First build - PRS-1H

[kuanjb]

wow that looks so nice in the light, doesn't it?

Yeah it's quite pretty. If I played outside in the sun it would look awesome..... oh well. I like black too at least.

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[FCD]

Some lessons learnt for the next build

[kuanjb]

Some lessons learnt for the next build

Most definately. That's why I'm doing this build in particular. In fact it's probably "good enough" already but I keep doing more as I want to learn more and get closer to the level of finish I want in later builds.

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[kuanjb]

I haven't been happy with the finish on this guitar. It seems to be never ending. I keep putting on more coats of poly hoping that they will fill the small dips and imperfections but ultimately adding extra drips and imperfections while not filling the holes. So I've been putting off doing work on it.

Today I had something else I should have been doing so what better excuse to do more work on this build?

I think the problem from the beginning was that I didn't sand enough. Too scared of going through the veneer. And everytime I've sanded between coats I've only done lightly as the few times I did more I went through, particularly on the edges and the binding which I covered black. But doing this has cost me greatly trying to get a smooth glassy surface on the front.

So today I threw caution to the wind and sanded. And sanded. And sanded. All with an ultra fine sanding pad, P1000-P800. I figured if I went through then it wouldn't really matter.

What I've ended up with instead is a lovely silky smooth matte finish. So nice in fact that I'm tempted to leave it just like this and do the rest of the guitar the same way and give up on a gloss finish. I think the blue even is more noticeable with the matte.

I'd be curious about what people think.


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[Bakersdozen]

This is the best I've seen it looking mate. Go with your gut, it's often the best way to go.

[FCD]

At the end of the day your the one who needs to be happy with it. I see nothing wrong with a matte finish and in some cases actually prefer them. I like the last picture. My vote is do the whole guitar like that

[Simon Barden]

Almost any finish will always follow the micro-contours of the body and not just fill up the dips. You'd need something with really low surface tension to do that. So as you found, you just add enough layers so that you can sand off all the high points and get a nice flat finish.

I'd continue to sand with finer grits and then polish it. You'll get a wonderful smooth gloss finish. IMO you will see more detail once it's glossy.

Just check that the pots fit in the holes as the holes will have become slightly smaller from the finish. If necessary, carefully enlarge them now before progressing with the finish.

[kuanjb]

Thanks guys.

Still not sure exactly which way I'll go but I figured that I'd need to sand the rest of the body either way.

So went back to work on the guitar last night and under the fluros could see that the front still had lots of low patches. So back to sanding again, this time using P600. This dulled the finish much more than the sanding pad.

And of course what had happened previously happened again. Around the edge and f-hole binding I sanded through and the white showed in places. But I think that's ok because the surrounding areas are now flat and without dips. It does mean that I'll have to put on another couple of coats of PU though after I've touched up the stain.

So after I did the P600 I them followed that with wet sanding P600 with mineral turps. I was hoping that some of the larger scratches (possibly from the sand paper becoming clogged) might get filled from the PU turps slurry.

Did the back with the wet P600 and sanded the neck with the P1000 pad. The neck I'm definately leaving as is. It is now so silky and nice. In fact I liked it so much that I took out the Burnt SG and sanded the neck of that one too.

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[Sonic Mountain]

Are you going to scrape the binding around the f holes anyway? might not matter that you've broken through there.

As others have said, don't worry to much about it looking dull at the moment. Once you get it polished (or the final coat of clear on) it will take on a lot more depth and look great.

[kuanjb]

Are you going to scrape the binding around the f holes anyway? might not matter that you've broken through there.

As others have said, don't worry to much about it looking dull at the moment. Once you get it polished (or the final coat of clear on) it will take on a lot more depth and look great.

No. There were cracks in the binding which the stain seeped into and were impossible to scrape off. That's why I went with the black instead. And honestly I quite like the black now.

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