GST-1 second build

[RocknRolf]

Hey FCD,

Bummer! Curious about the bubbeling though: Where do you think it came from, the fabric?

I do/did not think this was going to be of much influence on a guitar body, but when you glass a surfboard with epoxy, you do this on a decreasing temperature (afternoon) to prevent the material from "gassing" and turning it into a bubble castle. Do you think this might've been the reason?

Sorry for drawing this parallel, I am always curious how these things happen to prevent them from happening on future projects, because as you say, the make you....angry, for a moment

[Simon Barden]

How much bubbling? Has it got too hot? I'd be tempted to leave it, wait until the finish hardens and then if it's not all over but just in small areas, locally sand down a bit and try and respray. You only really need to try and break the top of the bubbles open so that you can then fill them with (ideally thinned) clear coat.

Take your time. Certainly wait until you're calm and relaxed about it and just view it as something that needs to be fixed which you can do. It may be less work than you think.

[FCD]

Hi Simon,

There were multiple bubbles all in one area, I believe that it got to hot to quickly. Great advice as always! There are always compromises especially when you are adding some new skills and learning along the way but I have reached that point that this is one too many. I would rather sand it all back and start again. The biggest learning was how I cut the fabric and I could have done that much better.

Don’t get me wrong I am p****ed off, but this is one to many “fixes”. I am half tempted to sand back and try a different finishing method but then again I am stubborn so who knows.

[Simon Barden]

You make your own mind up. It's whatever's right for you.

I've had so many setbacks with finishes that I'm surprised I haven't trashed at least one guitar. I know it's tempting to leave sprayed guitars out in the direct sun to dry, but they do get very hot and this does seem to encourage gas bubbles to emerge, or encourage reactions between the finish and maybe glue or impurities beneath it.

[FrankenWashie]

Hi Simon,
Don’t get me wrong I am p****ed off, but this is one to many “fixes”. I am half tempted to sand back and try a different finishing method but then again I am stubborn so who knows.

I am so this ^^. Madness has driven me to consider pulling out my Cursed black LP build.

[Simon Barden]

Madness, you say?

[FCD]

I am so this ^^. Madness has driven me to consider pulling out my Cursed black LP build.

Hi FrankenWashie,

Not sure I can call this a cursed build yet but I am going to take this back down to wood and start to finish again. Guess if it doesn’t work the second time it might end up in the fire place .

[FCD]

Hi All,

It’s been a while from my last post and there has been a lot that has happened in the build. In short sanding off the fabric top was a huge pain in the ass!!! If I would have had my time again I would have taken the advice to be patient and maybe fix the small bubbles. But what’s done is done....

I started the build again and re-bonded some fabric to the guitar body. I have divided to use wipe on poly instead for the finish. I liked how durable the finish was on my first guitar and additionally to that with enough coats I feel I can get a good gloss finish. At first I wanted to use a rattle can for the crystal clear coat and didn’t want the yellowing effect of the poly, however, given the variability in temp in Melbourne and the fact that my shed gets extremely hot I feel I will run into the same issues with the rattle. I also left the sides wood rather then bursting in the sides with black.

I have attached some photos of the guitars progress. This is with 5 coats of poly on front, sides and back. Edit: I also just realised that I changed the orientation of the fabric - not by design but is what it is now

[DarkMark]

Looking good. Wipe on poly is my finish of choice at the moment. You may need many coats. Got me thinking I’d like to do a fabric top, if I was going to do another kit.

[FCD]

Yep guessing that I will be wiping it on for a while. I will build it up over sometime - annoying this is I will be overseas late Jan so will have to take a back seat again. But until then I will continue to do some coats