hexa-db

Hah! I started an almost identical project! My guitar looked pretty much identical to yours. In my case it all started because the guitar needed a refret (a couple fret ends had lifted and would not reseat). From there it escalated... Mine was looking like this: I masked off the top and 1 layer of ply on the edge, sprayed it black. Then I masked off the bottom (and the 1 layer of ply again) and sprayed the gold. I wasn't happy with it though because the exposed ply fake binding was a bit blotchy (some kind of staining) and I couldn't get a clean enough line. I've now stripped it again and I'm going to redo it. I've stripped the neck, dyed with mahogany dye and tru-oiled it too - it feels great. I replaced the dot inlays with abalone as well. I still haven't got it fretted though! I started this about 5 months ago - I'm not sure I'll ever finish it now!!

PM Sent

How does it play & sound? It's hard to tell from the angle but the action looks pretty good considering the neck angle issue people mentioned. The controls do look a bit cramped - I'd be tempted to change the wiring to a single volume and tone knob, and remove the two knobs nearest the bridge (then fill the holes with some dowel, shouldn't be visible if you paint it). I think it would look cooler with bevelled edges (kind of like a lot of BC Rich guitars) - it would be easier to do than binding too Then again installing the binding would be good experience. By the way - if you still like the idea of a design on the top, have a look at the fabric top tutorial. I've seen some nice stuff done with Origami paper on the reranch.com forums too. Good on you for actually getting it done and not being put off by the comments made by a few people. By the way - the star grounding thing refers to the way the ground wires are arranged, in star grounding they all ground to a single point. Google for "guitar star grounding" and you should get the idea.

The Warlock reminds me of mid-90s Sepultura (Definitely a good thing in my opinion heh)

Not sure how well it would work or how practical this would be but how about... - Strip & prep the guitar according to the tutorials - Spray silver - Mask off your graphics, then spray black - Remove masking, spray with a tinted red clear coat (lots of coats, followed by the usual wetsanding/polishing) I think that should give you candy red graphics on a black background? Either that or as people have suggested, go with black and then an opaque metallic red for the graphics.

Have a look at the tech section on ww.ibanezrules.com - there's some good setup guides on there for the Ibanez Lo Pro Edge trems, but I'm sure it could be useful for other FR style setups too.

I just found my own thread when searching for something and realised I hadn't updated it for ages. After leaving it for over a week and attempting to wetsand I realised that the clearcoat was nowhere near thick enough so I sprayed another can of acrylic laquer over it and have left it for nearly three weeks so far. I'm going to make absolutely sure it's cured properly before attempting any wetsanding. In the meantime I've grabbed a couple of beaten up Squier strats from ebay to work on

That looks stunning! Thats the type of top my RG620QM wishes it had

Sorry for the thread hijack! I only had the one car and it wasn't anything too special - a 1992 Honda Del Sol. I did a fair bit to it though including intake, header, exhaust, cams, seats from a Honda S2000 and stuff. Here it is And another one Sadly sold since I needed a car with back seats and something I wouldn't be tempted to constantly modify.

I got into cars rather than guitars and decided I didn't really need a 7 string. I've now realised that guitars are a lot less stressful and a lot cheaper to work on - plus if I don't finish a guitar it doesn't prevent me getting to work the following day

I had an RG7620 which I stupidly sold recently. It was an awesome guitar, it felt like playing a 6 string RG - really comfortable. I really wish I'd kept it now.

You're obviously refering to rattlecan paintjobs ... Use a 2-pack product with a catylist and you won't have those problems. Not everyone has the budget/space for a full spraying kit though By the way I have seen 2k products in rattlecans (hardener in a seperate compartment, mixed by pushing a pin in the bottom of the can). Just thought I'd throw that in to add to the confusion

I left a recently sprayed guitar (acrylic based clear) in my conservatory all last week thinking it would get hot enough to cure pretty quickly but it didn't. Attempting to wet sand it on the weekend was a bit of a disaster :/ I hope it doesn't take a year to cure!

Yep - Sorry about the jemsite ad. I got a bit fed up, posted the ad and forgot about it - then I decided to repair it (forgetting I had posted the ad). The paintjob doesn't look that good in real life, there are quite a few dodgy bits but at least I learned a lot and can get it back together soon. Yours looks like the same model as mine - N7. Is yours blue or is it just the pic? Also, I'm not sure if my truss rod cover has "Mockingbird" on it (but it's been packed away for so long I can't remember!). Bryan - I kind of knew a lot of the things (like not using the last bit of paint etc) but I think I needed to make the mistakes to learn exactly why you have to do/not do all these things

Rather than post one pic every time someone replies, I'll stop being lazy and add them as links You can see the filler where I'd started filling most of the dents etc, and some of the cracks (between the pickup routes, in the neck pickup route). You can also see bit of wood missing from the bottom of the neck pocket. Bigger pics: Paint stripped, some repairs started (front view) Rear view after stripping paint & starting repairs After the first coat of black paint... (bad run from a dodgy can of paint that splattered suddenly Rear view after first coat of black (repair still visible, more sanding was done to get rid of that) After paint and clear, before proper flatting and polishing (quite a few different defects/issues, not all visible in this pic though) Another angle.. Big version of the pic in my first post I haven't got any pics of the work done on the neck unfortunately. I'm really pleased with the flip paint, it looks fantastic (apart from the defects I caused) in direct sunlight but I don't think one can is enough for a guitar like this. Might be enough for a smaller body like a strat though. Partly for my own reference, but some things I've learned.. - Heat guns work well for stripping poly but risk damage to the wood if you get too scraper-happy (try Nitromors next time) - Make sure the grain is filled - Sand more than you think you need to (except on the clear coat!) - Make sure the sandpaper is cleaned. Big gouges from gunked up sandpaper are not good. - Buy more paint than you think you need - Don't try and get the last bit of paint out of a can - Make sure everything is dry & hardened before moving to the next step - A respirator is worth every penny