sdshirtman

This should be fun to watch.

You have a nice selection of materials there and it looks like you're off to a good start.

There are now digital printers out there with the capability to print white ink.....but they are large machines and small runs are going to cost you a ton. Same problem with screen printers and flexo and the majority of print suppliers out there.

Your best bet is to find a small sign shop like a FastSigns or Same Day Signs (these are franchises) and see if they have a Gerber Edge. This is a small printer that thermally transfers an image from a file using colored foils and white is available. They could print your logo on .002" thick clear adhesive backed vinyl. Not as easy to clear over as a water slide but possible.

But you have definitely got some artistic chops; hand paint that sucker on there. Or cut a stencil and airbrush it on. That's your best bet IMO.

SR

Coming along nicely.

Scott was thinking the same as me. There are also direct to garment digital printers that also use opaque white inks. You'll find them at the same places Scott mentioned and you might be able to bring them a sheet of transfer paper to print white ink on. At the same time I have to agree with banana. Why not do inlay. Your build certainly seems worthy of it.

PRS COPY:

Thats a pretty awesome finish.

I dig the fact that you work your knob recesses out the way you do and gouge out the entire top. You my friend have more patience then I do.

Heres an update. I've been wanting to get back at this project for a while but life has been throwing me some curve balls. The biggest of which was that the head gasket on my BMW blew up. OH joy. I spent a week of searching car lots and dealing with two faced car dealers for a suitable replacement. I wound up with a 2010 Camry and I once again have a monthly car payment for the next 4 years.

Since the beemer was worth nada with a blown head gasket I took on the ugly task of pulling the head and replacing the gasket. This is not something that I wish to do again anytime soon but 26 hours and two weekend later she's fully recovered and running better than she has in years and I now have an extra car for my daughter.

One positive note on this is that my friend that I built the blue guitar for is quite a gear head and assisted me with this project from start to finish. I would have been lost several times without him.

Sunday afternoon was the first time I've had in a month to work on this so I decided to sand and buff this before I stripped it just to see how it would come out and to get some practice under my belt. After all its been sitting a month longer than the blue one and maybe it has hardened a bit more. If anything else I wanted a decent photo of the finish before I stripped it for comparison.

So here is the result of that. I have to say that I'm not really stoked on it. I was expecting a better result.

The things that are bugging me about it (besides the soft finish) is the depth of clarity on the lacquer and the slight lack of gloss. Its glossy, but it could be glossier. Its also got a very slight blue tint when you catch the light at certain angles. I didnt catch the blue tint on the first one is because the blue color masked it. That or maybe I'm just going crazy. I've only seen this and photographed this under fluorescent lighting and haven't seen it under sunlight yet. I'll take another shot today when I get done here at the shop.

Hopefully I have some free time to start stripping in the next two weekends. That should make for some interesting pictures.

That red is sick. Have you thought about experimenting with a sand back of the red and adding some yellow/amber to it afterwards?

Awesome work on the inlay.

I did some tests over the weekend and this isnt looking good. I think to get this where I need it to be to refinish I'm going to have to take quite a bit of wood away which is going to screw with certain parts of this design. Mainly where the fretboard sits flush the the body. As of now its an almost perfect transition from the fretboard binding and the body. If I take this down and much as I think I'll have to I think there is going to be a nice line of maple showing where the neck rests against the body.

This is the area I'm referring to.

Any suggestions?

I'm going to chime in here and advise against any deft products. Use the Behlen sanding sealer.

Have you got any of the scraps you did your dye tests on left? Spray some lacquer on it and then strip it off the next day. That may be the only way to know for sure.

SR

That would be entirely too pragmatic.

Thanks again Scott.

I have a question for you guys about striping this and refinishing.

The plan is obviously to take this down to bare wood again and start over. What I'm curious about is if I'm going to have any potential problems when I re-dye the wood because of the lacquer that was previously applied. My train of thought being that when I started sealing/ laying on my first coats that the lacquer was soaking into the wood pretty good. Wouldn't that hinder a second application of dye? If so I might need to rethink my approach on this.

I've made a decision to strip this one's twin and start over. I have to decide how I'm going to strip it though. Muzz says citristrip works well but the consensus over at MLPF seems to be a scraper or a scraper and lacquer thinner. Either way the journey on these continues and it seems I'm about to get a lesson on refinishing.

Before I strip it I'm going to wetsand and buff the front though. if anything else just to do a comparison shot for a before and after to see if I can improve the dye job and burst on the second time around.

Ok I have some pictures of the first half of this project. Not the glamour shots I had hoped for but he new owners wife, who is a photographer promised me some better pics in a few weeks. It can be quite difficult to photograph a guitar. The colors are shifting and I just cant capture what it looks like. Oh well.

Anyways here's some guitar smut.

Builds like this are why I love this site. Seriously cool dude.

Every time I look at this I can help but picture this.

I usualy just place a silent vote and dont critique in the polls but since some of you have expressed a desire for it here some of my comments. Take them all with a grain of salt as theyre just my personal prefrences.

Curtisa.

I like that you used indigenous wood selections. I agree with what others have expressed about the color contrast of the fretboard selection but then again I'm an ebony guy. I like the headstock shape on this and the Hipshot tuner selection but I would have liked to see just slightly more mass in the upper and lower horns.

ScottR.

This got my vote. The color and fugure on this is complex and subtle at the same time. The spacers under the tuners seems to have been born out of necessity and makes a nice detail that pushes this design forward. Another detail that does it for me on this is the cover plate and how it allows the back contour to wrap around the end of the guitar. The F hole was a daring design that really makes this unique for me and sets it apart from the norm.

DemonX

I love my pointy headstock super strats and this is no exception. It looks like a solid workhorse. The one thing that looks off to me is the tuner placement. When I look closely the string pull looks centered which I'm guessing is why they are where they are. I would have shaved off a bit of material to give em a little room.

Shad.

You build some seriously cool guitars and this is no exception. I'm sure the top doesnt do it for everyone but I dig it. Very organic and earthy. If I wasnt so enamored with Scotts F-hole design and you hadnt won the last two this would have received my vote.

It would be nice if you would share more build progress with this forum. I follow your threads over at MLP but theres probably people here who dont get over there much. Cant wait to see your Caribbean burst finished.

Thanks for yet another comment Scott. I was slightly disappointed that the wood tones between the walnut binding and the rings didnt quite match.

You're right about hoping for an answer response. Its nice to know I'm not the only feeling like Forest Gump when it comes to wiring.

Here is the 3rd rats nest attempt according to the previous post starting with the duncan diagram.

And guess what?

IT WORKS!!

I feel like I just landed a rover on Mars or something. I'm going to go adjust my attitude with a little imbibing and play this damn thing for a while and see what she'll do.

Whoo Hooo!

Ok after reading through my post and staring at the pics I just put up I realized this is not correct.

This is correct (I think) . Jesus wiring sucks.

Correct? Christ this is giving me a headache.

Muzz,

I think this is going to be an option in the future but at this point I'm charging on.

As far as the forward bow I've always set my necks with just the slightest hair of forward bow. Its just a personal preference.

I've had an interesting few days with this project. Heres some of the stuff I've done over the last few days.

For starters I had the future owner stop by a few nights ago when I was finishing the buffing. Over the course of the next few hours we mocked up guitar including putting the pickups in the rings. Over beers and conversation I got distracted and reversed the pickups. I didnt find this out until I did the first test with it strung up and heard the overwhelming volume from the neck pickup. *Durp*

When it was strung up I found quite a few high frets and in general it needed a decent fret level.

So I stripped off the neck and I did that last night as well as rewired the pickups in their correct homes. Good thing I didn't trim the lead wires down.

Not my favorite thing to do but its done now.

I reassembled everything and went onto fine tuning the nut slots. A first for me but I think I have it dialed in pretty damn good now.

I plugged it in and found I'm still having some wiring problems. I'm still getting overwhelming volume from the bridge pickups in comparison to the neck and its sounding a little muddy in the neck. That and my coil tap does nothing. Either that or all I'm getting is coil tap. I think its the latter from tapping on the pickups with a screw driver.

I was racking my brain trying to figure out what was wrong. I'm going off the Duncan diagram and transposing the push pull from the volume to the tone which shouldn't really matter.

I headed over to www.guitarelectronics.com and they have a push pull tap diagram with the psh pull on the tone. After some carefull examination it seems almost the same as the duncan diagram with the exception of a few slight modifications line the two bottom switch leads being connected together and then to ground.

More brain racking.

Thinking back to when I was talking to sheptone about building these pickups I mentioned to him that I would be following duncan diagrams and he said he usually used the same color codes. Good to go right. Not. After pulling out his paperwork last night he has the same wiring colors as a Bill Lawrence pickup according to guitarelectronics.com.

I'm kind of kicking myself for not being more diligent before I started wiring these.

For now I at least think I have the solution to the problem. Now it should just be a matter of applying the knowledge. I'm going to blow out of work early today and attempt to solve the problem first by correcting the Duncan diagram with the proper north start/finish and south finish/start leads.

If that doesnt work I'm going to start from scratch using the guitarelectronics.com diagram.

Here is the stuff I'm looking at.

I wired it according to this.

Assuming the pickup wiring colors were like this.

When they are really like this.

Here is the actual sheet he sent me which like an idiot I didnt pay attention to.

If the duncan diagram doesnt work with this fixes I'm going to try this diagram.

I really dont know jack when it comes to electronics but I really want to try and get this done without having to tuck my tail between my legs and pay someone else to do it.

If anyone want to chime in I'm all ears. If anything else just to tell me I'm on the right track, which I think I am.

Here is a bonus shot of my hack wiring job. When I get it right I'll clean it up and shorten the wires. But if any of you have ever tried to wire a guitar with wires that are too short you'll know the method to my madness.

And a few preview sneak peeks because who doesnt like pictures?

Thats an orange drop .47

This came out incredible Scott. I think its one of the coolest builds I've ever seen on this site.

My very first build was finished with rattle can acrylic lacquer sold in auto parts stores....Duplo, I beleive. I don't know if it was the "acrylic" or the fact that it was intended to be sprayed onto automotive paint, but it exhibited the same symptoms your deft does. Guitar stands left marks. My teeshirts left impressions just from playing. It's been four years now and that is still happening. Like yours it polished up great, but never got rock hard. Your deft is nitro, so it may ultimately get as hard as it should....let's hope so.

Sorry about that downer....the build looks stunning! And your attention to detail should serve as an example to us all. RAD once told me that the details are what set a luthier apart from a backyard builder......even if he builds in his backyard.

Very well done. I'm looking forward to your next creation.

SR

Very kind words Scott. I've gone through all your builds and love the work you do so your comments are well received. I absolutely love the F-hole project you just finished.

I'm hoping as more time goes by it will harden up more than it currently is. Maybe now that its been broken open again it will continue to harden as it should have already. I have a feeling it wont and I'm seriously considering stripping the second one down to bare wood and shooting a different brand of lacquer.

Despite the issues with Deft, I think you are reaping the benefits of your patient approach on these. That silly putty idea is typical Luther genius. My hat is off to you, sir.

Thanks!

usualy you get those soft finish problems if it has not cured properly yet. Id say Let it sit for a while to see if it will harden up, but your comment about your other build has me wondering about if it would make any difference.

Has anybody else had this problem with this finish ? maby there is someone on here who can advise on a cure ?

I done found many posts on the major builder forums about the same problem. By the time I found it all it was too late. It is what it is at this point.

I don't suppose UV or other accelerating method will work with this unless it was designed to, will it? UV will no doubt bleach sensitive parts also. I am just thinking that the solvents may be suspended with no way out.

I dont know if exposing it to uv would do any good. It could be trapped solvents but I dont think so. I just think that deft is a sub par product. I just broke out the finish samples I did 6 months ago and its about as soft as the guitar I finished 2 years go.

Tonight I wired up the pickups using the Seymour duncan diagrams. All seems well and I have a solid signal. I ended up putting a push pull on the tone knob to split the pickups. Its now fully assembled and waiting for a proper setup. With full tension the neck is dead flat and needs a little forward bow. I tweaked the truss rod a little bit but didnt want to torque it too much too quickly. That plus its getting late. sI'm going to let it sit for 24 hour and see how it settles in. I'm probably getting ahead of myself because I still need to remove the neck and level the frets.

I was going to post some pics but photobucket seems to not want to play nice tonight.

Sweet looking polish job John. What slot files did you end up getting....and what is that material you're making the nut out of? It almost looks like graphite.

SR

Hey Scott,

I got the stewmac gauged files. Its funny to lay out that much cash for tools that you use for 10 min. but fully worth it imho. They should last me a lifetime. The nut is tusq. Its just in a raw block form in this pic.

I do have some more pics and I'm a bit more refreshed than I was last night.

If you look back at my thread around post 165ish you can see that ugly brushed aluminum electrosocket jack from SM. It had to be polished to match the rest of the hardware. This was a major PITA. It took far too long and I just cant figure out why they dont offer them in chrome or nickel.

I ended up doing them with a dremel tool and some rubbing compound followed by a hand polish with the same compound and glaze I used for the finish.

In addition to this I polished the pup rings and the truss cover which I did by hand with 2k paper and a microfiber cloth and some compound.

They came out nifty and I think the inordinate amount of time it took making and polishing these was well worth it.

Next task was opening up the ferule holes on the back because I didnt mask them off. I just used a sharp exacto to cut away the excess lacquer then wrapped some 320 grit sticky back paper around a socket to sand till they fit again.

Here comes the biggest lesson I've learned about building/finishing guitars thus far.

Stay the hell away from Deft!!

After ample curing time the finish is still softer than I'l like. I checked out my first build and did the fingernail test to it and I can still leave an impression after almost two years. I had to make a decision on is I should strip this back to bare wood and refinish of just say f#$k it. I'm choosing the latter and maybe someday I'll get around to refinishing them. The soon to be owner of the blue one has been informed of this "flaw" and is ok with it considering he's getting this for the price of materials. If the situation were different and I was intending to sell this to joe blow off the street I would have stripped and refinished with a more durable finish.

One of the problems this is presenting is that if I buff this while sitting on a cloth its leaving a faint impression of the fibers in the finish. I'm trying to get around this by buffing this while the guitar is suspended. I really dont know whats going to happen once I start sitting this thing on a bench or stand. Time will tell because I'm running out of patience.

That being said we go onward.

This is the pre buffing stage with 2k paper.

And here it is after buffing. I used those cool little drill buffing pads from Harbor Freight.

http://www.harborfreight.com/3-inch-mini-buffing-accessory-kit-95394.html

They work great and are small enough to let me get into tight places. The fact that I can vary the speed of my drill is a cool bonus.

Heres my obligatory reflection pic.

And the finished back.

I also shielded the control cavity with copper tape.

I'll leave you with the finished front. The colors are off a bit though. The mix of three 100 watt incandescent bulbs mixed with the fluorescent garage bulbs and the ambient natural light was playing havoc with my camera.

I just got done browsing through some of my earlier post and realized its been a year since I started this as of yesterday. How time flies.

After a long long wait I decided its time to wet sand one of these. I'm starting with the blue one first then in a few weeks, I'll finish the tobacco one.

The neck got the treatment first.

There was a lot I didn't photograph because I was into what I was doing and posting some of it would be redundant on this forum as its been seen before. Before I got to the wet sanding I scraped the tape line on the edge of the neck smooth and rolled the board just a tad with a razor blade.

Once that was done I started sanding with Japanese 1500 grit paper. I dont really see the need to step through all the lower grits when good quality wet sandpaper will cut just fine and eliminates any lower grit scratches from the get go.

This picture didnt come out great but I posted it to show how I plugged the tuner holes during the wet sanding to keep anything from swelling.

Its just plain old silly putty. It works great and seals out all the water. When your finished it comes right out without leaving any residue.

After the 1500 grit I moved up to 2k grit then buffed. This really started to shine once I used the final glaze.

Once that was done I made me a nut.

I have to say that my investment in the new nut slot files and string spacing ruler made this job MUCH easier than not having them. I had some pretty good progress this weekend and have more pics to post but its getting late and I'm tired as hell so I'm going to bed. Consider this a poor attempt at a teaser.

I'll have more pics up soon. Thanks for looking.

Although I like a lot of these builds I gravitate towards the unusual and original designs.

I liked the DA/50, the Existo, The Vixen and the LC a lot.

The LC gets my vote. I'm not big on the headstock design but I love the engineering that went into this. Its very unique.

This contains pretty much every deleterious high end hydrocarbon and noxious organic compound known. They attempt to offset this by saying that the container has a reasonable percentage of recycled steel. The warning at the bottom is putting it mildly to say the least.

Your patience with this build will be a zen moment. Savour it, but not yet. Really liking the look of the gloss on the inside of the cutaways. The rest will be a snap if you got that right and it certainly looks that way.

I cant pronounce most of them but I think half the ingredients on that can have probably contributed to my patience on this.