Chuck’s N1M "Semi-scratch" Build

[Chuck]

looks great Chuck, nice crisp edge on the white stripe. Sure is a big cavity, must be pretty light weight !

I'll definitely weigh it at the end - it's certainly one of the lighter instruments I've got. It'll be nice to get the paint all done, then the only thing will be making a new pickguard.

[Chuck]

Time to share some pain!



As you can see, the second stage of masking/painting was an unmitigated disaster!! Now I like to think I’ve started to get a feel for painting based on my previous builds but this result is the ultimate example of not doing it right! Now that I see the result I can pinpoint almost every step where I went wrong.
1. I should have sanded the base colour a bit more to give the masking tape something smoother to adhere to. I was obviously too rough and the paint had openings to flow under the tape. Lesson: prepare, prepare, prepare.
2. I used a thin “vinyl” tape to get the edges right. I thought this was a good choice as when going around the edges/sides and through the belly contour the tape had to be flexible to follow the right line – it worked okay on my Surfcaster build. This time it just didn’t get enough adhesion onto the paint. Lesson: much more care with masking.
3. Paint choice. I’ve used MTN94 spray on all builds and it has worked beautifully. For the black I grabbed some White Knight satin black as I couldn’t be bothered ordering the MTN black in. As soon as I started spraying I could tell it seemed very thin and wet. Now I know some of this is my technique, but that aside it still didn’t feel right. Lesson: stick with paint you know!
4. Removing the masking. I definitely did this too soon as you can see where it lifted paint. Lesson: respect drying times!
When I’ve had things go wrong in the past I’ve tried to turn it into an opportunity to do something a bit different, but this time I don’t think I have that option. I’ve thought about a more “relic/punk” kind of feel but I think it would still look like a mistake.
So, it’s time to sand back. I’ll probably abandon the striping for this one and go solid. Even then it will be interesting to see if you can still tell where the mistake was.
Ah well, live and learn!

[JB RETRO]

Building these things certainly tests your resolve. Have been trying to finish my surfcaster build. You think all is good and then bugger. I just walk away, regroup, and go again

[Chuck]

Building these things certainly tests your resolve. Have been trying to finish my surfcaster build. You think all is good and then bugger. I just walk away, regroup, and go again

Too true - and I guess the other thing to always remember is that there's very little you can do wrong that can't be fixed in some way!

[Rockfactor]

A good tip when painting stripes is mask them up and paint a light coat of the base colour so it seals up the edges of the tape and if any does get under it's not noticable. Then paint the next colour over that.

robbo

[king casey]

I would have done the 2 outside stripes as adhesive pin-striping...if not even the centre if it was wide enough.
Still, we're all different eh?

cheers, Mark.

[Chuck]

I would have done the 2 outside stripes as adhesive pin-striping...if not even the centre if it was wide enough.

I used adhesive pinstriping on my last build Mark, but I wanted to try something different. But you're right - it would have definitely been a better result!

[Chuck]

A good tip when painting stripes is mask them up and paint a light coat of the base colour so it seals up the edges of the tape and if any does get under it's not noticable. Then paint the next colour over that.

The worst thing is that I know that, Robbo! Why the hell I didn't do it is anyone's guess!

[Rockfactor]

I've done that too "I knew that but still did it wrong... arrrrggggghh..." and I'm sure most people here would probably admit to it too.

I'm sure you'll fix it up and it will be killer.

It's a sweet looking built.

robbo

[Chuck]

So, a funny thing happened yesterday...

After sanding back my GT stripe disaster I started work building the body's base colour back up - having decided to keep it as a simple single colour rather than tempt fate again! It was at the point where it only needed a couple of touch ups, so I wandered out onto the driveway to do the job. All going well until I went to kind of swing the body around to get at the other side... and it somehow separated from the "neck stick", the screws literally ripped out. I've never had that happen. Anyway, I watched - in slow motion - as the body sailed skywards then headed towards the dropoff at the edge of the driveway down to a concrete path a couple of metres below. The results, other than a lot of dings and scrapes that could probably have been sanded out or filled, is below:



I am quite surprised that the joints have opened up like that, although all the cracks are in areas where the huge body route meant less wood.

I'm going to call this one quits for now - I'm obviously being sent a sign that this body was not meant to be! Of course the good bit is I have a neck and a fully loaded pickguard and hardware to put onto a new body. I'd still like to have a crack at the modified Toronado shape but figure I now have a blank canvas to work on. We'll see what I come up with.

In the meantime I've got a JZA-1 kit ordered that I'm planning to build with way less modifications than I normally plan, so hopefully that will get my build mojo back on track.

RIP this build!