Mickguard

Definitely go for the P90s...but then I'm partial to single coils, I like the bite they give

I replaced the (tame, jazzy ho hum) humbuckers in my Samick Royale with P90s from GFS (humbucker form factor and real nice design)...much better!

I have no noise issues with this guitar (it has a center block), and I did nothing special with shielding...but then I don't use pedals and I keep my amp reasonably low. No feedback problems at all.

What about using headphones instead? Too much of a hassle with the cords? It would save you some space issues and routing.

There's a great idea...get yourself one of those Danoelectric headphone amps --the built in distortion is pretty good...and it's a real small box, it'd be easy to get that into the guitar body....especially if you took the case off....

it also has a line out, so your wiring would be simple --just take a stompbox jack to the line in of the dano, then position the dano's line out jack as the jack for the guitar...

I have one, I'll have a look to see if the line out works without the unit being on...

it also has a little 50s still echo

Ah okay, I didn't dig deep enough...thanks.

So, since the surface I painted is quite smooth--no orange peel, no overspray--I don't need to sand at all right now?

Can't do my clear coat today anyway, it's raining

Sorry, don't mean to flood the group but I can't find a simple answer to my questions...(and yes, I've been to the main site, to reranch, Stewmac...)

I'm working on a practice piece of wood before moving to the guitar itself. I'm using automotive sprays.

I've done my color coat and let that rest 24 hours. No spits, drips or runs!

Now I'm going to start the clear coats.

Do I sand the color coat first? Which grit? Or should I just wait and sand the clear coats?

(once I get to the clear coat, I plan on following the Trade Secrets tutorial and the Reranch tutorial --but neither are finishing over paint, they're going over dye)

I'm also practicing applying my logo using Jehle's logo method and my own extension on that (sanding the transparency)...

I like the two racing stripes that follow the line of the neck itself...it's the third one closer to the tip of the headstock that bothers me...cover that one?

edit: Am I the only one that thought the thread title said "A Good Fag for Newbies"?

I thought it was a British thing...

The guitar already exists...the Fernandes Nomad...I'm pretty sure there are a couple others...if you can get hold of one, you can figure out how they did it...the Deluxe model even has built in FX...or you can have a look at this:

http://tinypic.com/x6rec

The Davoli Bikini has to be one of the coolest guitars ever...you could even make the speaker/amp detachable for using the guitar with a real amp...

I don't want to take up time and space if there is a FAQ for newbies that someone could point me towards.

Thanks

How about the main Project Guitar site?

I found some soft /foam sanding pads at the hardware store, about the size of a sponge, comes in various grits...

More thin coats rather than less thick coats is the rule of thumb.

Cool, thanks. So far so good....I've done three thin coats today...couldn't have picked a worse day, since it started to rain while I was painting!

But I'm doing this in a big barn/garage attached to my house ....might as well learn under the worst conditions before I move on to painting the guitar...

Biggest thing I'm learning about all of this is : patience

I'm doing a practice run with a board before I set in to finishing my guitar. I'm using rattlecans--automotive paint.

My first question: how much paint do I want to apply in a single pass?

In other words--should the pass cover the wood completely so it's opaque or should I just get enough on there to cover the wood but leave it transparent?

Ok, im running a Guitar making course starting in February, but im not sure if ive allowed enough time.

There's a place in England doing this...I don't have the link off hand (anyone?) but they run a permanent workshop where you pay them to come in and build your guitar under their supervision.

They include finishing as part of the service. Seems to me you should too 9not the sanding)--what's the point of making a nice guitar only to botch up the finish at home?

I'll see if I can find the link...

I know your frustration...

Fullserve doesn't seem to be working for me...

And the photos I have hosted by Tinypic.com don't work either (I'm guessing because there's no .jpg or .gif extension on them?)

I end up just posting the link...

How about covering it with a plate or pickguard...you could dress it up with a graphic...

you could also try to fashion a cover that fits the hole--route out the sides a bit to give it a shelf, then glue it into place

Have a look on Stew Mac, I'm pretty sure there's a good tutorial on this --if you look at the bindings items, there should be a tab for instructions I believe

I'm taking a few days to work on the headstock for the Bocaster's evil twin--the Bocaster Thinline... this one's gonna have a bigsby!

Problem is, the guitar I was shipped turned out to be a Stagg --with this ugly metal plate on the headstock! I immediately pried that off, then started looking for a way to fill the hole...but it was pretty obvious pretty soon that it would always look like a filled in hole...especially since I don't have any maple lying around...

So I stared...and I stared...and this is what I came up with:

Next up, I'm going to apply the logo this week, then spray some finish on it (just over the logo and along the sides, I was able to keep the rest of the finish in pretty good shape)

Can you paint on this paper AFTER you've printed it and BEFORE you seal it?

I want to color my logo letters in with silver pen --is this possible?

I'm still playing around with this...so far so good.

One issue of course is that when you sand the transparency paper, it turns white from the scratches...don't know if there's any way around that...

It definitely looks better though, lies much flatter than the unsanded paper, so it's a lot less obvious what's been done. You really have to angle it to see the edges --maybe by the time there's a good amount of finish build up it'll disappear completely.

Today I'm going to try coloring the sanded paper a bit...a little touch of tan in the shade of the maple should do it...I'm going to have a look at the kids' markers...going to try printing the logo with the color added in too...it won't need much to blend in completely...

If I didn't insist on silver in the logo though, I'd definitely stick with decal printer paper...

Well, I watched my very own body bubble up under the finish from heat expansion,

Hey, that reminds me of a scary sci-fi movie I saw when I was a kid...

But yeah, you figured it out...I'm stubborn and I just need to make my own mistakes...only way to learn. I already stripped this body once...if you notice, my design doesn't have too many curves to it

I get your point about moving the body inside...but I'll be able to leave it to dry for a while in the barn...I'm going to construct a little shelter for it in addition to that, just need to make sure the cats can't get in there...after that, I can leave my office/studio/practice space/workshop unheated for a couple of days , it'll be warm enough.

How long do you think the clear coat needs to dry before it CAN be moved inside?

Right now, it still gets into the low 50s during the day...

PS, Dan Erlewine is THE MAN. I learned quite a fair share of what finishing skills I have from Dan, so I don't know quite what to say, except I haven't seen the video of him shooting in freezing weather.

Hi,

Here's the link:[There's Snow in them darn hills!

Not only is he shooting outdoors, but he's bringing the thing back inside to his presumably warm workshop...that's supposed to be another no no, right?

Anyway, I'm going to give it a shot, worst that can happen is I strip it down again come Spring...or find a friendly body shop...

But I'll be able to set up a reasonably dust free space inside a big ol' drafty barn...I figure I'll do the painting outside then scoot it in there to dry a bit...I also plan on wearing a respirator...I did a little test spraying this afternoon, just a couple of psschts outdoors, and you can tell that stuff is nasty

I definitely would NOT do this in a confined space without some heavy duty professional equipment....

Hehehe...

Yes, it took me (being hardheaded and all) quite awhile to be OK with the fact that I couldn't shoot in winter, and finally finally finally just accepted it and moved on.

but ...but...sputter...sputter...what about the guy in the Stew Mac tutorial? The one shooting with rattle cans in the winter...outdoors...holding the damn thing by a stick...he gets a perfect finish out of it...

sure, he's obviously an expert....but ...but.... I can't wait that long!

I am looking at doing a semihollow body and I was wondering if anyone has ever made one that the neck is through-the-body?

I seems odd to have to make a center section, make a neck and then either set the neck or bolt it on. Couldn't it all be one thing? I've never seen this, but maybe this isn't such a wild idea.

Anyone know of anybody doing this?

Anyone know of a reason why it would or wouldn't work?

Anyone object to this union, please speak now or forever hold your peas!

sounds like a cool idea...you could make an open frame for the wings, then top them (or the whole surface) with the wood of your choice...

I've been playing around with this all day...here are two 'improvements'

1) : It's possible to sand the transparency before it's glued --that way you can control how thin the paper gets, and if you screw it up, it's no big deal. I ended up cutting the logo out in a long strip, using an end to hold it down while I sanded. I probably should find some kind of temporary backing to protect the inkjet/silver pen logo while I'm doing that , but it doesn't appear to have suffered. I sanded the paper until it was literally tissue thin.

2) : I used neoprene glue to glue it down to my test wood (pine, if that matters). Neoprene doesn't appear to make the ink run at all --and it's possible to slide the decal into place if it doesn't go on perfectly straight...

3) : I trimmed the logo as close to the lettering as possible. Don't know if this will cause problems later --for the moment, I'm using a water color varnish on top of these...I'm hoping that will provide the necessary protection if and when I use a rattle can on there...

Tomorrow I'll see what happens when I sand the varnish a bit...

Hello

Where do you buy the waterslide paper for decals?

DUNCAN

Did you try typing 'decals' in ebay?

There's a place in Paris selling packs of 10 inkjet papers for 10 euros...they don't specify if it's clear or white paper.

Make sure you write some kind of secret message inside before you glue it...

Hey, why not? When's the next time you'll ever get to write inside the neck pocket of a Les Paul?