avengers63

Virtully any given color of dye/stain wouldn't be a bad thing on the top - like a nice vibrant blue or something. I'm with the "natural" camp for the rest of the body & neck. In most cases, if you're going for a natural look, the natural tone of the wood is nice enough that you don't need to do anything with it.

You & me both, brutha! Every once in a while, someone says the absolutely wrong thing with the wrong perceived attitude and I immediately go off the deep end. (Testify, Mickguard!) For the most part, though, we're all friends here.

Chet Atkins clip Chet Atkins doing 'Orange Blossom Special' on a 70's talk show. Pay attention to the 1:50 mark. It may not be anything special now, but consider the time frame and the style Chet plays and it becomes really noteworthy.

I'd agree that the ax you're churning out looks a LOT better than Malcom's. There's something attractive about the simplicity of it: a modified LP JR body with a lone HB in the bridge. Not a lot of bells & whistles.

In that case.... Malcom just seems like a near pointless add-on, capable of being replaced by pretty much anyone. Kinda like Michael Anthony or Ringo Star. I saw AC/DC in concert in '87-'88 or so. It was the absolute WORST show I've ever seen. Malcom & the bassist (does he even have a name? does anyone care?) stood on either side of the drum platform the entire show. Their only sign of NOT being a Disney animatronic roboy was when they marched straight forward to give some backup vocals on the choruses, then marched backward into place. I lost a lot of respect for AC/DC after I learned about 5 or 6 of their songs. It seems like they're all in G & D with some A/E flavor once in a while. That allows Angus to play the exact same pentatonic scale in the exact same position for every song. He can (basically) only play one scale, but he really plays the heck out of it. That makes Angus pretty dang over rated. Just like Bo Didly. Bo only plays one chord, but he really tears that one chord a new one... on every... single... song! So, combine Malcom's zombie act, Angus's one scale, and Brian Johnson's "I gargle with used razor blades & acid" voice, why do we all like AC/DC again? I do like them, but I can't explain why for the life of me.

Welcome aboard. Of course, now you need to show us what you've make......

DUDE! I love burled wood. The weird depth and figuring is just too cool. That body looks awsome.

Yep. From where I'm living - the American Central Time Zone (CTZ) - the original post was made at 1:27PM. That oughta help determine what day it is from where-ever you're living.

I know that natural wood tones are very pretty and that we all love to se them. And yes, the finish on that body is really nice. BUT..... That shape just screams out for a solid color paint job. Sometimes, it just ain't right to NOT paint the wood. There. I've said it. Now we can all get back to watching this incredible bit of lutherie, metalworking, electrical engineering, and seamstry.

I chose lacquer because of it's ease to work with. No betwen coat abrading, easy application, it is it's own sealer, etc. For me, the ease of use far outweigh the "forever soluable" aspect. As for the finish being damaged over time, that'll happen regardless of which type is used. I'm not abusive with my axes, so I'm not overly concerned.

Honestly, I don't know. Logic says that pressing would be a LOT easier on the finish than pounding, but I have no first-hand experience to confirm this. If you're a finishing rookie, then get Bob Flexner's book on wood finishing. It'll not only answer most of your non-lutherie finishing questions, but it will be an invaluable took and reference in the future. I forgotto address an initial question: Yes, the finish goes over whatever inlays are done.

I don't do necks, so my word isn't gospel by any means, but I know that if you lacquer the f/b, then try to pound the frets in, you'll damage the finish. If/when you finish the neck after doing the frets, make sure to protect the frets from being covered with finish. Otherwise, you'll be in for a major headache. Whuch type? That's all in your tastes. What do you want for your end result? According to Flexner, most commercially available lacquers are nitro. Also according to Flexner, manufacturers are notorious for mis-labeling theri product and not providing accurate information in general, so take that with a grain of salt as well. Do you HAVE to use the same thing on the neck & f/b? No, but why wouldn't you. If you want the neck satin & the f/b gloss, use gloss on the whole thing, just don't polish the neck. Vice/versa if you want the f/b satin. Steel wool is great for giving a nice satin sheen to the finish.

Yep. That was my mistake: I thought mineral spirits was the solvent for lacquer, and I was wrong. I just hope the brush is salvageable. According to Flexner, lacquer will disolve with the right solvent YEARS later. I guess I'll find out first hand. For my flaming comments: Whenever it even SEEMS that someone is talking down to me, I tend to go off the deep end in a hurry. I apologize for reacting so harshly and so quickly.

So I'm guessing that you completely missed this part: I don't have a fear of knowledge. I don't have an anti-intellectual outlook on anything. I don't prefer the dark. It's extremely presumptuous of you to assume so. I don't know chemistry. I don't care to know chemistry. I don't care to learn about a great number of things. That does not equate to a lack of care for education or in the benefits of both learning and expanding one's personal knowledge. It simply means that I don't have a desire to learn about those areas. Not caring to learn about a certain topic does not make one anti-intellectual, it makes one indifferent to the topic. To use an analogy: I asked what time it was, you told me how to make a watch, how this watch differs from that watch, and how to make the other watch. I just wanted to know what time it was. What you apparently fail to understand is how to structure your explanation for your audience. To over simplify and stereotype, we're mostly amateur luthiers, with a few professionals mixed in. We're not chemists, we're not structural engineers, we're not nuclear technicians. We're (mostly) hobbyist luthiers and woodworkers. Your over detailed explanation is simply not suited for the majority of the members of this board, myself included. It's not for a lack of desire to learn, it's for a lack of interest in the field. I find your entire your to be very condescending and boastful. What you appear to be suggesting is that your (supposed) experience in your (supposed) department restructuring places you in a position far and above we mere mortals. It is merely bragging and boasting in an attempt to gain some credibility and place yourself in a position over us. You also seem to have come in expecting to find a certain attitude. You then, perhaps sub-consciously, went about creating a situation conducive to the fostering of said attitude. That then gave you the opportunity to talk down to the one displaying the very attitude you went looking for. Sir, if you look for something hard enough, you'll find it, even if you have to put it there yourself.

We'll find out next weekend when I buff out the neck! some guy in california: Uh... thanks, I guess. I asked "Why isn't mineral spirits cleaning the lacquer". Someone already said "Cuz you need lacquer thinner". There's a principle at work here: the simplest answer is usually the best one. I'm glad Prostheta liked your chemical breakdown, but it was completely un-necessary and will be lost on the vast majority of the members of this board. I'll say this though: I DO appreciate your thorough understanding of the issue as well as your desire to convey said information. You know a helluva lot more about chemistry than I do.

I don't remember the specific brand name, but I do remember they only had one brand. I feel lucky to have found it at all, so the lack of choice doesn't bother me too much. I'm going to guess that you're going to use rattle cans of finish because you don't have a spray gun. Before you get a zillion cans of finish @$5-$6 each, check out the end of my Exotic Tele Thread. I used spray lacquer for the body & neck with great results. There was an issue with the neck, so when I got the replacement, I tried brush-on lacquer. It's a dang-site less expensive than spray cans, and given the properties of lacquer, I figured it was worth a try. Wait and see how the brush-on buffs out. I should be getting to it this weekend. The reasons I'm suggesting this are twofold: cost & application. As I already said, it's a LOT cheaper than cans. A quart was $10, as opposed to a few ounces in a can for $5-$6. Second, it brushed on a lot thicker than the spray cans per coat, so it built up faster. I didn't figure thicker coats were a big issue because of (again) the nature of lacquer. If the brush-on works out for me, I'd give it a try for the top coat. If it doesn't, then you've waited a week for the potential of saving a lot of money on spray cans.

After searching Lowes, Home Depot, department stores (eg:Wal-Mart), craft/hobby shops, and various paint stores (no kidding!), the only place I could find crackle lacquer was Michaels. It's going for about $6.50/can here. Be forewarned: the crackle is FRAGILE. It MUST be top-coated. The problem is that the ceackle is really thick, so a LOT of finish will be needed to level it out and get it nice & smooth.

From everything I've read, the mass & stiffness of the body affect the sound more than the shape. That's why different woods sound different: their mass & density vary. As for resin: Go for it and see what happens.

Okey-dokey then. Yet another trip to the store on the way home tonight. Thanks guys.

That's what I thought lacquer thinner was - mineral spirits.

When I finally got to polishing up the body on my telecaster, I did it all by hand. I wet-sanded up to 3000 grit, then used Maguires on it. I don't remember which product, but the finish was nice & reflective. The ONLY thing it has that I wish wasn't there were some swirl marks, but they're only visible when you're really looking for them at an extreme angle. So... is it possible to do it all by hand? Dang straight!

I'm using brush-on lacquer on my neck this time around. After I put on the last coat of the day last night, I THOUGHT I cleaned the brush. What I actually did was leave it in the mineral spirits all night. This morning, the brush was all clumped up like the lacquer had dried in it. What the heck happened? I thought mineral spirits was the solvent for lacquer?

I likw the cherry burst the best. Sorry about your luck with the vandals.

Sanding sealer's done. Now I'm trying a different kind of lacquer - brush on. MAN does that stuff get you high in a hurry! Potent stuff, dude! It's pretty thick, too. It doesn't flow too great. Maybe it's just a little chilly in my garage - about 50 Farenheit. I'll let y'all know how it works out. It looks like 6-8 coats will do it.

Just don't bite off more than you can chew - or afford - on the first one. Baby steps are the rule.