Claptonfreak

I'm doing the final things on my SG project before I apply the finish, and the final thing I have to do is put a custom logo on the headstock. I had it all designed and ready to go. I decided against inlaying because of the time it would take me to do. Instead I was leaning towards a gloss paint or a decal. I've already been unsuccessful in painting the logo on, so I was wondering if anyone had a good tutorial on making a decal that I could apply onto the black paint and then finish over. I've read the tutorial on this site, but I was wondering if there were any different/better methods that I could use to make one myself.

What I'm saying is before I applied my stain, I had grain filled the wood and it was extremely smooth. Now, after applying the alcohol it's doesn't have the same "Glass Smooth" feel. And i'm wondering if i need to restore this feel before applying Nitro Laquer to ensure a smooth finish in the end.

For my current project I wanted a very distinct cherry red color. So I decided to use Stewmac's stain concentrate (By colortone I think). Anyway, I sanded everything to 400 before I began staining, everything was grain filled and smooth. I wiped on the stain in many coats until the mahogany was very red in color. The stain did not raise any remaining grains but it did leave the wood less smooth than it was before. I used 99% alcohol to reduce the stain concentrate. My question is, what can I do to make the wood glass smooth again, wipe with a damp rag? sand with 400 again? and if I have to sand what will it do to the color?

For my current project I wanted a very distinct cherry red color. So I decided to use Stewmac's stain concentrate (By colortone I think). Anyway, I sanded everything to 400 before I began staining, everything was grain filled and smooth. I wiped on the stain in many coats until the mahogany was very red in color. The stain did not raise any remaining grains but it did leave the wood less smooth than it was before. I used 99% alcohol to reduce the stain concentrate. My question is, what can I do to make the wood glass smooth again, wipe with a damp rag? sand with 400 again? and if I have to sand what will it do to the color?

I just finished applying stain to my mahogany SG. It has been grain filled and sanded to 400 grit before i applied the stain. It was a red stain concentrate from Stewmac that I reduced with 99% alcohol. First of all, I assume that it will do no harm to sand the entire thing with 400 or 600 grit now. But I have been reading that some people apply a sanding sealer. Is this really nessicary and If so, what is the best stuff to use.

I just acquired a 1910 B&J Serenader. It is in relatively good condition for being almost 100 years old. There is a crack that runs down a portion of the spruce top and it goes all the way through. I've separated all the pieces and will be re assembling the guitar after I repair all the problems. The top is bowed and bubbled slightly and the back is worse. I've never done a repair like this before so I need some advice. I plan to strip the top and bottom of their finishes, soak them in very hot water for a few minutes, and then press them flat with a weighted press. Once the top and bottom are flat I will be able to repair or fill the cracks. Is this the best plan for straightening the wood? What is the best way to fill one of these cracks if the wood doesn't quite meet up once it's been straightened? I would like to preserve as much of this guitar as possible. Any help or experienced opinions are greatly appreciated.

Thanks for the help. I would have Inlayed first, except I ordered a pre-slotted and pre-radiused fretboard for this guitar.

I understand that I don't have alot of credibility, and my intent isn't to start some kind of booming buisiness up. But I do want to sell some of my custom builds to gain some credibility. I would do it out of my own pocket, but building a good instrument gets very pricey. It's almost $600 for the basic parts and wood for me to build a nice quality Strat. I'm not going to pretend that I'm some sort of master builder, but I am very good with woodworking and I'm very carefull and meticulous about my builds. The SG's that I'm working on now will be my 3rd and 4th solo guitars. But I've done tons of reading on building, and Strat's especially the vintage specs. My intent isn't to make money off of this at the moment, it's to maybe break even and get a little for my time. It's really hard to crack your way into the buisiness. But I wanted to challenge myself by making some good quality, hand made instruments. I did add a few pics of me working on the SG in the About section. I'm halfway done the build.

This is my first gibson style guitar. I normally do strats and the dot inlay's are easy, but now I'm doing an SG. I'm ordering the precut MOP inlays, they're 7mm thick I believe, and I have a flat template to clamp to the fretboard. The problem is' it's pre-radiused. So first, should I use some sort of dremel attachment to take advantage of the template, and then how do I make sure it's uniform depth with the radiusing?

Does anyone have a good SG (EB-3) bass template that they are willing to make a copy of for me? I need the neck and the body.

I just launched my guitar site. We do custom build Strat style guitars. Vintage and Modern as well as 20db E.C. midboost guitars. Hand wound pickups and Hand shaped wood. Check the about us section for pics of an SG build for a sample of my work. It's still in progress and I usually post updates weekly. Unfortunately I don't have pics of a Strat to post because I just started building guitars commercially. I had the parts for the SG months ago so I decided to build it now as a sample of my work. Fill out the order form for inqurieis on price and custom hardware. I use as many Genuine Fender parts as possible. blahunexshawguitars.tk

I was just wondering about a neck measurment. When they give a measure like .770" at the 1st fret. does that width include the fretboard?

Hi there, I'm a first time builder and I need some very specific instructions on a couple of things. First of all, I'm building a Gibson SG '61 Style. I purchased a template from guitarbuildingtemplates.com and I recieved it a few weeks ago. I now need to know what the best way is to take advantage of all the precision that the template offers including shaping the body, routing the cavities and routing the neck and neck pocket. Second, on the SG I love how the '61 side bevels are. They are precise and yet rounded for a warm feel. I have no Idea what so ever on how to shape the bevels. My closest guess is to use a small hand plane. Any help is really appreciated,