Epiphone (335 Semi) Dot Studio Buildup

[Drak]

This one got picked back up once the weather turned nice this spring.

Coming along pretty nice...I got it sanded back down to where I wanted it with the burst removed, sanded it smooth and prepped it for a new color.

Here it is sanded, smoothed, and prepped for toner coats of new lacquer.

[Drak]

...And here we go with the color coats added.

[Drak]

A few notes about the headstock inlay (or decal, whatever it is)...

When I was shooting the toner coats of red for the whole guitar, I oversprayed the headstock with one coat.

After looking at it after it dried, I didn't like it because no inlay looks red. So I said no big deal, I'll just sand that coat back off and get back down to clear...take 5 minutes to recoup back to normal.

Then I started thinking about it, and an idea came to me...why don't I mix up another toner coat of yellow and amber to make the headstock appear to be a gold inlay?

So here's the shots of doing just that, came out great, I love it. I airbrushed the gold on, then cleared it over as I was clearing the whole guitar.

I used a 1000 grit Abralon pad to sand through the red, only took a few short minutes.

First shot is just starting to remove the red, 2nd and 3rd are back to starting point, 4th is gold and lac'ed over.

[Drak]

A few more of the gold-ed headstock...

[Drak]

And a few of the back...

[WezV]

i like that colour a lot, and the black binding is nicely different to the average 335

[Drak]

Thank you Wez.

OK, I needed to open up the pot holes a bit, so here's how I do it safely, so I don't get any finish chipping in the process, I use a Uni-bit (I think that's what they're called, I've had it forever) followed up by the proper drill bit, they only needed to be opened up a little, but if I tried to go straight at it with a drill bit, even backwards, I might chip the finish, this is a very safe way to do it.

[Drak]

Next step for me was to move the pickup selector switch to it's 'proper' Gibson location,

in the upper bout where I really like it.

I decided I wanted to insert it through the neck pickup area, so here we go.

First, I drilled several holes.

Then used my Dremel tool to open the hole up and neaten it up.

Next I used compressed air to blow out all the debris.

Then I took a file and removed any loose wood dongles to clean the hole up.

[Drak]

Continuing on, I inserted the switch through the opening hole, making sure it was big enough to make it comfortably.

Next, I sized the switch up to see what drill bit I needed, then drilled that sucker out with a brad-point drill bit, nice clean hole w/ no chipping.

So far so good.

[Drak]

Now to finish it up, I took a 1000 grit Abralon pad and gently sanded the edges of the hole and the near-surrounding area to smooth everything out.

Then, I swabbed the hole with lacquer to seal it up, this is a very important step if you intend on wet-sanding the finish out, because this is where trouble typically happens. I also swabbed the hole I just made in the neck pkp area and the pot holes as well.

I made SURE to make a BOND between the lacquer in the edges of the hole and the lacquer shot for the finish coat, so no water (when wet-sanding) can get in the gap and lift my finish, it drives me CRAZY when that happens and I want to blow up the Earth at that point.

This may seem like a small detail, but it's very important, both for wet-sanding now and for the future, so no moisture can get in that gap and crack the finish later on. I'll go back and swab it 2-3 more times again in the hole before I call it done.

The 'ridge' looks huge in the pic, but it's super-close-up, it's really nothing that can't be hit and leveled in about 30 seconds, but that little ridge is making the bond between top and side grain with lacquer, it's pretty important.

[ScottR]

I really like the way this has improved since you bought it. It looks very nice. Maybe even more important are the finishing tips about the little details that are bound to trip most new builders (and many not so new) up.

Well done and thanks.

SR

[Johnny Foreigner]

Then, I swabbed the hole with lacquer to seal it up, this is a very important step if you intend on wet-sanding the finish out, because this is where trouble typically happens. I also swabbed the hole I just made in the neck pkp area and the pot holes as well.

Is this step only necessary because you cut the holes after finishing? ie. is this step also necessary if you drilled your holes, then sprayed? does enough lacquer usually get into the hole when spraying to seal it? or is it worth doing anyway?

[Drak]

Thanks Scott

JF, yes, it's always necessary to do this IF you're using water as part of your wetsanding process, which I usually do.

It only needs to happen to you once before you'll never not do it again

...you've worked on building a beautiful guitar, milked it through all of the rough waters, got it all done, finish applied and looking great, you're exited as hell as another project is almost 'player ready', and it's coming down to the finish line...

...then, as you're wetsanding your finish, water gets into the wood pores, expands and swells the pores, and CRACKS your finish, maybe in several places.

For the 5 minutes it takes to seal ALL holes, it's SO worth it.

And IMO, no, just spraying your finish is not enough to cover your bases, you should always seal each hole with a Q-tip separately and thoroughly.

[Johnny Foreigner]

good to know!!

[avengers63]

Then, I swabbed the hole with lacquer to seal it up, this is a very important step if you intend on wet-sanding the finish out, because this is where trouble typically happens. I also swabbed the hole I just made in the neck pkp area and the pot holes as well.

Quite a handy little tip there. Gotta remember that one.

[Drak]

Thanks, but I can't take any credit for it, I got it from a Dan Erlewine video many years ago, and I did have a really nice build that suffered badly from water lifting, pissed me off like all kinds of hellfire.

As long as we're on this topic, a small note, the only reason I needed the 'ridge' to happen was that it was done so late in the game, and I needed to make sure there was firm contact and seal between the already dried top coats and my swabs.

If you do the sealing part early in the finishing process as I usually do, you just run the swab around a few times each hole to get good coverage, THEN your spray coats will grab, cover, and adhere fine.

I'm just saying I'm not trying to advise anyone to leaving big blobs of finish around their ridges or anything...this was done late in the finishing stages, so it was a necessary detail for this application.

[verhoevenc]

These things CAN clean up nicely. I've got on that I found in the trash with a broken headstock back in the day when kids were moving out of the dorms! I chopped the neck off with the plan to do something like this, but put a fancy neck on 'er as well... one of these days I'll get around to it. But inspiration none-the-less.

Chris

[JeffD]

I got so excited about this post I went to ebay ONLY to see how cheap I could MAYBE get one. Bid on one I figured I'd never win, but low and behold, now I own one to.

[verhoevenc]

Coulda had my body even cheaper and made a neck for it hahaha. Oh well... I'll never get around to it... I know me

Chris