Paul Secondino

Also, you can take dyes and mix them for custom colors. All you need is a color chart like this http://www.listen-up.org/kitty/beads/mix%2...lor%20chart.htm You can then mix a few colors to get pink and eitherstain the wood or mix the color into your lacquer or poly to create a transparent.

Hi Jim. I have been looking and waiting for someone who can produce CNC necks. I'm interested in two or three Ibanez replacement necks. Most Ibanez necks are horribly thin and I would like a direct replacement with a thicker profile. I'm looking for a even C shape with approximately a .835 thickness at first fret. Let me know if you have time to do that.Thank you.

IF you want to get things out of the pores of the wood, aside from wiping it down with thinner or naptha, try a common house hold vacuum. Just make sure the hose end isn't rough or use a brush attachment

BLushing looks veyr specific. Like the finish is blurry or foggy. There isn't so much a color difference in the blushed areas as there is a blurred sheen. My guess is that possibly some of your color coat lifted into the clear or perhaps reacted. But I'm not sure since I don't know exactly what products you used already.

Actually, CFI was a typo on my part. I meant CFM . This rating should be the same as the air displacement you mentioned earlier. The CFM rating tells alot about the spraying ability of a compressor.

THanks guys. It appears that the exact lacquer that I have is no longer available. I found another builder that bought 55 gallons of Mohawk and it was kind of rubbery according to him Looks like I have to try what's out there and pick the best one now. Behlens and Mcfaddens are the first two that I will try out.Take care.

I've spent close to 2 hours looking for a gallon of Mohawk Nitro Lacquer. But I seem ot be finding everything else. My luthier got me started spraying and he bought 10 gallons of Mohawk years ago and is jsut about to run out. He thins with Dupont 3160 acrylic thinner and his lacquer jobs are excellent. If you can help me find a source for Mohawk Notro or equivalent, I'd greatly appreciate it

Satin finishes are much smoother than gloss finishes for sure. Some people prefer one over the other but gloss will always feel stickier than satin will The main thing in getting a good satin finish is to use good lacquer and then add a flattening agent. I generally haven't heard of a good ready to spray satin lacquer so far. I got some mohawk lacquer from my Luthier which is excellent quality. I thin it about 50% with Dupont #3160 arylic lacquer thinner ( it works phenominally well) and my luthier has a quart of flattening agent that we really only use a small amount of in the mixture. Other than that, you can try some premixed lacquers. GOod luck

In the event that you spray finish onto a maple neck, you normally do not have to tape the frets. However, it depends on what exactly you are doing. When I did a recent strat, I had this question and my luthier said that we have to do a fret level and polish anyway which removes the lacquer/ varnish off the frets. Even if you are varnishing a neck that you know does not need any leveling , it would still be faster and more practical to finish over the frets and clean them up later than to try to perfectly tape off each fret. As already mentioned, rosewood,ebony and pao ferro boards don't need to be finished.

I'm not sure what compressor you have here. But the main thing is to get a proper CFI rating So generally, a good compressor for spraying HVLP will be about 9 cfi at 40 PSi or thereabouts. Compressors that put out something like 4 CFI at 40psi will work but typically don't allow you to get the optimal spray pattern out of your gun. I use two spray guns. One is a $200.00 Sata that can do touch up to a full guitar body final coat. I also have a 50 dollar average run of the mill gravity fed gun that I use for doing clears. And neither gun works as well when I tried them on a small donut style compressor. I hope this helps

I can't answer all your questions but I can answer a few. The first in regard to grain filler. Mahogony grain filler can be darker simply because it is manufactured to match the color of the mahogony. Other grain fillers might be lighter in color so that they match the natural color of woods like ash. Nothing more than that really. If you were filling wood in a floor or furniture or whatever, you would want to use a filler that matches the color of the wood or the wood's finish. Same thing with grain fillers. There isn't any more detail brought out of the grain. I dont' know if tung oil likes to be tinted so I would say don't. I have not seen any reference ot tung oil being tinted so far.You should most likely concentrate the red color into the staining process and predict what your oiling will do to that initial color For some ideas, check out MTD usa basses. Mike Tobias does many stained and oiled finishes. He told me that I can maintain my bass with butchers wax. So I believe that you would end up using a wax based product over yoru red stain rather than a tung oil. Also, drum companies like DW drums , etc offer wax sealed drum finishes. A stain is applied and various waxes like butchers wax are used on top for basic protection. I hope that helps.

Guys, I have Finesse It II . What grit/texture is it compared to the Stew Mac line ? I mean is Finesse It II equal to the stew mac 1-2-3-4 ? Thanks