First Build JZ-6

[jugglindan]

Are you talking about methods to get rid of loose surface wood fibres, or something else?

I had heard about this as well. Just before the first coat of primer, I wiped the body down with a slightly damp rag and let it dry. This raised a bunch of loose wood fibres which I sanded off with a fine paper (maybe 400?) running just off the direction of the grain. Did this help? I don't know. The first coat of primer went a bit fuzzy anyway as more loose fibres popped up. I probably could have skipped the whole wet wipe and sand steps and just sanded very lightly after the first coat of primer dried.

But that first coat got sanded back anyway with a sanding block as I tried to sand off the high spots. The next coat of actual primer still went a little fuzzy, so I very lightly sanded (pretty much just the weight of the paper) before the second coat. After that it stayed quite smooth.

But take all this with a large grain of salt, and see the disclaimer!

DC

[JoelDee]

Hey DC,

Yeah just after getting the surface as smooth as possible. On a previous kit build i inadvertently used a damp rag to clear off dust and the surface raised. Some googling showed I had stumbled across something I was meant to do. After a sand with 360 it was all good to go then the stain went on really well. I just wasn't sure if it was the same process for solids given I would used primer (and sand most of it off again).

I don't see how it could hurt to do so, I guess a primer aerosol won't soak in as much as a stain but I don't want the grain raising through the paint later on as I am using gloss.

I'm not doing anymore work on it tonight so will see what handy info crops up over night!

[colin2121]

If doing a solid colour it might be best to use a grain filler prior to the primer. It will give a smoother surface for the primer.
Get some from the hardware, let it dry and then sand again. You will be surprised at how much smoother the timber surface becomes.

[jugglindan]

My tele is basswood, so I skipped grain filling and used SCA primer-filler. That filled sufficiently to get a nice finish. A different wood like ash and I would definitely grain fill. If you are using acrylic lacquer, then there are plenty of stories here about water-based grain fillers like Timbermate sinking after a few months under the lacquer.

[colin2121]

There are good clear wipe on grain fillers available in hardware timber product areas. These are not water based.
I have not used Timbermate and would probably avoid it after seeing some of the issues on the forum.

[JoelDee]

Thanks all - my plan was to go with the SCA filler primer given I am using a solid colour for the body.

After a small delay due to work and also trying to find a coping saw within metro Melbourne I've almost finished off the head stock. After reading some posts re. difficulties using coping saws on the head stock, I found it fairly straight forward. I did make sure to leave a decent gap (1-2mm) to ensure I didn't overcut. Resulted in a bit more sanding but worth it for piece of mind.

Still has some minor smoothing to do but almost there!

[Simon Barden]

Jazz-tastic.

[JoelDee]

After chatting to a guy from work who builds guitars from scratch he commented on the placement of the pickups and never one to shy away from a challenge, I went looking at the earlier baritone guitars and their pickup placement. The internet with all of its information was helpful but also unhelpful as a lot of articles on the topic cover the science of it all but also seem to often end with ''but whatever you prefer sound wise is OK).

I went looking and picked up a sheet of brown tortoise shell pickguard and have cut and shaped a custom one for the guitar (as well as relocated the pickups). It still needs some cleaning up of the edges to get the proper beveled edges but I am pretty happy with a first go. I initially cut the shape with a coping saw which was straight forward, for the pickups I used a rotary tool and have also used this to accentuate the bevelled edge. Then gradually worked up in grit to smooth it out.



Next steps will be to expand the routing in the body to allow for the bridge pickup and the jack and knobs moving down.

Once all that is done I can get stuck into spraying the body!

[JoelDee]

Well progress is slowly happening and I might have some time this weekend.

I used almost an entire can of primer filler on the guitar (that was 6 solid coats sanded back each time to just the grain) and there was still some pores each time so I pressed on. 6 coats of black Duplicolor gloss spread over a week or so still showed up the grain pattern, particularly on the edges so I cut my losses and moved onto the clear coat. I put on 4 coats of SCA clear and it's looking fairly good.

Today I did a wet sand with 1200 and got it almost perfectly smooth, just a few stubborn dips so I gave it another go over and it already looks 100 times better and the gloss and reflection is coming along nicely. I'll re wet sand with 1500 and likely 2000 and then decide whether one more clear coat will get those last few stubborn spots.

I also got an 'aged white' vintage set of pick up and knob covers - the knobs fit well, as did the tremolo arm cover. Even after measuring prior to ordering - the pick up covers didn't line up so I've used the originals. It's not much but the colour difference is noticeable (to me anyway).

I've ordered a decal for this and my PBA-4 from the UK so assembly is a few weeks away sadly but a good lesson in patience!

[Simon Barden]

Nice work. I commend your perseverance. I've been having a similar experience on my ES-3 build where despite having multiple coats of lacquer applied over several years (and then sanded flat), I'm still getting grain lines showing up. And that's on basswood that shouldn't be like that.

You could try staining the pickup covers in a tea solution (no milk or sugar). Some will take it, some won't. But you won't have lost anything apart from the cost of a tea bag. It may help to take the shine off the pickup covers first with some P2000 or P2500 or micromesh or 0000 steel wool. You can always polish them up again if you want, but I find it helps the look if they just aren't the standard ultra-glossy.