Second Build

[SIMpleONe89]

23 minutes ago, Prostheta said:

You can laminate them up onto something that won't warp. Copper or brass sheet is a popular one for people that are shielding everything, or you can use a fibreboard laminate such as those used for Gibson headplates. Obviously for metal sheet you need to use an appropriate adhesive such as epoxy (roughen the metal to key it first) or even pressure-sensitive adhesive film. If you laminate it up, you should be able to thin it down "on the sheet" to the final thickness.

Thanks. What should the minimum thickness of the metal sheets be? 

[Prostheta]

Thicker than foil. Once the plates are screwed in place, they should hold their own. I'd use whatever you have on hand that feels resilient enough; 1/16" or 1-2mm is fine. Thicker is stronger of course. Let your hands tell you what seems right....a good flat piece of brass should make a fine backing plate. Just sand the glueing face and degrease it. If I recall, brass can be shellaced to protect it from corroding but will obviously make an electrical connect more difficult.

[SIMpleONe89]

The finishing process has begun! I've officially finished all the building so now it's sanding, staining and finishing. Exciting stuff!

I sanded the neck up to 240 grit and stained with UBeat brown and yellow dye. I first dyed it a dark brown and sanded back to try and pop the figure. Sadly, the flames on this piece weren't very good at all and I'm very disappointed. It was also a pain in the butt sanding back the brown dye because the sandpaper clogs easily and my arm was already tired from sanding it before dyeing.

Anyway, I attempted a bengal burst/tiger burst/tobacco burst, whatever the technical name is. I've not done a hand-rubbed burst for a long time but it was quite fun. I'll probably make some more adjustments tomorrow. 

I initially wanted a lighter brown but as I applied more (By accident actually! I spilled my jar of stain all over my table so I had to mop up the excess with my rag.) I grew to like the darker brown burst.

Here's the headstock, without flash.

With flash:

The back of the headstock:

I'll probably stain the entire back of the headstock a uniform brown because I think I want the burst to only be in front. 

Edited May 25, 2016 by SIMpleONe89

[SIMpleONe89]

The neck.


Again I was rather disappointed with the lack of flames on this flamed maple piece. The top has stunning flames, but a pity this doesn't. 

You may notice that I also added some dark brown to the volute and the heel. I was trying to go for the vintage Les Paul jr type sunburst and it turned out quite well. Actually the real reason was because I forgot to sand the end grain to a higher grit so these were the parts which soaked in a lot of brown stain. I was tired of sanding back the brown so I decided to use it to my advantage. Turned out pretty okay!

[SIMpleONe89]

On 23/05/2016 at 9:20 PM, Prostheta said:

Thicker than foil. Once the plates are screwed in place, they should hold their own. I'd use whatever you have on hand that feels resilient enough; 1/16" or 1-2mm is fine. Thicker is stronger of course. Let your hands tell you what seems right....a good flat piece of brass should make a fine backing plate. Just sand the glueing face and degrease it. If I recall, brass can be shellaced to protect it from corroding but will obviously make an electrical connect more difficult.

Oh btw Pros I decided to go for plastics. Turns out my tremolo block will definitely hit the cover plate so I can't recess it. I wouldn't want a thick cover plate bulging out if I can't recess it!

[ScottR]

Your hand rubbed bursts are nicely done. The transitions don't always come out that smooth.

SR

[Prostheta]

4 hours ago, SIMpleONe89 said:

Oh btw Pros I decided to go for plastics. Turns out my tremolo block will definitely hit the cover plate so I can't recess it. I wouldn't want a thick cover plate bulging out if I can't recess it!

Plastic is fine. As long as whatever you use resists any bending that the wood might decide to do. I suggest metals simply because you can take advantage of their conductivity for shielding purposes....saves adding tape to the plastic!

[SIMpleONe89]

8 hours ago, ScottR said:

Your hand rubbed bursts are nicely done. The transitions don't always come out that smooth.

SR

Thanks Scott. It was quite a challenge and hopefully it won't be hard for the body. 

[SIMpleONe89]

7 hours ago, Prostheta said:

Plastic is fine. As long as whatever you use resists any bending that the wood might decide to do. I suggest metals simply because you can take advantage of their conductivity for shielding purposes....saves adding tape to the plastic!

Maybe for my next project, a bass, I'll use some copper. 

[SIMpleONe89]

Finally gotten down to dyeing the body. I first sprayed 2 coats of lacquer to seal the faux binding, then grain filled, then sprayed another 2 sealer coats over the faux binding. I'm not sure if the first 2 sealer coats were necessary in hindsight because when sanding off the timbermate grain filler I took off a bit of the sealer. But then again I didn't want the faux binding to be stained by the grain filler so I didn't take any chances. Sealing the faux binding, however, was necessary to prevent any dye from colouring it.

I decided to pop the amazing figure with some brown dye. 

Then sanded back till my arms and thumbs were sore.

And also dyed the mahogany brown.

Then I put some yellow over the top and did a brown burst. I filmed the entire process and I'll post the video once it's done. However the top horns didn't receive the dye as well as the others so I couldn't get it very dark. I ended up sanding back the whole thing the next day after drying and tried again.

Picture without flash:

With flash:

To do the faux binding, I sanded and scraped the edges to get it round over. The sealer coats helped prevent any dye from getting on to it.


 

[SIMpleONe89]

The headstock burst looks a bit darker compared to the body, but I can't get the body to get any darker so i may have to lightly sand the headstock.

The colour on the back of the body and neck seem to match pretty well so I'll leave them alone.

[ScottR]

There are areas in your body that are as dark as the headstock, I think they look good as is.

SR

[Prostheta]

Agreed. Everything matches up perfectly. No need to fret over the details that truly do not matter.

[SIMpleONe89]

Thanks guys. I've already started the clear coating process. I love how the flames dance around in different angles.

[SIMpleONe89]

First coat of clear

Third coat of clear on the body. Notice the disgusting orange peel. I'll try level it out more and probably wet sand after a few more coats. I'm using rattle cans so this is expected.

Although the horns aren't as dark as I would like them to be, I'm quite happy with it so far. And it's impossible to have a dust free finish so I'll have to keep checking for dust nibs and lightly sand them off. I've also come to accept the fact that I can't get a 100% perfect finish with my setup but I've achieved some pretty impressive rattle can jobs in the past. 

[2.5itim]

I have a spray setup and I still get orange peel, I also can't get a dust free environment with my setup so an hour after each coat I lightly sand with 600 grit to knock it down. 

As for the orange peel I've had pretty good luck with being able to get rid of it all after all my coats have been sprayed and the finish cured. It takes me a lot of wet sanding but I get rid of it eventually.

nice work man, it's coming along nicely!

[SIMpleONe89]

11 minutes ago, 2.5itim said:

I have a spray setup and I still get orange peel, I also can't get a dust free environment with my setup so an hour after each coat I lightly sand with 600 grit to knock it down. 

As for the orange peel I've had pretty good luck with being able to get rid of it all after all my coats have been sprayed and the finish cured. It takes me a lot of wet sanding but I get rid of it eventually.

nice work man, it's coming along nicely!

Yup so I have to make sure I put on a good amount of clear before wet sanding! Sanding through would be a disaster!

[Prostheta]

Yeah, don't sweat the orange peel man. Look at any new car that sits on the forecourt other than ridiculous-end stuff and you'll see that left on there anyway. Just deal with it when you've laid on enough coats to support a reasonable level of cut. The colours you've got going on there are bordering on my favourite tones. It sells me anyway!

[SIMpleONe89]

Thanks Carl. I'm trying to suppress the inner perfectionist in me that has caused me grief and anger issues many times in the past haha. Now I've learned to close one eye and live with imperfections. Those are my favourite tones as well! Glad you like it!

[Prostheta]

You've just got to buckle up and accept when something is actually good, rather than kick yourself simply because you think it could be better. The hardest thing I learnt was saying "thanks" every time anybody pays me a compliment. I know you'll know how this feels....like you don't deserve it because you hold yourself to a standard. Compliments can only be taken in the vein they are offered. Perfectionism is a troublesome thing.

[ScottR]

I've accepted that orange peel is a given when spraying, and leveling it out is part of the process. I think you can start early, like after a week and knock the tops off and then let it sit another week and do it again with a finer grit, and the process helps speed up the outgassing of the lacquer, speeding up the curing a little.

I failed to notice until now how nice the book-match of your top is. There are some very nice mirror image patterns going on. good stuff!

SR

[Prostheta]

I know, right? That's a really attractive top that wouldn't be amiss on instrument well into four figures. That is to say, it's premium stuff rather than it being super expensive. 

[SIMpleONe89]

Thanks guys. The top is indeed very pretty and well bookmatched.

I was able to get two coats done today, then it started to drizzle a little.

Starting to get real shiny! 

I was contemplating spraying some transparent brown or black around the edges, because the dyed burst is pretty uneven due to the grain of the maple not absorbing as much in some areas. This left me with a few dark areas on the upper horns and lower curves. But the cool thing is when viewed in different light, the brown burst can be visible, just that the dark patches make it look really uneven.

I figured out the best way was to live with it and appreciate the beauty of the figure. I don't want to mess it up since I've come a long way. 

[Prostheta]

I'd agree with that. Unless you are confident in what you're doing, don't back track and cause potential problems. Take it forward to your next build instead.

[SIMpleONe89]

7 minutes ago, Prostheta said:

I'd agree with that. Unless you are confident in what you're doing, don't back track and cause potential problems. Take it forward to your next build instead.

How would one prevent the maple from acting like that? I read up and people have used wood conditioners, shellac, some people lay on some water first and other ways. I actually sanded back the areas last time where the brown wouldn't absorb to lower grits but they still wouldn't get as dark.