, it's the only hobby I'm financing at the moment :)
Footy today was terrifying. Thrilled with the results though.
Does anyone have any advice for getting stain out of the binding? There's still a fair bit around the tip of the cutaway and I've tried working it with steel wool and haven't had any luck. I don't want to destroy the binding but it seems pretty well in there.
Cheers.
Are there cracks, or it it just sitting on the binding?
If it's just sitting on the binding, you can scrape it quite easily.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNbsZsSabPs
Thanks for the vid because I also need to scrape the binding on my LP-1MQ.
Bought a set of Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates.
I'm only gonna do this once, why not go all out and have some fun with it.
Cost me an arm, a leg and my future firstborn, but I'd argue that's probably worth it for getting a set of what I think are some of the nicest sounding humbuckers there are.
Probably going to be spraying the guitar clear this weekend, very much looking forward to that, then I can finally make an actual start on putting it all together and setting it up.
Gonna be great.
Thanks for the video Zandit, that answered a tonne of questions I had. Am I right in assuming that he didn't mask the binding at all? Or just that the stain inevitably comes through? (not to hijack your thread Cazaron)
Jack the thread away, the more I learn the better!
No matter how careful you are with masking, there is going to be some leakage of the stain onto the binding. The quality of the tape used will have some impact on this. Some people don't mask at all, and just scrape after applying the stain, and then apply a clear coat over everything. Everyone has a different way of doing things!Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnH
No, his binding is totally unmasked. The only issues you may have is if the binding has unseen cracks, then they will take up the stain, and you wont get it out , see my 335 thread for this - ive decided to make it a featureQuote:
Originally Posted by JohnH
Ah, found it, not finished yet... like most of my stuff, haha
http://www.buildyourownguitar.com.au...ead.php?t=2171
I'm aerosol spraying tomorrow assuming the weather holds, anyone got any advice, how long between coats, how many coats, things to look out for etc?
Thanks Zandit + Stan, that's really helpful. Makes me feel like a first year student again - lost at the deep end!
We are all here to help and learn mateQuote:
Originally Posted by JohnH
Acrylic paints dry from the outside in - so paint that seems cured on the outside can be still soft in the middle , even after weeks of curing. (This is more than one coat of course...). So the best way to avoid a lot of this is:Quote:
Originally Posted by cazaron
Try to use the same brands of undercoat and top coat.
Use several thin coats - not a few thick ones.
Place spray cans in warm water before using - it helps the paint flow better and reduces spattering
Make the first few coats like mist coats, just to get some grab on the surface.
Acrylic can dry quickly with light coats - but the full cure takes longer - I've had lots of trouble with it - which might be me as much as the paint... So one coat a day is enough. It takes longer but curing is far better.
After you have complete and decent coverage leave for 3-4 weeks (yes) to fully cure.
So the whole process could take 5-6 weeks to paint, with aerosol spray acrylics - this might be overkill, but you will get a much harder cure: soft centres are nice for chocolates, but not guitar finishes...
I would lightly sand every 2-3 coats to knock off the dust and deal with runs - wet or dry , up to you, but go easy on the water. If you leave it longer, problems like small runs compound - and they are still wet in the middle...
There are lots of ways to do it, so this is just mine. Some people have had great success with acrylics using other processes...
Oh , and most finishes have issues with humidity, it can cause blushing, bubbles, incomplete adherence and stuff - pick a nice day or a well controlled indoor environment (with good ventilation )
Yeah, just clear coating what I've got now with some nitro finish, hopefully it plays nice, but I don't really know what to expect.
Thanks Stan.
You're welcome. The nitro should be fine - it plays well with others and cures quickly
Ha ha, it's ok Stan, I meant it in a good way.
Look forward to seeing how it comes out Cazaron
All good mate, i know you didQuote:
Originally Posted by JohnH
Cheers mate, me too. No clue how it's gonna go, but... honestly even if it's underwhelming it's still mine. That's pretty special.Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnH
Back and sides look good after the day's spraying.
Top and headstock are a little bumpy, what should I be looking at for day 2?
Did a small amount of wet sanding down some of the bumps, but there were fewer this morning than there was last night, settled well overnight.
Gave it a bit of a dust and a clean.
Have it hanging again for the day's spraying then have to leave it for a few weeks. But I'm happy with it, it looks really nice. Can't wait to get a noise out of this thing.
The gorgeous metal pickup rings arrived and the bridge one is a solid mm or two taller than the plastic one that came with the kit.
Will this matter? It seems pretty high.
I think you have to raise the bridge a little or you can lower the pickup a little into the ring.
So it should only need an action adjustment if anything? It's not going to cause any issues having the bridge pickup high?
Can you show us a picture with the rings and pu's in a mockup?