gpcustomguitars

Thanks! Still working on the shop, I still sorely miss the orbital sander...anyway, here's the next one (one of them): I guess you can tell I took this pic I'll get help with a proper photo when it's done, but basically, this is my own LP, made about 8-9 years ago. Sapele body, mahogony neck, MOP details from an actual shell brought from a vacation, plain maple top etc...Big sound, but terribly heavy, and the neck profile was off and too thick. I scraped and rasped new neck thickness and proper profile, reset the nut and did a relief on the back, a la Dickey Betts. Also, wanted to change the look a little, and cut a pickguard out of some white acrylic plate I have. The sound actually got bigger with the weight loss. I want to sand it some more and repair the lacquer, but without the color, I want the transition plainly visible. Very comfortable too, although I would never say I would like a tummy cut on a LP before... I plan to finish all the guitars I didn't quite finish over the last few years, we'll see how that goes

Thanks Scott! I had some surgery done, and then had a burglary which left me without almost all the power tools in the shop... They left the bandsaw, as it was too heavy, but the rest...no guitar parts were taken, or the guitars - they just wanted the power tools. So I was not in the mood for a while, and then did a tele last summer for a class of kids as a graduation present to one of them - just couldn't say no , they had a really low budget and really wanted that guitar as a gift to their classmate. I actually had to go and buy a router to do it Then some knife handles, an actual knife, a mug, some bows for the kids, wooden working Colt Walker, bog chair for me and then decided to finish this one finally and restart the guitars. I'm working on finishing a few more, we'll see what happens

Well, after a looong time, it's finally done! A lot happened in the meanwhile, and this came back from the back burner just now. 2 generic hums, nice sounding tho, clasic wiring. I got some help with this photo, my version would have been really bad... Hope you like it!

Well, got the parts, and some surgery done, just to get myself back up and I'll string it up, really excited to see what came out! Parts look fine to me, but we'll see...

I'm trying out the guitarfetish one, wanted their Alnico II PAF's, but decided to use some pups I had already. I'll get the PAF's for No2.

Assembly! Still waiting on the abr and the togggle, but the rest of the parts arrived today, so it looks more and more like a guitar! I've started carving the No2 top.

Thanks! Buffed out the No1, and started the assembly, No2 will wait for now. I'm missing a few parts, abr bridge being the most important one, but I'll do everything else while waiting on the mailman...

After some computer problems, some new pics. I've just finished wet sanding the No1 finally, I'll buff it out tommorow and start the assembly. In the meanwhile, No2 is progressing nicely. I have changed the procedure in some details slightly, and so far so good. Only problem I had was with the cheap wood screws I used to glue on the top - 4 out of 4 snapped when I tried to unscrew them, so I had to drill around them a bit, to get some grip for the pliers, and got them out. No damage done...just some wasted time. After all the routing of the top angles and the ledge etc, I bound the body last night. I got a dedicated jig for routing a lot of neck related things, and tried it out on truss rod channel, way better han what I used to do I want to route the neck pocket now, fit the neck, and then glue the fretboard and carve the top.

Glued the top using the new scrap-made jig, sanded the neck planes flat, and thicknessed a few faceplates. Then thicknessed and flattened the top, and glued it on. For the next session, I'm planning just a lot of routing - truss rod chanell, various top routes, binding ledge and rounding the back edge..

Had some other things to finish, but back to No2! Glued the neck lams together, prepared the top to be glued tommorrow, and prepared the headstock face plate. The body base is sanded, waiting for the top.

Just plain acetone. I used to use it clean, but now I add some binding scraps to it, approx until it becomes milky coloured. I think I like it more, so I'll stick with it for now. I tried the superglue, but it was hard on my fingers, and besides, it's not necesarry. I use it on binding the fingerboards, I believe it helps prevent any issues due to sweat, dirt etc, but I might be wrong...

Started No2! Also working on v1.1 of the tr cover cutter, MDF could work if I put 2 dowels in. Salvaged already made template by making it 2... Started by making sure that the body base is prefectly flat, and proceeded by sanding the back to get rid of all the marks. Next I plan to sand the sides, too. Laid out all the wood parts of the build, seems it's all there!

Thanks! Just curious, I'm not really into relicing, but I might try something like that just for fun sometime...

Thanks guys! Wes, thanks for the tip, didn't know that. Can it be used to advantage, ie if I wanted to have the finish somewhat cracked? I definitely learned a lot regarding finishing on this one, and already know what I could improve on the next.

I think this is the final coat! Weather was great today, so I had a nice half an hour in the sun with the spray gun. While that was curing, I was fiddling with the truss rod cover cookie cuter. I tried to route one cover, but the mdf base cracked off in half, pic tommorow, but now I know that I want a bigger base, and that the base should be hardwood or plywood. Also, material should have the holes countersunk in advance, and obviously, proper guitar screws should be used... The actual bit to be used will be 45deg one, not this flush cutter.

Wes, you were right, it all leveled out nicely. After 3 more coats I sanded fm 270 to 800 with some soapy water (still on the guitar on the pics) and it's nice and flat now. I'd like one more coat and then I can start the final sanding/polishing.

Thanks for the tip Wes! I'll try to play on scrap a bit more with the spray gun, my finishing is not as good as I would like.Sprayed anoyher 3 coats of clear this morning. Cut some back covers between the coats.

Not scratches exactly, but the lacquer was sinking weirdly in that area - I think it's some sort of shadows of thicknessing the headstock on my router. Not actual toolmarks, but some sort of change in the wood, perhaps a dull bit overheating or something... Anyway, sanded it all out yesterday... I should get a new wide bit and see if it happens again.

Sprayed the logo, signed it, and decided that the signature is enough...OK, my wife said it's too much and I agreed Sanded the logo off, and resprayed the black, 2nd coat drying now, looks fine.

No, it's a pretty common surname here, but my brother's wife's name is Ana Popovic

Logo time! This is kinda primitive, but will do for this one time, I have to think of something better.

Then cut them in pairs, and glued with CA. Next stop will be bandsaw. Started lock sanding, 800 grit, I think it's fine so far.

Starting the truss rod covers - first I need to de-bend the abs strips prior to glueing them together. Some masking tape and a warm place for a while...

Thanks Scott! I'm very curious about the end result, as I would like to improve my finishing skills on this, So far so good. Oh yes, I love that place! I have some fruit trees, a veggy garden, my dogs, the shop, huge barbecue works under the roof, and a big kitchen type room with a nice couch and its about 300m from my house! The roof is actually grapes, and we get a lot f grapes on them starting from august.

...and the result: I still like it, easy to work with and dries really fast. I'll let it dry until tommorrow, and level sand it, then some more coats, I think 3-4.