Finally found some. Not easy as most of the gun shops didn’t stock. The place I found said most of their customers for it are guitar builders.Quote:
Originally Posted by McCreed
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Finally found some. Not easy as most of the gun shops didn’t stock. The place I found said most of their customers for it are guitar builders.Quote:
Originally Posted by McCreed
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Which shop did you find it? Last time I ordered some from a shop over east.
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Down Range firearms in Balcatta on Erindale road. Next to Altronics which was also useful as I found some smaller slimmer washers for my DPDT swtiches whilst picking it up. I have given up on any more coats until the temperature drops as even with turps mixed in the oil it is not laying as smooth as it normally does when it is 10 degrees cooler.
Finally a bit cooler at night and first thing. Slurry method of burying the exposed grain is working a treat. 3 rounds of 2000 grit wet and dry with truoil has filled all the grain nicely. (I had run out of 400-600 grit as advised and thought I would go conservative). Finish is getting very smooth indeed with a nice sheen.
Photo doesn’t really do it justice as shows wet tru oil which is bit unsmooth but after a quick wipe with tex pad 1200 grit it comes up a treat. No grain under light at all angles.
Headstock decal burying continues. Reckon at least 10 more coats before I am happy. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...8488807e69.jpg
Getting close to the home stretch to start working on gloss finish
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That's looking much better!
McCreed thanks for the advice to give me confidence to try the slurry process.Quote:
Originally Posted by McCreed
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No worries. Just passing on what's been passed on to me...Quote:
Originally Posted by mrpearson
Great work. On the home stretch now [emoji3526]
Morning all. Question around best practice to bury decals and hide the outline. So far I have layered around 15 coats of truoil over the decal smoothing each layer with tex pad (1200 grit). When feeling the surface it feels smooth but In the light I can see where the decal outline is by the way the light reflects.
From what I hear I reckon I will need another 15 coats of oil to hide the refraction of light. Should I be wet sanding as well to level ???
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I've never tried burying a decal with Tru Oil (plenty of others here have though so hopefully one of them will reply) but I wouldn't be sanding after each coat. Even if it as fine as 1200.
"From what I hear I reckon I will need another 15 coats of oil to hide the refraction of light. Should I be wet sanding as well to level ???"
I would not think so. If the surface is flat (i.e. cannot feel an edge to the decal) then it is buried. More coats may be needed to visibly hide the decal outline. In reality I'm not sure you ever really completely hide the reflection off the decal surface - in some light mine are always visible!
More coats should help hide the decal edges though.
^^this.Quote:
Originally Posted by Trevor Davies
You need enough coats so that the area around the decal is built up enough so that it's higher than the basic decal, so that it can all be sanded flat with no hump where the decal is, and the decal still has several layers of TruOil on it. The whole headstock will need to be wet sanded and polished (to whatever level between satin and gloss you want), but wait until the TO is really hard before you do that.
Some decals won't be perfectly hidden. I use model kit decal setting and softening solutions on my decals before applying finish as I feel it helps the edges to blend in, but even some big manufacturer's headstock decals are quite obvious.
Thanks all. I will layer on a few more coats for good measure and then start to prep for my gloss coats on body back and sides.
[mention]Simon Barden [/mention] how many days should I be waiting for the truoil to really harden?
After 2x gloss coats (50/50 turps) I was planning on using micro mesh pads to polish. I have 4x grades, 4000 grade to 12000. Then finishing with Meguires car polish.
Should I do a 2000 wet and dry light sand before switching to micro mesh?
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A minimum of two weeks, but I'd wait a month if I could as it should then be really hard.
To get a good gloss finish, the surface needs to be flat (not just feeling smooth), with no small dimples in the surface. I'd start off with P600 and work up to P2000 before switching to 4000 Micromesh. 4000 Micromesh has 5 micron particles, P2000 has 10 micron. The smaller the steps between grits, the better the end result as each smaller grit should remove the scratches made by the previous grit. To big a jump and the bigger scratches are still left. Ideal you'd go to 3600 Micromesh after P2000.
It really is good to get a full range of wet and dry papers P240-P2500, and the Micromesh range from 1500 up to 12000.
The micromesh grit numbers don't correspond to the P grit range, so you need to look at a conversion chart such as this one to see how they compare e.g. Micromesh 1500 fits in between P600 and P800 whereas the number alone makes you think it's a lot finer.
https://www.thesandpaperman.com.au/a...ion-chart.html
Some people stop around P2000 before switching to polishing, but I prefer to go finer, and for a small area like a headstock, it doesn't take much effort to do so.
Once the surface has been levelled, you don't need to push hard at all, just run the paper/micromesh over the surface lightly and let the grits do the work. Pushing hard is likely to leave small scratches that will take the edge off the shine.
Thanks Simon. I had not realised the micro mesh pads were different to sand paper p grades.Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Barden
I had feared you recommending a 2 week wait to finish it up. I might install the electrics whilst waiting
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The waiting for finish to harden phase normally allows you to start on the next kit....
If you still have to polish the body, the I'd get the wiring harness ready but I wouldn't install it until the body's finished. It's a lot harder to final sand and polish with pots and switches on. You get quite distinctive circular marks around them.
Hah ….. unfortunately I already built my harness. Looks like I just need to be patient and cut the grass or somethingQuote:
Originally Posted by Simon Barden
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Final coats of gloss coat have been applied to body back and face.
One more coat required on the face of the headstock. Decal is nicely buried.
Now I wait 2 weeks before I polish and start to install my electronics harness. And I need to repeat to myself daily. Be patient and don’t touch !!!!
Still waiting for my bridge locking posts to arrive which I can see have arrived from china in Sydney a week ago but still not due to be delivered to Perth for another 2 weeks. Yay Covid delivery delays.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...4b67ba0d1c.jpg
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Looks lovely none the less. I think all of us are waiting for something. Either deliveries or coats to cure [emoji23]
That headstock just looks sooooooo good…
Nice job on the logo. I really like that.
I use my initials for my logo also, but mine is quite pedestrian. I just used a font that closely resembled Les Paul's script.
Which is weird, 'cause I'm really a Fender guy! :o
This was kind of an accident and I thought it looked a bit like a sound wave so stuck with it.Quote:
Originally Posted by McCreed
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A happy 'Bob Ross' accident
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...0fd71b7795.jpg
Pickup tap test compete. Harness works fine for series, parallel and single coil configs. No buzz on dual single coil configuration which is a plus. And no buzz in parallel and series configs.
[mention]Simon Barden [/mention] the pure tone jack connector you recommended is a beast. There is no way my cable is ever becoming disconnected with this installed. Thanks
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It's nice when it all comes together smoothly.
Smoothly is when I have squeezed it through the f-holes and there are no scratches on my finish and everything still works ;-)Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Barden
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Lots of protective cloths some oxygen tubing and you'll be golden . Or if your not an ambo I think it's called clear vinyl tubing or "aquarium" tubing [emoji2]Quote:
Originally Posted by mrpearson
I'd suggest latex surgical tubing as it's more elastic and easier to fit over shafts and more bendy through the holes.
But (with the exception of the output jack) all the holes are close to the F-hole, so with your fairly rigid harness, you should be able to do most of it by hand.
I bought some aquarium tubing and did a dry run before starting my tru-oil. I know everything fits but it will require some planning as it went in pretty tangled. . I hope the dpdt switches can be installed by hand as the aquarium tubing is too large for these. Back up is fishing line or string to pull through the holes.
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They're right next to the F-hole so it's an easy finger-fit job for those. Don't forget to take the white knob off the selector switch first, it will be a lot easier to fit through without it.
Easy job to finger fit on mine when I did it mate.
+1 for surgical tubing vs PVC. You can also get silicone tubing (Exercise Tubing) from Clark Rubber in various diameters. That's what I keep on hand for hollowbody work.
note: it's actually latex, just read the description! :p
I am constantly amazed at what you can buy from Clark rubber. I think we may already have some of that from the physio. Thanks again allQuote:
Originally Posted by McCreed
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Time to install electronics and touch up a few indiscretions I discovered in my finish. Just debating best approach to earth my cavities. Thinking of running a wire to harness and soldering back of the pots.
Gloss finish obtained with a final 2000 grit wet sand followed by 2x thin coats of truoil and a polish with meguiars ultimate compound.
I have tried a few times to use the micro mesh pads but no joy getting that nice gloss finish.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...e5ffe68733.jpg
Painfully my decal on my truss rod cover came off when taping it down to screw my hole to fix it on but at least I can enter guitar if the month as was questioning whether the word hollowbody was a brand trademark. I still have plenty of decals to fix this later.
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Looking fine! Everything looks nice and crisp. No, hollow body isn't trade marked or copyrighted as far as I know.
Hey Mike, your project is looking great. Can’t wait to see it all finished.
I’ve shielded the cavity in my Strat and Tele guitars but didn’t think I’d be needing to do this with my PSH-1 kit given it has humbuckers.
Do you think I should do the same? You can’t really fully enclose the cavity with shielding, I presume, because the pickups just have plastic mounting rings rather than a scratch plate or metal bridge plate.
I have installed a few extra switches so I can run the humbuckers in split, parallel and series. Series and parallel modes the humbuckers do their thing but single coils don’t. Whilst it won’t be perfect, I am installing it anyway (looks kind of nice too ) and using shielded wire where possible.Quote:
Originally Posted by dbeltrami
If you are not splitting then I doubt it you will need it. But I would defer to the experts like [mention]Simon Barden [/mention] who know much more about these things.
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Thanks. I am pulling my hair out tonight as I sanded some evil drips on the horns which I somehow missed and I cannot seem to get the gloss finish back with my diluted truoil. I may need to build up some neat truoil first before gloss coating again.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bakersdozen
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Question. Should pickups be parallel to the string ? I am at the last stages of installing hardware but the pickups aren’t sitting level.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...95d5644b1d.jpg
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Fret buzz help.
I sanded down the bridge pickup ring and now have level pickups.
Finished setting up now but have an annoying fret buzz on my A string when fretting between the 3rd and 7th frets and on my Low E around the 10-14 frets. I have played around with adjusting relief and action but no joy getting rid of it. My other strings are ok and I can fret all the way down the neck with no buzz.
I suspect I have a high or low spot on a few frets somewhere from when I leveled the frets at the start of my build.
Any tips on how to diagnose which fret is the culprit and fix??? https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...398fcee199.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...f31721b820.jpg
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