First Build: Red and Black Wilko Johnson Telecaster

[Mark Gill]

Well, it looks like I’ve totally made a dog’s dinner of this. I tried to sand it a bit after I’d already put too much stain into the wood—like sanding toffee—and now it’s marked up like a ski slope in January. I don’t like the Tried and True oil either, as it just seemed to leave the surface greasy. Maybe I’ll just have to bite the bullet, sand the whole thing down deep, and rattle-can it. sigh…

[JohnH]

How long had the TO been on before you tried sanding it? Just curious as I’ve never had it leave a guitar feel greasy.

[Mark Gill]

How long had the TO been on before you tried sanding it? Just curious as I’ve never had it leave a guitar feel greasy.

No, I only sanded after the stain. I put the Tried and True on anyway afterwards just to see if it improved things (but it magnified the imperfections).

Maybe I'll see if any oil will come off with napthat before I start again and re-sand

[Mark Gill]

No, I only sanded after the stain. I put the Tried and True on anyway afterwards just to see if it improved things (but it magnified the imperfections).

Maybe I'll see if any oil will come off with napthat before I start again and re-sand

John H, I don't think it was actually the fault of the Tried and True—I think too much stain had just gunked the whole thing up too much.


And the answer is: none… none more black.

I think it’s physically impossible for light to escape its gravitational pull.

Sanded the stain off, went for Duplicolor lacquer after being warned by a number of people that spraying enamel was not for the faint-hearted.

Horrible results (runs, no matter how I angled the can or snuck up on the job from the side) meant that I went through a whole bottle of the lacquer before I went back to researching it. Turned out low temperature = runs. I’ll bet you all knew that. So I put the guitar body in bed with a hot water bottle, and sat the can in some hot water for ten minutes. Results much, much better, though it certainly ain’t perfect. I had no idea how spraying a chunk of wood served to magnify all the imperfections in the sanding job.

If any noobies are going to try the same thing, I would say (and I'm sorry, because doing research on the forum shows that a lot of information has already been posted):

Don't put too much on with each spray.

If you do have to sand mistakes between coats, be very gentle to avoid going through the primer as well as the topcoat.

Laying it flat seems to stop the paint running down.

Do it in a dedicated indoor spray booth which is as free of possible contaminents as a Nikon clean room (ha! I know we've all got one of them on the premises!). Seriously, do you all find that any crud floating round in the air seems to get sucked onto the body of the instrument when you spray outside?

[Sonic Mountain]

Its all a learning curve Mark, I've mucked up plenty of paint jobs in my time, usually through impatience. Even with research it takes actually doing it yourself to really learn the lessons. The good thing is that you can always let it dry hard, sand bank and have another go. It does take time, but I wouldn't write it off just yet.

Temperature is very important to pay attention to for any kind of spraying and as you've discovered its far better to do lots of very light coats and be patient.

Dust is always a pain if you don't have a good area. Again doing a lot of light coats lets you knock it off between them. It can also be a good idea to hose down the general area (Before you bring the guitar out) to settle any floating dust before you spray. Sometimes its just a case of being prepared and waiting for the right conditions, clear, warm, no wind. At the moment I'm spraying outside then (Very carefully) bringing it inside to hang and dry while its still wet. So far dust specks have been minimal.

[Mark Gill]

Machine Heads: I've got a couple builds on the go, and after screwing in to the limit, both sets of machine heads are still swimming around.

Did I sand the head that much?

Or does this happen a lot and you should just double up on washers?

[Fretworn]

Machine Heads: I've got a couple builds on the go, and after screwing in to the limit, both sets of machine heads are still swimming around.

Did I sand the head that much?

Or does this happen a lot and you should just double up on washers?

Are they kit machine heads, or did you upgrade. The kit ones aren't great, and I have had issues with the bit that screws in from the top side jamming and not screwing in all the way on some of them. It's often advisable to cough up an extra $40-$50 to get some Wilkinsons or Gotohs.

[Mark Gill]

Kit. I hear what you’re saying. I understand people wanting to upgrade the likes of pickups, it just seems so wasteful to produce something that doesn’t actually function (..?)

[wazkelly]

Across 3 kits using stock guitar tuners never encountered this problem? More washers under front retaining nut might help but if the winding action feels odd, as is often the case, that tends to force you to buy an upgrade set. I bought a set of Gotoh non locking on ebay a while back for around $50 for one of my Tele's and it was money well spent.
Cheers, Waz

Sent from my SM-A520F using Tapatalk

[Fretworn]

So far my experience is that the most of the kit hardware is good, apart from the screws and the machine heads. They are the real weakest link. That is one of the reasons Adam now offers the upgrade options for the machine heads.