nsherman2006

looks good, does it balance itself........lol Neal

looks nice

Okay, I have weighed your opinions and have decided.......nothing. The only thing i have come up with is that i want to brush it on, not spray it. I really dont have much access to specialty stuff, so I was thinking that i would stain the way I was planning on staining, then brushing on minwax sanding sealer, then coating it with a thick layer of either polycrilic or brush-on lacquer. What are your opinions as to the easier of the two. Keep in mind that this is going over polycrilic, so I think it might be easier( as well as cheaper) to just do it with polycrilic. Your thoughts? Also i have decided to abandon the veneer, as i don't want to do anything real fancy, because the main reason i am doing this is for a cheap first time stab at LED inlays. I think it would be best to just go with the polycrilic, but maybe you lacquerheads will make me think otherwise Thanks for all the help, it is appreciated. Neal

ok then, i think i'll try something in between.....i saw litch's food coloring "tutorial" and i wish to use that, as it is cost effective.....so what i am planning on doing is taking real strong chemical stripper to the body to remove the sealer (bix stripper?) and i will mix up a dark red stain, sand back, and put a fairly dark red over that. To clear, i think i'm going to use some semi-gloss polycrilic that isn't tinted, and put on a real heavy coat by hand, sanding out any imperfections. My new question is, how thick of a coat should i build up with this polycrilic, and should i just leave the top coat as is, or must i sand it and polish it to get anything that even looks decent? Whoops, i guess thats more than one question, oh well Thanks for your help. Neal

thanks. I think i have decided to do a simpler finish, seeing as this is only going on a saga guitar kit. But, soon(i hope) I will start my first guitar from scratch, and i will put on a nice quilted top, and I will definitely put a lot of time into correctly finishing it. Thanks for all of your help, i now realize that finishing is not as simple as i thought it to be. Neal

i know i saw somewhere that someone painted a strat white and then stained with something (brown shoe polish?, wood stain?) in order to get that vintage look. Or, you could just leave it in a smoky bar for a couple years Neal

I haven't actually done anything yet, im planning my summer project(or one of them, at least). I'm new to finishing, and want to do something simple. I think I am going to use minwax polycrilic stained with food coloring as a stain, and i want to put a clear coat that will really make it look depp. I will do a dark stain and sand back, and it will be hand rubbed, but I want a clear that will bring it out, and i dont have the money for polishes. Will polyurethane as a clear work as well as the lacquer? Could i sand it with 2000 grit to get it nice and polished, or is there some other way to get a good polish without compounds? I'm also considering a semi-gloss finish like the 3rd pic in the carriburst thread. What do you guys think would be the easiest way to get a fairly deep finish, without using anything too expensive? Thanks for your help. Neal

yeah....i just found the clearing tutorial in lgm's painting tut., but that doesn't really help me, as i'm trying to determine whether it would be better to use hand-brushed or aerosol clear, and he has a gun. It did however answer some of my sanding questions, so correct me if i am wrong, but i think this is a decent way to go about it(with aerosol cans: spray 2 base coats of clear spray 1 more clear coat wetsand with increasingly fine grits repeat until desired effect achieved polish Thanks for your help. Neal

I looked and couldn't find a tutorial on clearing a body, and i was wondering what you guys think would work best on a figured and dyed maple veneer: Aerosol cans or hand-brushed polyurethane? Also, is it necessary to sand between coats. If so, what grits of sandpaper should i use, wet/dry, etc...I'm looking for something that will make the guitar have that 3d dive-into-it effect, and i was wondering the best thing to use to simulate that, and i don't have any sort of equipment. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. Neal

also, after spending some time on the sims website, I was wondering what you could use to get that magnifying effect for the actual inlay? I'm looking to use something clear and something that makes the led's real bright. Thanks. Neal

WHEN........WHEN you are good at making guitars? Dude, step back look at yourself, you are making all your guitars beautifully and by hand, and cranking them out like a 5 year old with a bunch of quarters at a gumball machine. It's amazing.......makes me want to cry You are like the epitome of a skilled guitar maker......WHEN you are good.........when aren't you? Just talking aimlessly. Neal

did anyone on the board win?

oh, and for more info, go to the pinned topic on how to fold a 1/4 inch top on the first page of this section. Neal

ok, here it is: nsherman2006@hotmail.com I appreciate your help. Neal

hey.....a question i can answer......I FINALLY CAN BE A CONTRIBUTING MEMBER!!!! A drop top is a top for a guitar that is bent to fit the contours of the body. They are usually figured, and a drop top is done rather than sanding the top to fit the guitar, you can soak the wood or steam it in heat until it is pliable, then glue and clamp it so that it takes the shape of the top of the guitar body

Hi. I was admiring that awesome LED guitar, and I was thinking about taking a saga kit and taking off the fretboard, putting in some red front dots, and making a kickass guitar.....anyway, i was wondering if you guys could give me the basics of what to do. So far, I'm thinking I will take a dremel and drill holes where the inlays were, then rout two channels parallel to the truss rod channel. I would cut small slits under the fretboard for the LED leads, then hook everything together in a parallel circuit, leaving a hole for the two wires at the butt of the neck, and running the wires to an on/off switch and a 4 AA battery box. I was wondering what you guys think about the feasibility/correctness/chance of happening of this, and maybe give me some hints on how you did them. Thanks a lot. Neal

Hi. I am gonna be building a kit guitar, and I was wondering how hard it would be to remove the fingerboard from the neck on a saga guitar kit? I want to experiment with led inlays, and I am fairly sure that I will have to remove the neck. Thanks in advance for your help. Neal

Hi. Before I go ahead and build a guitar from scratch, I'm gonna do another kit strat. I want to put on a nice flamed maple veneer and stain it blue. I am wondering if i could stain it black and back to bring out the figure, or is veneer too thin/fragile? I appreciate your help. Neal

anything available?

that would be greta. Thanks.

I want to do a Schecter 006-style body with a flatter top with 2 contours on the front, normal one on the back, hoprfully a nice quilt maple top with black sanded back to blue stain, semi-gloss finish, and, get this, LED INLAYS!!!, but since this would be my first guitar from scratch, it's not gonna come out nearly the way I want it to.....whatever

I kinda want to start building a guitar from scratch, and it would be cooler to see how a variety of people did it, and then do certain things in the way that would produce the best results with your individual skills....that would be sweet

I'm 15, started 2 years ago, and I still suck, but I'm starting to see some improvement. maybe someday in the distant future I'll be half-decent!!!

I have to say it's a toss-up between Hendrix and Vai, and since Vai isn't on here and I already voted for him in another poll, I'll go with Hendrix. I would say that Vai has more speed and technique, but Hendrix has the upper hand in creativity and originality imo, plus he just has this Hendrix aura that makes him one of the immortals

Everly's.....I got 20 sets for 28 bucks, including 4 t-shirts with a half naked chick on the front , and I really like the way they feel, play, and sound. Please don't hurt me