GermanFafian

Ok. I have searched all over this forum and a couple more just to try and find if this is true or not and have very little to no evidence or sign that different types of finish have different influences/nuances in an electric guitar's sound. I suppose it ha more influence in an acoustic instrument, but is it the same for an electric guitar? I am a total noob in this guitar building business, but have been playing guitar for over 25 yrs and always have thought this was a bunch of no sense. I personally prefer oil finishes but it is a tactile preference rather than a "soundwise" thing. I know that there are many knowledgeable people here who have years of experience and I want to know their opinion on this. I don't want to start a flame war or anything like that, but I have been criticized and almost ridiculed in another forum for expressing these thoughts and I want to know If I should apologize for really being an ignoramus or if I am in the right path to build the best possible guitar I can with the best and most "musical" finish. Thanks in advance.

Thanks for the idea. I think I have a 4+2 set of Schaller tuners somewhere around the shop. I'll toy with that idea a bit and see what I can come up with. It was all done by hand with no templates so the "curve" could be a bit small. I'll fix it in next one. Thanks for the comments ppl. Right now I am trying to figure out the finish colour and neck profile to use. We'll see what I come up with

Great work !!!! And excellent looking woods too.

Been having a bit of dead time in between paint jobs,repairs and whatnot at the shop and decided to give it a go to my second build. I'm waiting on some name stickers for my first build so I will finally finish that one soon. It is a weird mix between a Les Paul and Telecaster hence the name. Les Pauls are affectionally known as "Paulas" here in Spain. The body is made of american walnut, burly black poplar top, indian rosewood neck and madagascar ebony fretboard. I will use a Gotoh stop tail piece, Gotoh 510 tuners and probably DiMarzio Virtual PAF pick ups. It will be finished (or at least I will try to) in a sort of cherry sunburst tinted into the body. I still haven't decided on the headstock. I was going to make it an angled back 6 in line, but I'm not too sure about it now. Should I go for a 3X3 instead? It probably makes more visual sense given the shape of the body. Anyway. Here is a pic with the newly routed (and burnt) body edges. Any comments and ideas are welcomed. Front; back; With neck woods;

Great looking green burst. It must be even better under a nice clear shiny coat How are you going to finish the rest of the body?

Yeah! We have some serious weird looking logs in the shop waiting to be used. Can't wait to start working with some of them.

A quick update. I tinted the body ( i still have to work on the amount of tint used) and started to paint with two pack poly as a practice for more serious projects. Rear: Front: Any comments/suggestions welcome. Later; Germ

Never a better time for this post. I'm fighting a couple Rosewood tops right now

Gracias mi pana

Here's my very first guitar build. It is a project for my 3 yr old son. It started as a bolt on guitar but last week (after months of not doing a thing to it) I decided to use a sycamore log that was going to the trash for having wood worms. I managed to salvage a piece big enough for a neck-thru even though it has a couple of resonating worm chanmbers . So I chopped the body and turned it into a couple wings. Scale 25', body made of Ash wood, nech-thru made of Sycamore. Indian Rosewood fretboard. I will paint it transparent red/burst and use a discarded Tele pick up until I get to buy a Seymour Duncan Hot Rails or similar. I'm still gettin used to the tools and stuff, but it feels nice to see something roughly resembling a guitar that you made yourself.

A couple more pics.

My first build or should say half build as I was helped a lot by Arthur in the shop. It is now off to her home and paying owner. Thanks a lot to this forum users like Drak, Maiden et al and Melvyn's book for all the great tips and tutorials Next up is a neck thru strat hopefully done 100% by me and a Black poplar root topped semy-hollow tele. Later.

Great link there!!! Thanks for the heads up

I read in Flexxner's book that Shellac can be sprayed. I did it on a repaired Flamenco guitar and it looks excellent You just have to be more careful in the amount of shellac applied in each layer and let dry between coats but just about everything that applies to lacquer can be applied to shellac. At least that is what I did and it worked out wonderfully. MHO

I'll try a Custom in a future build. Who knows? I might like it better than the JB

Seymour Duncan's JB seems ideal too. It is the epitome of Hot Rodded guitars

Great looking bench! We have some like those at the shop but added holes in the 2X6 pieces where the top lays in yours. We use these for some danish side presses which are good for gluing small pieces of wood and stuff. I might have to make me one like that but smaller for my home works

Those are some awesome pieces of wood!!! I love rosewood necks too. They have this great unfinished silky feel that's incredibly fast. I was lucky enough to be able to buy a one piece Brazilian Rosewood neck years ago. Now I'm planning on making 2 guitars with 2 Indian RW necks. I have bought the blanks already and the figured Macassar ebony fretboards. Now I have to get me some more experience and free time at the shop for doing them Can't wait to see this guitar finished.

Thanks The customer wants it a bit darker so I will be adding some more blue tomorrow.

I buffed it 3 weeks after the last layer. I have read all possible articles from Drak, Mr Calvert, and others around here plus other articles and books and will follow a different approach now. I did a bass body and it will be ready for buffing next week. I hope it goes well. I followed another procedure from a do it yourself e-book I bought and it seems to be doing fine so far We'll see next week.

I used the same sealer brand as the clear. I am using a local brand named "Monto" and this has only happened so far in one guitar (the very first I painted) so I am working up the whole process from scratch. We'll see what comes out of this. So far what I've got. Only have applied dyes and one layer of sanding sealer. Later.

Well. In the end the whole finish started to fall apart! It seems there was something wrong in the formula or the mix. I don't know for sure but the finish applied after the sanding sealer just started lifting at the slightest bumb One good thing is. I didn't like the way the finish came out (blue burst) so I get another chance to screw it up Also. I ordered the Stew Mac book about finishing you recommended in another thread. I wanted the videos but they are only available in VHS I haven't had a VCR in years. I wrote them to ask if they were going to change the format to DVD but replied they had no idea when they would but certainly not in the near future. Maybe we should all rally and collect signatures for the change Anyway. Thanks again for the help and advice

Happy One Drak!! May you keep building and staining countless beauties for us all to enjoy

Great job there! I wish I had some spare bookshelves like those