johnsilver

I'm sure the finishing gurus will weigh in. FWIW, I use the vinyl sealer and it works well. I can't contrast pros/cons with shellac since I haven't used shellac in guitar applications or under nitro. I have used the Stewmac Colortone pigments (white and black) and I have found them effective and easy to work with. I used them in combination to make a grey primer and then used the black as a top color coat. Good coverage. The Stewmac finishing video used them to make a grey primer followed by red/white to make a pink color coat. For the Canary yellow, you may want to consider a primer coat. I don't know about McFaddens nitro but you may also need some thinner and maybe a little retarder depending on your spraying conditions. Mine are always hopelessly humid so I use a little retarder all the time (mixed into the thinner and then mixed into the nitro). Have fun.

I used an inexpensive pull saw I found at a hardware store. The kerf is pretty thin and with a pull cut, it was relatively easy to control and went pretty quickly. Once I cut down the head, I used rasps and sanding with a dowel to get the rounded bit. The sanding took a while but came out well I think. Result

I'd be curious to see how your neck turns out. Pls post some progress pics.

I admire that view. My youngest son just graduated from university in San Antonio a couple of weeks ago. (Woo Hoo!). The keynote commencement speaker told a story........ I swear this is a true part of his speech.... "A young man visits a successful old man who has retired. He asks the old man: How did you become so successful? The old man replies: good decisions. The young man asks: How did you learn to make such good decisions?. The old man replies: experience. The young man asks: How did you get such experience?. The old man replies: bad decisions." The relevance to what we do is obvious. Drak said it. Nuff said.

Hydro, I haven't done exactly what you want to do but I did just finish a mahogany body guitar with a maple cap in Gibson cherry red toner. Here is the part of the thread that's most relevant. I sprayed a vinyl sealer on the mahogany back and neck, then applied a dye to the maple top. Even then, I had to be careful of bleeding into the mahogany. Since I had white binding on the fretboard, I sprayed some sealer on the neck including the binding, then masked off the binding when spraying the toner. After I removed the tape, I scraped the binding clean - wasn't hard due to the sealer. I believe your cherry red toner should be sprayed on wood that has been sealed. At least that is what I did and seems to be a standard step in the StewMac finishing book for any Gibson cherry finish. For your practicing, I'd suggest spraying with a sealer (you could mask off the face of the fretboard if you wanted but leave the sides exposed. I believe the sealer will give your maple strip some of the pop you want without staining. After sealing, you could mask off the maple strip and spray the toner on the mahogany. I'd remove the tape carefully after the toner has had time to set but not completely harden. Pull the tape away at an angle. You can scrape with a single sided razor blade any bleed through - shouldn't be much. After that, you can begin to apply the clear to lock the toner in.

Looks like an ultra thin is in the making. Allman Bros rule. Have you ever heard Greg Allman's solo remake of Whipping Post from the Searching for Simplicity disk? Completely different and very cool.

One of my sons has a Cort Viva 7 string guitar. He has had it for 3-4 years and really likes it. It's held up well.

Congrats to all. I voted for Setch's guitar. I really love the acoustic type features integrated into a very classy electric with lots of good detail. It was a tough choice for me though as the shape Godin's guitar just flows and flows and makes me want to pick it up and touch it. That's probably a good thing in a guitar.

Drak, you have enough for two bodies right? Why not try one with spalt on both sides with a Santos core? Assuming you have enough spalt of course. The spalted back won't add much weight. If afterward, you think it affected the tone too much, you could always remove the back and do something else.

Great find! Should be good for another 22+ years or so. How are you going to get it home - strap it to a bicycle and navigate lanes and bridges?

Interested in several blanks. PM sent.

Is that John Lee Giggler and Muddy Burnum, or the other way around?

Godin, that is a sexy beast. I really like the shape and curves, both front and back. Kind of like a woman. Whoa, I'd better change the subject. Seriously, it's cool and well done. This is no criticism, but it flows so well that I wonder if something other than a rectangtular hardtail bridge would make it even more sexy? Maybe a Hipshot Hardtail or Baby Grand? Congrats.

Scott's guitar has class, excellent workmanship and interesting features - the best of the bunch I think. Congrats to all though, especially the young fellas - keep it up. Thanks for the positive comments and votes for the SG. And thanks for the constructive feedback on the finish. I was racing a deadline to get the guitar completed before I had to catch the plane to Australia and deliver it, and I had to rush - not the best for the outcome I wanted on the finish. I'm not happy with the final result, although I am happy about the color and the way the maple grain comes through the color. Lessons learned from my first finish.

Anyone have any experience with these? They have a tube preamp section and a solid state power amp section. valvestate amp

Well, we arrived safely in Melbourne. Almost couldn't say the same thing for the SG. I packed it into a hard shell case, then wrapped the case in bubble wrap and then packed the case into a guitar box with rolled up newspaper all around. I had eight fragile stickers on the box when I reluctantly checked it as baggage with the airline. You can see from the pics below that the box took a direct hit that went through a fragile sticker, through the paper, through the bubble wrap and dented the case. It was hit right where the headstock was. Fortunately, the case stopped it. Here is a pic of the case. clicky Anyway, it survived and my son loved it. He knew I was working on it but didn't know it was finished or that I was bringing it with me. Here is the SG sitting in its new home next to his Marshall Valvestate 50. clicky And here is the reason I made the guitar - for my son to enjoy. clicky

Fleetdog, I suggest you get the Guitar Finishing Step by Step book from Stewmac. It tells you how to apply a transparent color (toner) to a guitar, and it contains lots of formulas to achieve certain colors. I used the book recently to apply a transparent cherry red finish to an SG I made (there is a thread in the In Progress section - An SG for my Son) that has pics of the process I used. I can't speak directly to a Saga kit.

JFC, a beautiful guitar. Well done. An interesting finish choice for me, but it works. I like it.

+1 to what Setch said. Here is a jig I made that works the same as Setch's in principle. I made up some 3/4" MDF with two parallel boards screwed to a base board. The two parallel boards are the right distance apart to fit my Stewmac radius block so it doesn't wander and maintains a straight line. I double stick tape the fretboard on the center line I've already established on the jig, and then sand away.

Santah, really nice. I like the black TOM and tailpiece, and the way you matched the piece between the fretboard and the neck pickup to the pickguard and around the black pickup rings. The speed knobs were also a better choice that top hats IMO. Cool.

I have used a Dremel with the Stewmac fixed router base (not the archtop one) and one of their router bits. It has worked fine for me. I need ot take several passes. I usually set the depth the way I need it, then take several passes to get the thickness of the ledge the way I need it.

Here is an SG style guitar I made for my middle son. He lives in Melbourne, Australia with his lovely Aussie wife. We are going to visit them and I'm bringing the guitar with us. He doesn't know I'm bringing it. This is my second guitar but has many firsts for me as a new builder, for example, a maple top, a set neck, a laminated neck, MOP inlay, color finish, use of ebony, bound neck and headstock. There are many people on this forum who's work and advice contributed to me being able to make this guitar. Here are a few: Drak for his quality and humor, Hyunsu for his approach to work, Setch for his LP tutorial and advice, Clavin for his encouragement and help with inlay issues, and Albertop for his beautiful SG. There are many others. Thanks to all. It is modelled on a Gibson SG Supreme with some modifications for choice. Anyway, here are some specs: body: mahogany base with a curly maple drop top neck: three piece laminated mahogany fretboard and headplate: ebony inlays: white MOP, custom design on the headstock binding: single ply white celluloid nitrate on fretboard and headstock bridge: Tone Pros TOM tailpiece: Tone Pros tuners: Gotoh keystones pickups: Seymour Duncan JB (bridge) and Jazz (neck) controls: 1 volume, 1 tone, 3 way switch strings: DR Tite Fit 10s scale: Gibson 24 3/4" (actual is 24 5/8") nut: bone finish: nitrocellulose lacquer (cherry red toner under clear lacquer) full frontal view closeup of front with figured maple headstock closeup of neck heel Here are a few more pictures: top and hardware front up close full shot of back

If you go to the Gibson site and look at the Pauls, it gives certain dimensions including the width of the neck at the nut and 12th fret. You can compare those to your templates. For example, an LP Standard.

Thanks much for the positive comments guys. The coveted Drak 5 award! I'm not worthy, I'm not worthy, I'm not worthy. Drak, your comments mean mucho. You helped and encouraged me along the way. Guess what? I have two more sons. That means a Les Paul and a single cut PRS. Both are in progress so I'll post some photos in a couple of years.

Well, I installed the hardware, wired the electronics and strung it up. It's alive!!! I have only done a rough setup, so more to come. One week to go before I fly away to Oz. Another body shot.