"Bladecatcher" DC Esquire

[jarrod]

Sorry to that see that Bargy but I shouldnt say it no I need to say it grrrrr im going to say it. Preparation is the key, start as you mean to go on. Short cuts will always turn into disaster. And they J mans tip for the day!!!!!!! A tack cloth is your friend for taking out bits in your clear coat whilst its curing each coat. Another tip if your really having dust issues is spray under the body, hence face your surface at the floor and spray up.
Tell you what though man I am loving the concept of this build, pure genius

[bargeloobs]

I think my biggest problem is not having done enough of these to have any real depth of knowledge coz (foolishly) I actually thought I was going okay:P
Do you reckon Jarrod it would be best practice to just grain fill every build before starting or does it more depend on the type of timber?
I didn't really know about those tack cloths until just recently, they sound brilliant and I'll definitely grab one! Also I'm hoping to pick up a compressor this weekend, are they any help in solving the magnetic dust problem?

Sorry for the bombardment of questions man, there's just so much to learn.

[jarrod]

No problem Bargy we all have our little specialties on this forum and helping one another out is what we do. The more perfect builds out there the better. Any way to answer your questions, yes especially if your doing a colour. With nitro as apposed to acrylic I would also be hitting it with a vinyl sealer before paint aswell. Im going to take a guess and say your paint is sinking into the grain as it cures ? Vinyl sealer will prevent that. Build up of nitro will take months to cure properly and it whilst its hard on the outside the inside is still soft and curing (hence very thin coats with flash off time. Dont put coats and coats of colour on if your clear coating. Just enough to cover it. I find one mist and one cover coat is all thats needed. Leave that to cure at least a week before you lightly ruff it to put clear on top. With nitro clear at least 3 weeks of curing before you even look at cutting it flat and polishing.Glass finish on wood is not as easy as people think and does take a few goes to perfect. Satin finsh is good if you want it quicker but still needs that cure time. Thin coats equalls faster and harder cure times. With nitro your mist then your first thin coat on clear should be left over night then start your finish coats after a light scuff. Sadly a compressor and gun will not stop dust , you need a spray booth for that. It will however give you control of your mix and pressure and how much paint comes out. Check out Aust guitarist web site for vinyl sealer and watch a couple of you tube videos on how to apply it. Hope this helps brother

[bargeloobs]

Awesome bro, I'll definitely be looking into some vinyl sealer, like you say the lacquer was just sinking into the pores of grain and leaving dimples everywhere.
I only went two colour coats this time round after the "Blacktop" debacle and it's proving to be the way to go and saving a lot of headaches.
One thing I've noticed shooting nitro is because it dries so fast and hard it's really difficult to do a light coat and keep it flat (if that makes any sense), it's like the droplets dry almost instantly and form quite a bumpy surface whereas if you lay it on a bit thicker you get a more glass like finish (but obviously like you mention a lot longer curing times)
Sorry man I should have made myself a bit clearer in regards to that compressor, I was more meaning just using a gun to blow the dust and shit off before laying more clear.
Hey thanks heaps for the tips J-man I'm gonna copy paste this as a reference, I really do want to get this build right if I can.

[jarrod]

No worries man. I can tell this is going to be a pretty special build so do me proud bro.

[bargeloobs]

Yeah roger that, thanks again man:-)

[bargeloobs]

Just jumped on here after being away for a few days and saw Pabs had done a sweet fret job on his Riccy bass which gave me the motivation to attack my neck since there's not a lot else to be done at this point.
So after a fret level, re-crown and polish and having already taken the entire neck down to 2000 it's just a matter of playing the waiting game until it's cured enough to cut n polish(3 weeks as recommended by the Jedi master Jarrod).
Also fitted a black Tusq nut which seated really nicely, just looking at it the height looks pretty good but I guess we'll find out once the strings go on.

Back of the body is finished with as far as clear coats go and will probably sit another week before I start wet sanding, I fricken hate this waiting around bollocks, should talk to Max and see if he can slap together a time machine:P

[Nickosaurus]

Drool.

[wokkaboy]

looking sweet Barge well done. Whats happening with the front of the body ?

[bargeloobs]

/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from wokkaboy on September 30, 2014, 16:55
looking sweet Barge well done. Whats happening with the front of the body ?

It's sitting in a bare timber state at this point in time Wokks waiting to be covered in satin black.
As the back/sides needs to be masked off before I can shoot the top I have to make sure everything's properly cured so I don't pull lacquer off with the tape.
It's gonna be a real slooooowww process:-(