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It is simple what I asked myself a lot of time For my current job I have to use poly. I don't know if I should sand after each coat or not. Any experience here guys? I seen you applyed sanding sealer, a lot of folks don't. They say the finish doesn't look deep so. But I see your is really deep!!! (Where's Drak ) Thanks for the clear reply.

Amazing man... amazing You did a great job, that's a mirror, not a guitar top So you used nitro 50% thinned. A way too much also for me from what I did read. On labels it says 10% thinner but yours looks so awesome. I have to try it. 25 coats of lacquer, I guess that so thinned you needed a lot of coats on. The key is patience, you sprayed 10 coats, then you waited 20 days before the first level then the other coats and another 2 weeks?!?! for final polishing. A great self control man, but I see that it's worth the time. Whan you polished with 1000, you sanded down all shiny spots, when you switched to 1200 and other grits, what was the signal to change them? If you have no more shiny spots and the surface is all dull, when do you change from 1200 to 1500 and then 2000? This always perplex me!!! I haven't done so much polishing jobs and they turned good but not so great!!! Cheers again man!!!

Totally agree.

Just curious to know some feedbacks from you. A friend of mine has a Drop Top and I liked the PUs (For the moment I cannot try the guitar ) . My question is: how different they really are from other classic replacements like Seymour Duncan or Di marzio? I believe they're more close to Seymour but if I would want to associate them with any model in particular, then I woulnd't know. I would try them in my next project, something like H1- / SA1 / H2+ or maybe two singol coils. They would be more expensive for me than other brands so I'm asking. I've heard about Anderson like a temporary trend but they wouldn't be so good, then there's who swears they really are something special. Ok, it always is a matter of taste but.... let's go with your comments about Edit: do you know where I can find the Switchero scheme? I found a link here but the page has been removed.

Hey man, don't believe what kinda of strange weird trick you have to do. The advice Southpa gave you is one of the methods a lot of folks use. If it is a Fender like nut, give it some rap with a small chisel from the side. You should get rid of it easily.

True.... but he's speaking of Alder, body wood

You can use 2 part slow setting epoxy (black dyed if it is ebony) or CA glue. If you want sand the board to 16" ok but what hardware do you have? If you have a tremolo like the Strat Standard you can act on every saddle so you could leave the board 20" if you like it. Of course a new nut would be better. If you have for example an Ibanez RG320, then you want to sand to 16". Take care while you modify tha radius. You have to use 80 or 120 grit so you put deep scratches in. Switch to 120 before complete and then 150. It takes mooorrrrre time but you can start to remove the scratches. Then polish it up to 1000 or more. I have the same inlay and I have to say that with 120 grit, then 220, 320, 400, I already had the majority of the scratches out and a good amount of shine back. If I miss something or I am wrong, please correct me.

Eheheh I think a lot of members know that seller His products are very good and not expensive.

On tight radius and lower action sometimes when you bend on upper frets the notes choke by hitting the next fret. This doesn't happen with flatter radius and lower action. Usually flatter radius are good for rock and fast note playing I have to say that many people I encountered, don't like flatter and/or low action. did you read my reply to your other post?

That inlay is 3 mm thick. I have the same, so I gave him that advice if he needs to change the radius.

To set up correctly your trem I believe you should change the spring with different kind. I have a guitar equipped with 09 - 42 and one with 09 - 46. The springs are bigger on the 09 -46.

There's a tutorial on how to setup the guitar in the main section of the site. Then did you change the gauge or it is the same? Did you stretch the strings? Did you change anything in the tremolo setup?

Man, maybe I understand: you bought your board and the pre cutted inlay from Al on eBay. Right? So you asked the difference between 20" and 16" radius. If yes let me say this: if you're going to use that fretboard on a Floyd equipped guitar, consider the bridge and locking nut radius too. On Ibanez is 17" on many models and 16" on Korean made models (I mean bridge and locking nut). So you should continue to sand the board after gluing the inlay with the block radius You can modify a flatter 20" radius with rounder radius without many problems.

Edit: I put two times the reply too

It's a matter of taste but not exclusively. Personally I began with classic so for me it's good a flatter radius like 16 or 17". But as I said there are also the facts. A tight radius makes chords playing and bending in the range 1st - 7th fret more easy but you cannot achieve low action without lost of sustain on upper frets. I found on my Strat, that on 17th 19th frets the guitar doesn't lose only sustain, it just doesn't play well The 16" is nearly flat but you can still notice the fretboard is curved, on 20" is more accentuated, is really near flat!!! Use some high grade lemon oil to polish the fretboard. That should fix your problem. I would sand ebony up to 2000. It seems to mirror the light so Have you tried to use air from a compressor to blow the majority of the powder? Usually it works. Then PM a mod, you opened two times the same post

Good luck man... and we will want to see your works when done!!! P.S. Take back Jeremy

Go on man!!! Great as your first one!!!

Hey Bro, I see swirl is no more a mistery for you I'm so concentrate on neck I stopped any trial. I have to begin again. For that.... I really liked the GMC and the Blue MC. I don't see tha red-yellow a good-looking combination! Did you try the pink-yellow-purple (or green)? That seems me a nice combination. BTW the white does't seem a good choice as 3rd color, blue may be or orange, fuchsia. I really don't know cuz it dosn't inspire me

it's possible he's seeing the fine compound scratches but on last lacquer coat I woundn't strat with 400!!! Also he stopped to 1000, not up to 2000. As Devon said, try to get the swirl remover and apply it. If you can still see the scratches I would wipe down the body with naptha and apply another 2 o 3 coats of lacquer, then start to 1000 up to 2000, then fine compound and swirl remover. Finer grits take longer but you have a more free scratch surface.

Ok thanks. The metal complex dyes seem to work well virtual for everything! I have to see if I can get them in Italy. I will look for a 3/4" bit. I have the fear with that jig to mark with the router bit the side of the neck. Do you place the bit just on the neck or do you let any space? I mean, if you look at the Myka's jig, look at the picture where the bit is on the neck. Do you place it so? Thanks Neil Gianluigi

Neil but StewMac doesn't ship the liquid stain. They say are flammable item that cannot ship I'm making a JEM neck, the back is near flat while the 7/8" bit seems to make a round profile, or am I wrong? I remember you use an acrylic water base finish as sealer under the automotive 2 part poly. What brand do you use? I tried to search a polyester finish that seems to work great under poly but all I was able to find is a polyester sealer for furniture. I dunno if it will work under poly. BTW if it's a polyester finish should work under another acrylic finish like the DuPont poly but I still didn't try it. Gian

Neil, all your works are extremely clean!!! And great pictures for all us!!! For rough carve the neck the last time you used a 1/2" roundover, now a 7/8"? I'm a bit confused. A want to use one with the jig for my neck. I need a kinda of near flat profile, I believe a 1/2" will be fine.

The neck I'm making is for a JEM body I bought from him. You'll see a complete work

Also to me!

Does anyone know what is the width on a 1999 American Standard Strat? I'm going to refret it (maple neck) and I have 2 fret wire, one .020" and another .023". Will one of them work? On Fender site they says only the radius for the replacement frets but nothing about measurements.