Crusader

And this is the air cap straight after being washed in thinners

Well the woes just keep piling up I realised I was having problems with moisture so I replaced the blue beads in my water trap and the filter in the gun and gave it all a good clean up. But even after all that I got these white patches after I sprayed the guitar with just thinners. I know there is an issue with my thinners because after washing spray gun parts it left a white residue on them which I could scrape off with my thumb nail. I solved that problem by filtering the thinners but it didn't help when I sprayed Is my thinners contaminated with water? Should I use it? Any suggestions? The weather today was a very nice 91 degrees with a bit of cloud in the sky and a slight breeze. A little humid but not like sweaty Brisbane so I don't think there's any issues there (Edit) I just realised - I think there was overspray from doing the top in that area

Continuing on with this, I've had a lot of fun using sandpaper and lots of lacquer I sanded the top to 1000 grit (which I now know is too fine) then wiped on yellow stain mixed 9 to 1 with thinners. This Maple is very pale, like its been bleached, so I just want a bit of colour Then when I sprayed I put some yellow in the lacquer but it turned out too dark. The gun wasn't spraying very well and I thought it was because the lacquer had stain in it. I kept spraying to get a smooth finish but I wasn't thinking. It was supposed to just be a colour coat and I should have stopped when the colour was good So I sanded that back to bare wood and tried again but this time I got horrible runs It turns out I had multiple issues. I was sanding too smooth, its better to use dye and I had to change the blue beads in my moisture trap But in the end I got a decent result. I still used some stain in the lacquer but when I calculated how much, it was only 1 millilitre! So now some light scuffing and clear all over In fact this has been such an enjoyable experience I've thought of a moto if I ever become professional at making guitars "YOU CAN HAVE ANY COLOUR YOU WANT AS LONG AS THAT'S CLEAR"

Thanks for your reply, yes after a while its all starting to sink in, I get the picture. When using stain in the lacquer (seems to me) you have to use so much that it alters its properties but dye is so concentrated that you use only a little and it doesn't change the lacquer at all Well I'm at the crossroads now and I could go ahead with what I've got or I could buy some dye and aim for a sunburst finish. I just don't think I have time though cheers

Yes many ways I do like a burst with black around the edges but now I've had the opportunity to see the top with lacquer applied I think the concept of matching grain instead of flame has worked quite well. You don't notice the add-on pieces because they reflect light the same way I've tried that but the stain melts the nitro, do you spray it on? I wipe it on with a cotton rag, diluted heaps. On this occasion 18 to 1 and I went over it 3 times to get the colour I want and to make it look even.....however you might be right because even after that I look at it and think some areas still look bare. The trouble is whenever I use stain in the lacquer I mess it up when I rub down

Thanks for your reply, so if its a bit opaque then that's okay I want to try to hide the joints on the edges of the lower bout. I originally wanted to hide them with a sunburst of some kind but I've given up on that idea You might not have noticed but the top is made up of three pieces and you might think I've got them around the wrong way. The piece on the upper side has flame and the lower edge has none. I did it this way so the grain matches and I hope it won't stand out too much

Getting back to this, would you put stain on the wood AND use dye in the lacquer? and why is it better to use dye?

Sorry to drag you all back to the green machine theories but what I think is like Prostheta says here. When I see these big green machines it makes me think of long days of boring work. If there's any "calming" effect, it is rescinded by BOREDOM

I just saw this pic and I thought "I love Frets"

You know what? I have no recollection of what I did on the last guitar AND what I said in my opening statement of this topic is not true, I only sanded to 1000 grit before staining. I have no idea why I went to 2000 the second time. I think I'm losing it! The grit level of sandpaper I've used is not something I've documented before. I can't find photos or notes or anything from previous builds. I suppose its something I thought I'd just remember Huh!

big LOLs! My idea is to have two volume pots facing each other. At first I was thinking of having them connected but after your comment I realised they would have to work separately to each other. So then I altered the idea to.....have you ever seen the inner workings of video cassette recorders? Lots of nylon gears, and sometimes they have teeth only going half way of their travel If you had something like this, a half toothless shark chowing down on a sunflower One going one way and the other the opposite. I wouldn't use the spline on the Pots, too small a radius. I would connect a gear wheel onto the pot (instead of a volume knob) The bar with the teeth on it might need to be curved

Yeah come to think of it I never use tone and hardly ever use the volume control but in that case a kill switch is a must

I haven't even thought about it but doesn't a panner have full volume for both inputs at centre position?

May I ask why you would want no volume control? I know someone who bought a Fender accoustic that doesn't have one and I thought its a real pain in the neck

Under the saddle same as an accoustic which was all due to a mistake when I carved the neck angle. It turned out too shallow for a Tunomatic and it wasn't enough for a Bone Saddle, so I made one out of Rosewood! I've often had the idea which stemmed from a Les Paul Axcess I had for a while. That had Piezo's in the Tunomatic but there's a LOT of wires and I thought a Piezo under the saddle is so much more simple The previous guitar with a Piezo has a make-shift bridge but also has the option of a normal Tunomatic. When using the Piezo on this one it doesn't sound very "convincing" So I will probably install the Tunomatic and leave that permanent Something that came out of all this is; I don't notice any difference in sound between the Tunomatic, Bone or Rosewood Saddles Wow those f-holes are big!

Yep it sure is. I've tried it on a previous guitar and it works quite well. I hope I can get the lacquer out of the slot! Thanks for the words of encouragement, I started sanding the top again today. It really bugs me at first but I'm getting over it and I'm sure I will get a good job done in the end. Hope your project works out!

I really appreciate all the suggestions but I'm going to keep it simple. I will take the advice of stopping at 600 grit but I just know if I try anything fancy I will stuff it up. After the first attempt turned out too dark I tried sanding the centre with the aim of getting a sunburst type of finish (see photo) but I had no confidence in proceeding I was worried the stain not being compatible with the lacquer but no-one has said anything like that, so thats good. And after all I had good results with a test on scrap wood I'm going to sand it and maybe use stain, then let it dry and just spray with clear. I don't know where I would get dye, there aren't that many places here in Perth that have things like that. The place where I got this stain is like 40 miles away, half way to Geraldton! This is my attempt at sanding off the dark lacquer to get a sunburst (which I abandoned)

I'm spraying again and guess what? I'm having trouble! - Oh no you're kidding! this never happens! Here's the story I sanded this thing from 180 through to 2000 grit then applied some stain then lacquered, which was all okay but it was too dark. So I sanded it again from 80 through to 2000 again and now I have runs and its like the top has oily patches where the lacquer just doesn't stick. I doubt if I will be happy to just sand it back a bit, no I will have to go all the way again back to bare wood I realise a few mistakes. 1) I reduced the stain with the wrong thinners 2) I didn't let the stain dry before spraying, and 3) or should be 1, I rushed into it I'm just posting this to see if anyone has suggestions that I haven't thought of, and if not then this is just for your amusement... This is the colour I want but you can see the run and the dry patch The Lacquer I'm using is Mohawk which I've used before and had good results but this time I'm using some stain. I wiped stain into the top and put a little into the lacquer as well. The second time I had found the proper filters and the gun was spraying nicely After it dried overnight this is what it looked like Is the problem just because I didn't wait for it to dry out before spraying? or could it also be the stain is not compatible? Thats all I can think of really I had ideas of doing some kind of Sunburst to hide those maple 'wings' but I find it hard enough when doing lacquer Any suggestions greatly appreciated

(I'm sorry I could have elaborated more) Yes a continuous variable type of thing like a "wah-wah" pedal, so you can get a blend of each pickup as well as one or the other. Up for Neck and down for Bridge just like a LP switch. And I was thinking you could have a notch in the middle so you know when you have an equal blend of both. It would be an easier way to blend instead of using the volume controls I wouldn't see much point in having a "one or the other" operation - That would still keep your hand free for playing (I'm absolutely hopeless at flicking switches or adjusting controls while playing) But the added benefit of blending is what I had in mind

Some of the old ES-335's had stereo outputs and now and then I think its not a bad idea. And just recently I thought it would be cool if you could implement it along with a foot pedal that changed from Neck PU to Bridge PU. Switching from Neck to Bridge would be so much easier and you could get a Wah-wah type of sound out of it Anyone think this is a good idea, and how hard would it be to do?

Ah yes actually I'm "Dr Doug" and my patients have names like "Strat Copy" and "LP Copy3". Unfortunately sometimes my patients require surgery before they're even born such as "My ES-137" which I currently have on the slab

Mind-blowing stuff. I have a brother who does CNC for a cabinetmaking firm. I might have to call round his place with a few beers!

I forgot to post these, have been too busy. Sometimes you do a lot of work and then it disappears in front of your eyes, but in this case I didn't mind While sanding one of my patches got too thin, so I took the risk and sanded it right out. My biggest worry is that the binding would disappear with it but its all good

Thank you for your advice and recommendation of router bits, I have a 2 inch bit with guide wheel but I didn't know about the other types I quite often go over it in my mind "How would I do this if I did it again?" The number one thing is PATIENTS but another idea I've had is to shape the ES-137 while the body blank is still solid, then cut the other bodies out (or just leave it solid, can you imagine a solid ES-137?) I do have a spindle sander and the idea of sanding close to shape is a good one. I find mine vibrates a lot and I wish you could stop it from oscillating. I made a table top for it to make it a lot more usable. This photo was taken after gluing the back on

...what's that joke about guys never finishing the job because they gotta go down the pub to brag to their mates?