Big fat final update... the finish.

What a month... where to start... between weddings and out-of-town gigs, I couldn't really work on this for about 3 weeks. My goal was end of September, and thanks to some luck, it happened on the final day of the month.

First off, I HATE wet sanding. Twice attempted, twice damaged my otherwise perfect finish, twice had to touch-up critical spots and wait a week to dry before attempting again. Ultimately, I got it as close as I could, it's not perfect, but i'm completely satisfied. Buffed it out with some 3M Finesse-it polishing compound, and there's a bottle of 3M Hand Glaze on it's way to me right now that should add the final showroom shine.

Anyhow, here's a shot of the finished body, with the neck attached:

The next step was installing the tremolo studs... i was worried about chipping the paint, since it's a very tight fit, but I got away with it pretty clean. The only problem was that the holes were drilled for 9.5mm, but the studs were 10mm. Since they need to fit tight, I didn't want to use a drill, so I wrapped some 100-grit sandpaper around the end of a pencil and just worked it in there til the studs started to go in. Got them halfway by hand, then used a hammer via woodblock to avoid chipping/splitting.

 






Next comes loading up the pickguard & electronics... wired it up last week on a bored morning. To summarize:

Neck pickup: Duncan Jazz
Middle pickup: Duncan Vintage Strat
Bridge pickup: Duncan JB

5-way switch settings:
Position 1 - neck full
Pos 2 - neck split + middle
Pos 3 - neck split + bridge split
Pos 4 - bridge split + middle
Pos 5 - bridge full

The 3rd pot is wired up as a blender pot, which allows you to blend the full neck into the bridge, and vice versa. Really fun & versatile option, did this on my G&L Legacy and use it constantly.

Popped it on with no trouble, got the tremolo happening, strung it up, and whaddayaknow... the son of a bitch worked! Took some time to tweak the string action, intonation, pickup height, trem springs, etc., and by the end of the night, I had a new favorite guitar. The neck feels perfect in my hand, the tone is fantastic, and I couldn't be happier or prouder of this.

So, in closing, thanks to everyone who helped me out, followed along, etc. I hope you found this blog informative, fun, or just another way to waste time at work. I'm sure i'll be back with another one someday!

Shellac done!

Not a big update, just following up on the shellac'ing... i think we're just about done. Took 12 coats to get the right shade (using my dad's '66 Tele as comparison), then some sanding with 400-grit, and finally some touch-ups after that. Here ya go, with the natural maple scrap alongside for comparison:

Next step is Tru-Oil, after I give the shellac a few days to cure.

Shellac her? I barely know her!!!

I promised more frequent updates, and just like Karl Malone, I always deliver... today we begin the neck finishing process. Yesterday, I grabbed all the necessary supplies from Lowes, and started mixing the shellac.

First, a little info on shellac that you may find interesting: Shellac is a resin secreted by the female Lac bug, native to India and Thailand. It is sold as dry flakes, which are dissolved in denatured alcohol to create a stain (Everclear is actually a popular mixer, but in my house, we have much better uses for that...). Shellac was THE wood finish of 19th century France, and the technique of "French polish" was invented for applying shellac (not to be confused with the French polishing you can get at the Moulin Rouge for 20 Euro).

Here are all of the neck finishing supplies, and a closeup of the shellac flakes in the bag and then mixed:

So after letting the shellac dissolve overnight, i tested out wiping on some scrap maple til I got a nice shade. Here's the untouched neck alongside the scrap test piece:

The first coat was very light, but here's the comparison after wiping on two coats:

And after three:

I added a fourth coat just before I left for work... i'll stop here for now and match the fretboard tomorrow, then see if we still need more.


And oh yeah, I fuckin' love this shit.

Aaaaannnnd we're back!!!

Sorry for the delay, faithful followers, but the past few weeks were very unproductive to say the least... third can of clear coat took forever, due to a combination of extremely high humidity and summer getting all crazy on me. But we're back, the weather here is perfect, the body is curing for the next 3-4 weeks, and my Warmoth custom neck has been delivered!

Here are a couple pics of the body after the final coats of clear lacquer... i also have to take a moment to pimp out Behlen's stringed instrument lacquer. This stuff is great! After using ReRanch spray products for the color & first two cans of clear, I went with Behlen's for the third can, simply because the shipping was free from Amazon. I gotta say, this stuff sprays more evenly, consistently, and ends up thicker & glossier than the ReRanch clear. The gloss may have more to do with it being the third can, after the first two built up a nice base... but it still feels like you're working with a higher quality product. Almost went for a fourth can, but i'm kinda sick of lacquer fumes right now.

So now we play the waiting game... the lacquer takes about a month to cure before final wetsanding and buffing. In the meantime...

Yup, that's a neck! Finally arrived last Wednesday. Perfect fit in the body's neck pocket, too. Gotta love that! I'll be grabbing some scrap maple from Lowe's this week and testing out the Shellac and Tru-Oil finishes before applying them to the neck. Here are a few more pics:

So that's where we are... i'm hoping to have the neck finished by Labor Day, then after two weekends away (wedding & a gig upstate NY) i'll sand & buff the body. Updates should be more consistent now.

Clearcoat & humidity do NOT get along.

Well, it's been a quiet week, mainly because I messed up and went too heavy on the clearcoat Monday morning. Instantly got white cloudy blotches, known as "blush", caused by moisture getting trapped under the lacquer. Sometimes it disappears on its own, or you can wet sand it out, but since I had to place an order with Reranch for another can of clearcoat and polishing compound anyhow, I grabbed a can of Blush remover too. Works great! Just a light mist and the blush disappears. The blush remover basically melts the top coat a little, allowing the moisture to escape. I'll let it dry overnight and resume clearcoating tomorrow or Sunday. (Wish I had taken some before & after shots, but you get the idea)

Here are some pictures of the body from last Sunday, with natural sunlight, before I started the clearcoating...

In related news, I decided i'm going to shellac the neck for an amber tint, then seal it with Tru Oil gun stock finish. After looking at tons of pictures from dozens of internet forums, it seems that shellac & Tru Oil will give me the results I want. I've ordered a bottle of Tru Oil and a bag of fresh amber shellac flakes, hopefully next week i'll do a test run on some scrap maple. 

Stay tuned, same Bat-time, same Bat-channel!

Color DONE!!!

I think, i hope, fingers crossed, salt over my shoulder, that the color spraying is DONE! Of course, this being Friday the 13th, a black cat will likely wander into the garage and park its fat ass on my freshly sprayed geetar (thus furthering proof that pussy causes all of life's problems).

Here she is:

It looks a little more blue in these photos than in person... that's my fav thing about this color, depending on the light & angle, it can go from very green to very blue, and all shades in between. I can't wait til it's clear-coated, polished, and accented with chrome.  As long as she dries nicely, i'll begin spraying the clear coat Sunday.

I should also mention that I had a slight overspray incident the other day, but didn't have my camera to document it. Basically, I got to the bottom of the spray can, and made the mistake of trying to squeeze out every last drop, which left us with some thick, dull blotches on the front & back. Wiped off the real bad spots, then opened a new can (thank GOD i ordered two), and after one pass, it looked great again.


In related geetar news, snagged myself a shiny new Wilkinson VS401 tremolo on Ebay for $20 less than it would have cost me otherwise... that's $20 more to spend on booze tonight! Woohoo!!!

Happy Friday the 13th! Go listen to Superstition, preferably SRV's version!!!

Blog update... now in COLOR!!!

Hello faithful followers, hope ya'll had a great weekend! I sure did, as evidenced here with the Dead Amble guys (i'm on the left):

(I know, I know, i said color, and the first pic is black & white, whatever...)
Got some nice tones out of my G&L Legacy and GrooveTubes Soul-O 45 combo. I'll also be doing a special blog entry on my G&L, as i'll be performing a mod on it very soon.

Anyhow, I promised COLOR! And here she is:

That's after the first 3 coats... basically, you follow something called "The Rule of Three"... 3 passes = one coat, 3 coats per day with at least an hour in between each, and 3 days of that process, for a total of 9 coats. That supposedly yields the best results. So far, i'm loving the color! Can't wait to see how it looks after all 9 coats. The final coats of clear lacquer will affect the shade too, i'm sure.

Until then, here's a pic of us with Uncle Leon & The Alibis, an awesome "cowpunk" band we were honored to share the stage with yesterday at Lady Jay's in Brooklyn.