mikhailgtrski

It's still there, on their "Trade Secrets" page (you have to google it): PRS-style blue stain finish tutorial

Wait 'til you see the figured top Rich has for me...

A 1 meg pot should make it slightly louder and brighter. The higher the resistance, the less signal bleeds off to ground. You can always switch it back to the 500k if you don't like it. Check these pages out for some interesting pot tweaking tips: tweaking pots and no-load pot. Mike

+1 That's the one I have. It took some experimentation to get it dialed in correctly, but I got a nice finish spraying nitro lacqer with it. Make sure your compressor has the psi rating to handle a spray gun, I think this detail gun requires 4.2 cfm @ 40 psi. Mike

A professional luthier would be the place to start. Check out the links on this page (from the Project Guitar home page): refinishing.

Warmoth doesn't do re-finishing. They only paint their own stuff. I wouldn't recommend this for a DIY project if you've never done a re-finish before. If it's a thin veneer it can easily be sanded through, or destroyed by chemical strippers. This model goes for about $500, correct? I could see a proper professional re-finish easily costing you $300 - $400. Way more if you want the fingerboard replaced and inlay work added. Not worth it, IMO. It could be a DIY, but you'll need a lot of education on finishing, and practicing on guitars you don't mind ruining. I suspect you wouldn't want to ruin this one. Mike

I received body blank "C" today. Beautiful stuff with a wonderful resonant tap tone! Mike

Hopefully you won't develop a severe case of "les mains rouges" after playing that bad boy.

I'm planning to buy a router soon for my next project... A bass luthier friend recommended the 2 1/4 hp Porter-Cable with plunge routing base. But I've read mixed reviews about it. I was looking at a Ridgid 2 1/4 hp rig at the Depot the other day. It feels really solid and the depth adjustment is very smooth. Plus it's got those cool LEDs. Anybody own/use one? Mike

Waterbased finishes won't adhere well to polyurethane/ester. You'd have to prep/seal it first. Like others have suggested, you really should do some research and a little experimenting on scrap to find a system that works. But still, you'll probably get the best finish (and avoid problems) by stripping it to bare wood. It's not that difficult to do. Mike

I had a D-Tuna on my OFR for awhile, with a Tremsetter installed. The D-Tuna was a bit finicky, and the tuning always seemed a bit off with the dropped-D engaged. While I love my Tremsetter, for use with a D-Tuna I'd suggest either blocking it or using something like the Tremol-no that will lock the bridge. Mike

Forgot about that one... "test on scrap" applies here.

Do a search for createx. It has been discussed frequently here. I'd be wary about relying on another paint to act as a sealer/barrier coat between nitro and another finish. Sounds like a recipe for disaster. Shellac is the only sealer I know of that works with nitro, and if I recall correctly, it doesn't work well over poly.

The Stewmac and ReRanch instructions talk about buffing out after a week or less. But it is best to let it cure at least one month, or until you can no longer smell any fumes gassing off the finish. Nitro continues to shrink for some time. Make sure that the existing base finish is compatible with nitrocellulose lacquer. It will react chemically (in a bad way) with certain other finishes. Most modern production guitars are finished in polyurethane or polyester. If the existing finish isn't compatible, your best bet is to strip it down to bare wood. Otherwise use a different clearcoat. Mike

Coil splitting/tapping, wiring coils in parallel.

"WOD's World! WOD's World! Party time! Excellent!" Make it a pay-per-view webcast and quit your day job.

Sure, but on a guitar with good sustain the note will lose less volume over a given period of time. For example, you play a note and hold it for 4 seconds. Let's assume the initial volume of the note is 80dB. On a guitar with good sustain, the note might lose, say, 2dB after 4 seconds, whereas one with less sustain might lose 6dB in the same 4 seconds. Mike

...note to self - add face shield cart when shopping for router.

They might not always have the best prices on everything, but kudos to Stewmac's customer service... I bought a Jaws 2 fret press last December. The arbor/shoe attachment cracked and separated while I was doing a refret. I didn't bother to contact them about it until last Thursday evening. Friday morning I got an email from them apologizing for the problem and letting me know they were sending a replacement part right away. It arrived today (Monday)! Mike

I suspect that image isn't all that far off the mark. And it probably ain't Waltz Of the Debutantes, either.

But that's the difference between you and the Master of the Castle.

A couple of ignorant questions: - Do they work for buffing out a neck, or is that better done by hand? - Do you rinse them out after each use? Thanks Mike edit: I went ahead and tried it out on my old/Minwax poly clearcoated/poorly buffed Warmoth Soloist. It worked nicely on the neck, and it appears that rinsing after use is a good thing. Of course, now I'll need to replace that pad due to chewing it up a wee bit on the strap buttons and other protrusions. Please feel free to post your foam pad buffing advice. Thanks.

I'm definitely not one of the finishing gurus... but FWIW I just used 3 quarts of nitro lacquer to do my first clearcoat for one guitar, probably 25 coats. A good bit of it was wasted on experiments, overspray, and general learning curve (I doubt I'll use quite so much next time). I thinned it 1:1 (Behlen's Qualalacq - not a ready-to-spray lacquer) and used 2% retarder for spraying at 70 - 75F with the humidity around 40 to 50%. 2% was enough to get it to flow out nicely - without the retarder it didn't flow nearly as well. 70 degrees is the ideal, 95 might cause problems for you. But that's what experiments are for. I used shellac as a sealer over a dyed top. Next time I'll probably just spray a couple of mist coats of lacquer to seal it. Several of the experts here skip the sealer, preferring to go straight to lacquer. Mike

Thanks, Chris. It's not my first time working with aniline dyes, but it is my first time doing the sand-back, multiple color thing. Rodney gave me some great tips for achieving the tortoise shell look. I lost count of how many lacquer coats I sprayed, probably around 20 to 25. BTW - I ended up discontinuing the heat box halfway through. It was working well, but several times I experienced some small areas of bubbling in the finish - not due to the heat box, but I wanted to eliminate any possible causes. Never did figure out if it was some sort of contamination, a problem with the shellac sealer, or just bad spray technique on my part. I might try it again on the next one. Anyway, after a week it's hardening up well (the neck heel already passes the fingernail test) but it's still gassing off a bit. But I've other things to finish up while I'm waiting. In other news... I got some more brazilian rosewood on eBay for making the tuner buttons, pickup rings, and control cavity cover. I have a bunch of b/r/w pen blanks, but the dimensions are just a bit too small to get whole keystone-style buttons without laminating. I did manage to make a nice bookmatched truss rod cover, and I'll use another pen blank for the stop bar. Oh, and I bought a new DeWalt variable-speed drill today to use with the foam pads... I discovered that the chuck on my old corded drill was trashed. Mike

"He who hesitates is lost" or something like that. FYI - A & B look very nice, and are still up on The Bay. Mike