Scott's GED-enBacker RC-4 Build

[DaveyCustom]

Absolutely...my wife had a good idea on that...I'm going to sand the veneer off and paint the head stock black (the back of the body and the neck will be black). THEN I'm going to take a piece of the material I used for the body top and make a Rickenbacker-style truss rod cover finished to match the body. That should actually look really cool...as if the red and black quilted maple was carrying through, under the fret board, to pop out over the nut.

I was fighting her on it, but in the end, gave in because...well...she's smarter than I am... :P

Thats exactly what I did on mine... flamed maple trc... it came out pretty sweet.. itll look better on yours since you have the same material on the body.. cant wait to see it!

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[Kick]

Wow, that color is amazing! Can't wait to see my quilted top in practically the same color And I can't wait to see yours with some coats on it. Beautifull!!!!

[stan]

like Simon said, this will gloss up a treat, looking great already

[geddyfan]

So...sanding sealer over the stained quilted maple? I'm finding a lot of conflicting opinions...

I bought the StewMac guitar finishing kit and a couple extra cans of black lacquer for the back, neck and headstock...it comes with sanding sealer in addition to all the other stuff...

[Simon Barden]

I wouldn't, unless you knew the sanding sealer was only thinned lacquer and didn't have any filler in it. If it has, then it can be a bit cloudy. Fine for spraying over with solid colours but not so good for clear only. Plus you don't want to sand the top now, except very lightly with maybe 1200 or 1500 grit to take off any stray wood fibres popping up. Even StewMac strongly support just using clear lacquer only rather than sanding sealer.

It will take a couple of coats before it stops sinking in, so I'd leave more time between the initial coats than usual to let them soak in and dry. Then proceed as normal. Even then you'll still get some sinkage, but you just need to add enough coats so you've then got the depth to sand it back flat.

[geddyfan]

I wouldn't, unless you knew the sanding sealer was only thinned lacquer and didn't have any filler in it. If it has, then it can be a bit cloudy. Fine for spraying over with solid colours but not so good for clear only. Plus you don't want to sand the top now, except very lightly with maybe 1200 or 1500 grit to take off any stray wood fibres popping up. Even StewMac strongly support just using clear lacquer only rather than sanding sealer.

It will take a couple of coats before it stops sinking in, so I'd leave more time between the initial coats than usual to let them soak in and dry. Then proceed as normal. Even then you'll still get some sinkage, but you just need to add enough coats so you've then got the depth to sand it back flat.

Thanks!

I'm getting close to that point, and am going to apply it to the back and neck (all the black parts)...just need to tape everything off well, then...

[geddyfan]

Well...I had a minor black stain disaster, so while I was correcting it, I sanded back a bit to tone back the black a touch:



Which gave me this:



A bit more subtle, but actually, the pic doesn't truly capture the intensity...it's still pretty dark in person.

I then did four coats of sanding sealer on the back, and four coats of clear gloss lacquer on the front to seal, and sanded lightly with 400 grit to level...smoother than a baby's butt.

Then I taped it off and applied four coats of black gloss on the back and got this result:







Came out pretty clean. I can see one spot where I need to clean up some black that got past the tape (Frog Tape is good stuff). Now moving on to clear for the entire guitar...8-10-12 coats? As many as I can get out of these three can's I think...surprised by the result...I actually sprayed this on my front porch. Had one tiny, fairly flat-ish run that I'm hoping will disappear with the clear (can barely see it), but there is one spot inside one cutaway that I don't know if it's going to fill...we'll see...

The end grain on the maple isn't quite what I wish it was...too saturated with stain and dark...it's picking up a weird reflection here that makes it look brown, but it's really burgundy-ish...I'll just have to live with it...

[wokkaboy]

looks unreal Geddy you got to be happy with that. Clear coats I apply as many is required to protect the finish. You may get away with 3-4 coats. What is the clear you are using ?

[geddyfan]

Thanks!

I'm using the StewMac stuff...I bought the finishing kit and two cans of black gloss...surprised by how easily it's going on. Almost no real orange peel. Think I'm just getting lucky so far. Funny tho...I wasn't wearing a mask for about half of it and I definitely started to feel it, so I went and got a mask...I was a house painter years ago before and during college and I know better...

it would be nice to get by on less...but I want as durable as I can get without just being dumb about it...

[wokkaboy]

If the clear coats go on evenly and you don't get any runs you should get away with 3-4 coats. See how it looks after that and a wet sand. My last build I got away with 2 coats was enough. I got 2 fairly thick even coats on and that was enough