Maiden69

I dnt like tenons... That is the only thing I have never liked about Gibsons. I'm a sucker for their shape, except maybe a few models. I'll be tuned to see how this one turns out.

That is a solid piece of ebony! Are you painting this one?

You scare me $hitless!!! I come back from a week field excercise and see that banner and thought the site was hacked or something. I do like the lay out now better than the last iteration, how ever, I'm missing my spell check as I type with this version. Waiting to see the end version.

I think what threw me off to think the neek was in deeper was the distance from the bridge to the end of the guitar. On his it is smaller.

Guitar looks great together, can't wait till you get all sorted out and give us your last impression on it.

Damn...I put a strap on it and it's neck heavy.I did not see that coming on a strat...I'll need to start the thinning process on the neck tomorrow,there is nothing worse than a neck heavy guitar

I'm liking it a lot, never been a fan of spalt, even when Drak made those great looking teles. But with it being a multiscale and the slanted pickups, it makes it appealing to me. Looking at both guitars on your wall next to each other looks like that multiscale needed the neck further down the body with a deeper cut on the treble side. Kinda like how Perry did his multiscale.

Coming along great Wes, good idea on the ground wire for the bridge. I would be going crazy trying to figure out a way to rout and ground each one individually.

That turned out great! Waiting for some in the works video...

Love that blue, like PRS "Faded Jean" finish.

Those pickups are looking great! Definitely look like 80's metal. Like the DiMarzio X2N's but for a multi-scale.

Like Scott mentions, just paint over the areas that need coverage like spot painting to build up the area, then shoot a few coats over the entire guitar and level sand again and repeat if necessary.

That shape looks good. Going for a straight pull?

Spalted maple..... and multiscale???? from Wes? what that hell happen to you man. Old age is catching up?

Man... When Pat sims from sims custom shop, where I am currently working finishes a guitar, he takes a guitar un-grain filled and un-sealed, shoots 2 sealer coats of sealer and blocks them each out between coats. this totally fills the grain and gives a perfectly level surface to clear over. Then 3 coats of clear and water-sand and buffing... The right way to paint a guitar. No messing with grain fillers. Use a poly sealer blocked in between.... check out www.simscustomshop.com

Like mentioned above, it will work with tight grain woods only. For solid color painting you could use a heavy polyerster primer (like Slick Sand) and get away with it, but not for clear finishes.

I'm pretty keen to see the end of this SS8 though - it's been dragging its heels!

Yes it has, but it looks as it is on the way there now!

Good to see more progress on this one.

Nope, when you speed the process and the paint hasn't cure, it get's messed up when you are sanding buffing like sd mentions below. Mine was hard, no marks with my nails or sitting on top of the microfiber while I polished it. 2 years after buiding them, I went to Korea, and that's when the damage happened, also, the foam on one of my stands ate through the DEFT clear.

Maiden, My first build got the deft treatment. I let that one sit for 30 days and during the buffing stage I got marks on the back from the towel it was sitting on and had to re-sand that part. It buffed to a nice glossy finish but 4 months later you could see grain marks where it shrank a little further. Its been finished for around 2 years now and you can still leave a mark with your fingernail if you press hard.

That is beacuse you layed a too thick of a coat, or didn't allow enough time between coats. Happened to me the first time I painted with automotive lacquer. I layed coat after coat, no runs or nothing, but I didn't allow enough time between coats, so it became one thick coat that flashed on top and didn't allow the lower coats to cure. After 2 months in the shed, I took it out, and started peeling the paint away. The first layer was like gel!

Now if I use nitro I shoot may be 3 coats a day, the next day I sand with 400 to level, then shoot 3 more, the next day I may sand with 600 or 800 and shoot one medium coat followed by an almost 50/50 diluted last coat. After this I may have to sand with 1500 and polish after a week or more.

My Deft guitars cured rather quickly. I think that I was sanding and polishing them after a week. I don't like the durability of the paint, all those guitars got damaged in transport by the case fabric. Every single one of them. And the ones that I painted with Stew Mac nitro where fine. I would recommend next time if you don't have a spray set up, to get Behlen nitro and use the Preval system to paint them. 100 times better paint than DEFT.

On tho the guitars... I would go ahead and sand them down wet with 600 o break the surface, just in case it flashed too fast and is not letting the gasses out like it should. That also happens when too wet coats are applied.

They are coming out great. The rear was beggin for more pore filler, CA glue is your friend... as long as you don't inhale it! I have grained filled wih it mahogany and black limba with great results. The front are looking good, a little more clear and some wet sanding and you should be set.

And that cocobolo for $7 was a steal!

So, what is your veredict on the flap disk? I love it to death, no matter what I'm working on, wood or metal.

I don't know, as I haven't bought in a while. It's a shame if he shut down because he had one of the best selections at fair price.

I edited that in 2008 when we decided that restricting to 4 pics per post on the build-tutorial threads was more of a hasle for the poster was well as for the member viewing the thread... I don't see why you would need to post more than 4 pics in other topics.

And as Wes said, it is not an issue.

As far as internet, check with Brian (site owner), he may have some high speed internet finally but until a few years back he was still running dial up.

Same here, I made templates of everything for the guitar that I didn't plan on buying. The only thing I haven't made yet are pickup rings, so may be one day I will get some templates for those too.

TOP COAT OF CLEAR... you cannot leave auto clear that long and then just spray another coat. It'll need to either sit around for a week or so (until you put your nore on it and not smell chemical) and then sand before spraying, or you just spray enough layers in the previous step and then cut/polish. Obviously this cant happen if you're using additives in the clear, but I suggest that the easy way is not always the best way.

I hope at least something here can help you out.

Cheers

This may be one of the reasons. I tried as much as I can to use the same brand products when I'm painting, but if I can't I make sure I read the product description to make sure that I can paint in the same way I always do, or if I have to make any changes. Once I finish prep and seal, it's game on till the last coat of clear is shot. This is with 2K only. From base coat to the last coat of clear is shot in the same day, within minutes from each other coats.

As far as gun pressure, it all depends on the gun you are using, mines are regular guns, so I run them at close to 45, but I have used some that run at 12 and flow the paint very ncie.

The preview is working now. I didn't pay attention to that menu on the left till yesterday. I switched mine to "new sincle last visit".

I replied to a thread by demonx and now I can't even find it. Also, everytime you go to check new content it gives you 5 pages of entries from the previous days (in my case, I checked in the AM and then again in the PM and got posts from 5 days prior). Also, the little arrow that says "preview this topic" is not working, I click it and it brings me to tthe top of the page.

This are the little issues I have found so far. I found the previous version easier to navigate. Congrats prostetha, didn't notice the Admin tab till now. Brian needed some help there for the longest time!