Ebay Kit Build Flame Maple

[Loonhaunt]

I wanted to attempt a carved top guitar, and found this other Australian Company shipping necks and bodies to US. The set neck comes bound and is glued at the factory. The neck appears to be set with Epoxy, which means that if it ain't right, I have a guitar shapped canoe paddle! The workmanship is pretty darn good except for some glue or more like epoxy getting slopped on the body. Which means the back of the guitar is now paint grade only! The top is turning out pretty nicely as you can see below. The hardware looks pretty decent as well two KD brand (?) humbuckers.

I will contribute more data if there is interest here. My intention with this guitar is to make it a Playah! first.

I have one added comment at this time and that is that it is really hard working on a guitar that is already bound! Particularly all of the sanding that is required when finishing with Tung Oil.

The honey burst in the images comes from using Transfast water dies on the maple. Lemon Yellow, and Yellow mixed with Dark Red Mahogany.

I purchased some 1/8 inch masking tape on amazon that was worthless, as it did not stick to the binding, or anything for that matter, I should have purchased the expensive stuff from 3M that I normally use. ( I could not find this on Amazon). The 1/4 inch wide 3M Fine Line Tape is a God Send!

[JohnH]

Looks good! Really liking that colour on the front

[Andy40]

The honey burst in the images comes from using Transfast water dies on the maple. Lemon Yellow, and Yellow mixed with Dark Red Mahogany.

Ohh yeah baby. this is going to be awesome

[Loonhaunt]

Update... Here below is an image of the top taken after about 5-8 coats of Tung Oil. I start with two to three poured on heavy coats, then I wet sand with 600 - 800 grit US sand paper. Then I begin applying thin coats, usually three with wet sanding 800 grit between. As I get closer to my finish coat I start using 1200 to 2000 grit depending on the desired finish look. I haven't done many guitars but I have built a lot of boats and furniture where it seems to work well. Tung Oil is extremely tough, gets tougher with age, and is not toxic to user. I give the heavy coats 12 - 24 hours to set up, the thin ones I re-apply after 3-4 hours but let the three coats set for 12- 24 hours before sanding.



Some more images in natural light.

[TZK321]

That looks fantastic!

[FrankenWashie]

Update... Here below is an image of the top taken after about 5-8 coats of Tung Oil. I start with two to three poured on heavy coats, then I wet sand with 600 - 800 grit US sand paper. Then I begin applying thin coats, usually three with wet sanding 800 grit between. As I get closer to my finish coat I start using 1200 to 2000 grit depending on the desired finish look. I haven't done many guitars but I have built a lot of boats and furniture where it seems to work well. Tung Oil is extremely tough, gets tougher with age, and is not toxic to user. I give the heavy coats 12 - 24 hours to set up, the thin ones I re-apply after 3-4 hours but let the three coats set for 12- 24 hours before sanding.



Some more images in natural light.

Looks great man! When you wet sand are you using an oil/solvent mix or water?

[Loonhaunt]

I just use water to wet sand. I don’t wear glove to sand. I am afeaid solvent would not be kind to my hands.

[wazkelly]

Loving the colour.

[Loonhaunt]

I grew up on the boarder between Minnesota USA and Ontario Canada, most of my neighbors were Scots. So my accent is slightly Scot slightly "Minnesotan" . Read below with that bit in mind.

This is an update to the build. What an evolution! Did I say that I hate Paint? I really love wood so covering it with paint is like, well putting on a rain coat on a sunny day or something else more offensive. And paint knows how much I hate it so it does all manner of things to further develop our relationship.

I am not sure if I expounded on this previously, so here goes, this kits general QC was very good except for two bitches. They slobbered EPOXY on the sides of the body in two places where there was end grain exposed. To get it off I would have had to grind my guitar down to ukelele size to remove it. Thus My back and sides are now paint grade poplar, poplar by the way is a fine fine wood for building strong things, not much grain to speak of but beautiful non the less.

I painted the back after minimal sanding with 320g a light brown acrylic "Krylon". Oh and I used a fair amount of neutral grain filler previous. It took about 4 coats to get a good barrier before I began sanding with 400g then eventually to 600 and 1200 wet paper. This was an awful experience as I don't have proper equipment and location for doing the spraying so i had terrible orange peel every damn coat. Was able to finally have it ready for some type of clear coat. This was very stupid of me. I read every damn blog forum youtube video I could find on what was proper to spray over acrylic, even clear acrylic Krylon of same brand of paint under coat. All of them ate the under coat! Every one of em! My beautiful brown smooth surfaces looked like crocodile skin!

So I tried Shellac....Shellac dries very fast you know. So fast I couldn't cover a quarter of the guitar back before the crap set up in thick gooey ridges from the brush strokes. I sanded that all off, then i tried spray shellac, which wasn't that bad. Thin thin coats three of them. After the last coat I wet sanded with 2000 grit paper, and after that I rubbed with Meguiars # 7. Jeezus what wonderful material that formulation is. I almost want to try to drink it looks sooo tasty!

I am in a pretty good place with the finish now. I did not mention in the first paragraph that I stained the back with the canary yellow dye mixed with a wee bit of dark red mahogany prior to paint. My intent was to relic the back so that the dye would come through the paint in wear areas. It look beautiful to begin with but with all the problems I had with clear coats I had to cover the effect with paint in all areas but for some of the edges which are evident in the photos. below.

I haven't begun the scraping of the binding nor the much needed work on the fret board but all in all I feel okay with where we are at today. I would really like to hear from members what kind of protective coat I can use on the back and sides. Meguiar # 7 gets it shiny but I am not sure that it sets up hard enough. If I hold the guitar too long where there is Meguiars and paint I leave finger prints that need to be buffed out?? Any suggestions are welcome.
DB

Still looks a bit orange peely here.


The maple neck took the Tung Oil beautifully!

The back of the headstock is G***** reminiscent no!

I was worried about the top getting hazed during painting but my masking job worked.

[wazkelly]

Shiny finishes will show fingerprints. Just need to keep hand buffing with a fine micro fibre polishing cloth.

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