zionstrat

Yeah, there is a noticible differnce in stretch between short and long scale, they certainly affect teh tone, but it's all personal choice- When I was starting off, I loved 24.75 as it felt easier- But Sultens of Swing called me onto a strat and after I made the switch I could never go back to 24.75- I'm actually building a 25.5 mahagney P90 guitar now to see if I can get some of the old SG sound since I dont play 25.5 any more- hope this helps-

yep the warmoth is the best bet and I've only heard great things about them- keep in mind the tone will have less fender snap and more melow gibson as scale is the next biggest impact on after wood and pups and usually the most important concerning attack-

Yep it is stew mac color tone- sanding again- maybe i'm building up finger mussels that will double up the speed of my riffs:) thx all

ok. so both are sealed and these streaks are caused by too much stain 'sticking' to some sections and not enough in others? Ok, thx for the input!

theres your problem. Perry- Help me understand- I have to fill the mahogany pores right? I've always understood that you do this first, but are you thinking there's a reaction with the oil? But if this is the case, what about the neck? It's maple and didn't need filling, but I had to seal the the neck because I had already dyed the front of the head black- But I've got this excact same streaking on the maple as well- If one was streaking and the other not I would have been suspicious of what was underneath, but it's completely different in both cases.

Appreciate any help from those of you with staining expreience as I've hit some kind of problem that must be 101 level, but I haven't found any online answers. I'm staining a mahoney body and maple neck and havign exaclty the same problems with both. I'm using cherry red color tone stain on top of oil pore filler on the body and on top a few coats of varithane on the neck- in both cases, I have tried to apply the stain evenly but at times will get blackish steaks in the coat. Sometimes these streaks will get darker if I go back and try to feather them in and sometimes they actully get lighter. At first I assumed I was just getting these areas too thick so I sanded it down and went at it again- Same thing has happended agagin, and in the process of 'fixing' these inconsistancies, I introduce even more uneveness- Can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong? I've considerd sandign down and going back with thined down stain in case this is a thickness issue, but before I go there I wanted to get some ideas from those who have gone before me- thanks in advance

I'm surprised that no one has input on this and it has turned out to be a bit of a bear- I've really sanded back a lot and the ridges are clear, but the valleys are stained as you would imagine- Clorox had a very small impact- Tonight I will try wood wash and hope this does the trick- But ome on, somebody out there must have removed black stain before and have some ideas? Cheers

I'm working on my first finish project in over 20 years and it's become clear that I'm not as good at taping as I used to be and now I need help- I'm working on a warmoth maple neck, I sprayed a lite layer of vairthane, masked off everythgin but the face of the head and stained black and sprayed 3 more coats of clear to lock them in- So far so good- But when I peeled the tape I had some major leakage that made it onto the sides and back of the headstock- The old razor trick worked pretty good on the edges, but I had to sand back much of the side and back when I realized the stain had made it through the sealing pass. After I got the stain back to mainly smudges on the grain, I tried lite clorox and was able to get rid of a little more - But the bottom line is that I have enough smudges left that I am afraid they will show through the translucent cherry red that is going on the sides and back- Any ideas? I'm guessign I will go back to the sandpaper and will seal with more passes for more stain protection in the future- But just wanted to see if I'm missing any tricks in my old age:) Thanks!

That's a really easy replacement- Solder the white and red wires together and tape them so they will not touch anything- Now to the other 2 wires- Look at the wires on the pup you are replacing- The only thing that can be slightly confusing is the color of the ground vs the hot- SD pups are black hot and green ground- One of the wires on the pup you are replacing probably comes from the switch- That shoudl be the hot so solder the hotrails black in place of that wire and the green whereever the other wire was-

Guys- Started on my Febson or Ginder dream p90 platform and would appreciate a quick look at the following before I start wiring to see if I've got any shorts or other problems- The first diagram is the p90 superswitch which feeds the 2nd superswitch The second is the cool rail superswitch (which also defeats the p90s) And the 3rd would be the controls (there is a 3rd pot that isn't shown for a spin a split) Anybody see any problems? Much thanks!

It appears to me that they are rotating and the potential linkage had never entered my mind- Thanks for the input! Cheers michael

Couldn't think of a better word than axel, but the shaft that the handle rotates protrudes a bit from the back of the switch- If I put them back to back they fit, but the shafts touch- If I really need to isolate them I'm going ot have to think of something other than good old electical tape- These shafts rotate and I cna't think of a good place to get good purchase- Maybe I can fabricate a thin plasctic shield that is bracketed to the face or soemthing like that- Thanks much for the inut!

I'm building a guitar that has 2 5 way superswitches and just realized that I have slightly less real estate than I expected- I've found a way to get the switches in but they will end up touching 'axels' back to back- I'm hoping it's not a problem but if I try to separte them with tape I expect the tape will shift over time- But the axels are on the ground side of the circuit aren't they? If so I end up with an additional ground loop but am I correct in thinking that it's likely not to be a problem? Thanls for you input!

I didn't realize they had sealed it before they sent it- So I will need to do a good sanding before I do my finish when the time comes, eh? Thanks! M

Folks- Doing my first real finish job and am testing top coats of reranch lacquer vs. Varithane and at this point haven't made up my mind which way I'm going. But I've to a warmoth maple neck coming in anytime and know that I need to seal it to keep the warantee in place, but I'm not sure what to use as I won't be able to get to the neck for a month or more. Usually I would spray it with sanding sealer- But if I go with varithane later the lacquer sealer underneath would be a problem- Anyone had to deal with this before?

mattia- will do- Btw I had wanted to go with oil based filler as I hear it has less chance of swelling the wood- But all the dies I am seeign are either water based or Alcholhol based- What dies would you suggest I mix with an oil based filler and can I spray poly or nitro clear over either?

mattia- I will print out this thread and hang in my workshop thansk all!

Drak You D man! Big, big thanks- So no black- Cherry red filler with poly over top- Does this mean I get to skip most of the sanding steps? You talked about filler not being sanded, and I've never sanded between clear coats- Just buffing the last clear coats? Thanks so much for really good info!

Boy this is a timely thread! I just ordered my first parts body and neck from warmoth, it's mahogany and I want to finish in the classic 60's Heritiage SG look- As you point out there seem to be many, many, many ways to do this- But here's some of the issues I'm dealing with and I would sure appreciate your input- 1. Grain stain- I've been told that black or brown grain stain is a good idea as it makes the grain stand out in the classi SG look- Can anyone confirm this? If so, it sounds like I could add black die to the grain filler? Oil grainfiller ok? 2. Since I'm mainly after a redish translucent look, I would then need to sand seal to keep the black away from the red? 3. Then I would stain red until I get the look I want? 4. Then clear coat? I would like to rattle can poly if I can Southpa, it sounds like this is essentially what you did but I was surpised me when I look at your finish- To me it looks rather 'natural' ie I would have thought that you had only put wax on top of the die. I'm looking for a sligthly reder color, but want it to be much, much shinier. Any suggestions on how to get this look? Thanks all

Drak- If I read this thread correctly, are you using ratle can poly over stain? If so this is something I have really wanted to do but haven't heard anybody say anything good about spray poly- sounds like you are getting miniwax brand? If so, what are your results? I'm guessing it is less likely to chip or fade than nitro?

thanksall!

erikbojerik- Now I'm starting to understand- I will definately spray with cans so lacquer allows the coats to level better- So let's talk lacquery finsishing as I've never done this at all- 1. Prep Sand- I think I found plenty on this 2. Naptha cleaning? Some sits seem to sugest that a wipe down is good to make sure no hand oils are under the finish- 3. Stain- I'm guessing all of the stewmac or reranch dies will work under nitro- There are a couple of receipes for SG red out there 4. Clear grainfill- Per my previous notes, it sounds like most do this with mahoganey and it sounds like you just rub it in corsss grain, let dry 5 minutes- scrape off cross grain, sand and do a second coat? 5. Sanding sealer? Not entirely sure what this is and where it fits on the list- 6. Clear nitro coats- Think I found something about 3*3 coats and some talk of sanding between coats- Does this receipe get me in the ball park? Thanks! M

Southpa- In a way you've read my mind- I'm doing a warmoth project to get p90s with a 25.5 scale- But this is just the warm up as I've got a 61 LPSG special that was butchered in the early 70s, rerouted for hums, repainted black, and all of the hardware changed out- As a result it will never have rarebird status, but ultimately I want to take it back to the red mahogney as well- Part of my problem is that I haven't found definitive directions and definitions- I thought I had read that Mahogney always has to be grainfilled so that's what I was going to try- But frankley I dont know what grainfilled means as I have never done it- So can you help me understand the impact on the look and why you wouldn't fill mahoganey? Same thing with 'sanding sealer' and 'top coats' and lots of other jargon that seems to have different meaning and application depending on who you are talking to- So anyone that can help me come up with a reasonable 'receipe' for this classic look with Poly would be graetly appreciated- Or else maybe someone can explain why I would want to use lacquer- So far I have heard that it makes a difference on accoustics, but that poly is stronger- Thanks again for input!

thanks george-so far no input elswhere so i may end up nitro afterall

bump-if I dobt expect i'M asking a hard quetion-If' Im missing a search on this topic please point it out- but thus far all I have been able to find refer to lacquers or car finishes that appear to need a catalyst-