Prostheta Posted June 4, 2018 Report Share Posted June 4, 2018 Novel! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charisjapan Posted June 4, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 4, 2018 Spent a little time deepening the bevels to 26 degrees ... the body is nearly 50mm thick, so no problem with that at all. I even like the way the forearm bevel and tummy bevel come to about 20mm, which should look nice when I smooth the roundover. I'm keeping things sharp for now, until satisfied with the shape of the bevels. Next step is to flatten top and bottom, maybe just 1mm each side, then smooth everything and prep for finish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charisjapan Posted June 4, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 4, 2018 Not a great picture, but here's white gasoline wiped on to give a better representation of what it'll look like with finish. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charisjapan Posted June 5, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2018 As @Prosthetasaid, putting a bevel on a body that's already got a 3/8" (9.5mm) roundover does not match. Thanks for making me see that, my friend! So took the 26-degree bevel all the way around the body, and will keep the top bevel edge reasonably sharp. I'm hoping this will define the "shape-within-a-shape" while letting the different grain between the top and the bevel give a subtle contrast. The sides (i.e. the 64 degree bevel), however, will get a softer edge ... something like a 1/4" (6mm) roundover. Hoping this will work out! Also flared the cutout behind the string ferrules ... I didn't like the "trough" effect, though it's still a trough! Got a lot of sanding to do, but have to take it easy ... right arm not 100% yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted June 5, 2018 Report Share Posted June 5, 2018 It's the junction between geometry and beauty that makes the job hard I think. Great that you've managed to reconcile these. One of the projects on the bench calls for a massive 19mm/0,75" roundover, and things like that are super sensitive to how sharper corners or small radii guide the profile around the body. In cases where you can shape it as the eye wants, it's great. In others where it needs to be beautiful "straight off the tool" it needs a different set of thought processes. Either that or I like making problems for myself. Carry on! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charisjapan Posted June 8, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2018 (edited) Weather report yesterday morning ..."Rainy season will start in the next few days, expected to last 40 days (and 40 nights, I suppose)." So I thought, "Shoot!" ... as in spray paint . I was pretty satisfied with the bevels, and tried about a dozen different pore stains, grain fillers, clear tints on little cutoffs, but nothing spoke to me. I took a good look at my Chinaberry bass, which is just a clear urethane rattle can (Washin Paint's clear has a touch of amber), and thought I'd give it a shot. (pun intended). No filler, I will just sand this down to wood and then put two more coats. MY previous experience has been very good ... it cures pretty fast, it's durable, it sands well, it self-levels pretty good, and it's easy. "And I even like the color!" (that's movie quote, btw) Edited June 8, 2018 by charisjapan 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted June 8, 2018 Report Share Posted June 8, 2018 Lovely! The clear will continue to sink forever, so I hope you like the open look. The quote was from Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade. The actor was a favorite childhood comedian who I saw live once, Alexei Sayle. "Who is that fat bastard?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charisjapan Posted June 8, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2018 36 minutes ago, Prostheta said: Lovely! The clear will continue to sink forever, so I hope you like the open look. The quote was from Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade. The actor was a favorite childhood comedian who I saw live once, Alexei Sayle. "Who is that fat bastard?" HAHAHA! It's great to know great actors and great lines! You may be right about the "sinkholes" in this Limba . The Chinaberry is a lot like Limba (but harder), and I never bothered to fill the grain. Three coats and there are very fine sink lines. I "think" 4 coats would do the trick, but may go ahead and use a brush-on 2-part water-based urethane as a grain filler. (Man, that is a LOT of hyphens!) I used that on a Padauk key-hanger and small shelf for my daughter, and it is perfectly smooth after a year in Hawaii. Honestly, I'm not that adverse to some open grain, and not really needing a glass finish for this particular build ... but may do it anyway to get experience for the next bass build! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charisjapan Posted June 8, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2018 Time to attack the neck.First thing, write down measurements! My plan was twofold: slim down and soften the nut-to-5th "V" and soften the edges of the 7th-to-12th "C" profile. Since I knew pretty much what I wanted, I just went at it with a card scraper until I was near my goal, then fine-tune with the cloth-backed sandpaper sheets taken off the Velcro sanding blocks. I like the well-used sheets, as they can be used like "shining shoes" . I use them at a 45-degree angle and can get a broad surface that flows with the shape of the neck. I gotta say that this is the first time I have felt comfortable shaping a neck! I have shaped several, but mostly for repair jobs that got immediately flipped ... MIJ Squiers to US customers was quite the rage for a while! This time it was a guitar I was familiar with, and I knew all the foibles and strengths. I was felt satisfied in less than an hour that I had achieved the goal. Yay! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charisjapan Posted June 8, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2018 Caution! The following post contains slapdash methods. View at your own risk. The headstock was too thick. I could string the Hipshot locking tuners, but just barely. I wanted to take down the back 1mm, and considered my router planning box, getting the Stew-Mac drill press planer, etc. ... but today saw my little router sitting there and just set a 12mm bit to .9mm and "went to town." Two minutes later routing done, grabbed a#100 then #320 then #800 Scotch pad, and Voila! Paper-toweled Odie's Oil over the whole neck, and will spend a couple days to put probably 5 applications. Headstock is dead-on thicknessed ... probably better than it was before. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charisjapan Posted June 11, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 11, 2018 Just sprayed the third coat of rattle can urethane, and liking the color. I dry-sanded after the first coat almost down to the wood ... in fact, down to the wood in a few places where I'd missed some scratches. After the second coat, wet-sanded lightly with #800, then #1500. After drying, the third coat still shows a bit of grain, and I'm hoping that 4th and 5th coats will fill, certainly 6th will be smooth at this rate. These are pretty thin coats, but this stuff self-levels quite nicely ... even the Padauk is barely showing grain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charisjapan Posted June 11, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 11, 2018 Gaah! Thought the headstock was perfect, and the back was, but the face was almost 1mm thicker in the middle! I flattened the back perfectly in relation to the heel, and measured the edge all the way around, but didn't check the center portion. This must've happened way back when shaping the neck ... and never confirmed. It looked fine. Well, it's fine, now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted June 11, 2018 Report Share Posted June 11, 2018 Ouch! Well I'd hardly see it being thicker in the middle as an issue in most cases, however I guess it irked you too much? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charisjapan Posted June 11, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 11, 2018 39 minutes ago, Prostheta said: Ouch! Well I'd hardly see it being thicker in the middle as an issue in most cases, however I guess it irked you too much? Precisely! That and ... This guitar build and the previous Chinaberry Bass are prototypes ... I want to learn how to do most things right for the sake of the next builds. It’s true, with the oil-finished Padauk, you’d never know it wasn’t flat. But future builds will probably have gloss finish, so I felt it would be good to learn how to flatten it . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted June 11, 2018 Report Share Posted June 11, 2018 True true. I've found myself building thicker headstocks these days, either recessing the bushings or leaving them as-is. I say "these days". I mean, "last ten years". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charisjapan Posted June 12, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 12, 2018 16 hours ago, Prostheta said: True true. I've found myself building thicker headstocks these days, either recessing the bushings or leaving them as-is. I say "these days". I mean, "last ten years". Been chewing on this all day ... couldn't imagine a need or desire for thicker headstocks. This one looks so much nicer and the rather short-post Hipshots now are more than just nubs. Then, it hit me! Recessed bushings is a good idea!! Too late for this one, but will surely consider next guitar . Might even bevel my Mt. Fuji headstock to give a bit more 3-D . The other "thick headstock" idea that hit me was for bass guitars. Why'n the world are the Hipshot Ultralight posts so long?! With the slots, there's little reason to wrap so many winds, but unless you put 4 or so winds around the post, the break angle at the nut is about 0-degrees. My Chinaberry bass has a 14mm headstock, and the Hipshot tuners are 25mm from the back of the tuner body to the post notch, meaning the face of the headstock must be at least 11mm drop from the nut seat and a full wind of string on the post just to get 1-degree of break angle. I am now designing a short-scale multiscale bass (of course a Mt. Fuji!), and thinking how to get a nice shape without being too chunky. Add in the multiscale nut angle, and the nightmare begins. Thanks for the food for thought! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted June 12, 2018 Report Share Posted June 12, 2018 No problem! This reminded me of my first headstock with recessed bushings....the headstock itself was radiused so the recessing allowed the bushings to lay flat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charisjapan Posted June 13, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 13, 2018 22 hours ago, Prostheta said: No problem! This reminded me of my first headstock with recessed bushings....the headstock itself was radiused so the recessing allowed the bushings to lay flat. Hmmm ... A Radiused Mt. Fuji sounds like a good idea! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charisjapan Posted June 13, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 13, 2018 A few random shots. My painting booth , a drip to show how much amber in the clear, and a selfie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charisjapan Posted June 13, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 13, 2018 Still wet from the fourth coat of cleat, the grain is filled, but after an hour there are still a few sunken spots (and a few drips ). After the next wet sanding and fifth coat, I will just drop fill if necessary, as this urethane drop fills quite nicely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted June 13, 2018 Report Share Posted June 13, 2018 6 hours ago, charisjapan said: Those are some huge granny pants. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charisjapan Posted June 19, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 19, 2018 (edited) Fifth coat, and gonna call it Done. It's not, really, there are a gazillion little nicks (well, maybe a hundred) everywhere, and there's some wavy areas where it's supposed to be flat. I could give it another coat or two and try to make it perfect, but this is a prototype ... so Done. From one step back, it looks all shiny and smooth . Also, I gained a lot of experience for the next build ... i.e. grain fill Limba, Mahogany, and Chinaberry, you nitwit!!! But I also found out that this Washin Paint Spray Urethane can finish a guitar - if properly prepped - and a lot easier than getting set up for spraying lacquer. I'm on a clock I did not know about. A good buddy from New Zealand is bringing his family through Japan on the ways to Europe, and I heard his 17 year old son has gotten into electric guitars in a big way, so I'm gonna have this thing ready to bolt the neck on and string up ...and let him have first whack. He's been following the progress on FB, so might get a kick out of that. Only polished the back a bit so far, but using a small hard block with #2000 wet-sanding, then a professional "sanding paste" I've had forever (my first church was situated over an auto-body shop my friend owned), and finally my first time to use Meguiar's Mirror Glaze #7 Professional Show Car Glaze (what a long name!). I am impressed with the Meguiar's ... this is supposed to be one step finer than their Swirl Remover, and it's pretty shiny. The first two pics are just the dried paint, the last is after hand-polishing. I will probably use my drill buffing pad with the glaze, then wax it before assembly. Edited June 19, 2018 by charisjapan 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted June 19, 2018 Report Share Posted June 19, 2018 I'm more or less in the same boat as yourself with lacquer/finishing. I'm testing a new product formulation which is a 2K product where the catalyst is designed specifically to chemically activate at atmospheric pressure. Important for those of us who need to do several "smaller than one can" rounds of finishing where 2K cans with separate ampules of catalyst would go off within a day or two. So you're what, a week in now withe the 4-5th coat going on? The Washin lacquer sounds like it does more or less the same thing. Is it catalysed also, and how hard are the layers so far? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted June 19, 2018 Report Share Posted June 19, 2018 https://www.washin-paint.co.jp/product/type/oil-based/spray-varnish Huh, so an oil-based lacquer. A 1k poly. I'd imagine that this is going to cure in the order of weeks rather than days since it lacks a catalyst in the mix (MSDS here) so I'd be very careful of things like laying it on towels and the like. I've had 1K pick up patterns from them when laying them down to wet sand, even after a couple of weeks. Can you still smell solvents from the guitar surface? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charisjapan Posted June 19, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 19, 2018 13 minutes ago, Prostheta said: https://www.washin-paint.co.jp/product/type/oil-based/spray-varnish Huh, so an oil-based lacquer. A 1k poly. I'd imagine that this is going to cure in the order of weeks rather than days since it lacks a catalyst in the mix (MSDS here) so I'd be very careful of things like laying it on towels and the like. I've had 1K pick up patterns from them when laying them down to wet sand, even after a couple of weeks. Can you still smell solvents from the guitar surface? Indeed, it's a bit early to start polishing. Actually, very little smell, and the thinner back already polished up pretty nicely. The front is a bit thicker (and lacks any sunken grain! ), but is definitely still a bit soft. Not to worry, I still have it "on stick" and either hanging or clamped sideways. When I did the fifth coat, it developed a run between the pickups (must've gotten a bit repetitive there), so I decided to clamp it face upwards. Very happy to say the drip settled down quite nicely . Now that it is looking pretty good, will leave the finish be until the day before my buddy comes, but will finish wiring and a few more coats of Odie's Oil on the neck. Fortunately, this guitar has been finished once, so setup should be pretty easy. Thanks for the heads up, my friend! I had looked at the specs carefully, but this company claims you can mess with it the next day ... but they probably didn't imagine an inane luthier laying down five coats! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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