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mikhailgtrski

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Everything posted by mikhailgtrski

  1. mikhailgtrski
    Previous thread: pink dye
  2. mikhailgtrski
    I'm sorry, Godin, for compounding the derailment of your post. I should have taken it to PM. While I agree that there are better, more appropriate places for religious discussion, I have read the rules (including updates) and I don't find anything prohibiting it. Regardless, I went ahead and deleted my response. That being said, let's get back to guitar building! Mike
  3. mikhailgtrski
    (returning you to your regular programming)
  4. mikhailgtrski
    It's your guitar - if you like the matte look, go for it. PRS is doing some of their Singlecuts in satin nitro, but it's not a look that I'm too keen on. IMO oil/matte finishes look good on certain exotics like wenge, rosewoods, etc. But unless you're going to leave it natural, I think figured maple looks best with a nice gloss finish. Again, my $0.02 Mike
  5. mikhailgtrski
    Yes. It's actually Behlen's, and it is designed to be used as a base for their stringed instrument lacquer. Some guys here prefer to skip the sealer and go straight to the clearcoat.
  6. mikhailgtrski
    One thing to consider - you have to be very careful when applying shellac over dye. The alcohol in shellac will re-dissolve your dye, especially if you wipe or brush it on. You can spray it, but too heavy an application can cause your dye to look blotchy. Very light mist coats are best.
  7. mikhailgtrski
    Depending on the oil, it may redissolve some of the dye. Test it on scrap. I really think you'd be better off with a hard finish. If you don't want to use nitro, Stewmac sells a waterbased brushable lacquer that will give you a decent hard glossy finish. It's just a little more work to get it level than with spray lacquers. My $0.02
  8. mikhailgtrski
    +1 I'd say nitro is the way to go, although you can get decent results with some of the waterbased lacquers. But if you've never done any finishing, I suggest you first read some good finishing books and tutorials, find an inexpensive guitar, and practice your technique... Best to make your mistakes (and they will happen) on a throw-away rather than your nice new Warmoth. Also, if at all possible, get some figured maple scraps for testing your dye method. Again, practice, practice, practice before committing it to the real thing. Don't rush it! "Patience is a virtue" definitely applies when it comes to guitar finishing. Mike
  9. mikhailgtrski
    A few layers of masking tape should do it. Just keep an eye on it to make sure you haven't filed/sanded through the tape. Worked fine refretting my son's Epi LP. Are you using Brian's sanding sponge method?
  10. mikhailgtrski
    I'm making some rosewood pickup rings, tuner buttons, etc. How would you finish these? I was thinking I would just sand/polish with fine micromesh and maybe apply some fingerboard conditioning oil. Good enough, or should I look at something like Tru-oil or shellac? Thanks for your input. Mike
  11. mikhailgtrski
    It's ok, you're building guitars, not writing nuclear reactor manuals. Not sure if I read correctly, but did you strip off that nice finish? It reminds me of a burnished orange Anderson, but better.
  12. mikhailgtrski
    The neck-building speed is fine... it's that typing thing that needs to slow down.
  13. mikhailgtrski
    The longer scale of a baritone likely maintains the twangy tele overtone series. If you went the other direction and built a shorter (Gibson) scale tele you'd probably lose some of the twang. You know, there's some variation even among Telecasters. I recently got to play a nearly mint blonde '59, and it sounded a whole lot twangier than my friend's new-ish American Standard. The treble of that old bridge p/u would, as another friend likes to put it, "shatter your eyeballs". If I'm not mistaken, Fender moved the bridge p/u slightly closer to the neck on the later models.
  14. mikhailgtrski
    Check out the setup tutorials on the home page, for example action/bridge setup tutorial
  15. mikhailgtrski
    Can you catch something from all that fingerboard grime?
  16. mikhailgtrski
    Captain Milk Dud? (just kidding - you knew that was coming ) Change is good - if Mickguard can do it, so can you. Mike
  17. mikhailgtrski
    Technically, I think it's the metal base plate of the tele pickup itself that re-focuses the magnetic field, rather than the bridge plate. Or so I've heard.
  18. mikhailgtrski
    I think Drak uses Solar Lux powdered dyes in addition to Colortone. It's basically the same aniline dye, either in dry powder form that you mix with water or alcohol, or a premixed concentrated liquid dye. Shouldn't be any shipping restrictions on the powdered stuff. ReRanch has it, as do Woodcraft and others.
  19. mikhailgtrski
    Here's a tutorial to give you an example of one way it can be done: Dan Erlewine PRS-style finish
  20. mikhailgtrski
    Those are both figured maple with aniline dye(s) applied directly to the bare wood. A darker dye may have been applied first to enhance the figure, sanded back, then the lighter shades applied. Finished off with clearcoat.
  21. mikhailgtrski
    99% certain the Jackson LFR is strung just like the OFR. Follow those instructions. You don't remove the ball from the circular end, you cut the ball end off. The cut end gets clamped in the saddle.
  22. mikhailgtrski
    Don't clean your spray gun anywhere in the vicinity of your freshly sprayed neck. Murphy's Law says that the odds of accidentally squirting the neck with lacquer thinner are directly proportional to the number of coats needed to finish it.
  23. mikhailgtrski
    Floyd Rose stringing instructions
  24. mikhailgtrski
    Time Machine Boost
  25. mikhailgtrski
    These four-day weekends are great. Yesterday I wet-sanded with 1000 Unigrit and drop filled a few spots on the side of the neck that weren't going to fill up with the finish. Today I'm spraying the final (I think) coats. The first one laid down just about perfect. Better lighting + backing off on the pressure a bit (to 32 psi) gave me better control so I could wet it down without any pesky sags or runs. I'll post a final pre-buff pic or two before it goes away to cure for 30-60 days. In the mean time I'll be working on the rosewood "stopbar" and tuner buttons, and getting the wiring sorted out. Mike
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