EXM custom

[Simon Barden]

It certainly made it smoother, but it also added more bulk to the heel which will make upper fret access just that little bit harder. It may not make a difference to you though but I just thought I'd point it out as you have got 24 frets. I rounded off the treble side of the heel and rear of the lower cut-out on mine, to improve access. It didn't take a lot, but it made a big difference.

[Chaosblade]

Refilled the grain and had it looking better and smoother than before. Sprayed primer, for the most part it built pretty well but there is still a little bit of visible grain. Figured I might have to add more primer since wet sanding probably wasn't quite going to get it smooth.

But then the dowel it was hanging on broke and the back of the neck got all scratched up. That eliminated any possible indecision about respraying.

Will sand with 600 grit like the can suggests and get the whole thing as smooth as I can, aside from the neck which I'll sand down entirely to completely redo. Then hopefully another can of primer will get that last bit of visible grain smoothed out.

[McCreed]

Bummer!

That's one of semi-irrational fears. I use sturdy metal hooks to hang my bodies & necks, but I often worry about walking into the shop one morning and finding something on the floor that shouldn't be there!

At least there were no splits or pieces broken off.

[Simon Barden]

I'd avoid wet sanding primer (Phrozin's instructions). It's not really waterproof, so water can get past it and swell the grain and ruin your levelling work. It's also not that hard a finish, so should sand relatively easily. Best to only wet sand on gloss and/or clear coats.

And do you know how many times my EX-1 fell on the floor after being sprayed due to its stand tipping or drooping? About 10. All involving a lot of paint respray work. Each time I said it won't happen again, but it did. That's why I eventually got around to building a sturdy spraying frame this year. So I feel your pain.

[Chaosblade]

Didn't sand today, but this is most of the damage.



First thought: Oh man the flash shows so much grain.

Second thought: None of the scratches, dings, and dents made it all the way through the primer. It built really thick. That gives a lot to work with when sanding it (and a lot to take off on the neck). Would be nice if I could get it sanded smooth everywhere else and just have to respray the neck, but I doubt I'll get that lucky.


Seems I was mistaken. It did gouge the neck. Guess I will try to fill it and see how it goes.

[Chaosblade]

Mostly salvaged the neck. Still slightly visible, despite multiple rounds of filling and sanding to the point it felt perfectly flush without looking.



A few places where it's buggered up due to insects flying into my wet primer and I had to get them out. I had more issues with them today than before. Would think the fumes would keep them away, but for some reason it almost seemed to attract them. Shouldn't be a problem sanding those out while smoothing out the primer before putting the paint on. Just hope I have fewer issues with bugs on the paint and clear.

Poor shot of the back, it's hanging in a ladder so it's hard to take a picture.



Far from perfect, but I think I've learned from it. If I grain fill mahogany again I'll probably use the slurry approach with the thin wipe-on poly I have left from the GS-2Q. The Timbermate really doesn't cut it for a smooth finish. It can feel silky smooth, but it won't get the look.

[Chaosblade]

Control cavity cover is looking a little more difficult than I expected. Needs to be 1/16" or 1.5mm which I had trouble finding, until I realized I needed to look for veneer at that thickness. But they look so thin the wood seems like it won't provide a very sturdy cover.

Are the kits compatible with Epiphone/Gibson covers? Or maybe something else?

[Simon Barden]

I’’ll suggest laminating two or three pieces of thin veneer together at angles to form a ply, which will be much stronger than a single piece of wood of the same thickness. For extra strength, you can always add another layer of veneer that’s cut to fit in the cavity itself, and not the size of the lip.

I need to make a control cover for my EX as it came with just body and neck. I’ll use pickguard material. I did look for existing covers but couldn’t find anyone who did one. Lots for other guitars, but not for the Explorer. Even then, I have no idea if the dimensions would be similar. The Gibsons are probably imperial sized and Epiphones metric dimensioned, which I expect would be more like the kit size.

[Chaosblade]

An alternative I hadn't considered is just routing the lip on the cavity to be 1/16" deeper. Then I could use a 1/8" sheet which I used for the GS-2Q with decent success.

Will involve asking my brother is that's doable. Would also probably need to spray primer around the cavity again.

[Alexej]

The black finish looks the same as I had first. But with more paint the surface became smooth and evenly.
After the insects and stuff I am sure you will handle this