So I bought this duo body from cooterfinger (and a thing of beauty it is too, the dude has skills):
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I have a few other bits and bobs that I need to sort with the neck (squier mini, going for a 22.75 on this one) and electronics before I get to finishing it. I'm thinking a tinted clear with the black pickguard and white p/u covers. Poplar has a slightly weird grain but I'd like to see how it turns out.
However, it's getting pretty cold now and the temperature and humidity in my flat is all over the show, really variable. Do you guys think I ought to do something to the wood to keep it safe? I read that poplar is closed-grain, but I don't know a whole lot about wood... should I seal it? Rub some tru-oil or something on there for the time-being? Maybe I should just get on with the clear coats, but I read that it's a lot more difficult to get a decent finish in the winter (again due to temp and humidity fluctuations)?
Moisture moves in/out through the exposed end grains. When you buy lumber from the mill, the end grains are soaked in wax to keep the wood from splitting. So area's near the ass, horns and sides where the grains are exposed are where you need to worry about. The front and rear don't let moisture pass through as easily but if you splash water on it, it will swell. If you keep the guitar in your living space, it will be fine.
I had a poplar body split in my detached garage, but it was exposed to temps ranging from the 20` - 110`, a leaky roof and the extreme southern humidity with no finish on it. It started to split right where the strap button on the ass would be. I had a few other bodies hanging also, and they are all fine.
Before you do anything to the body to protect it, know exactly what you to want to ultimately finish it in first. If you lay down tru-oil, then decide later you want an opaque finish.... I don't know how well lacquer will stick to oil if at all. If you clear coat it, then you can't stain the wood later on... unless you sand every bit of clear coat off.
A genius on TDPRI, the Telecaster forum, said he sprays in any weather, he just brings the guitar inside when he's done spraying. It seems to work bringing it back into climate control. I've tried it successfully.
Biggest problem I've encountered with cold weather is aerosol spitting, which I counteract by using two cans of paint at once and alternating between spraying with one and leaving the other in a bowl of hot water. After a good shake I do a few passes and then switch to the warmer can, and so on so they never get cold
I've never had any other problem spraying in winter, provided it's dry enough (though I do live in north/central Cali so that's the norm, temperature is tolerable and humidity very low). After hanging the guitar outside for 2 hours I bring it inside my garage, which is not climate controlled but warmer than outside and nicely ventilated, probably not ideal, but neither is huffing nitro in your room overnight.
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(Oxford)
yeah man!
Joey wrote:Moisture moves in/out through the exposed end grains. When you buy lumber from the mill, the end grains are soaked in wax to keep the wood from splitting. So area's near the ass, horns and sides where the grains are exposed are where you need to worry about. The front and rear don't let moisture pass through as easily but if you splash water on it, it will swell. If you keep the guitar in your living space, it will be fine.
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Before you do anything to the body to protect it, know exactly what you to want to ultimately finish it in first. If you lay down tru-oil, then decide later you want an opaque finish.... I don't know how well lacquer will stick to oil if at all. If you clear coat it, then you can't stain the wood later on... unless you sand every bit of clear coat off.
Thanks for the advice! I've decided I'm going to go clear laquer. The problem with our living space is that we dry all our clothes indoors in the winter and there is a LOT of water in the air. Probably not good from a health point of view but it's pretty much our only option right now.
when I use rattle can spray paint in the cold I just work fast. your paint and the object you are painting need to be the same temperature. so I set everything up inside and attach a wire hanger to the neck screw holes. when I spray I run outside, hang it up and then spray a quick coat. you are doing a bunch of thin coats anyway. then right back inside with the paint and guitar body. The bodies only take about a minuted to lay down a coat anyway. Then I do this every half hour or so until I get the coating I want. each time the paint and body are only outside for a couple of minutes at a time. stinky paint can smell up the joint, but you can hang it in the bathroom with the fan on.
Cold is not a problem. I left a few guitars out for several hours on sunday--even forgot them for a while. Moisture is the krypton. It keeps them sticky, or even worse, causes blush. Blush looks like milk under the paint, and may eventually gas out, but it looks shit. Paint outside on a clear day. Nitro dries quickly. Bringing it in too soon should not affect the finish, but it will stink up the joint for a day or two. It smells like apples or nail polish to me.
An alternative is to get some brush on polyurethane. Paint on a few coats and sand it down to matte or gloss. Then if you ever decide to paint it, you can use the urethane coat in place of Fenderplast or grain filler. The poly people deride is the factory kind, which goes on super thick. I don't really mind factory poly, but I don't really go for new guitars anyway. It's strong and super glossy. The brush kind is easy to sand and remove.
