kpcrash

avengers nailed it. As far as what can be used for sanding sealer.... I'll not start a flame war - but spackling compound is generally not a good idea.

Drill buffers are fine if you can control the speed - finish melt is not fun. One other thing I forgot is to make sure the finish is cured - if you can smell it - it isn't ready. I use a straight up buffer and a drill buffer for the horns and details - that's just personal preference. If the shine is good and there's no scratches - just polish it with something like Meguiar's #7, keep the pad speed under control and you should be fine.

Assuming that the guitar is already wet-sanded with at least 2000 grit or an existing finish. This is my routine to produce the much sought after mirror finish: 1. 3M Rubbing Compound buff until major scratches are gone - should be relatively shiny at this point - usually use a terry cloth pad for this on drill or 10" buffer 2. Meguiar's ScratchX - really starts to shine - different terry or microfiber 3. 3M Scratch Remover for anything left over - microfiber or polishing pad 4. Meguiar's #7 Polish - rubbed on by hand, buffed with polishing bonnet If dark color, VERY thin layer of Meguiar's Gold Class wax, buffed with polishing bonnet. I usually get a very deep clear shine this way. If there are marks that are still present after step two, go back with 2000 wetsand to clean up. Make sure your buffer/polishing pads are getting too hot and melting the finish (not usually a concern on existing finishes)

The ratio seems right, but in hindsight, at that mix, you may need to up your coats to 15. I read somewhere one time that with minwax rattlecan poly, you only needed 5 coats (guess that guy was heavy handed).

I use this as fine cut compound when finishing with great results.

Thank you very much. I've been rather obsessed with this the last few days and am confident with it now. Guess I had just gotten too comfortable with finishes that evaporate "quicker". Also, figure if I'm going to keep using this stuff - it's time for a few more fans in the drying area.

dugg - we should chat. I have been tempted myself to add a circuit right to the guitar but have this fear (knowing electronics) that if the bypass fails I'm in constant shred mode (some may like that). Theoretically - it's a logical idea, in reality I'm very curious. I'm actually looking at a bass right now that I'm thinking of testing this on. Why? Seems that in a world of so-so amps and house PA systems, that would be a way to ensure the appropriate growl that we all play bass for. Just a thought

Nice job - I like the tuning peg stripe

Hey - let me know a cost on the Tele - it would go great with my AceCaster.

You may be able to scuff/respray and have a decent finish - make sure you clean the body with naptha as some wet/dry papers have a silicon based lubricant embedded. How many layers did you spray? With Minwax Poly, I usually do 3x3 coats - meaning 3 coats 1/2 an hour apart every 24 hours (minwax is pretty stable) for 3 days. Also - make sure you use a sanding block and let the paper do the work being EXTREMELY careful on the edges. Depending on the size of the area sanded through, you may be able to spray some of the rattlecan paint into a jar and use a detail brush to recolor the body - let it dry completely and sand flat before clear coating. Hope this helps.

Do you have a pic, or link to one?

Not really as pots control how much signal is sent to the ground and how much of certain frequencies are sent to ground. The number is a threshold of what frequency at which the pot starts grounding out signal. 250k has a (relatively) low threshold, therefore most of the higher/trebly frequencies are stopped there. A 500k pot lets more treble through, thus providing somewhat sharper highs and not as warm lows as 250k (caps also play a major role here). 1 Meg pots are (IMHO) merely for those that don't like tone with balls. Another thing to consider is that when you use pots, their values accumulate. For example, if you have a 250k V and 2 250k T you have 750k Active pickups are typically connected to 25k pots because their frequencies are usually pretty canned and built in by the manufacturer. This is not a bad thing - as it lends towards consistency. To modify this, different capacitors can be used to shape the tone of the pickups in conjunction with the tone pot. Ok - I'm off the soap box.

Ok - got it done - looks pretty darn good this time. Image link below Glowing Ibanez Glowing Ibanez #2

Ok - one plywood bass body. Pics below. Used a template I've used before to cut/rout it out - trying to keep it as "normal" as possible. Has a couple of coats of sanding sealer on it and some obvious sand marks right now, but progress is progress. Based on these pics - I'm open to any and all suggestions for a finish. I don't think the top layer has anything special to offer - but the arm contour looks pretty cool (IMHO) I thinking maybe transparent red???

You can, but you may want to add a treble bleed cap to the tone or the active may have too much treble for your liking.

Just in case it's needed by anyone, I have plenty of web space/bandwidth to host website/images to show you stuff, whatever. More than willing to trade hosting/domain reg. for various parts.

Needs to have typical tree of life inlay - figured I'd ask before building as this is a hurry up project all of the sudden.

Let me know if you can't find one anywhere else, in the meantime, why not just wear down the chrome a bit with some 0000 steel wool? http://cgi.ebay.com/1980-Fender-USA-THE-ST...1QQcmdZViewItem

This is a fabric finish with a few ghost flames thrown in for fun. This was done purely for fun to experiment with fabric finishes and to see what my basic bass style looked like. Body is actually contoured, will get more pics as avail. Camera suffers from user error.

Hmm... I use a 10", but principles should be the same. I always start with the terry cloth bonnet, damp and Mequiar's or 3M. Only caution - if it isn't all the way the cured, the heat will build up and dent like hell (ask me how I know ). Once I am satisfied that I see no swirls or lines from sanding, switch to Meguiar's #7 glaze with the polishing bonnet. Again, watch the heat, but be firm. I tend to keep a spray bottle of clean h20 nearby as if this stuff starts to dry to quickly, it may produce undesirable results. A little mist everynow and then lets you preview the finish while buffing. Sometimes, usually dark colors, I'll hit with just a thin layer of Meguiar's Gold Class Wax - VERY SPARINGLY. Not necessary, but seems to provide just a little something on the darks.

Maiden, I'm curious, what did you use for a base coat/primer on these two? Thanks!

Just FYI, if you ever need to replace the "cushion", just buy a roll of self-adhesive foam insulation like you would use around a door or window. Extremely effective and cheap.

Started on my plybass today. Found some pieces of 5-ply lying around. Trying to decide on standard shape or other. Figured since someone's already building a 6 string, what happens for bass as well? The neck I'm planning on using is a maple/rosewood neck that's straight - nothing fancy. I am shaving it down like hell though to make it more "RG" like (sorry, I'm a Wizard fan as well). Top ply actually doesn't look bad and covers the top of the body in one piece. Hmmm.....

Cool - my decision right now is P/J or two "humbuckers". I have a couple of 30k Ohm 4-string pups that I'm dying to try out in something.

Syxxstring - you were correct. After submitting this post last night I went back to reading about the differences in shooting water-based vs. solvent-based. This is the first "real" project I've done with water based material and of course, being such a light color was presenting some challenges. The basic setup WAS Ibanez 550 body with varnish-based sanding sealer applied in 3 very thin coats. This was of course sanding smooth with 600/800 and I applied the Spaz Glo White Backer as originally, this was going to be Spaz to a test piece. Talked to some people and they showed me faskolor - decided to try it since my conscience wants me to be safer in the shop. Test piece looked fine. Base coated with faskolor white let dry for 48 hours, sanded smooth (600 - had just a couple of gnats land in the paint - welcome to summer in VA) and then tried the following: 1.0 mm tip @ 32 psi, flow control almost closed - looked like orange peel (no reduction) 0.7 mm tip @ 40 psi, all flow options, reduced 5 to 1 - looked better, but took forever to dry 0.3 mm tip @ 50 psi, full flow, reduced 5 to 1 - perfect coat - just took forever with a .3 tip I honestly had not seen the 10:1 (oversight?) so I will give that a try and see if I can get the same coat with a larger tip. What frustrated me was of course, was that it was taking forever to dry and nobody warned me about Createx/Faskolor's pilling/peeling factor when sanded. Now I know (and knowing is half the battle). On a humorous note, I have considered getting one of those old-fashioned beauty shop hair dryers and fashioning it to hold a guitar body so that I can get the paint to dry in the same day it's sprayed Thanks! Adding a pic here - camera makes it look rather green - but effect is outstanding.