JR-1 semi-scratch build

[Andy40]

In a league of its own neverwas.

[gavinturner]

Man this is looking fantastic Grant. Can't believe how good the wipe-on poly looks. I could never get such a nice finish with it.

cheers,
Gav.

[andrewdosborne]

Agree Gav. There is an art to using wipe on poly. I've yet to discover it....

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[G-Axe]

Looking great. Love the colour, but moreso the sheen on it. It's like molten dark chocolate. And that inlay work is outstanding.

[neverwas]

Thanks for the great feedback everyone, very much appreciated.

As far as the wipe on poly goes, I was having problems getting an even finish with no marks or lines. There is not really an edge to use to separate front from back so I was putting a coat all over in one hit. That and either putting on too much or too little, results were ordinary. Sanded down with 600 and decided to try using a small spray gun to see how that would go and that is the finish you see. First spray coat started to sag a bit, sanded again and put the next coat on a bit more carefully. Didn't need to thin the poly, just straight out of the tin and cleaned up the gun with turps.

So the short answer is I haven't found the trick for a good wipe on satin finish, you could say I cheated.

Again, thanks all and I'm off to do some fret levelling.
Cheers

Grant

[Simon Barden]

Wipe-on poly is always going to leave marks. So you need to put on enough layers to give you the depth to sand it back flat. More lovely sanding to do! Spraying is always going to leave a smoother surface requiring far less sanding.

[Dedman]

Neverwas, this build is freakin awesome.

[neverwas]

Cheers Deddy and thanks Simon

Where we are at, frets levelled and polished (more low spots than high but all even now), wiring done, pups installed. Made a couple of small spacer blocks for the humbucker to get the height in the ball park, will need fine tuning along with the rest of final set up, nut height, intonation, action, etc.

Some pics. Depending on the angle, the inlay either looks passable or a bit skew whiff, that could be me being nit picky.

Made the cavity cover and trc from pine and stained to suit. Because I had thinned the pine down to about 2mm, when I went to drill the screw holes I wasn't gentle enough and the trc split. Have glued it back together and should be able to save it and not need to start again, some sanding and restaining to come.


Grant

[Simon Barden]

Looks very good indeed. The headstock inlay looks fine. It's just the nature of the design being close to the D and G strings which are at a slight angle to it, that either the strings or the inlay is going to look slightly askew.

Not sure whether the pine will be strong enough to last more than a couple of removals. Might be worth trying to get some 2mm veneer offcuts and make something a bit stronger, or else stick the pine onto some thin plastic for support, then thin the pine down a bit more to compensate.

[WeirdBits]

Looks fantastic Grant, very very nice. It has a tastefully refined look about it