Drak Posted June 1, 2004 Report Share Posted June 1, 2004 I blacked out the sides of the Koa Tele today, just thought I'd throw up some quick pics, it turned out pert-near nice. The contrast of the camera keeps the actual pearl binding from showing up against the black, but it looks great in person. This job is -all- in the prep, sanding the sides until they're perfectly flat, no ripples humps or bumps or depressions of any kind, then doing a good job taping it off. If you hurry it up, you'll see sanding marks and imperfections in the black, so it's gotta be nice and levelled first. Shooting the actual paint takes less than 10 minutes for 2 decent coats. There was already about 6 coats of clear on it to give me something to sand into. I use Behlen's Flat Black Aerosol Jet Spray (read: spray bomb) 'cuz it's easy and it works. I'll go back over it with clear in a few days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted June 1, 2004 Report Share Posted June 1, 2004 I Smell a new GOTM entry on the way Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted June 1, 2004 Report Share Posted June 1, 2004 Sweet Hay-Zeus... we need a photo that shows the pearl. Great work, as always. I'm still not as big a fan of Koa as you, but with testimony like that from a preacher like you, I'm starting to hear the word of the gospel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jay5 Posted June 1, 2004 Report Share Posted June 1, 2004 Holy crap, I would have had overspray all over that koa top Nice job! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drak Posted June 1, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2004 Well, this will be probably my only Koa guitar unless I see a super-gorgeous piece another day. One thing I learned, I would have preferred to go W/B/W/B/Pearl for the binding, I just didn't think far enough ahead to do that, this was my first go with the pearl binding and I just did it by itself...DAMMIT!...oh well... One thing I'm noticing, this guitar feels absolutely GREAT just holding it w/ neck attached. Not all guitars come up winners tone-wise, it's a crap-shoot every time really, but I can just 'feel' the vibe of this one already, I really can. This guitar is gonna be a big winner in the tone dept., I swear it. I have another one, a totally different guitar, totally different woods, that, although completely different than this Tele, gives off this incredible 'vibe' just holding it w/ the neck attached. There is a marked difference between these two and some of the others lying about here. Like the other one I posted today, Mad Cow, that might be a cool body so far, but that thing is a dead plank when you hold it, this one feels almost alive even w/ no strings on it, it feels very vibrant and alive and resonant already. I'm really looking forward to finishing this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drak Posted June 1, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2004 About the overspray, good point, but I 'set it up' so I was safe like that. The whole body has been shot with clear already and been sitting for a few months, so the top was ready for a levelling, so it didn't matter if I oversprayed onto the top or not. If it would have been a big deal, I would have completely taped the top and back off. Once this dries, I'll give the top and back a level-sanding w/400 grit before I shoot the final clear coats over the whole thing, so whatever overspray hit the top/back, it'll be sanded off when I level out, and I already knew that, that's why I used such a thin width of tape, it didn't matter that much. Actually I'm surprised I didn't get more overspray to tell you the truth... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
www Posted June 1, 2004 Report Share Posted June 1, 2004 No pics! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spirit Posted June 1, 2004 Report Share Posted June 1, 2004 I can't see them either Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeB Posted June 1, 2004 Report Share Posted June 1, 2004 neither can i, i think fullserversite is down or sommit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krazyderek Posted June 1, 2004 Report Share Posted June 1, 2004 wasn't working for me at first, now the pictures are coming up though Weren't you worried about getting some black on the front and back? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted June 1, 2004 Report Share Posted June 1, 2004 Weren't you worried about getting some black on the front and back? he already answered that,derek Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krazyderek Posted June 1, 2004 Report Share Posted June 1, 2004 sorry, missed that third long post, makes sense now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stalefish Posted June 1, 2004 Report Share Posted June 1, 2004 Where do you find so much time??!! I mean, one sweet koa tele and a crazy cow guitar at the same time??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drak Posted June 1, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2004 Where do you find so much time??!! I mean, one sweet koa tele and a crazy cow guitar at the same time??? Old Seclet, Glasshoppah: Have 15 guitar projects all on-going at the same time. There's ALWAYS something fun going on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stalefish Posted June 3, 2004 Report Share Posted June 3, 2004 You are mad... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skibum5545 Posted June 3, 2004 Report Share Posted June 3, 2004 What's your neck attachment method? I used 10-24 stainless steel bolts into holes with threads tapped in the maple. I SWEAR it gives the thing better resonance than I've ever heard on any guitar. have you considered something like that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john Posted June 3, 2004 Report Share Posted June 3, 2004 looking good, i spy something beginning with s and ending with g in the backround..... do you have an sg body in the background od one of the pics? john. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drak Posted June 3, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 3, 2004 Nope, sorry, not a single SG in da house. If what you see (not sure which shape you're referring to) is plywood, then it's my Gibson archtop router template. It's an ES 225 style, but just looking at the right-hand side sort of looks like an SG I guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drak Posted June 26, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 26, 2004 One step forward, two steps back, hehehe... I routed all the pearl binding off yesterday, re-routed the body for a 7-layer binding job both sides, and stripped all the finish off of both sides. No bigsters. 1) The 1-strip pearl binding was a bad choice for the Koa. Pearl will look much better on a colorful body, like blue, and I think it would look far better with some b/w/b/w next to it, using the pearl as the outside strip. I didn't like the look of it by itself at all. It will now have a 7-layer binding on it, i/b/i/b/i/b/i, it will look much better on the Koa, and I'll use the pearl on some other body (I have 4 strips of it left) No Sleep 'Till Hammersmith. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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