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First Build(s)


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Great work , nice to see variations on the LP Jr theme. One thing I didn't get was why did you rout out the dog ear cover shape into the body? It should only have required the rout shape of the pup bobin.

Making me want to build a double cut now.

:D

Thirdstone, the route for the dog ear was purely wanting to achieve a bit cleaner/more unique look. I was a bit worried that it would drop the pickup too far from the strings, but it adjusted ok and did not seem to affect the sound in a negative way.

Cheers - HG

PS - my next Jr is going to be a single cut

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I love the color on the fretboard. What were you having trouble with on your first two tries?

Great build, I love LP Jr.'s

CMA

Thanks CMA, the first time I finished the fretboard with orange shellac which I sprayed on with my HVLP gun. The surface was very rough and I was afraid it would show through with clear coats. So that finish was scraped off back to the bare wood. The next try was with orange shellac again, only this time I wiped it on with a cloth. It looked good, but I screwed it up by putting too much vintage amber in the lacquer top coats which went over the shellac. The board was too yellow as seen here:

Yellowish fretboard

So... back to the bare wood again. The 3rd try (that is the current color) is just nitro lacquer toned with just a little vintage amber and a touch of red.

I still have not figured out a great system for scraping the lacquer off of the frets though. After the 3rd finish went on, I let the lacquer cure way too long before scraping it off the frets. When I scraped the dried lacquer off the frets, it chipped into the finish over the fretboard. So......DAMN! :D I had to scrap the whole thing back to bare wood a 4th time. For the 4th try I scraped the frets the same day as shooting the lacquer. It worked much better, but the point where the finish meets the fret is still not perfect in all places.

I tried the StewMac method of rounding the edge of a nail head to scrape the lacquer off the frets but it is very easy to mess up and hit the finish over the fretboard this way.

I really like maple boards, but so far they have been very labor intensive. I need to get a better method for removing the lacquer from the frets without botching the finish :D . By the way, I am using McFaddens nitrocellulose lacquer. I really like it, but it definately sticks very well to frets.

Later - HG

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what i did for my build is put masking tape over the frets. just get a sharp blade of some sort and cut it into the strips in the right places. push the blade towards the point where the frets meet the wood, or slightly on the frets. doesnt take too long, and you can peel it off when its mostly dry, but not dry enough that it becomes brittle and chips on the fretboard.

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