gpcustomguitars Posted November 20, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 20, 2012 Cutting out the saddles! Second coat of lacquer went great, need to level sand it just now and apply the 3rd coat, some areas are still dry-looking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted November 23, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 23, 2012 Just some more pictures of roughing out the saddles, now I need to drill and tap them. In the meanwhile, 5th coat is on, I hope one more will be enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted November 23, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 23, 2012 6th coat on, I think I'm done. While waiting on it to dry, had nothing to do today, so I started the xy table. I plan to use it for small stuff, like bridges, pup rings etc, where I don't want to make a template. I hope it'll work! All made from assorted shop junk of highest grade! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted November 23, 2012 Report Share Posted November 23, 2012 There's some quite deep scarring in the body there. You might want to scrape/sand/steam those out before you find further down the line that they alter something you don't want them to. A mm can be a lot in many instances. *notice the finishing* Ah, cool. Bridge turned out awesome! Note to self: read thread completely before commenting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted November 24, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 24, 2012 Glad you like it! The saddles will need a lot more work, but I'm very happy with the way it's been going so far. You were reffering to the pic of the lacquered electronics cover? It shows some of the surrounding wood before sanding. The finished body will be allowed some dimples in places where I used the epoxy to fill the voids and it sunk back, to highlight the "naturalness" of the piece, but the rest is pretty nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted November 24, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 24, 2012 Preparing for the first coat of oil tommorrow! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted November 27, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 27, 2012 Two coats of oil on, with light sanding between them. Darker than the lacquered side, as intended. Used some time to make the first axis on the xy table, and it works! This was just slapped together to try it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelvock Posted November 27, 2012 Report Share Posted November 27, 2012 Looking forward to seeing the top with the oil on, and intrigued by your xy table so far! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted November 27, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 27, 2012 I'll try to post some pics of the top later today, a good friend has became a dad for the first time yesterday, and we had a big jam session to celebrate...had a great time, but waking up this morning has been...challenging. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted November 27, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 27, 2012 Oil is done! I need to prepare the wax paste, and fix one ding I've just noticed... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted November 29, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 29, 2012 Made the wax paste yesterday, and applied 3 coats. Seem nice and dry this morning, we'll see if it needs any more. This is the wax paste while still warm: And I'm posting this fuzzy pic just to show it's color when cold - it has a consistency of mayonnaise, roughly. I've used local market beeswax and a common mineral thinner. Applied with one cotton ball, and polished with the other, clean one after a while. A sample of the figuring and the finish: And the whole body! For the next batch, I might add some paraffin to make it a little harder when dry, just to compare the results. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted December 1, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 1, 2012 (edited) Putting it together!!! My friend came in for a few mins and I took a pic, he likes it a lot! Edited December 1, 2012 by gpcustomguitars Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted December 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 13, 2012 Leveled, recrowned and polished frets, oiled and polished the fretboard, too, currently making an aluminum nut. We had a lot of snow, and living in a middle of a forest is not of much help...I hope it will melt next week, I can't even get to the shop without a shovel. One car frozen, the other got stuck in snow for a while yesterday... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted December 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 13, 2012 The nut rough cut. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Our Souls inc. Posted December 14, 2012 Report Share Posted December 14, 2012 Looking real nice! I like that you spun your own wax. Bonus points for the bridge and nut, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted December 14, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 14, 2012 Thanks! Finishing the saddles right now, hope to string it up during the weekend. Both wax and oil came out easier that I expected, I would recommend making your own to anyone interested in such finish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted December 16, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 16, 2012 ..aaand DONE! Some more tweaking to do, but tonight it goes to it's new home! Some pics later! I have a better idea for the saddles now it's done, so I might swap them during the week, but that's optional. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted December 16, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 16, 2012 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauliemc Posted December 16, 2012 Report Share Posted December 16, 2012 whats your recipe for the wax mix ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted December 16, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 16, 2012 Oil part is Lineseed-oil based varnish-mineral thinner 1:1:1, but I've added another 0.2 of varnish, and then another 0.5 of thinner afterwards to quicken the drying time, and the wax is 3:1 beeswax to mineral thinner. I did the headstock with the first mix, and it was drying slow, so I prefer more thin coats with quicker drying time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted December 17, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 17, 2012 The customer got the guitar last night and he loved it! It sounds great, I have to say that the GFS MusicMan pup is really really good! He'll play it for a few days to let it settle, and then I'll do a final setup, lower the nut a bit etc etc... Dual action rod we had made locally works great too! An added bonus for me was that he's a great player, so it was really fun to hear it properly played. He is a great guy, so I had a good day yesterday. I'll add some photos and sounds when he sends me some... This is his band (I hope it's okay to post this? if not, I'll remove it): Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pan_kara Posted December 17, 2012 Report Share Posted December 17, 2012 Wow, it turned out really nice. The walnut really pops now after the oiling. Do post sound samples! Stupid question #1: how come the saddles stay in place? Friction or there is some means of fixing them that I failed to spot? #2: I have linseed oil, I have mineral spirits... where do I get oil based varnish? Should I just go to a hardware store and look for lacquer that will say "thin with mineral spirits" on the tin? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted December 17, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 17, 2012 Thanks! Yes, the saddles are held in place just by friction and string pressure, which is enough, after setting the intonation I made small marks for him to be sure where to place them when he changes the strings. There are two screws from the bottom that can raise or lower each string, but I will probably make another set of saddles that I think I will like more, pretty simmillar to these, but with more flowing lines. Use boiled lineseed oil, at least I did, good quality thinner for oil finishes (mineral thinner) or turpentine, and you should find varnish in the same shop I think. Paint section of the home improvement stores should carry it. If you want to do it like I did, make sure to add 0.5 extra unit of thinner, because you won't be wasting much time waiting for it to cure. If I recall right, I have 6 coats of oil on it, one per day, and four coats of wax paste, 2 per day. This is a first time I've used this kind of finish, so it could perhaps be done better or differently, but I like the result which I got. The wood was sanded up to 800, and also between the coats of oil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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