JTisMe

That's what I figured, although it's hard to get folks who want to take your order today to admit to much more than, "we should be getting some more any day now". I'm hoping the Discovery Series guitars starting to hit the stores that indicates that Floyd has worked out an alternate supply chain for lower cost production of the bridge units, leading to more availability and aggressive proicing of both bridge system and strings. Wes, weren't you planning on doing a build with a Speedloader trem? Just down on the list of projects, or did you change your mind on that one? -jeff

I'll have to call next week. Selling and actually shipping isn’t necessarily the same thing, as I've found. No mention of the fixed version either. I may just have to swing by the Floyd Rose shop and see if they actually even exist :-) -jeff

I know a couple folks here have mentioned building a guitar utilizing the new Floyd Rose Speedloader bridge and string system. I have two Redmond series and totally dig 'em. I'd really like to incorporate the Speedloader into future builds, particularly the fixed bridge they show on their site. Has anyone actually got there hands on one as parts yet? -jeff

I would not be surprised if Brian may take a slightly different position with regards to this particular forum. Guy posts a quality diagram of a versatile, albeit complicated, wiring scheme in the electronics forum a guitar building site and within the first 5 replies are one of the most respected members making a condescending, dismissive 3 word post, and another "expert" taking jabs at the poster himself as well as his effort. Welcome to Project Guitar, hey where you going ... come back .... dang, another one gone :-( -jeff

I would not assume that any particular primer is also a sealer, although many are. While there is a overlap they do serve distinct purposes. Basically, a primer's job to provide an even, chemically compatible surface for the topcoats to adhere to. A sealer's job is to keep those topcoat chemicals isolated from what lies below (old paints, weird materials, etc.) to insure that no unpredicted reaction occurs which could cause blemishes in the finish. The best way to tell is ask your supplier. If you are buying off the shelf then try the manufacturers website, they usually have the tech and application sheets available, and some even have discussion boards hosted by reps. -jeff VanKirk - I'm up past Everett, although I do commute in Bellevue every day.

Thanks for the positive comments. I started with a clear sandable sealer from Ace. Next I applied several coats of PPG DBC500 tinted with a candy red House of Kolor Intensifier tinted slightly with orange dye. That is how I got the transparent candy red effect. I then took the rest of the mixed basecoat and added black dye, a little more each coat, to get the color for the edges. In person what you see is the original color darkening as it gets to the sides where it become almost black but still with a hint of candy. Finished it off with several coats of DC2021 high solids clear.

I saw Ozzy late in the 1982 tour with Brad Gillis and he was IMHO far and away the best Ozzy guitarist aside from Randy. In the last 5 years I feel Zakk has surpassed Brad, but he's no longer an Ozzy guitarist is he? He's become an icon (and industry) unto himself. -jeff

THD - Univalve in my favorite practice amp and the Flexi 50 - good lord, it'll do whatever you want it to. -jeff

What I did not do in the last post was address the cost of using these paints. You need multiple spray guns, a "better than Costco" compressor and most importantly a fresh air respirator system to keep the Isocyanates out of your lungs. This is the technology that allow robots to paint thousands of cars a day in Michigan and Ohio and what's safe for a robot is not necessarily safe for an actual living being :-) Since a climate controlled dust free spray environment is required for just about any finishing method (the old tree out back works just as well for this as it does nitro) that's a given. -jeff

Mickey, The info on the Stew-Mac and ReRanch sites is applicable to the instrument specific applications the materials they sell are designed for. That being said some concepts are universal. One being the better you prep the surface you are finishing the easier each subsequent step will be. Get the wood perfect before you whip out the product and you'll be smiling later. On to specifics: Warning: the products discussed are intended for professional use and are known to carry significant potential health risks. Proper care should be taken to insure that they are used in accordance with manufacturers recommended safety guidelines. PPG K36 is a sand-able primer/sealer. It's is designed to spray over existing finishes, bare metal, etc to provide a consistent chemically stable surface for the topcoats to adhere to. Pro refinishers need this to go on fast, bond perfectly to *anything* clean and sand easily. Builds fast refers to the primers ability to quickly build up to a significantly thick level, a couple millimeters actually. in a minimum of coats. Every minute in the spray booth is money so pros need to cut the coats to a minimum and get the next rig in as soon as reasonable. If you can get adequate thickness in two coats you've got a product you can sell. It also needs to flash off or set up in less than 20 minutes as well. More of the time is money doctrine. Once your primer has dried it's time to sand. In the case of K36 what I found was that id sanded very easy with little effort and did not clog even 400 grit paper, dry. It just came off in waves under the 9" block and contours were like butter. In my case I end up sanding off 75% of the accumulated primer leaving a smooth as glass surface that is perfectly matched for the basecoat coming next. This is the last time abrasive less than 1500 grit should ever touch the surface of one of my guitars (not that that ever happens:-). In the case of the guitar I currently have in progress the next step is base coat. Since we're talking PPG in this thread I'm using a Deltron DBCxxxx base coat. I mix it with the appropriate reducer and shoot to cover. What this means is I'm not going for thickness or luster or shine, but simply to get the depth of color that I am personally looking for. This should not take more than 2-3 coats and will be fairly thin and dull. Runs, specs and such at this point need to be addressed with care. Super fine pointed instruments and purpose designed tools are best and you only have minutes to act before the finish sets up. Once you have achieved a the desired depth and coverage of color it time to switch to the clear gun. High solids clears are the amazing. That finish on the new AMG Benz that you drool over in the parking lot at work? Two, maybe three coats and it will last for 25 years. It takes a while to get used to them, though. When they say "medium wet" coat they mean "lay this sucker on till you think it'll run off in sheets, then spray some more just for good measure" :-) I mean this goes on thick. It will flow out so smooth you may not even need to finish sand. Freakin' amazing stuff. Since I've already tossed out a couple PPG products here's another Concept 2021. Technique is pretty key with clears, you have to practice a bit to get a good feel. Wait till it flashes, maybe 10-20 minutes depending on ambient temperature then blast on another coat. If you think it needs another you're probably wrong but you may be able to get away with it. Clean your guns, change the filters on your fresh air respirator and pop a cool one, you've earned it. The next day you'll need to decide if you need to hit it with 1500 or just a super fine cut cleaner (Maguire's #2, followed by #9 on a random orbit sander). Assemble and play. -jeff

Next is an EVH style. Lic. Original Floyd Rose bridge, Pearly Gates 'bucker and a pair of Rio Grande singles. Sperzels lock the strings in good and help keep it in tune after dive bombs. -jeff

Always like red....and always like bursts. Here are a couple of recent efforts. First up is a Black Limba (Korina) strat style body that is now the proud home of the guts from a Line 6 variax 500. Since I couldn't just leave it at that I also added in a set of Tom Anderson magnetic pickups and put in a toggle to switch between the two systems out the same 1/4" output jack. -jeff

For those of you who shoot a lot of auto body refinish product this may be old news but I shot an Ash strat yesterday with this stuff. all I can say is wow. Builds fast, dries quick and sands easier than anything I have *ever* shot. It was cold here in Washington yesterday as well. While it's not cheap it is now permanently on the rotation for any solid color (or even car:-) that I do from now on. Also, since I had retired my old primer gun I pressed a Harbor Frieght garvity feed HVLP with a 1.4 tip into service. Even running the lower pressures I like to in my garage I was able to get good build with no spits. Did I mention that I like this stuff :-) -jeff

something like this would be easy http://store.yahoo.com/data-labels/roundlabels.html i'm sure walmart/target/walgreens etc... has plenty of similar choices. just lay a nice coat down of the color you want the dots to be. place the dots, spray your body cover, peel and clear :-) -jeff

the schematic: http://www.elecdesign.com/Files/29/6264/Figure_01.gif and the article it's from: http://www.elecdesign.com/Articles/ArticleID/6264/6264.html -jeff

Dave, you didn't mention what type of finish you used, but acrylic urethane clear systems from PPG and Dupont can be ready to sand overnight. The tech sheets provided with these products, or available on the web at the manufacturers site, will give more specific recomended times based upon the particular product selected. -jeff

Tim, one of the easiest ways for you to personalize your pickgaurd and get good results if you have an inkjet printer is to make your own water slide decals. Since I don't want to post a link to a commercial site the easiest way to see what I'm talking about is to type "waterslide decal inkjet paper" into your favorite search tool. It should come back with dozens of links where you can compare products. It is then just a matter of finding or making the graphics you want, printing them out, and placing them how you want. If you are really happy with the results you can get a can of spray on clear from the hardware/home store and give them some protection. Make sure it is compatible with plastic and has a little elasticity. I'm sure someone in the forums here can recommend a brand. Shouldn't cost more that $15 for the entire project and you're only constrained by your imagination. -jeff

Wow...it's been a while since I sprayed automotive but I know I'm not the first to say "Science is GREAT!". The new Basecoat/Clearcoat Urethane finishes are amazing. If you have more money than skill (like me) you cannot beat this :-) I do mean money though, since a good spray gun is >$200 and I have $150 into materials already and there ain't a lot here. I prepped the wood with inexpensive Ace clear sanding sealer then followed the manufacturers directions and so far so good on my test samples. We'll see as the day goes on but I'm liking it so far. -jeff

I'm messing around with using some House of Kolor "Kandy Kolor Intensifier" in PPG clear basecoat, then finishing it with typical high solids clear. Anyone used the HOK stuff before? Any recommendations on ratio? This stuff is pretty powerful. I'm thinking just a few drops mixed in with 200ml of base/hardener will give me the candy red tint I'm after. I think this will be one of those ideas which takes several test shootings before getting the desired results…. -jeff

Eddie's influence on every rock guitarist the following two decades put him in a class by himself IMHO. But if you want to hear how the guitar can be used in unique and interesting ways guys like Fripp, Holdworth and David Torn are worth an evening or twos. -jeff

I'll second the recommendation for a Speedloader. I have one on a Floyd Rose Redmond series and it is simply amazing. Abuse it and dive bomb all you want - you can't knock it out of tune. Changing strings is a piece of cake and to top it all off without tuners to worry about you can do all kinds of cool stuff with the headstock. -jeff