Jump to content

ESP M-II type "Invaders" Superstrat


Recommended Posts

A couple of errors have crept in and made themselves known. First is a clash between the tremolo rear bolt recess and the battery box. Oops! This is what happens when I don't model the battery box recess or compare the top and bottom routing arrangements overlaid. This isn't terrible, but it's certainly unwelcome. Checking the battery box for fit, it should be very easy to drop in a piece of wood into the back. Cutting a little off the corner of the battery box is enough. The bottom of the bolt recess will have felting, so there should be minimum visual disturbance.

Also, the switch location is off by 10mm. That can be filled and recut. I'm aware of how and when this might have occurred, so yeah. Everybody has blind spots. Design is often an iterative process.

The forearm contouring worked beautifully. Nothing more than 240 grit to remove machining marks prior to the next application of finishing resin.

20211029_181548.jpg

20211029_181557.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I'm having a bit of a pause here on this one until the Gotoh tremolo comes into stock. Worldwide shipping problems have put things like Gotoh hardware on backorder. Even though everything was designed from the spec sheets and should in principle be perfect out of the gate, my natural cautiousness is telling me to hang fire a little.

I haven't yet come up with a solution to fixing the overlap between the battery box cavity and tremolo bolt recess. It's a minor fix that in some ways is helping me kick back mentally and ensure that I'm aiming straight towards the finish line. Speaking of which, I better get paint and codes organised....

I'm unsure whether it is apparent from photos or not, but the casting epoxy I used for the fingerboard inlays is pretty pervasive stuff. Where the inlay epoxy pooled, I have a shadow from the epoxy enfusing itself into the fingerboard which just isn't sanding out. Bummer. I might have to consider damming up the fret slots and giving the entire board a thin coat of casting epoxy. In some ways that might be pretty cool, since the Ebony will be both smoother and darker because of that. Almost like the jet Gaboon Ebony I remember being more commonplace a couple of decades ago.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On the CNC front, I've refined my programs to the point that the rear and forearm contours are pretty much good to sand out from 120 grit straight off the CNC without extending the cycle time excessively. The forearm contour is created with five passes. The first three are with a 20mm diameter bullnose cutter at 10mm, 5mm, 2mm and 1mm offset with 50% stepover until 1mm which is 20%. The final cut is along the cylindrical profile with a 10mm three flute upshear bit at 10% stepover. It's a bit excessive and I'm sure that 20% would be perfectly adequate. Changes to the toolpaths are a reduction in cutting air during the first four roughing cuts plus eliminating retraction/immersion at the end of passes by turning them into transition contours. Essentially "in-forward-turn-back-turn-forward..." instead of "in-forward-up-over-in-back-up-over-in-forward..." which makes an immense improvement in cycle time. The rear contour is pretty much the same, except I used a smaller endmill for the final pass.

So the Invaders body has just had a new coat of finishing epoxy. A set of precision scales lets me measure out smaller batches now, so four grammes or so here and there. The process is pretty friendly until I start reacting to the epoxy, but hey. Open a window, wear gloves. Work fast and the usual.

The second body (that will be painted pearl white) has been receiving pretty much the same process as the Invaders body since it will be functionally identical. The third body is likely going to be a multiscale variation based around a Hipshot 11deg bridge and a compound 26,25" (666mm) over 25.5" fret layout. Again, a reversed headstock but this time with locking tuners. Finish will be transparent, not sure about binding or other stuff yet such as pickups.

I dug out a nice bookmatched set of spalted Karelian Birch (visakoivu, Masur Birch) which will be perfect for the carved top Mirage. I might still change my mind on that, especially since I've not chosen a body wood or anything like that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yay, so I got laid off from work. This will no doubt complicate things vis-à-vis CNC access. Hmph.

Thankfully (if you can call it that) I have a bit more free time to complete jobs. Firstly, I make a terrible binding jig. Photo first, then a list.

20211109_114356.jpg

It works. The things that don't....

  • Height adjustment requires me to take the entire router off the base (oops)
  • The bearing (made from a spare nylon hammer face) is too flat and in extreme contours like a forearm, it rises too far up reducing total binding depth

It's not the worst, and I do like that I can bolt it onto my router table fence in terms of space saving. Glad I won't have to use it a lot.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The bound body. Binding reduces from 6mm to just 4,5mm in the forearm contour. Hmph. I'd have liked a 6mm channel all around, however masking this for paint is fine. I'll likely use 5mm around the body and down to that 4,5mm. A softened binding edge helps fool the eye anyway. A job for tuning the jig or completing the channel depth by hand.

20211109_114318.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jack socket drilling cut at 20mm.

20211109_114228.jpg

 

This coincides with the electronics cavity nicely. It's a dim day today, however to illustrate, that hole goes through to the corner and passes right to left, even though it looks like it's coming in from the centre of the body!

20211109_114249.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Scott. It's a LOT of careful block sanding with 120-180-240 Abranet, plus I always use cork discs under my workpieces and handle things carefully. It makes so much of a difference in keeping everything clean, scratch-free and clear. On the Invaders body, there's a bit of a discrepancy within the cavity cover recesses as those were milled prior to me adding the clamping to the nested tables. The upshear cutter pulled the body up slightly, causing the recesses to have a slight lower spot around the edges. Hardly anything, but visible. There's still some epoxy around the perimeter of the jack socket hole from where it was spotted 5mm in off the CNC. Cutting to depth with a Forstner bit didn't clean that up.

I also think that my binding could have been better, however once everything is fully prepped for paint these are non-issues. In fact, most of the work I'm doing now is prep for paint as the surfaces all need to be pristine. Jet black paint will highlight everything that's out of place.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm doing several applications of finishing resin. The methods I have seen are to sand to about 240/320 grit, squeegee on and squeegee off excess. Unfortunately there are small bits of tearout here and there in the surface. Literally tenths of a mm each, and pulling the resin off with each application doesn't completely fill and level them. I'd rather not sand back epoxy that hasn't been squeegee'd off, so it's becoming a routine of daily skims of finishing resin. It is producing an absolutely glass level surface though. This is a photo from yesterday's session where I drop-filled the misplaced switch location by taping it underneath. The tremolo should be due within a week or so, which means that I can put the neck in place, align it and drill for threaded inserts.

Doing multiple rounds of finishing resin isn't a big deal. I bought some precision scales and am measuring out less than two grams of mixed product per face. That's super economical, and I imagine that I will have less than an eighth of each bottle used for both of these painted bodies. That's a couple of Euros of resin per body....

20211109_193504.jpg

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks. It is what it is, and to be fair I think I have been one of the few that has been seeing this happen like a car crash in slow motion. The biggest loss will be the ability to do my own work I think. Back to the framing game....

It's somewhat difficult to see in a static photo, however the tops of the Invaders and (unnamed) body now seem to be completely free of open wood structure. The finishing resin did a fine job. This was from last night's application, sanded back using 180 grit to knock back any streaks then 240 grit. Before priming I'd like to take this to 320 grit, and before the base coat 500-600. At the very least, the black Invaders body needs to be as pristine as I can feasibly make it as any lower grit scratches will just telegraph.

20211111_083603.jpg

20211111_083553.jpg

20211111_083549.jpg

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Prostheta said:

Thanks. It is what it is, and to be fair I think I have been one of the few that has been seeing this happen like a car crash in slow motion. The biggest loss will be the ability to do my own work I think. Back to the framing game....

It's somewhat difficult to see in a static photo, however the tops of the Invaders and (unnamed) body now seem to be completely free of open wood structure. The finishing resin did a fine job. This was from last night's application, sanded back using 180 grit to knock back any streaks then 240 grit. Before priming I'd like to take this to 320 grit, and before the base coat 500-600. At the very least, the black Invaders body needs to be as pristine as I can feasibly make it as any lower grit scratches will just telegraph.

20211111_083549.jpg

really is a lovely piece of mahog... a shame to cover it with paint.    that said - rarely see wood I don't think is pretty!

sorry to hear the laid off... one door closes and another opens so chin up!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, it all depends on how things will transition. There are two companies working where I work/worked (I'm technically still employed I guess, however I know the drain circling feeling...) and I've been doing maintenance and loan work to the other company. I'm hoping that if I can't secure work with them, at the very least I can arrange for part-time work or at least access to the shop in exchange for maintenance work provided. It's a work in progress.

I do have to rein in what I'm doing on some level, as I need to select what I want or can get finished with the time I have. I glued up the remaining Maple neck blank on the basis that I'd like to get it cut on the CNC whilst I still can. The same applies for the body. That third guitar was provisionally going to be a multiscale based on an 11deg Hipshot bridge. Normally I don't like committing without hardware on the table, however that one will likely have to work "off specs". Given a couple of hours I can produce a good-to-go program to get the bridge, string-through holes and ferrules drilled through. The unknown is the pickup choice. Not sure whether I want to go single angled bridge pickup and Hot Rails style blade in the neck or whatever at this stage.

In all honesty, I'm not sure how to feel about it yet. I've either in acceptance or completely the opposite, know what I mean?

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Prostheta said:

Well, it all depends on how things will transition. There are two companies working where I work/worked (I'm technically still employed I guess, however I know the drain circling feeling...) and I've been doing maintenance and loan work to the other company. I'm hoping that if I can't secure work with them, at the very least I can arrange for part-time work or at least access to the shop in exchange for maintenance work provided. It's a work in progress.

I do have to rein in what I'm doing on some level, as I need to select what I want or can get finished with the time I have. I glued up the remaining Maple neck blank on the basis that I'd like to get it cut on the CNC whilst I still can. The same applies for the body. That third guitar was provisionally going to be a multiscale based on an 11deg Hipshot bridge. Normally I don't like committing without hardware on the table, however that one will likely have to work "off specs". Given a couple of hours I can produce a good-to-go program to get the bridge, string-through holes and ferrules drilled through. The unknown is the pickup choice. Not sure whether I want to go single angled bridge pickup and Hot Rails style blade in the neck or whatever at this stage.

In all honesty, I'm not sure how to feel about it yet. I've either in acceptance or completely the opposite, know what I mean?

fingers crossed - good things for you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Okay, so let's pick this one up with how I imagine I can reach the finish line.

My original idea for finishing was to use PPG premix 2K aerosols, specifically DBU/DBC 9700 which is generally accepted as a super high quality jet black. The problem with this is timing, as I would need to buy the aerosols mixed at the outlet and the clock is ticking. This sort of clashes with process, since I have three discrete areas to paint; the headstock, the top of the body and the back. These could all be done using the same spray in one session, but it gets very timing-dependent and any issue endangers the whole lot. I need to practice this without those pressures, especially since the white pearl body will need that paint system.

So my solution to this is to use the atmospheric pressure catalysing epoxy paint developed by Maston. Before they fully released this product into the wild (3yrs ago?) I tried out some early iterations of their clearcoat which had some curing time issues. I presume they've rattled this out since the product is now available in worldwide in various clears and colours branded as "Car Rep".

I went out and bought an aerosol of RAL9005 Jet Black 2K which doesn't have the issue of being time limited. The paint is pre-catalysed but doesn't start that process until it's out into lower atmospheric pressure. Sweet. It might not be the best black, but really the "best" needs a lot of time and concentration which I just don't have at the moment. I can only do what I can do.

The working order I've put together is to do the top of the body first with the back masked. I can scrape the binding once the 2K cures (I'll give it up to a week to be generous) and then mask the side of the binding using 3m 471+ vinyl tape (the good stuff). Once the back and front are done, the paint can be scuffed and clearcoated. In an ideal situation, the clear would be going on in the same schedule as the black, however masking and scraping complicate this and introduce that dreaded timing problem.

The headstock can be done completely separately, which is important since I have yet to do the neck profile and all that. I did however cut three sets of tape masks for the logo on the CNC, so I might do the face of the headstock sooner rather than later what with it being a bit of a clincher sort of step. Again, that will be masking and scraping.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Prostheta said:

Okay, so let's pick this one up with how I imagine I can reach the finish line.

My original idea for finishing was to use PPG premix 2K aerosols, specifically DBU/DBC 9700 which is generally accepted as a super high quality jet black. The problem with this is timing, as I would need to buy the aerosols mixed at the outlet and the clock is ticking. This sort of clashes with process, since I have three discrete areas to paint; the headstock, the top of the body and the back. These could all be done using the same spray in one session, but it gets very timing-dependent and any issue endangers the whole lot. I need to practice this without those pressures, especially since the white pearl body will need that paint system.

So my solution to this is to use the atmospheric pressure catalysing epoxy paint developed by Maston. Before they fully released this product into the wild (3yrs ago?) I tried out some early iterations of their clearcoat which had some curing time issues. I presume they've rattled this out since the product is now available in worldwide in various clears and colours branded as "Car Rep".

I went out and bought an aerosol of RAL9005 Jet Black 2K which doesn't have the issue of being time limited. The paint is pre-catalysed but doesn't start that process until it's out into lower atmospheric pressure. Sweet. It might not be the best black, but really the "best" needs a lot of time and concentration which I just don't have at the moment. I can only do what I can do.

The working order I've put together is to do the top of the body first with the back masked. I can scrape the binding once the 2K cures (I'll give it up to a week to be generous) and then mask the side of the binding using 3m 471+ vinyl tape (the good stuff). Once the back and front are done, the paint can be scuffed and clearcoated. In an ideal situation, the clear would be going on in the same schedule as the black, however masking and scraping complicate this and introduce that dreaded timing problem.

The headstock can be done completely separately, which is important since I have yet to do the neck profile and all that. I did however cut three sets of tape masks for the logo on the CNC, so I might do the face of the headstock sooner rather than later what with it being a bit of a clincher sort of step. Again, that will be masking and scraping.

geez... u know way to many specifics about finish.  seriously impressed.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I really don't. I just do my homework, because I'm severely averse to things going wrong late in the game. All of the information that I can find online to back up, disprove and/or refine my own ideas about work ordering and methods have been scant for 2k, but plenty for nitro, so I have had to make this up a bit as I go along.

I masked and painted the headstock this evening. The paint seems that it doesn't want to go near the edges of the painter's tape I've used. The logo masking was done in 3M #2090 Scotch blue and the general masking around the perimeter with the Mirka equivalent (because of better roll width). After letting the paint set up slightly for quarter of an hour, I picked up the masks with a pin and removed them. I also removed the tape around the perimeter. So the edges of the logos now have raised edges which will need knocking back with some 600-800 paper once cured, same with the edges. It doesn't seem ideal as the masking tape appears to have repelled the paint by maybe half a mm in addition to the normal masking. If I could have acquired some wider (24mm+) 3m #471+ for the masking, I am guessing that this would be less of a problem. The datasheet tells me that it's an "acrylic" adhesive, but that doesn't say much towards why the tape would repel paint like two like poles on a magnet. Weird.

Eyeballing this new perimeter size against the waterslide decals doesn't look like it will be too problematic. Hopefully not at all. I'd like to get at least one coat of clear over the black and the glow epoxy before the decals are applied. I won't hold my breath.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another byproduct of the finishing resin I used is that it seems a primer is not necessary. The main reason one would use a primer in the first place is to provide a medium between the substrate and the paint going on top. This is definitely a must-do for metal, whilst with wood it's the porous nature of the material that is the problem. Finishing resin is penetrative enough that one or two sessions - when sanded back - leave the final surface smooth and amenable to base coats of paint without a primer. Of course, if the finishing resin is sanded back heavily, exposing clean unstopped wood then this will not be the case.

The Maple of the headstock was given a single layer of finishing resin that I flatted back with 180 grit paper and smoothed with 320. The paint seems to have gone on happily, with no solvents pushing up, back out of the substrate and causing bubbles. All in all it looks very acceptable, even if I do think it could have been done better. The bottom line is whether the end result is good. At this stage I'm seeing some minor snags which I will need to fix, and I think these could be eliminated given better circumstances or a more experienced approach. Making a micro scraper and cleaning the logos with magnifiers will be a chore....

I am just not a paint guy.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Paint seems to be something that weirdos who just want to junk their lungs and nervous system do. Man, I hate it. If it weren't for these details like binding scraping and detail masking I would pay some other suicido-schlub to do it for me. Paint is nasty.

edit: I just offered the decals up to the workpiece and I'm 99% confident that I have enough margin around the decals to cover the exposed Maple and glow epoxy. A problem for tomorrow I think.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, that paint seems to work well enough! This morning it was hard enough to support simple flatting back and the stage where the decals could be applied.

The colour looks incorrect here, plus the paint is far from flat. I might regret having rushed this without fully flatting the black paint, however the presence of the masking makes this a difficult thing to do. Essentially, I would need to remove the mask after paint, flat the black back, apply a new mask to shoot a new layer, remove that mask and flat back again. All while the masked areas sit lower by the paint thickness. Best to bury it in clear I think. Time to do a mist coat to seal those decals....

20211121_095710.jpg

 

Aside from a couple of slight cold spots in the glowing areas, this is exactly what I was aiming for.

20211121_095720.jpg

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Scraping of the binding was surprisingly easy once I put an idea I'd come across into practice. Instead of scraping flat across the face of the binding, I used a slightly bevel angle to progressively increase the perimeter until it was where I wanted it. That makes more sense from a control perspective, since you don't need to pinch the scraper at a precise depth. For a scraper I used a standard craft knife blade fresh from the pack. The only difficult area was the deep concave area, but even then that worked out nicely enough.

I inspected the decals to see they have laid across the paint and masked areas. The main logo is slightly north of the ideal spot, so whilst the transparent areas all lay over the glow epoxy as intended, there is an ever so slight light leak at the bottom. I'm sure that this will be invisible to any that aren't looking for it, but it's still worth bearing in mind for future jobs that may resemble this one. The black border of the decal blends very well into the black background, so in principle this could have been larger however I wasn't planning on misalignment to begin with! 😉

I picked out a can of the 2K clearcoat that Maston sent me a few years back, and remembered the problem I was having with it at the time. Blockages in the tip and spitting. These were from the original tests batches though, so yeah. Time to go out and buy a can of the revised product!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...