7 String Rhoads V Project

[ElysianGuitars]

one of my first customers, but he delayed me with sending the trace of his Rhoads, and sending parts he needed etc, so i'm just getting started on this

http://www.elysian-online.com/CrooksV/DSCF5181.JPG

http://www.elysian-online.com/CrooksV/DSCF5184.JPG

heres as it sits right now, i need to route the pickup and drill all the holes for wiring, he's sending me a Bareknuckle pickup for it, 1 pickup guitar. it uses my circular volume pot "cavity" instead of a larger cavity(i don't like taking out more wood than necissary. he wanted a tummy carve, and i decided to make the neck heel a bit less blocky for him. i need to reroute the shelf for the input jack cover, as during final shaping with 80 grit, it got too thin in the middle. the neck on this is a Custom shop Jackson neck, someone refretted it in the past, and did a terrible job, they didn't radius the fretwire at all, so every fret stuck up on the ends about 1/32nd inch, so i had to refret it. its getting a non-recessed OFR7 as well, and it will be finished in gloss black.

[fookgub]

Lookin' good. I've always wanted to do a Vee. Seems like a simple but satisfying build. Why the Jackson neck? Didn't feel like making one or was the customer adamant about a "genuine" Jackson? Regarding the heel, have you checked out how Ran does theirs? Really nice contouring (I don't think they do bolt on, though). What are you doing for a finish?

edit: Never mind, I see you're going for gloss black. Good choice, that should suit it perfectly.

Edited September 24, 2008 by fookgub

[ElysianGuitars]

Lookin' good. I've always wanted to do a Vee. Seems like a simple but satisfying build. Why the Jackson neck? Didn't feel like making one or was the customer adamant about a "genuine" Jackson? Regarding the heel, have you checked out how Ran does theirs? Really nice contouring (I don't think they do bolt on, though). What are you doing for a finish?

he supplied the neck, he had it laying around and decided to get a body built for it. no, i haven't seen how Ran does theres, i honestly don't ever look at Ran's site. the guy has 1 custom shop 7 string Rhoads V already, its a neck through, so this one should be pretty awesome for him.

[ElysianGuitars]

here it is in primer

http://www.elysian-online.com/CrooksV/DSCF5216.JPG

it'll get its sealer coat later tonight, and tomorrow morning its color coats and clear coats. i'm testing out a PPG quick cure system, supposed to be fully cured 4 hours after spraying the last coat, and only 10-20 between each coat. its also "dust free" in 10 minutes, which i think is pretty good.

Edited September 28, 2008 by ElysianGuitars

[ElysianGuitars]

here it is in the color coat

[ElysianGuitars]

just got done spraying the clear coat on this... took 45 minutes total, mixed up 2 small pots of it(each pot got me 3 coats)... the tech sheet said it only needed 2 coats, but i went ahead and shot 6. only 5 minutes between each coat(as per the tech sheet), and it flowed out beautifully, 0 runs, and overall i'm pretty happy with it so far. its supposed to be fully cured in 4 hours, but i'm going to let it cure till tuesday, then wet sand and buff it.

[Ripthorn]

What kind of finish did you put on that? I am interested in the 5 min between coats and a full cure in 4 hours...

[ElysianGuitars]

deltron DC3000

[ihocky2]

Even though the it will be dry within 24 hours, I would try and hold onto that guitar for a few weeks at least if you can get the customer to wait for it. The work looks great, but you might run into a problem with your poly coats. General auto poly's are not meant to built up thick, that is why they say to spray on 2, sometimes 3 coats. I spoke with a tech at PPG at one time and they said for they purpose we use on guitars, that if you need more than 3 coats that you have to wait at least 24 hours and scuff sand before recoating. By spraying 6 coats in that short of a time you may run into solvent pop problems. But usually if the coats are too thick, the finish will crack all the way through, but does not happen right away. I made that mistake once, took about 6 weeks to show up.

[ElysianGuitars]

Even though the it will be dry within 24 hours, I would try and hold onto that guitar for a few weeks at least if you can get the customer to wait for it. The work looks great, but you might run into a problem with your poly coats. General auto poly's are not meant to built up thick, that is why they say to spray on 2, sometimes 3 coats. I spoke with a tech at PPG at one time and they said for they purpose we use on guitars, that if you need more than 3 coats that you have to wait at least 24 hours and scuff sand before recoating. By spraying 6 coats in that short of a time you may run into solvent pop problems. But usually if the coats are too thick, the finish will crack all the way through, but does not happen right away. I made that mistake once, took about 6 weeks to show up.

i flat sanded it this morning and did 2 more coats today. solvent pop? this is a 2 part system, it has a hardener and a base, its like an epoxy, no solvent popping, because it doesn't disolve anything to dry. btw, it flat sanded like a dream, didn't even get much of the annoying buildup on the sandpaper that you have to scrape off, it was great. i also have to hold off on it for a while because the guy is out of town, and he hasn't shipped me the pickup yet, so it won't be going out the door for a couple of weeks.

Edited September 30, 2008 by ElysianGuitars

[ihocky2]

2 part systems still get solvent pop. The amount of solvent differs by the hardener or reducer. The faster drying the hardner or reducer the less solvent. The catalyst start the chemical reaction to cause it to harden, but it is the solvents that control how fast it cures. The more solvent the slower it cures.

I'm glad to hear that it is working nicely for you though. It seems like you are getting nice flat coats on it and it sands nicely. I have used PPG a few times and it was easier to sand than Nitro lacquer.