ScottR

Because of the angle that may close up a bit when you glue those two pieces together. Then glueing it to the body wood should keep it from growing as the entire back surface would be a glue join. Then you could use your chosen finish to fill whatever gap remains. Paint it into the crack with a fine tip brush repeatedly until it stands proud after comepletely curing. Then level sand it while finish sanding the surface and finish normally from there.

SR

One would think so, because tru oil will by itself, especially if you wet sand with it and make a slurry. Be sure to test on scrap first. It would be a shame if it sealed so well the tru oil couldn't penetrate.

SR

Holy guacamole Pualie, I LOVE THAT BLACK LOTUS! Bueatiful flowing lines and contours. Damme that's nice. Did you build any neck angle into it? What kind of finish and hardware is that going to get?

The gold on the green beast will look very rich. I hope you've got gold tuners to balance it out.

I agree about all the signatures as a great momento from the wedding. Much cooler than a guest book. What's the story behind the reversed headstock. That totally got past me in the first shots you posted of it.

SR

What brand of dye are ou using? The ones I have been using (I forget the name but they are the ones from Woodcraft) are able to be mixed with either water or alchohol. Which leads me to believe that once they are soaked into the wood and which-ever carrier has evaporated off the pigments that remain will still be soluable in water.

Have you seen if you can thin your lacquer enough with solvent to make a wash coat transparent enough that it no longer tints your turquoise? I imagine you have....throwing darts here.

SR

That's probably the best thing to do. You'll get enough opinions going both ways on here to muddy it up, but it will certainly make it easier for you to see what you like best.

What does the chick think? Sometimes that's a good reason to have them around.

SR

I assume mixing the dye with alchohol would leave the same problem. I still think you should run to the auto parts store and get a spray can of clear lacquer and run a test with that. It didn't cause my w/b dye to go into solution or color it. At least I don't think it did....the dye was brown, so I may not have noticed.

SR

Gold would probably work and would look pretty rich, but I see black every time I close my eys and picture it. And black plays such a major part in the front and back wood coloration. Maybe with some silver accents?

One piece gits always get my attention. I've never held one, but I'd think they feel very alive when played. Be sure to give us a glimpse.

SR

Hey Paulie,

Is this still yours? First it was, then it wasn't, then it was.....

Business must be good, you sound busier than a peg leg pirate at a butt kicking contest.

SR

Really nice. The pickguard is a wonderful touch to balance out the various woods artistically. The only thing missing is a spruce backstrap on the headstock to balance that light color.

Well done.

SR

My admittedly limited experience with laquers is that they have been water clear. Sprayed, brushed and rattle can have all been clear. Why would that not work?

SR

In what way? I honestly don't know if it does or not. The long tenon allows the bridge to connect to the same lumber as the nut and head stock and tuning machines and finger board. I did it because that seams like the most stable connection to me, even more so than a neck through as the tenon is sandwiched between the body and top wood. It also follows the lines of the sides of the neck which wedges it into the route cut for it. It has to be pressed in from the top; it cannot just slide in from where the heel would be. I know PRS says they add some heel to improve the tone, but I have no knowledge of how much there is to that. I do know that is a very solid feeling guitar like it was all one piece. I just carve the neck join to make it as comfortable as possible. Looks better too. It certainly did not weaken the connection.

SR

Very Rubenesque.

You need a nice mantel to put that over or a bar.

SR

Here is the way I did it. Can't say I'd do anything differently....unless someone sees something I missed and convinces me of the error of my ways.

http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.php?showtopic=40410

SR

The Texas Tele was built by a member here: guitarnut. He's very good about giving advice and answering questions about his builds.

SR

Nice tight fit Mike.

SR

I've made two with long tenon necks like that. I'll probably never do it differently. Very very solid.

SR

I used Trans tint dye to tone the danish oil.

SR

I sanded back into the wood on the Tru-Oil side. Apparently it was not as thick as I thought. So I have begun re-coating that side.

The Z-Poxy side polished out nicely. When I started, the surface looked very slick but a little wavy, especially where the resin flowed off the irregular edges. It looked much like a poured bar top finish. I leveled it with 150 grit and ran up through 600. Then I moved on to micro- mesh and went through all the grades up to 12000. Finally a turtle wax polishing compound took all the swirl marks out. It left a very hard, very reflective surface. I did drop my sanding block on it and the corner left a small ding. I think the same thing would have occurred with any finish that I have used so far, but this does tell me it is not bullet proof. It also does leave witness lines like polyurethane does when you sand through the layers of applications. They only show if you angle it to the light just so, but they are present. Another thing I noticed is that the finish has shrunk into the grain very slightly over night. This was not visible at all when I started leveling and the last coat of Z-Poxy was applied two weeks ago. I would have thought it was done curing, but perhaps the fact that I used less than the recommended amount of hardener has slowed down the cross linking (curing).

So would this be a viable finish? Yes, I think so. Is it any better than the other finishes being used? No, probably not. Man it does look good though.

I'll throw up some shots of the Tru-Oil side when I get a decent finish accomplished.

SR

Looks to me like you've got it mate.

SR

John, you ought to be able to tint linseed oil to add add color in depth. I have done it with Danish oil anyway.

SR

I hope you get to post some in process shots for those of us that have never seen a pin router in action.

SR

Howz this going, Scott?

I've got kilos of super clear epoxy and some nice, soft walnut that would benefit from your tests.

Yeah, epoxies are not very tolerant to getting the ratios wrong. In most high end surfboard shops, the resins and hardeners are measured on very accurate digital scales.

Just as an aside, epoxy finishes are notoriously difficult to polish to a finish that would be acceptable for a guitar finish. I'm not saying that it cannot be done, it just wouldn't be done when you're trying to do 3 or 4 surfboards in a day. Spraying a clear coat on top of levelled epoxy might be an idea, but it might defeat the point of your excercise.

Keep us posted.

Cheers

Buter

The Z-Poxy side is sort of waiting for the Tru-Oil side to get enough layers built up to level and polish both at the same time. I think it will get done this weekend. I thought the last coat of z-poxy was acting differently from the others or was contaminated at first. It had the same lower hardener to resin ratio as the others (that came out so hard) if not a little more extreme. After 12 hours the surface still scratched with a finger nail. The next day it had completed curing though and was/is rock hard. I have been using epoxy as features in eyes or crack filling in my carvings for some time now, and never really knew why every once in a while I'd get a soft mix. I always tried to keep both parts equal, but I did mix by eye not weight, and would err on the side of extra hardener when in doubt. Now that I've been educated I shall err the other direction. I will say that every mix that came out superhard would polish up like glass. I have never done a surface large enough to get an idea of how it would work or look as a coating. It would definitely create some extra work leveling as compaired to a spray finish.

This Z-Poxy claims to be a polyester based finishing resin. What is the surface of products made from molded fiber glass composed of (gel coat?). I'm seeing some similarities.

SR

Bravo Tom. It looks great. It's kind of got a blue jean blue thing going on. I like it.

SR

Thats just beautiful peace.gif

Yeah.

I'm looking forward to the progress on this one.

SR

Ummm.

I'd say that was killer.

Damn.

SR