johnsilver

Anyone ever heard vintage Walter Becker?

Very, very nice. I like it a lot. I want it. And with Distortion pups.... Maybe a 7 string to come.

Mmmmm. Tapas. Waterfront. Bars. Believe it or not, we went to an "English Pub" down from our hotel one night. It was drink 3 Guinness and get a free carry bag. I chose black. Well, down here in Texxass, I'm in what is known as the "awl bidness". Unfortunately, I have no "awl" of my own. Thirdstone, you are right that the sandthroughs completely altered the finishing plan. Without those, no burst. And I had to make the burst wide enough to cover. Also, I had difficulty spraying it more narrow. I agree the style makes it looks more vintage. I like it. Drak. Wow! And thanks. The fact its presentable at all is more evidence of the blind squirrel theory, as in "even a blind squirrel finds a nut every now and then". Of course, "as good as one can expect" covers a lot of territory and takes into account my complete lack of experience and technique. Maybe when I grow up, I can do a finish as good as one of yours.

EddieWarlock, you were right, the weather in Southern Spain was perfect. Each day better than the next. Flew into Gibraltar but flew out of Malaga (both connections to Houston through London). Our work site is in Algeciras but we stayed in Sotogrande (very nice). Had a day trip to Cadiz, but that was business and only got to another construction site. Had lots of fine Spanish food and wine (including Jamon Iberico and Fino .) Leaving Sunday for a week in Singapore. Know a great Indian restaurant there, and believe it or not, a superb Italian restaurant. Oh yeah, the LP is doing fine. The finish is curing nicely. Here is a pic of youngest son holding the soon to be (I hope) guitar. Its for his oldest brother. The finish is still the flash coat of nitro after level sanding. It hasn't yet been wet sanded and polished. Soon........

Guys, thanks. I figured it out that I was only measuring one coil on each, thus roughly half the reading (i.e. 3.58 for the PG and 7.13 for the Custom). When I twisted the wires as they would be installed and then tested, I got the correct reading.

I'm measuring the output resistance from two Seymour Duncan pickups I just bought - a Custom bridge and Pearly Gates neck. When I measure the resistance on my multimeter, I get only about 1/2 the output posted on the SD site. When I measure a Duncan 59 that I have already, I get the correct reading. The two new ones have gold covers and the 59 is without a cover. Any ideas?

Cool. I liked it too. Now I have to find a replacement. Mic arrived fine. It'll be a while before I get to use it.

Drak, I must have yelled something when I saw the pics because my wife came runnng to see what was wrong. Its a stunner. Love the subtle burst - methinks it works especially well with all that quilt ripple - no harsh transition. And I love the look of the limba with a toner coat on it - wasn't sure I would but I do.

Thanks guys.

I can't wait to see it when I get back next week.

I thought I read this a while back but can't find a thread. Anyone have any techniques to remove surface scratches or otherwise clean up the top of a black humbucker?

Thanks fellas. Drak - that's cool. I'm leaving this afternoon for Spain via London. We have a project there and I'm flying into Gibraltar and staying on the Costa del Sol. It's work, I swear. The guitar will continue to cure while I'm gone. I'll give it the smell test when I get back.

I have a used Seymour Duncan George Lynch Screamin Demon if you're interested in a swap.

That limba is hot.

Drak, I like it. If you're thinking blue for this guitar, I'm interested in how you will address the very different grain patterns between the maple and the limba. I'll just wait and watch (and learn). Was Desdemona the ABB guitar, or is there something else in the works?

Sweet. Me knocking off PRS knocking off Gibson.

I made a little more progress this weekend. I completed spraying my clear coats on Saturday. Sunday, I level sanded the entire guitar - fortunately no incidents sanding through the clear into the color. This evening, I sprayed two flash coats of very diluted nitro. This flowed out the sanding scratches nicely and left a bit of a gloss. No runs or drips or sags. Next Saturday, I'll wet sand the finish then put it up to dry out for a month or so. After that, its polishing time. I won't mind the wait because Sunday I leave for an overseas trip. I have several coming up. I'll be out of the country for 4 of the next 6 weeks on 3 separate trips. Jet lag, here I come. Thanks for all your support. I'll report out when its polished up and the hardware and electronics are installed. I just found out today that my son and his wife's baby is going to be a girl. Unless I really mess up, the guitar will be ready before the baby. A little shine after the flash coat

Try this, and have fun. Reranch

The thing I like about this month's GOTM is the diversity. A great example of what PG can provide - great guitars and lots of variety - just like the members. Every one extremely well done also. Congrats to you all.

Hydro, thanks! I used the Behlen line - vinyl sealer, retarder (because its so humid here), thinner and gloss nitro. I know what you mean about the first finish. This is my second nitro finish, or any other finish for that matter. My suggestion is to practice some to get used to your gun, then go for it. Good luck.

Velserpdog, Me likey. What's the plan for the rest e.g. neck, hardware, pups?

I was trying, but not succeeding, to avoid thinking about that. That fear is why I took several steps that I hope will work. After I filled the pores on the sandthroughs, I applied some thinned lacquer that included white pigment and amber dye. The color was approximately the same as the amber/yellow dye I applied to the maple but had a little more body due to the pigment and was more opaque. It didn't actually stay on much because I had to sand it lightly to blend in to the touch, but it did make the mahogany just slightly more amber. I applied two coats of vinly sealer to lock all that in, then sprayed on two coats of transparent amber toner over the whole top including the sandthroughs. That made the color more consistent and minimized the color contrast before I applied the brown shader. I had to apply the brown shader pretty heavily but the offending areas appear to be very well covered now. I can't see any evidence of the sandthroughs and I've really looked. I'm going to seal them in under the clear coats and hope for the best. After all, when I give it to my son, its his...

Here is a bit of direction. Very helpful. clicky

Thanks guys. Matttheguy, someone asked me earlier about how a Gibson LP Supreme works for electronics access. I can't say unfortunately. I've never seen a real one before. I didn't get as far as I wanted today but did make some progress. I finished scraping all the binding and cleaned up some of the edges. The brown on the top had to be thicker to cover up the bare spots. I ended up with a couple of small areas where I needed to touch up. I used an airbrush with my brown toner and it came out great. This was my first time to ever use an airbrush. I tried on another project months ago but the airbrush was really cheap and never worked with lacquer. So I bought a decent one way back, and it was here when I needed it. I practiced a bit then used it. After that, and with all the rain again today, I didn't make much progress on building up clear coats. If the weather behaves, maybe I'll get a few on each night when I come home. Otherwise, its next weekend. Here is a full front shot after scraping and touchup and removing the masking from the fretboard.

Thanks guys. I appreciate the comments on the back cavity cover. It was an another product of my poor planning and poor execution. Originally the guitar was going to be a mahogany body with a maple top. I had a brown plastic cavity cover to use with the mahogany. When I found the inexpensive large maple board, I decided to put a maple back as well. I didn't think about making a maple cavity cover at the time and was just going to use the plastic one. Originally, the guitar was going to be amber, but when I sanded through and had to do a burst, I felt like a plastic cover just wouldn't work with a burst. I found a scrap of the maple that seemed to have similar grain and made the cover. Glad to hear it worked.