My first build...ESB4

[darthdamo]

DB that's really nice of you to do that. You're a gentleman!
I'm not sure how I'm overworking it. Is it the pressure I apply maybe?
I'm fairly light on(I think), stroke with the grain and wipe once. I wring out the cloth too so there's not much tc on it.
Feel like a bit of a dill!

[darthdamo]

Starting again

[dingobass]

@Damo.. Don't feel like a dill

@Wazz.. This might affect both of you, what is the temperature and humidity?

Seems these problem occur when the temp goes over 35 and the humidity over 60%...

I am revisiting the formulation hoping to resolve these issues. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

[darthdamo]

Hey DB! Thanks mate.
Temp has been around 18-25 most of the time. But being Melbourne it sure hasn't been consistent.
We are having bizarre weather (even for Melbourne) where we have 30-32 followed by 17 the next day though.
Top coats were getting 5-7 days to cure between coats but maybe this inconsistency in temp has had adverse affects on
curing?
Hope this info helps.
This time round I'm going to double my curing time just to be safe and I'll attempt to do thinner coats.

[Fretworn]

I have had these issues as well, and I'm sure it has more to do with humidity than temperature.

[wazkelly]

I have had these issues as well, and I'm sure it has more to do with humidity than temperature.

Yeah, have to agree it is more likely humidity than temperature as we haven't even cracked 35 degrees yet as that will come over the next few months. Whilst temperature has been stable it doesn't take much to get humidity up over 60%, not that you seem to notice it as that is pretty average in these parts, unlike Perth where it is much drier air most of the time.
Put another final intensifier coat on yesterday and giving things at least 7 - 10 days to cure before a light 0000 steel wool scuff. Will let you know if I have issues again with top coat application. Slow and steady from here on and glad I have another kit that just arrived to start work on.

[darthdamo]

Hey All!
I haven’t posted for a while because I’ve been rescuing my guitar from the brink of destruction.
Initially I wasn’t going to post at all because I’m a little embarrassed about how bad things got with my guitar but I also figured that my build might be a good read for those who think they have completely stuffed up their own build and can learn from my mistakes.

I sanded the top coats back and tried to re-stain with a mahogany colour (feast watson) but as you can see by the pic..epic fail!


I took a week off…

After much thought I decided that the only way forward was to paint a solid colour because any more sanding and I would’ve ended up with a pile of sawdust and a fretboard. Going back over the guitars I’ve loved over the years black Gibsons have been high on my list. Did a lot of reading and watched many tutorials about rattle/spray can paint jobs.

Got the body back to a smooth blotch free, stain free place after hours of careful sanding. 3 Base coats using Duramax with extremely light sand in between to get rid of overspray. I ended up with a really smooth even surface to lay down the colour.


3 Colour coats using Duramax flat black. I’ve never used this product before but I must say it was super easy and the finish is flawless.


Onto my 5th coat of Cabots gloss polyurethane and I couldn’t be happier. It's like looking into a mirror! Leaving to cure now and will do cut/polish and assembly after Christmas holidays.

[wokkaboy]

WOW Damo, bummer it didn't work out, I really loved that bright red DT stain you had. Why did you rub it back for FW mahogany ?

nice rescue it's looking nice and shiny now. Will this have gold hardware would look cool over the black ?

[darthdamo]

Hey Wokka,
Massive bummer.. I had too many people coming in saying "boy that's really red.. I thought you wanted cherry?" and I guess after staring at it for so long I started doubting whether I'd made the right choice..
Anyways it's so black now there's no turning back haha!
Gold hardware would be nice but I bought some Gretsch Pups for it and they are chrome..

[wokkaboy]

Hey Damo, lesson learned I spose, thanks for sharing what happened.
Chrome with Gretsch pups should look awesome.
For the record I think the colour red was super cool.