sadclevelandsports

Oh you can definitely see some gloss spots if you look from another angle. Don't know how to get the really nice satin look that you see from factory ebmm for instance. You're right though, finishing was by far the most challenging and time consuming portion of the build.

$3500 is nuts, and having done literally the same thing with a JP15, I've decided having a personally built (imperfect) guitar that fits what I want is better than looking for the best name brand guitar that has the "perfect" spec sheet.

The plan in my mind was always to get to a satin, especially because I don't have any buffing equipment. I used.the angrove matte spray plus gunstock wax method.

Finishing stretch, didnt fix every single imperfection, but this was a proof of concept guitar for me anyway, so I'm reasonably satisfied. Used an old parts neck because I was too traumatized to make a new one at this juncture. Now I just gotta make all the electricals are in place..

I am fully enamored with this saying

Sad day, major screw ups all around. The first domino that fell and screwed me over was the fact that I sanded through the 2k and through the stain. Then, I did some patch work, but then the guitar stuck to some plastic while still wet with 2k, so now it has this marvelous texture. Finally, it fell off the ceiling and hit the floor. Lots of fun in the finishing stretch, wish I could just quit, but I've put too much time and energy to stop here.... Very sad..

Thanks guys I do have a question, I'm not sure I have put enough clear or as I'm spraying it somewhat lightly without being super wet. Am I supposed to get it more wet, or is 4 layers of overlapped spray enough? It has a bit of texturing and is not flat on the surface so I was not sure..

My ghetto spray rig haha... 4 coats of 2k applied, not sure how long I need to wait before sanding, but I was gonna give it a few days..

Oh I see, that makes sense. Is there no risk of pulling off the paint by masking the black portion? Thanks for the diagram, wonderful illustration.

I was actually just going to go in and clear coat the whole thing with a few coats of 2k. Is that wrong?

I'd say it's 98% fine, I'm just being nitpicky. One other area I'd like to ask about is the border of the spray paint, can I sand it to be slightly more flush with the body wood, or is it better to just leave it alone?

Post primer and paint. I'm not sure if I can sand after paint is applied? I have a couple very minor areas that aren't perfectly flat... Managed to hide some of my worst insults to this guitar

Just as an aside, this post was more for beginners like myself, I'm sure these mistakes seem completely inane all of you experienced builders.

Hey guys, first build ever. Was hoping to outline some of my terrible errors so that no one makes the same mistakes. Special thanks to @Bizman62 @ADFinlayson @henrim for help in making my finish come together. I started this project with a basswood blank that I glued up and shaped using a JPX template that I found online. I purchased a separate burl top that I glued on after contouring. MISTAKE 1 - I only sanded down well one side of the drop top thinking the roughness of the other side would help the adhesion between drop top and basswood body. Now at a few spots, there is exposed jagged edges adjacent to the flat basswood. It's minor, but really aggravating. Next, I filled the voids with blue resin, which wasn't the original plan, but it went well, and I was mostly pleased. Afterwards, I started to rout the body... MISTAKE 2 - I didn't measure twice and cut once... I mistook the scale length line for my cut line, so I have a bigger trem rout than I should... Color was successfully added to the top and then... MISTAKE 3 - This one haunted me a few times. I had an upcoming surgery, and I wanted to spray burst the edges, so I put a layer of epoxy on the top to lock in the stain so I could pause my project. It was a huge mess, so I sanded it all down and reapplied the stain. I later found out that the epoxy hadn't been completely removed, so I had patchy areas where the stain wasnt evenly absorbed. I sanded off everything again, and did all staining and bursting by hand. I found out that burl eats epoxy deep, so I still had areas that weren't perfectly even in absorption, but it looks good enough for me. Finally, the body .. MISTAKE 4 - I am not going to attempt staining basswood again. Looks ugly, uneven, and oil based wood stain is a pain in the behind. I had to sand all the stain off, and I tried again with leather dye, but the damage has already been done. I am now in the process of spraying the back black. Afterwards, I will apply 2k. Thanks for following along on this mistake-filled adventure.

You guys are awesome, and bizman62, I don't know what you're talking about but your English is perfect