RestorationAD

Painting continues to be boring. Now there are a bunch of Cat o Nine tails in the area next to the house. And their seeds are like dandelions white fluffy floating paint harbingers of doom...

Painting is boring.

Man I have been busy.  My kid's High School Lacrosse season is over but we still have Travel Lacrosse this summer so I am still busy.

I listen to a lot of prog.

Arch/Matheos Winter Ethereal. I can't stop listening to this album. I was never a Jon Arch fan. I am a huge Ray Alder fan. Still I liked Awaken the Guardian and remember playing it all the time. This is Jon Arch's greatest work. It helps that 3-4 of the songs were supposed to be Fates Warning songs.

Ok next post back to what I have been up to.

This. props. \m/

So basically I can probably hit the k for each. I have a plan for lack of a bobbin. Just can't manufacture the covers. If we found a cheap rip off I might be able to replicate them....

I understand the "Red Special" thing. I have the same fondness for "Old Boy" (Iommi's main axe).

I am thinking I can replicate the coils as I have a knack for the impossible. I can source the A2 magnets. The problem is the beautiful chrome covers.

Anyway here is some more since we all decided to brain dump in @komodo thread.

More info Regarding the coils - all early European pickups (Hofner / Framus / Hoyer etc..) were built this way. The coil is wound on a removeable chassis - and then completely wrapped in a special armature winding tape (takes ages to learn this - they are ridiculously delicate!). The whole thing is pulled tight - just like lacing up your boots. The magnets are vintage ceramic (similar to Alnico 2). They have been out of production since the early seventies - I have to have them custom made - and they cost a fortune!!! The coils are then placed arround the bar magnets (the holes in the chrome top covers are purely aesthetic). The whole thing is then glued solid to prevent the brass top covers from causing howling. This is exactly how they were made 40 years ago - and they sound great!!! Many thanks for your enquiry. Our pickups are identical re-creations of Tri-sonic pickups built between 1960-65. We use the exact build methods and original components - they are even wound on the original late 50's Burns winding machine, making them the most accurate version of this classic pickup - period!!!!! We can easily supply a hotter bridge pickup, however on Brians guitar the "hot" pickup was in the middle position. Most Red Special experts want - neck pickup approx 6.5k, middle approx 6.9k, and bridge approx 6.7k. Apparently these figures are based on Greg Fryers restoration of Brians original guitar. Regarding pots and caps, Brian's were Omeg 220k log B pots with a .022cap, although Burns originally used 500k pots in the 60's.

5 hours ago, komodo said:

That's what I've been using. It's worked so well I see no reason to try anything else. But, I've never shot it 100% before. 

Fun story - on the last guitar, the weather was nice and I wanted to get a quick spray in. Autopilot kicked on and I grabbed a cup and mixed a quick 1:3 mix and scrambled to get my spray stuff setup before light faded.

BUT - when I went back to my cup, I was like "why is the cup all funny looking and sorta warped"? Of course, I grabbed a clear plastic cup because thats what was right there instead of the paper cups 1 foot away. Can I GENTLY pick it up and pour it into the paper cup? Please?! No. No you can't. The cup just went away like a popped bubble, or a wisp of smoke that never existed. The next 15 minutes were spent cleaning all the lacquer from my table saw top, and the floor, and the . . . . . .

Been there done that. Grew up in body shops/race shops and learned to paint in the late 70s through the 80s (as a puppy). I have mixed some old school nitro hot before. I learned Epoxy from the race shops. 

Just now, RestorationAD said:

Stop. I was not. I WILL NEVER use gold hardware. Never.

If someone gave me free gold hardware I would turn the torch on it and bake the electroplating off... and if it melted I wouldn't even feel remorse as I saved some poor unfortunate soul from owning a guitar with Gold hardware.

3 hours ago, Mr Natural said:

RAD was contemplating gold hardware with that roasty toasty ash

 

Stop. I was not. I WILL NEVER use gold hardware. Never.

11 minutes ago, komodo said:

What are you using for sealer here?

 

Moar Lacquers... ?

Silliness aside a serious set of heavy coats of un-thinned Behlens Instrument lacquer from an old can I don't trust anymore (turned out to be fine).

Normally it is epoxy or super glue... but then I have to add a coat of shellac to make sure everything sticks.  I really dislike vinyl sealer so I never use it.

For this thing I just don't care. Since it is all close grained and already full of epoxy Lacquer is fine.

I am going to scuff it with 400 and then shoot a color burst then more clear on top of that.

All the scratches are gone. 400 grit sanding done. Grain filled. Hopefully I get time to shoot some clear on it in the next few weeks.

Grain filler exposed the cross grain scratches left by Warmoth Monkies.

Decals for the Strat. We decided on Chaco as the name because it was cool and hiking in Chaco New Mexico was a great memory.

In Chaco NM their is a petroglyph called the Sun Dagger (it is cool google it). SO I am adding a Sun Dagger to the back of the headstock. 

31 minutes ago, ScottR said:

Now that is something I do as well....although not so much teak oil as Watco Danish oil and tru oil.

I like what oil does to deepen the natural colors of the wood, so my normal procedure is to let the body soak up a couple coats or oil, let them dry and then shoot lacquer. I have some Behlen Teak Oil and used it exclusively for one guitar's finish. As you mentioned it takes a bit longer to dry and I feel like the Danish oil deepens the colors just a bit more.....that may just be me.

SR

Not you. It is the mix. All the brands behave differently. Danish, Teak, and Tung oil recipes are all subject to interpretation. 

23 hours ago, ScottR said:

I had not considered that option....sounds like the best one I've run across.

SR

I use teak oil + lacquer a lot.   

I started with tung oil. I liked it but it takes too long to dry and isn't as durable as one would like. I have tried all the other oils and disliked them for various reasons. Designed for gunstocks, patio furniture, doors, end tables, etc... you get the idea. I even made some of my own with linseed oil and beeswax and various varnishes to varying degrees of success. 

I finally settled on using Behlen Teak Oil for the base. All teak oils are different but the idea is linseed oil, tung oil and a thinner to make them easy to apply and dry well. Behlen seems to have the best mix (Watco is second) most others are garbage.

Once the teak oil is dry I move onto a film finish. Almost always use behlen instrument lacquer or minwax polyurethane.  I have found that a few light coats of lacquer is nice if you want a shine and a few coats of flat or semi-gloss poly works well if you want it to look and feel like oil finish. 

I guess I finally answered my questions from this post.

https://guitarlogistics.blogspot.com/2011/02/notes-on-oil-finishes.html

23 hours ago, ScottR said:

Filling the grain (dark fill I presume?) will go a long ways. The oil made the grain almost invisible in your pics, and it stopped looking like ash.

SR

Not sure. Was planning on clear but I get what you mean. I will have to ask the owner what he wants.

12 hours ago, avengers63 said:

RAD is making pickups again....

And he's making blades....

must not harass too hard, even though I've been begging for another set for several years....

I will get to them. Unfortunately, I am not making a single coil S9 for about three guitars so it may be a bit. 

They are on the list... single coil blades. I still have to solve the magnet problem. The set I made you had magnets that I had laying around. While this is cheap it is hard to reproduce. I have two designs in mind. One uses traditional ceramic magnets and the other uses a newer neodymium magnets. The problem I have had in the past with neodymium magnets is they usually result in a very bright clean pickup (no grit). Great for basses but not so much for guitars (unless you want really clean pickups).  

Looking good SR

In my experience Matte finishes are harder to do (without a paint booth) than gloss and eventually wear shiny spots from sleeves and hands. 

The problem with matte finish is the last coat has to be perfect. No drips, bugs or dust because you can't sand it.

I can see 400 grit scratches so that is not an option.  I have done some nice semigloss finishes by hand rubbing flat polyurethane over a nice oil finish. That is what several of my favorite guitars have as a finish. It holds up well and because it is semi gloss the shiny spots are not as noticeable.  It is also easy to fix and keeps the moisture out.

15 hours ago, ScottR said:

Crazy, what that oil did to the roasted ash.

SR

I was betting on it looking nicer than a dark stain. Once it dries I will fill the grain and shoot some clear over it. 

39 minutes ago, mistermikev said:

gawd, I can't imagine.  it'd be one thing if they were all the sm... but I'm struggling right now with 2 guitars at one time and they are 80% identical.  It's a lot harder than I would have thought! 

There is a reason one of my threads is pinned in this forum.

Nothing to do with guitars just @Prostheta are friends

21 minutes ago, mistermikev said:

you are all over the place in your updates!  good for you.  I find it difficult to stay focused on 1 guitar project let alone several! 

that warmoth body looks great sanded.  some beauty wood there.  someone is going to be very happy with that dark look I bet.

3 guitars at the same time is easy compared to the 10 - 16 I used to work on at a time. 

Sanded up and ready for sealing. No cross grain scratches in this one.

Threw some oil on the bass as well... then ran out. So now I have to go stock up.

Next up Teak oil

I am going to have to sand this out more as the oil shows all the scratches left from Warmoth sanding. Cross grain scratches in a professional body. Again not impressed. It turned really dark.