Setch Posted May 12, 2005 Report Share Posted May 12, 2005 My second guitar (which was my avator until a few weeks ago) was a pretty ambitious project, and I'd never really been happy with it. The carve was a little 'chunky', the binding was uneven in the cutaways, the finish was coming away from the binding on areas of regular wear, and the fretwork was pretty ropey. Also, the blue finish over the quilt top was too dark, and obscured the figuring of the top. So, what to do? Strip that puppy back to basics, and rebuild it! I popped off the board, pulled the neck, and stripped it all back to wood. A lot of work later, the top is recarved to flow more evenly, the binding is replaced, and the fretwork is totally redone - all the frets pulled, the board relevelled, the slots recut, the board rebound, and finally refretted. The separated neck was reshaped to remove a slight bulge in the middle, the head was reshaped and veneered on both sides after filling the old tuner holes, and , reset, with the angle carefully set, to avoid having to jack the bridge up too high (which was another problem with the original guitar - too much neck angle). Here it is after being dyed and sealed: Next up, I shot a cherry burst: Then lots of clear. And then true to form, I sanded through the colour coat whilst levelling the clear, and had to strip it all back. Aaaaagh! I resprayed the burst about a dozen times, and it kept fish-eyeing on me, so I set it aside for a couple of months, and worked on other projects - most importantly a thorough clean put of my jam gun. A few months later, and the top was cleared again to seal any contaminates which could be contributing to the fisheyes, then the burst was reshot. After shooting the burst I attached the fretboard, and dyed the mahogany back with Spirit based stain. So... here it is now, hanging up whilst the sealer coats on the back dry... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Sorbera Posted May 12, 2005 Report Share Posted May 12, 2005 looks great! I'm doing the ecact some thing too my first guitar. It needed a new fretboard (cut the slots just barley in the wrong posistion and the fretjob SUCKED) and the back of the neck needed a new carve (it was too chuncky for me) plus the whole thing needed too be refinished It sounds like I had the same problems you did Yours is looking really good. I really like the burst, not too much color. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xlr8 Posted May 12, 2005 Report Share Posted May 12, 2005 Definately looking better this time around and I'm a fan of Blue guitars/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deadmike Posted May 12, 2005 Report Share Posted May 12, 2005 ← ... progress was great... until someone switched off the workshops natural gravity! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Setch Posted May 12, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 12, 2005 he he... I am the first zero-g guitar builder Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorecki Posted May 12, 2005 Report Share Posted May 12, 2005 (edited) Hey Setch, I liked this guitars finish before and must admit the cherry burst looks good and I'm not a Cherry/Tobacco burst fan in any stretch...setch. So could you embark to us lower life forms, how the heck do you manage to keep your binding that clean during finishing? Especially, now you're on the second/thirdish finish?....how??? Pinstripe tape??? Peace! Edited May 12, 2005 by Gorecki Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maiden69 Posted May 12, 2005 Report Share Posted May 12, 2005 NNOOOOOOO!!!! I'm crying here!!! I loved that blue guitar, I started reading the first post, and I was under the impression of a redo of the carve and a toned down blue stain job. But seriously, as alwaysnice job, I don't like burst so I won't comment too much, but they are turning better and better, I think this one turned out better than the one on the LP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whoofnagle Posted May 12, 2005 Report Share Posted May 12, 2005 NNOOOOOOO!!!! I'm crying here!!! I loved that blue guitar, I started reading the first post, and I was under the impression of a redo of the carve and a toned down blue stain job. But seriously, as alwaysnice job, I don't like burst so I won't comment too much, but they are turning better and better, I think this one turned out better than the one on the LP. ← Maiden, You crack me up. I too like the look of a good blue. However, that burst came out really well. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maiden69 Posted May 13, 2005 Report Share Posted May 13, 2005 Setch, post a pic of it when it was blue so I can play TAPS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MzI Posted May 13, 2005 Report Share Posted May 13, 2005 know what it reminds me of with the new burst is the Johnny A sig from gibson i believe it is, looks decent for not being a flying V MzI Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Setch Posted May 13, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2005 Setch, post a pic of it when it was blue so I can play TAPS ← As you can see, the carve is a bit 'lumpy' and the blue is really not flattering the quilt - you had to wave it under a bright light to see the figure. Now it jumps out and grabs you by the balls. Eyeballs that is. Honest So could you embark to us lower life forms, how the heck do you manage to keep your binding that clean during finishing? Especially, now you're on the second/thirdish finish?....how??? Pinstripe tape??? I mask off the sides using 3M blue masking tape, then scrape the top face of the binding with a single edged razor blade. Then, when the time comes to finish the sides with colour, I mask the binding and the face of the guitar, spray the colour, then clean up again with the razor. No trick I'm afraid, just lots of fiddly detail work It's a PITA because you end up with a ridge around the edges of the colour coats, which requires a lot of clear to level out, but I think it's worth it. BTW - sunburst tip of the day: When doing a cherry burst, you can easily get a bit too red around the edges - see the pic of the first Cherry burst, I find it overpoweringly red at the edges. To fix this on my final attempt, I shot the transition in red, then mixed in blue dye until I had a pretty powerfull purple, and sprayed the final border with this. It darkens the edge without being uber-red, and makes the whole thing more involving, by 'cooling' the edges very slightly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Setch Posted May 13, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2005 It's amazing the things you can find on washing lines round here... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guitarfrenzy Posted May 13, 2005 Report Share Posted May 13, 2005 I like it a lot.. great work once again Setch!! Can I borrow it for my gig tonight? haha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jivin Posted May 13, 2005 Report Share Posted May 13, 2005 Very sexy setch. I too would have preferred blue, but you seem to have a way of choosing 'vintage' looking burst colours that I just cannot dislike I loved the finish on your LP and I love the finish you've chosen for this. Good work... assemble and take photos! - Dan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maiden69 Posted May 13, 2005 Report Share Posted May 13, 2005 Was it stain on the blue, or toned laquer? Because the grain popped right up with the amber stain, I wpldn't know why it didn't with the blue, unless it was sealed before hand. Here you go blue. http://bands.army.mil/music/bugle/calls/taps.mp3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluespresence Posted May 14, 2005 Report Share Posted May 14, 2005 Nice job Setch! I like the second version better...more of an amber burst rather than a cherry burst. I find it less harsh on the old eyeballs without the bright red edge and it looks more "vintage" to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Setch Posted May 14, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2005 Nice job Setch! I like the second version better...more of an amber burst rather than a cherry burst. I find it less harsh on the old eyeballs without the bright red edge and it looks more "vintage" to me. ← Me too, that touch of blue really does magical things. It's a bit unnerving to be spraying purple on your guitar, but it really works. I'm playing up the 'vintage' look, using amber tinted clear, which has the side effect of mellowing my unpleasantly bright white binding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drak Posted May 14, 2005 Report Share Posted May 14, 2005 I like it better this way, but I think I like it better because you've gotten better. Even if you redid it in blue again, it would likely look better than it did the first time, simply because you'd be approaching it with more experience this time. Looks beautiful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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