G-Axe's First Build - ST-1M

[FrankenWashie]

You'll get there mate, just takes some time and some patience. Its always a learning exercise.

[Simon Barden]

Just take it easy, let it dry hard, then put the pickguard on and see what the finish looks like on the front after that.

I know from experience that it's basically impossible to sand back a burst so it looks right. You'll easily remove the single specs of dark paint, but where that paint is denser. it won't come off as easily and you end up with a hard paint line that doesn't look good.

If this were my build, I'd now concentrate more on darkening the edges of the body, maybe even switching to black, with quite a small feather area that follows the body outline quite closely.

[Andyxlh]

I'd have to agree with Simon there. No experience with guitar bursts, but some painting custom bikes, and if a feathered edge isn't right you either live with it or do it again, I have found. Any trying to sort it generally ends up like trying to remove scratches from chrome plate, it makes it worse.
Mind you, I think it looks great as it is. The slight roughness should be taken out with proper clearcost application.
Nice job so far!

[FrankenWashie]

Just take it easy, let it dry hard, then put the pickguard on and see what the finish looks like on the front after that.

I know from experience that it's basically impossible to sand back a burst so it looks right. You'll easily remove the single specs of dark paint, but where that paint is denser. it won't come off as easily and you end up with a hard paint line that doesn't look good.

If this were my build, I'd now concentrate more on darkening the edges of the body, maybe even switching to black, with quite a small feather area that follows the body outline quite closely.

Good tip Simon, will store that one in the data bank for later.

[wazkelly]

How did you keep the flies away as at this time of year Canberra is usually overrun with them and we all know how much they love wet paint?

[G-Axe]

Waz: As soon as I get a rattlecan in my hand I start sweating bullets, so my natural musk keeps them pretty busy.

So some progress today. After a few days of hanging in the tin shed in hot dry Canberra weather, it passed the sniff test so I grabbed some paper I had soaking and had a crack at wet sanding. I did a bit of test sanding on the bit of wood screwed into the neck pocket, and managed to get some silver showing through, so I gave the body a bit of work.

A little bit of effort took the smoke layer off the area behind the bridge - and fairly predictably, laid the metal flecks flat, and left a speckling of the smoke colour in the deeper crevices. It was hard to capture in a photo, but it has a really cool aged, pitted steel look to it. That's now my fallback. If everything else goes pear shaped with the burst, I'll take it back to flat, dirty silver:



But as it stands, I want to have a go at saving what I'd planned, because the bit I've wet sanded stands out like a sore thumb:



I grab the last bit of silver fleck paint and give it some very careful and controlled bursts. It comes up pretty well - but with some overspray that I want to clean up before any more photos.

So from here, it's back into the shed to cure overnight, and tomorrow I'll sand back the overspray and give it a little more smoke to blend over the silver respray. I'm a lot happier with where it's at today, and if tomorrow goes well I'll be looking to start clear coats once it's cured for a few days.

[wazkelly]

Good to know you have a diversion plan to combat the winged critters that love crawling all over wet paint.

Good save so far and hope the next phase works equally as well for you.

What suburb are you in? I grew up in Watson and went to Dickson College before heading for Brisbane in 1980. Haven't been back too many times as I can't stand the cold, damp and foggy weather that make the winters seem like they last forever.

[G-Axe]

What suburb are you in? I grew up in Watson and went to Dickson College before heading for Brisbane in 1980. Haven't been back too many times as I can't stand the cold, damp and foggy weather that make the winters seem like they last forever.

I'm in Kambah, which would have been deep, dirty south back in 1980. Funny, I don't really know too many Canberra natives. Seems like anyone who actually grew up here heads north, then lots of country kids come here to study/work and replace them.

Anyway, more progress today. I very gently sanded back the overspray, and then lightly sprayed a bit of the smoke colour to blend. I'm a lot happier with it - if you look closely (in person, from the right angle) you can see that some of the silver has gone on over the top to the smoke - but on the whole it's a much better result overall:



I'll give it a few days, and then start clear coating. In the meantime, I'd better get cracking on the neck. I've roughly shaped the headstock - I haven't gone the traditional strat style, but it's certainly not original. Can anyone pick it?



Finding the maple a lot tougher to work with than what I'm used to. My scroll saw really wanted to twist, so I ended up chopping out some rough chunks and then using the rounded end of a belt sander to get the concave line. I will whip up some homemade drums with a hole saw one day, but no rush.

So quick question - is there anything I should tape up before I start clear coats on the neck? I assume the heel and truss rod hole - but what about tuner holes/nut/etc? My plan was to spray over the frets and scrape them back afterwards, or is there a more sensible way to coat the fretboard?

[Simon Barden]

Looks rather like a Peavey-shaped headstock to me.

It's normal to spray/finish the whole of an all-maple neck. You really want to seal the wood to stop it being affected by moisture/humidity changes. I'd cover up the truss rod nut itself, but certainly spray some clear into the visible part of the channel itself. It's standard to spray over the frets and then scrape them back. You can make a cheap scraper by taking a large nail with a round head, then using a suitable needle file to create a round notch in it to match the fret radius. The finish won't stick well to metal, so it's easy to scrape off.

I wouldn't worry about the tuner holes, as again it's best if the wood is sealed. You won't get much in there, any build-up will be mainly at the edges, which you can sand down if necessary.

If you can, spray a couple of thinned clear coats first, then wet sand down, apply any decals you want to fit, then spray three more standard strength clear coats. After drying for a while, so that touching it doesn't leave any marks, then scrape off the finish from the frets and nut. Then wait a couple of weeks, or until until fully cured - whichever is longest - then wet-sand down again and polish.

[gavinturner]

Personally I always mask off the fretboard during spraying rather than scraping.

cheers,
Gav.