Well, its our first diary entry and after spending the last few days sanding and doing our final bits of preparation (thanks Brendan and DB) and applying our first deep colour coats this afternoon it feels really good to have reached this stage.
The three bodies are now hanging in the shed and looking fantastic. We will leave them for 48hrs until we apply our next coats.
In terms of next coats, we will make a decision on Sunday as to whether we apply any more deep colour or move to the base coats.
I couldn't be happier with the LP-1M after applying the wudtone burning sun deep colour so at this stage I'm thinking I might not do anymore deep colour and will move onto the base coat next. Sam's SG-1 is looking fantastic in deep colour dark onyx - the wood seems to have lapped it up and its developed a lovely rich black. He too is thinking he may move to the base coat next. And Henry's LP-1S is looking great after doing the carmine gypsy deep colour outer for his sunburst. I think the red of the carmine gypsy is really stunning and Henry (as the only one of us doing the sunburst) is champing at the bit to move to the base coat stage and start blending the amber with the gypsy carmine to develop the burst (the amber doesn't have a deep colour so we have to wait til base coat stage to start applying that and the blending process). In fact I think I'm every bit as excited as Henry about starting the blending process and seeing the amber inner and gypsy carmine outer merge into each other.
Tomorrow we will measure up our necks (thanks again Brendan) mark a line where the neck exits the body (so we know where to stop the neck coat) and then apply our neck coats. Can't wait and it will tide us over until Sunday arvo when we can start work on the bodies.
Clamps have worked really well when working on the backs of the guitars (after doing the front and sides) and are perfect for hanging to dry.
Thanks everyone for their posts, videos and pics. Its been a great resource so far and greatly enjoyed every one of the many, many hours I've spent trolling through the site, developing ideas and planning the build. We will be doing everything stock with this build - our goal is to produce the best finish we can. Future builds will be more experimental .... and we are already talking about ideas for our next builds!