Bizman62 Posted October 28, 2021 Author Report Share Posted October 28, 2021 11 hours ago, mistermikev said: my router jig is adjustable in height so... idk if that's what you mean. My thought was to add a large bottom plate to the router and run it over fences or sidewalls of suitable height. But as said I had no material at hand to make the large plate. I used a somewhat similar approach, though: I carefully masked the surrounding and used a sanding beam. I also covered the end thirds of the beam so that there was visible sandpaper about the length of the area to be leveled. Agreed, there was no depth stop but keeping the long beam level seemed easier than doing that with a tiny block. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted October 28, 2021 Report Share Posted October 28, 2021 4 hours ago, Bizman62 said: My thought was to add a large bottom plate to the router and run it over fences or sidewalls of suitable height. But as said I had no material at hand to make the large plate. I used a somewhat similar approach, though: I carefully masked the surrounding and used a sanding beam. I also covered the end thirds of the beam so that there was visible sandpaper about the length of the area to be leveled. Agreed, there was no depth stop but keeping the long beam level seemed easier than doing that with a tiny block. right on. I thought I had seen you use a router plane setup b4. one way or another - got her done. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted November 20, 2021 Author Report Share Posted November 20, 2021 This is going to take forever to finish! Last weekend I sanded it matte and left it in the gig bag for the week. Big mistake! Despite the lacquer having been dry enough to sand it was far from hard so the wrinkles in the lining of the bag marked the back without me noticing it until I had sprayed a heavy coat of lacquer on it. I can live with that but for some odd reason there's spots where the new lacquer sort of boiled to ripply bubbles. I wonder if they can be sanded and buffed like regular runoff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted November 20, 2021 Report Share Posted November 20, 2021 are you using nitro? that is classic nitro behavior. that stuff will 'react' to all sorts of things for months after it appears dry. all kinds of stories of folks opening a new gibson with nitro and finding hair from the case embedded into the lacquer. I once bought a tele that had some light red overspray on a nitro lacquer finish... thought I could just wetsand it off... that red leeched into the finish all the way down to the wood. the prior owner told me the guitar had been finished years ago and only got some overspray in his garage recently. long story long... there are probably pieces of the case conjoined with the lacquer... new lacquer will likely react to it just like the old lacquer did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted November 20, 2021 Report Share Posted November 20, 2021 Is it automotive acrylic lacquer? I used that on my very first build, and it took 6 to 9 months before it stopped taking impressions from whatever it was sitting on. On the other hand those micro bubbles show up in nitro fairly commonly. You can sand them out but they go deeper than you'd expect. Most of that last coat will be coming off. SR 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted November 20, 2021 Author Report Share Posted November 20, 2021 Yepp, that's automotive acrylic, brand Car-Rep by Maston. Until now it has behaved well, today I took yet another new can which did that... I've bought them from the same shop one by one but I guess that stuff doesn't sell very much now when it's wet and cold outside so chances are they're even from the same batch. Hard to check since I left the previous can in the trash can at the workshop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted November 21, 2021 Report Share Posted November 21, 2021 Ah that's so annoying, screw a hook in where the strap button goes and hang it up in your office. I do that for 2 reason, 1. for protection, 2. I get to look at it regularly and spot all the finish flaws. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted November 21, 2021 Author Report Share Posted November 21, 2021 2 minutes ago, ADFinlayson said: screw a hook in where the strap button goes and hang it up in your office. I've done that for every guitar I've built. Every time I take the guitar out of the bag at the workshop I struggle with the hook being stuck! Last week I thought it would have been dry enough and left it in the bag. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted February 27, 2022 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2022 Some minor progress... I've sanded and applied more rattle can lacquer. One thing I noticed last week is that the sponge with abrasive pads on both sides (400 amd 1200) may not be the best for dry sanding lacquer: I kept wondering why the rounded edge didn't want to stay flat, it seemed like a layer was peeling off or something similar, anyway there was a rough stripe apperaring no matter how I tried to sand it. Wet not so much but I didn't want excess moisture to seep under the finish. Then a fellow suggested that the accumulated lacquer dust increased the friction and burned the lacquer. Most likely so! So after having applied a coat two weeks ago I decided just to flatten all the roughness and runs, in the worst places starting with a 220 grit 3M Clean Sanding paper, continuing with Mirka Abranet 400, 600 and 800 after which I continued with 3M "pigskin" 1000 and 1500, wet. There's a nice sheen now (and a couple of dents that I don't care about). Next weekend I'll do the same for the headstock and go up to 6000, then a swirl remover compound. I should have done that at a couple of rattle cans earlier but was afraid of sanding through down to the wood. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted March 6, 2022 Report Share Posted March 6, 2022 can't wait to see it finished brother! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted March 7, 2022 Author Report Share Posted March 7, 2022 It's starting to get there, sanded up to 6000 for the most parts. The sides still need some love and affection and I'm afraid I've managed to sand through the lacquer to the previous layer which was of another brand. Hopefully not irrepairably though... The headstock hasn't been sanded yet so no progress in that part. Also the neck has a lot of masking tape glue residue. There'll be a 2 week hiatus due to the schools having the "skiing holiday", maybe the kitchen table will see some action next weekend... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted March 7, 2022 Report Share Posted March 7, 2022 2 hours ago, Bizman62 said: It's starting to get there, sanded up to 6000 for the most parts. The sides still need some love and affection and I'm afraid I've managed to sand through the lacquer to the previous layer which was of another brand. Hopefully not irrepairably though... The headstock hasn't been sanded yet so no progress in that part. Also the neck has a lot of masking tape glue residue. There'll be a 2 week hiatus due to the schools having the "skiing holiday", maybe the kitchen table will see some action next weekend... top looks fantastic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted March 10, 2022 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2022 What would you folks think? Should I try to apply some more lacquer to spot fix that or just wet sand it, trying to blend it? It looks different now to what it did on Saturday, so it might just be that the sandpaper dried and the friction affected the lacquer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted March 12, 2022 Report Share Posted March 12, 2022 I've never been completely successful fixing those solvent pops by applying lacquer. I could get some of them to disappear, but never all of them. I always had to sand down past them and then fill in with lacquer if needed. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted March 12, 2022 Author Report Share Posted March 12, 2022 The strange thing is neither I or my daughter could find those spots yesterday! Just a week ago the worst spot looked like a burst blister! Is there a thing called self healing lacquer??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted March 13, 2022 Report Share Posted March 13, 2022 Have you been sanding? I will say that once the polishing is done, the reflections make them very hard to see....unless you are on a mission to find them. If I have to hunt for them, I usually let them be. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted March 14, 2022 Author Report Share Posted March 14, 2022 10 hours ago, ScottR said: Have you been sanding? I have done absolutely nothing to it during the week! The spot at the edge really looked and felt like the top coat had burst and revealed the first brand of lacquer I used for an area of 2x4 mm. Now it's smooth as can be! And the vertical whitish stripe on the side looked and felt like bubbles. Guess that lacquer will take forever to dry to the level I can put it in a gig bag without it getting marks from the weave. There's still some sanding to do with the highest grits, I guess starting from 1500 wet to 3000 and 6000. The issue may have been due to the pads drying as the time was running out and I only washed the pads hastily under the tap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted March 14, 2022 Report Share Posted March 14, 2022 12 hours ago, Bizman62 said: Guess that lacquer will take forever to dry to the level I can put it in a gig bag without it getting marks from the weave. My first build was sprayed with rattle can acrylic lacquer purchased from the automotive supply section. It was a year before it would not pick up an impression from anything it was resting on. SR The next one was nitro..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted March 16, 2022 Author Report Share Posted March 16, 2022 I just noticed that I'm a blind idiot! As it's a bright day and I had some spare time I took another look at the guitar and what do you know, I found the spots mentioned earlier: They're in the upper bout, not the lower! I've been searching from the wrong place all along! And it's even visible in the photo, you can see the neck in the upper right corner... Oh well, as there was a couple of other similar tiny spots where I had sanded through I just applied some clear nail varnish to make them waterproof. That should blend in quite nicely based on previous experience with that very same bottle. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted March 17, 2022 Author Report Share Posted March 17, 2022 Continued idiocy: The nail varnish makes a much clearer and harder surface! And that was the very reason I didn't try CA glue... I tried to sand the "fixed" spots level using a nail polishing sponge (very good for frets!) which seems to start from about 600 and end to 6000 or so. Not good, the grit that makes the lacquer matte just polishes the nail varnish! I wonder how many bottles it would take for the entire guitar... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted March 17, 2022 Report Share Posted March 17, 2022 Lacquer is very forgiving......except when it's not! SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted March 18, 2022 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2022 Yepp, I should have sprayed some lacquer to a cup and brush it on. The nail varnish is just so convenient to use! Never thought there's fifty shades of clear and what further puzzles me is that the nail varnish makes the lacquer below clearer as well. That gives me some hope that the difference in transparency is only a polishing issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted March 18, 2022 Report Share Posted March 18, 2022 6 hours ago, Bizman62 said: the nail varnish makes the lacquer below clearer as well. That gives me some hope that the difference in transparency is only a polishing issue. Exactly that. It sounds like the surface of the lacquer below is not hard enough for the optimum polish yet. SR 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted April 16, 2022 Author Report Share Posted April 16, 2022 It's Easter Holiday so no work done today. But last Saturday was quite productive: Not only did I finish the fret job, I also went through the guitar with 6000 grit and after that a swirl remover. As the photo shows, there's circular hair scratches I couldn't see with my bare eye! @mistermikev , notice how the background goes dark when the actual target is well lit! I had the guitar on my lap in a spot of sunlight, the automatics of my tablet took care of the rest. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted April 16, 2022 Report Share Posted April 16, 2022 4 minutes ago, Bizman62 said: It's Easter Holiday so no work done today. But last Saturday was quite productive: Not only did I finish the fret job, I also went through the guitar with 6000 grit and after that a swirl remover. As the photo shows, there's circular hair scratches I couldn't see with my bare eye! @mistermikev , notice how the background goes dark when the actual target is well lit! I had the guitar on my lap in a spot of sunlight, the automatics of my tablet took care of the rest. lovely photo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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