Crusader

Wow you're more domesticated than me! LOL

How on earth did you sew those, do you have a miniature sewing machine? I have a Necchi 544 and turn old work pants into shorts

Thanks for your explanations, yes it makes sense. It reminds me of something I heard years ago When they demolished the 100 year-old wool stores in Fremantle they sold off the timber and a guy bought some of the massive Jarrah beams to make pool cues He cut them into 1 inch square lengths and some of them stayed straight while some of them came out bent and twisted I can perceive the same principles with carved tops. You’re messing with the natural structure of the wood I was already thinking along similar lines, as if the timber is under tension, like if it was being bent, or curved. I ruled that out because it’s not being curved, it’s carved. But now I think about it, it all amounts to the same thing By the way when I read my previous comments I thought it sounded a bit “snappy” Sorry I didn’t intend it that way Well you’ve convinced me of what I should do and thanks again for your helpfulness cheers

Okay good theory but what about the other guitar? The top is as thick as a Les Paul but its on a hollow guitar. And it has a crack right down the thickest part of the top, and doesn't meet up with any holes. Very hard to take a photo of that one ...But I like y0ur thinking "just leave it" I want to get it strung up and play the confounded thing!

I forgot about this, I enquired at a guitar repair shop and this is their reply "Hi Doug,From what I can see, it is unlikely that you are pushing too hard. These paints have a fair amount of flex and would normally be able to cope with sanding. It may be a contaminant or issue with surface preparation" So surface preparation is a factor to consider and I did have issues with the ES-137 top and resprayed several times. I may have caused a problem with the surface preparation on it (sanding too fine?) However I have cracks in my other semi accoustic pictured here (I call it the "OSLP") btw there are a lot more cracks than this and they are not all associated with holes. In fact there are none around the volume controls So to summarise all my thoughts on this I'm looking for common factors between the two guitars *Both are semi accoustic - Both have cracks only on top = a clue *Top material - OSLP Qld Maple, ES-137 Rock Maple = no conclusion *Holes - Both have cracks no where near holes = no conclusion *Flexing - OSLP thick top, ES-37 thin top = no conclusion *Pre-spray Sanding - OSLP to 400, ES-137 to 800 = doubtful possibility *Colour - OSLP none, ES-137 yellow stain = doubtful *Type of Lacquer - both sprayed with same brand of lacquer = no conclusion *Issues with spraying = Bad finish on initial coats on both = no conclusion *Lacquer thinned - OSLP not thinned, ES-137 was thinned = no conclusion *Sanding and polishing - OSLP not sanded or polished, ES-137 sand+polish = no conclusion *Conditions when sprayed - OSLP 8th April 2018 25C degrees, ES-137 11th March 2020 30C degrees = no conclusion *Spraying - Both sprayed by me (Mr Impatience) - initial coat too thick? = possible reason *Time when sprayed - OSLP 6:00pm, ES-137 3:51pm - Both late afternoon = possible reason *Storage - Both stored in little tin shed with no insulation = possible reason So going by the things I have concluded as a possible reason I think I should; Sand back to wood up to 400, apply stain, wait for good weather, keep guitar overnight in place where will be stored, start spraying in morning with a light coat and let dry for 20 minutes, apply more light coats with intervals and finish by about 10am. Store in ventilated place with good insulation where temperature is constant That's what I would really like to do and if anyone has other comments or suggestions that would be great

I think the weather in April and May is ideal for spraying but storing a guitar in a tin garden shed is not ideal in any situation. The variation of temperature from day to night can be a fair bit and I certainly wouldn't want anything out there in a thunderstorm. And by the way apparently we have a Cyclone coming down the coast due to arrive in Perth on Sunday! Its a bit of a mixed bag here. I've heard of people having relatives over from England in summer and it rained the whole 2 weeks. And then the opposite where people come over in winter and its glorious sunshine. My grandmother used to call this "mid winter summers" One of my Uni lecturers had a cousin over from New Zealand in the middle of winter. He got up one morning and couldn't find him anywhere in the house. Finally he went out the back and there he is sunbathing on the lawn!

Yes I think the problem is in this area because all the other factors are ruled out for various reasons. I keep a guitar indoors until the day I want to spray and then spend all day sanding and setting up the spray gear. I end up spraying in late afternoon then hang it in my small shed where it stays for a couple of weeks. Do you think I should keep it in the shed for a few days before spraying? (instead of indoors)

Thanks for replies Last time I sprayed it from beginning I cleaned the surface with Shellite, and thinned the lacquer heaps. I think it was 2 lacquer 1 thinners. The reason for this was to try get a smoother finish off the gun and to compensate for warm weather. So maybe I should not thin. Its Mohawk Lacquer and Reducer 2255 - nothing special There are only cracks in the top. None on the back which is also quite thin, and the same for the previous Semi-Accoustic that I made which was also sprayed with Mohawk - but not thinned. Cracks are mostly around holes. The top on this ES-137 is Maple and the other one has Qld Maple Bizman, good one about the wife, I shall keep that In mind if ever I should find one!

Like a Flying V with the pointy bits chopped off. They weren't very big, so not very heavy

My lacquer spraying abilities are less than par and I'm wondering if anyone can steer me in the right direction The spray gun I've got is a Stutz FSG-410L HVLP and I've just watched a Youtube where the guy says a HVLP gun is not the best for a novice. He recommended Devilbiss FLG or SataJet RP and a few others that I didn't catch. Are these guns expensive, if so are they worth it? With the gun I've got, as far as I can determine I'm not getting good atomisation and don't know if I should increase or lower air pressure, etc etc. There are a lot of dials on a spray gun and don't know which way to turn them. Don't get me wrong I have things mostly sorted out, I'm hoping its just a few tweaks here and there My recent blunders may just have been due to high temperature and humidity but what happens is I spray a pass then when I do the next pass it drys the first pass where they overlap. Its like there's only air at the edges of the fan. This was more the case when the temperature was higher Air pressure - I used to have it set at about 5psi because that's what I thought they said at the shop where I bought the gun. But recently I looked at the manual and it says 15 to 30psi. So I have increased it to about 15psi Once again this is an area where I need more light on my work and I have recently purchased another lead light to remedy the situation. So any other recommendations or suggestions would be great cheers, Doug

Haven't got any blush remover but I thought thinners would do some melting, well I thought a fresh coat of lacquer would do that but it obviously didn't, so I will take you up on your suggestion of spraying thinners first What I intend to do is sand it back as thin as possible without reaching bare wood (a bit tricky) then spray with thinners before lacquering Yes I think it may have been a combination of temperature drop and applying too much pressure when sanding and polishing. Something that has occurred to me from all this is I need more light on the subject while working. The reason I sanded with too much pressure in that area is because I couldn't see it very well and sanded more than necessary to make sure I'm getting the job done Thanks for your input guys it makes me feel like there is hope!

Very cool. My first two guitars were made of Jarrah!

After sanding the top a bit I managed to get a better photo of the cracks. I think they look terrible and I don't think I could pass it off as a relic finish I've had a go at gouging some of them out and filling with lacquer but that doesn't work. I would need that stuff in the video that Komodo posted. But there are so many cracks I've decided there are two ways of dealing with it 1) Sand back to wood and respray, or 2) Re-spray and don't polish (You don't notice the cracks with a bit of orange peel on the surface) At this point of time I'm going with option 2 because the top is too thin to sand back to wood and make it even thinner, and its a lot of work

YES absolutely

Thanks for all replies, I will look into the buffers. Although I saw the Dewalt sells for about $470.....I won't be taking that path!

A few weeks ago I had this vague memory of having bought a polishing pad at some time and when I looked in my shed it was actually there. So notify U2, boast to Bono, I found what I was looking for! And I looked a little further and there were two of them..... They have a velcro backing and are just the right size so I've used them in my Random Orbital Sander. And it does the job.....eventually But the trouble with the R O Sander is when you put pressure on is slows down or even stops spinning so it takes too long. So my question is am I better off getting something more suited for the job or do other people use a random orbital Sander? I was wondering if there's an adaptor so you can use an angle grinder but will that go too fast? So what do you guys suggest? Should I stick with the R O Sander or ditch it? Thanks in advance!

...Wow look a lot better than the projects I never finished

Lo and behold I looked in my box of tricks and found a couple of pots already soldered up and was able to do the experiment I wanted without it being in the guitar! And yes it works just fine, no excessive noise from the pickup when "grounded to Hot" I don't know what the issue was when I tried it years ago but nevertheless all good to go! By the way one of the reasons for my questions is because I'm using Molex connectors like Gibson use in some models. Pictured here is the 2-pin type but I'm getting some that are 3-pin. I was wondering if I should get 4-pin but now that I'm convinced that I can get all I want with the wiring idea of connecting the centre wires to hot the 3-pins are adequate and all goes toward keeping it simple

I actually have some now but wish I had them 25 years ago when I did a lot of experimenting, I ruined a lot of pots over the years. But at least I have an idea of what I think is worth having and being able to choose between coils on the Neck pickup is something I'm sure I will like. This is a semi accoustic so I don't want to have to pull the pots out too often!

I want to try that too but I'm afraid it won't work and I will end up sanding the whole top back again By the way I have already sanded and sprayed again, which I thought would help the issue but it seems I would have to sand back to the wood

Thanks for that info, he says a sudden drop in temperature can cause it and I'd say that is the reason here. I'm always spending all day sanding when I think it will take an hour or so and end up spraying in the afternoon And yes you can feel some of them I don't know what to do I'm so fed up with it. Sanding and sanding and I've used over half a gallon of lacquer. Its just that the guitar looks quite nice and then you see the cracks Oh well its a good thing I'm not Eric Clapton!

Hi I'm wondering if there is a remedy for this and what possibly caused it. I am suspecting weather being too warm. I knew there was some cracks in the lacquer but after polishing the top they were bigger and more of them than I thought. The other hollow body guitar I made also has them to some extent although the top on that one is much thicker I suppose sanding back to wood is the best way to get rid of them but are there any suggestions?

Yes I also find many aspect of guitar making to be tedious ...So that is a different piece of wood than the first photos in July right?

A bit of a combination really. I don't want the outer coil of the Bridge pickup its just too bright So I studied it tonight and I can get everything I want out of one switch (ON-OFF-ON) I never thought I would find a use for one of them! Being able to switch between the Neck coils is something I've experimented with before but always decided was pointless. But with this guitar I thought I will give it a go

Thanks guys I was wondering if I'm going mad However I'm still a bit dubious about connecting Hot to both ends of a coil. Overnight my memory has come back to me and I definitely experimented with this before and found the coil is noisy. Like even just tapping it with a plectrum....but I will look into it again