Guitarfrenzy

I was looking at my finish job.. and noticed small dips all over it.. small.. but still dips just the same... then I started searching the web for information on painting flaws.. and looks like I got orange peel.. the only thing I'm wondering is.. what caused it to happen... does all spray can paints do this or am I totally doing something wrong.. maybe I had too much air movement..? not quite sure.. but I don't want to do that again.. I read that I'd have to sand down quite a bit.. I just hope it's not past the clear coat.. if it is.. I might have to redo the whole thing.. Yikes...

From what I've read at StewMac... they say acrylic lacquer and nitrocellulose lacquer shouldn't be used on the same job... anyone ever run into problems using like a acrylic lacquer color coat.. and nitrocellulose clear coat? just wondering...

Looks great.. but It's not designed for playing.. that's for sure.. lol.. owww those flames are sharp.. lol

That's got to be the best write up on the web for that final stage... Polishing Awesome is all I can say!!!! Thanks Jeremy!!!

Wow... thanks a million LGM... very good stuff...

Thanks for the tips... guess I'll wait.. I figured that my luck would be such that if I put the pickguard on it.. it wouldn't come off.. lol... the only thing about it.. is that I live in a pretty hot climate.. so it just seems like it dries after one day... being in a 120 degree building during the day probably does help it dry alot faster... but also, the humidity is usually high all the time here.. so I have to wait for the right time to paint... I'm gonna try to find some good compound and the 3m Finesse... I heard alot of good thing about that.. so maybe I'll have pics by the end of the week.. till then.. Matt

Nah don't burn it or throw it away... use a block design like Gibson uses that should cover almost anything up.. lol

Ok guys I've gotten all the coats of primer, paint, and clear coat on the guitar.. it looks nice.. but has some really small dips all over it.. but nice and uniformed.. .. I hope this is how it should look after the last 3 coats of clear lacquer unsanded. lol.. if not I'm in trouble... Even so.... now I have to wait a week or more... till I can do the final stages of the finish.. fine sanding and polishing.. I can't wait for next weekend to see how it's gonna turn out.. I have a couple of questions about this last stage.... first off, Is it ok to put the guitar together a couple of days later and play it.. or will I really mess stuff up.. secondly, please tell me your technique to getting that final polish... sanding process... and also what kind of compound to buy and polish... I've heard 3m makes some great brands... Thanks Matt

Ok.. so I must really be terrible at this.. lol... why is it that when they show you how to cut out a headstock it's either a bandsaw or coping saw... and not a scroll saw... I had no idea that people used a scroll saw building guitars... I must be doing something wrong then... I know that I'm not the worlds greatest at this.. lol... So i'll take all the advice I can get.. what kinda blade for guitar shaping and what's the proper technique...

Brian I'm working on your custom neck plate... I got my chisel and hammer out right now.. lol.. j/k.. but yeah that's a cool touch ... good looking guitars Sully

I used a scroll saw to cut out the headstock pattern... and was wondering If anyone else ever uses a scroll saw? I could have used a bandsaw.. and I'm thinking I know why everyone else does use a bandsaw... When I was cutting it out with the scroll saw.. in one of the sharp curves in my pattern.. it made a burnt mark in the wood because I didn't move it fast enough.. I've got 2 concerns now... The first one is... Is there a way to cut the headstock out with a scroll saw and not have some burn marks or should I use a bandsaw next time.. since the blade probably doesn't get as hot because it rotates around... and the scroll saw basically moves back and forth across a smaller piece of metal.. thus getting hotter....? And second, how can I bet small burn marks out of the wood.. can it be bleached out or such? Matt

Yeah but you got to realise that a friend and I will be doing the cutting, routing.. etc. etc... so you know that It might not play good, or sound good.. lol.. just kidding.. or am I? Get out some more scrap wood

Yeah that's what I'm thinking... what about tack cloth.. can it leave a residue? If not it's got to be the oil off our fingertips... when we was handling it... Yes, the kit was ultra sanded... lol.. but after I had to sand down the paint job because of spots that wouldn't dry and had four finger marks on the sides.. lol... I used sandable primer to seal it off again and used gloves this time.. because I didn't want to have to do it again.. I wasted 8 dollars worth of paint because the result wasn't good.. but it didn't matter about that, I just was glad they had some more paint at the parts store that was the same color I was using... So all in all it was a good learning experience.. one that cost me a days work.. but one I can learn from.... The place I work uses that blue Scotch tape for masking off before we paint a room or such... so If I'm understading you right I could use the blue tape... or the white tape... thanks for the tips... I just want to make sure I don't get any runs... because I'm planning on painting the top of the headstock blue also... Matt

We'll it didn't dry out right... I'm guessing what had happened is that since the guitar body was already sealed that the oil off our fingers just set up on top of the seal.. then when I painted.. it wouldn't dry at the places where fingerprints was... I also used a tack cloth to clean it off before I painted it.. so It might have been the tack cloth because it seemed like it was leaving residue on the finish.. not quite sure.. but I sanded it down early this morning and got to work.. Sprayed the body with Sandable Primer... and sanded between each coat until I had a smooth primer coat on.. then resprayed the body with Acrylic Lacquer about 6 coats.. sanding between each 3.. with a 400 grit the first time and 600 grit the second... the sprayed one more coat to bring back the color real good... things was looking better... I waited 3 hours then put a very light coat of clear lacquer (acrylic lacquer clear.. not nitrocellulose because I had just read that acrylic lacquer paints don't mix with nitro..) waited 10 minutes then put on another clear coat... I put on 2 more clear coats waiting longer each time.. since each are very thin layers and I'm going heavier each time I apply... It looks good so far.. tomorrow I'll put the finishing coats of lacquer on and let it sit.. now to work on the neck more.. still haven't got the nerve to try a stain on the neck ..so I'm going with a clear coat... btw what kind of tape do you guys use to tape top of the fretboard off with? Hoepfully I'll have a pic later on of my first finish job... maybe I'll try the roller next.. lol Matt

I started on the kit today.. and it said in the instructions that it was sealed and ready to be painted.. I was determined to build a template from the body.. so I handled the guitar body quite a bit... later on i used a tack cloth and wiped it down.. I figured no harm done... we'll here i was painting with the acrylic lacquer and it was going on great just as I had practiced so much... but I noticed that some parts looked like it wasn't drying and was shiny... I got to looking and it looks as if it was where I was handling the guitar.. guess it left some oil on the guitar from touching it.. I put 2 coats on it and will let it dry.. It's ashamed also because other than that the coats went on great... Does anyone have any advice on this situation... Hopefully it will dry out ok tomorrow and if not I'm hoping I can sand it down some and apply more coats tomorrow and see... If not I'm scared I might have to paint sandable primer over the paint job and start over.. Has anyone ever had this problem before.. thanks Matt

Just don't do something stupid and have a spinning multicolored guitar as your avatar... lol <-----------------------

Nice links.. I just hope that the ones we make are half as good... I'm hoping it's Swamp Ash.. not sure though.. but not quite sure, but I have a feeling it might be since I'm from South Arkansas.. close to Louisiana border.. but will just have to wait to see...

A good friend (aka TimberKing ) on this msg board.. that also plays guitar in the same band that I'm in, has went over the edge.. lol... I had no idea that he also had always wanted to build a guitar also... so, I was showing him some guitars that people on this web page have made... and he was floored... we'll I didn't think anything of it.. forgetting that he was a boss at a lumber plant... lol... he called me a couple of days later and informed me that he had just talked to one of his friends that is in the funiture building business.. and asked if he had any good lumber around that he wasn't using that he could buy... but turns out he's gonna end up giving him four 12'x8"x2" boards of ash... we think swamp ash at that... so we found a person who has a kiln that will run it through... It's gonna be enough to make 6 to 7 guitars... man that's cool... now we are looking for free maple so we can have a bunch of necks.. lol... Anyone know much about Ash.. I know it's a porous wood... and is kinda light weight.. but what I was wondering is.. if it's good for staining and translucent paints?.... Anyone know?

Definitely send pics of that guitar when your done Scott... I was thinking of painting one of my guitar with the same colors...

Good write up LGM... I'm still learning alot.. so the more people I can get tips from the better... I'll remember that the next guitar I paint... also.. I find that for me.. I paint better with the guitar either hung up with a string vertically... so i can see how that I can spray the front and back.. let it dry for a bit then hit the edges by laying it down flat.. I'll have to try that also.

With a nickname like Vai.. it's kinda strange asking for a Telecaster plan... but I think there is a place on the internet to get plans CAD... but forgot the site.. I'll be looking for it.. maybe someone else already remembers...

How are you applying the paint? Air Spray rig or cans of paint? What I've always heard from people who do vehicle painting is to cover "a foot a second"... so keep it 10" to 12" away from the wood when painting.. and start painting off the wood and make a steady and slightly fast swipe across the guitars body from left to right.. then what I've had great success with is trying to paint directly in the middle of the paint outline.. this way you get a nice overlap... apply thin coats.. they may not look good at first but will later.. anyway good luck

I just took it off and it didn't have a shim of any kind under it...

Seems like I remember that you can buy a capacitor that works like a pot resistor... except a cappacitor... wonder if anyone can find one and make it where you can adjust that somewhere on the guitar.. hum.. sounds like a nice project to work on ... lol

I was looking at a friends Bass today because It didn't play the right way.. It's a P-Bass Fender... First looked at the neck.. and saw an obvious bow in neck from the tention and I checked the nut height.. it was fine.. nicely slotted.... then checked with a capo on the first fret.. and pressing down on the last fret and tightened the truss rod clockwise little by little with the strings loose until when I let it sit for a while it had .015 " on the 8th fret mark.. using a feeler gauge... so now that was set... but I have noticed that the neck where it joins the body is warped... so it still frets out in the higher frets even though I set up the right height at the 12th fret for each string .. with the bridge allen screws... Does anyone know of a way to reverse the warp.. or will it require a new neck?