ShortScale.org

Fakir Mustache wrote:they're awesome, I like the one with the fake pickguard wooden insert a lot.

It's funny that the shark fin was to cover up a screw up, and now I like it the best.
It's like my pappy always said. "there are no mistakes, just opportunities"

That at least sounds simple. I have orange stewmac dye, but I have no idea where to get distilled water. Do they sell it for maintaining car battareys? I may try to finish some scrap of wood. Do you just clear coat it after that or you add a little bit of dye to the laquer?

sunshiner wrote:That at least sounds simple. I have orange stewmac dye, but I have no idea where to get distilled water. Do they sell it for maintaining car battareys? I may try to finish some scrap of wood. Do you just clear coat it after that or you add a little bit of dye to the laquer?

most grocery stores carry distilled water. I just like it because there are no minerals in it to change colors. good drinking water would probably work fine. I use Deft brand clear gloss lacquer. It is the only brand I will use. Ace hardware stores carry it, as do lowes and home depot. around here anyway. It sprays beautifully and looks awesome when done. I watched lot's of videos on youtube of people dying their guitars. one of the main guys on youtube goes by the name of "Big D guitars". That's how I learned, as well as trial and error. Lot's of error, but thats what makes it fun.

Here is a video that is from the guy I was talking about. He has tons of vids out there.

Well, here is #3. I tried something totally different for the dye. This time I used a Paint gun to apply the dye. I will try to describe the process later. I wish I had taken a video. Out of the hundreds of youtube videos I have watched, I have never seen anybody apply dye this way, so I was a little nervous, but I am absolutely stoked about the way that it turned out. This picture is after applying 1 coat of lacquer to seal the color in. It will be getting many many more.

holy shit this will be rad.

So here is the process that I used for #3.
1. Sand body to remove all scratches and smooth
2. Used Tobacco brown dye with water over the entire body to get the center color, then let dry.
3. Sand back the body one more time to smooth the grain that gets raised from using water. This really helps get the grain contrast from light to dark. Some people say that it makes the grain "pop"
4. Apply black dye mixed with denatured alcohol to the edge of the body with a rag. This was just to make sure that the dark dye really penetrated the end grain of the body well.
5. I went to Harbor Freight tools and bought a $12.99 paint gun. It only has a 4 oz can on it, and is mostly a small detail gun. It worked absolutely famously by the way.
6. I reduced Air pressure to 20 psi, and filled the can with about 2 oz of tobacco brown dye mixed with denatured alcohol. I also added just a small touch of red mahogany dye to the mix because I wanted to make sure that it was not to yellow looking, and had a slight red hue. I mixed it so that the dye was very dark.
7. I adjusted the air flow on the paint gun to be low/medium volume, and the paint level to be very low, so that I could really add color slowly and build it up to get the fade that I was looking for.
8. With Alcohol instead of water, the dye did not run, and dried very fast.
9. Then I did the same process using a black dye and alcohol to get the outside edge. The fact that I pre-dyed the end of the body helped me get it very black.
10. After letting it dry for w few hours, I sealed it with a coat of lacquer.
11. Presto, bang-o there you go, a tobacco burst. I have also seen what some people call a coffee burst about the same color. Call it whatever you want. I love it.

After the sixth coat of lacquer, I let the guitar hang for several days and dry, then I wet sanded it one more time with 800 grit wet/dry sandpaper. Trying to make it as level as possible without sanding through into the wood. After 2 1/2 hours I thought I had it as good as I could get, and prepped it for three more coats of lacquer.

I put the seventh coat of lacquer on and let it dry for 30 minutes as per the instructions. Then I hit it with the next coat, and let it sit for 30 minutes. When I went to apply the third coat, I noticed that several bubbles had developed in the finish, but mostly in one small corner of the guitar. After lot's of thinking I noticed that the sun was shining through the window and hitting the guitar right in the spot where the bubbles were. All I can figure is that the heat from the sun caused it to bubble. Either way, I will have to let it set for several more days before I can get at it with the sandpaper and try to sand out the bubbles.

very discouraging, but that is the way the cookie crumbles sometimes. It's not like I don't have anything else to do. There are two more bodies ready for sanding and lacquer on them as well.

Here is a few photos I took.

Here is a little update on the builds. I have all three bodies to the point where They need to sit for a week before I do one more sand back, then put last three coats of lacquer on. Then the sit for a month while I work on necks. It's been cold enough here that I may have to let them sit for six weeks. Don't know if I have enough patience for that.

Meanwhile, I got the fretboards and inlays sanded and radiused to 12". and MOP side dots done. Next step is frets. I'm currently building a caul for my drill press. I have the brass part that I bought from stewmac already. I also have to build a fretwire bender, but I have seen several videos on how to do it, so it should be no problem. I'll try to post pictures as soon as I get underway.

Here are a couple pics of the Jag i'm building for my brother. It's coming along nicely I think.

It's looking great!!

got the last of the Lacquer on today. Now they will sit for at least 4 weeks while I get busy on the necks. Just pulled out some metal from my scrap bin to make a fret press caul out of. I also have some of the parts I need to make the fretwire bender. I will post some photo's of that progress in the next couple of days I hope.

Top job! Looks really nice 😜

Thank you. It is so hard to let them sit . I want to play them so bad. Necks still need a lot of work though

Spent this evening building the Caul for my fret press. I can't see any reason why this won't work. Guess I'll find out soon enough.

I have a whole new appreciation for the guys out there that do fret work all the time. I got the frets pressed in on the first of three necks tonight. The learning curve is big. Just getting them all seated fully and looking good took a great deal of patience that I don't normally have. I think they look good, but I guess the truth will be in the puddin' when I finally play this thing. Got a long long way to go first though.

Wow

Haven't been in here for a while and noticed your finishing problem. Gassing out is an issue with slower drying finishes and temperature changes. I made a composite boat that has marine plywood as the core, when you coat with epoxy you have to do it when the temperature is decreasing or the air in the wood will make bubbles and you do not get efficient penetration of the finish.

cur wrote:Haven't been in here for a while and noticed your finishing problem. Gassing out is an issue with slower drying finishes and temperature changes. I made a composite boat that has marine plywood as the core, when you coat with epoxy you have to do it when the temperature is decreasing or the air in the wood will make bubbles and you do not get efficient penetration of the finish.

I think you're right. It just happened that one time, and I had them drying in my shop. As the sun was setting, it came in the window and was shining directly where the spots were bad. It heated up the Lacquer before it had a chance to dry. Definitely know better now. Live and learn I suppose.

Got all the frets pressed in all three necks, and filed flush with the end. I think the next step will be to carve the backs.



Grain is really straight on these necks, didn't want any figuring in the maple. more interested in the most stable wood I could find. More about staying in tune and playing well than looks for me.