sadclevelandsports

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

You guys are awesome. Last question...if I spray primer then paint, will there be a step or a height difference at the border of the body and the maple top? If the spray coat is too high compared to the maple top, do I sand the border down?

Thanks so much, would you put primer on the wood before black spray, or just go straight in?

These are the imperfections I am talking about

One more question, I'm not so sure about brown dye (still too many imperfections). If I choose to go black spray, do I sand the black down to smooth before the 2k? Thanks so much!!

Thanks. Actually redid the back and was able to get a nice brown color with some leather dye. I'm finally ready to apply some 2k in a can, but quick question if you don't mind. Am I supposed to sand this again today certain grit before applying the clear, or do I leave it as is? I sanded the tops and sides to 400 before staining, and while it looks mostly fine, I can definitely see some minimally visible sanding "lines." Maybe some steel wool before spraying, or just go in as is?

Another week of twists and turns, I guess all newbie builders can look at me as an example of what not to do. So my previous obsession with epoxy was solely to have it as a stain protector, because I went in for a pretty big surgery last week, and didn't know when I'd get back to it (open hamstring repair and sciatic nerve scar tissue removal). While in bed, I really wanted to keep working, so I picked my butt up and kept going on crutches, but when I went back to sand the epoxy, it gummed up like crazy, so I sanded everything off, and started over. The color actually turned out quite nice for the top. The main issue now is the body. So everything I've read online says that the majority of stain attempts to basswood will probably fail... I tried to be cute and used some preconditioner thinking it would go well. It absolutely did not, some areas were super dark, others super light. I tried to sand the darkness out to no avail, so I tried to match the dark areas with some diluted Angelus black. Now this is what I have... I am genuinely contemplating giving up on the stain and just going in with black spray. I wanted a dark walnut, but looks like I'm gonna have to give up on it.

So in a characteristic lack of patience on my end, I sanded off epoxy, and made it a fun hand burst project with my 7 year old. 3rd time's a charm, finally got close to what I wanted in my head. Thanks guys!!

Maybe it was shellac with wax that was incompatible. Okay this helps a lot, so if I use a poly based spray, the 2k compatibility shouldn't be an issue? Do I sand down the burst after spraying so that the texture is flatter? Thanks again!!

Thanks to you, I do. I guess my main question would be which formulations are compatible with 2k over it? For now, I'm hearing nitro and shellac are incompatible and will cause issues with adherence..

That is the eventual plan, but I mistakenly thought that I could spray a burst over the epoxy before applying the 2k. Unfortunately, I don't have a sprayer, so I can't mix any pigment into the clear coat. I guess I'll have to sand the epoxy back and do a hand rub burst.

Quick question for you, if I remember correctly, in one of your videos you sprayed a burst finish. I was planning on spraying a black burst, but remembered that poly does not stick on top of lacquer and will crack/peel. What is the solution to this?

Thank you!! Yes the tester piece ended up great even with an epoxy test but for some reason the real thing has more yellow-pale pink in it. Guitar staining is a surprisingly deep skill set.....

Honestly, it's a bit disappointing how pedestrian it turned out. Ended up a bit too pale for my liking. Part of me is considering sanding it back down and coming back in with more purple.

Lighting is pretty poor, but turned out okay after wiping on some epoxy. Will sand down, spray a black burst and call it a day.