First build JMA-1

[phrozin]

I’m keen to get into the prepping and painting worried I have now left it too late for Xmas..

For the body it’s straight forward, primer, base and clear.

For the neck I’d like some advice if possible. The head stock will have a colour applied to the front, but the back and sides I was planning for a natural finish.

Does anyone have any advice as to the suitability to apply the colorspec clear coat direct to wood?

Alternatively, is there a wood product that someone can recommend that will go over the spray can paint well?

Additionally, will I need to apply a pore filler prior to any spraying and if so can someone recommended a product?

Cheers,
J

Hi there Jtimms colour spec is an acrylic-based lacquer it's fine on wood I've used it a couple of times its no better than SCA acrylic lacquer and SCA is my go-to clear, I have used it on every wood you will find a guitar body or neck, over a fender based maple neck you can spray it on without any other paints or wood binder, just sand it with a 220grit sandpaper and coat it, you can put acrylic lacquer over anything from dyes to stains to sanding sealer, paint or candys

on a body just stain or dye then use sanding sealer (wood binder) 2 - 3 coats over your dye/stain sand it back with 220grit aluminium oxide paper till flat don't rub through which you won't if you have flattened the body before refinishing it which you wont if you use a block and clear it with 6-8 coats then sand with 600grit wet & dry then 4 more coats let dry for a week then sand it with 800-1200-2000grit in that order and polish it just remember don't sand anything without a sanding block and you should have a nice flat super shinny body if you doing a basswood body sand it with no finer grit than 120 on the body if you are going to dye/stain, it will have a lot better even coat and not so streaky look as its a pretty tight wood on open grain wood (ash or mahogany)put 1 coat of sanding sealer before you dye/stain so it wont absorb to much and giving a blotchy look, hope that helps you get a good start

[jtimms]

Hey all,

Been a while since I updated the process more for time than anything else. A few lessons learnt through the process.
Firstly, the water based paint rolling on - This was more trouble than it was worth. Ended up going back to wood multiple times trying to get it flat.

Next time, I would just use a sanding sealer then spray their primer, don't bother with a water based rolled on primer..

Here are a couple of photos once the water based primer was put on..







The white primer was rolled on then sanded to 400 grit between every second coat to smoot it out. I think I ended up doing 4 coats before I gave up on this endeavour.

[jtimms]

When I finally got to putting the spray primer on I found a number of user induced issues with my Timbermate grain filling. This was nowhere near flat enough. Also, if I was to do it again I would definitely add a grain filler to the head stock, this left much to be desired. I'll add photos in another post as this won’t let me add more than 5.

I wound up putting 5-6 coats of the primer surfacer spray onto the body and headstock, dry sanding with 600 grit after every second coat.

Here it is with 3-4 coats on:




And again with 5-6 coats on and sanded to 600 grit:




At this point I ran out of primer, but it could have done with another coat or 2 to hide my sanding through the grey primer..

[jtimms]

Finally this morning I got to putting the base coat of Lake Placid Blue onto the guitar and it has come up alright.

A couple of things I noticed while going through it, the areas where I had gone through the grey primer came up a bit light, but just adding a slightly heavier spray on these areas hide it quite well. This is what it looks like after 3 coats:




I think it will need another coat or two as there are some areas that are not as even as others mainly at the bottom as it was hanging up - Just hoping I have enough left in the can..

I found some very small areas where there are slight holes, which I guess goes back to my poor grain filling technique:





I'm not really worried about the joint near the bridge, that will be covered by the bridge and pick guard, but the small 'holes' I am after some advice. Will these show up after the clear has gone down, or will they be hidden as the clear coat builds up? I read something about drop filling the clear to hide minor dents etc, but I am a little confused if I should attempt it with base coat, or just wait till the clear goes on.

Second I will be adding the racing stripes in a little while and will need to tape it up - Does anyone know how long I will need to let it cure before taping? I was planning about a week or so.

As always, thanks for the advice!

J

[jtimms]

Hi all,

A little advice if possible, I have finished the base coats and applied about 5-6 layers of clear before sanding with 600 grit, then applying another 5 coats.

Same process to the headstock and body of the guitar.

Over all it looks pretty good, the headstock has come up fairly glassy which looks awesome. However, the body has come up more of a satin finish with a slight roughness to it.

I suspect I didn't lay the clear coat on thick enough when I was spraying the body, but got a good coat on the headstock, which has resulted in the difference.

If I had an extra couple of weeks, I'd sand it slightly again with 600 before having another go to put on one or two thicker coats, but now I'm out of time to let that cure before for Christmas.






I was hoping for a glass finish to the body, so was looking for advice if this will just polish out to a glassy finish.

I'm also terrified of cutting right through the clear coats and into the paint beneath (I did leave a couple of small marks of 600 grit sand paper burn throughs.. Yeah I know they could have been hidden if I hadnt completely run out of base coat... ).

Anyway, I am inclinde to just leave it slightly satin as is, but any guidance would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
J

[jtimms]

Hi all,

Hopefully the last question for this one before I finish the project.

I am a little confused with the wiring on this and was hoping for someone to double check before I messed it up.

The wires on the control panel I was planning to solder the grey wire on the control panel to the outer most pin on the switch (humbucker).

The White wire, I was going to solder to the next two pins on the switch (both single coils).

The Black wire on the ribben to the center pin on the switch.

Finally the black wire to a ground point on the switch.





Thanks in advance,
J

[Trevor Davies]

Hi J,

Please note that I have not done this kit. What wiring diagram are you using?

Sorry - just found the JM-1 schematic.

Yes, this looks correct. Though the white wire also needs to connect to pin 3. Brown to ground on switch.

[jtimms]

Thanks Trevor,

Here is the finished product:



Finished wiring and assembling yesterday about lunch, so a solid 36 hours to spare.

Over all I'm pretty happy with it - Hopefully the boy will be.

Thanks to everyone who offered their advice and help! Very much appreciated!

Cheers,
J

[Trevor Davies]

Looks great. "36 hours to spare"! You could have finished another one in that time.

[Je11o26]

Hey mate, just curious about the pickguard. Did you make the white pickguard yourself? or did you buy it from somewhere. Just bought this kit off someone who has been sitting on it for years and hoping to get the white pearloid pickguard instead of the stock red one like yourself but cant find any for sale with this pickup configuration.

Any help would be great.

Thanks.