Xanthus

I don't think it looks too bad the way it is now Maybe you could sand it down and grain fill it, then just leave it natural. A burst is always an option, as well. I've always been partial to my superstrats having a nice dark burst. Hell if I could do one on my own project, though, hahahaha

Work is looking very sharp Are you doing two SuperTele's or going with the mahogany body?

Wow, awesome designs, and what a beautiful picture! A+ work!

I dig

Yeah, that's the first thing I thought of when I saw the body too, Frank. I second the motion for a PS mock, even a crappy one. I still haven't quite gotten used to a LP shape without a carved top, but yours should make the flat top look really nice!

Hahaha, no, I know. Confusion aside, can anyone give me a few more pointers to the epoxy situation, if I'm missing anything? I haven't come across any more information or tutorials or anything. Thanks a lot, guys.

Wait, what? I'm on this site every day, and I didn't notice that? Ouch Who feels like an idiot?

Heh, sorry for reopening a thread which has obviously been dead for over a year, but I did some searching and thought this would be the best place for posting my question. I was wondering, Wes, if you could walk me through the steps you went through with your epoxy primer. I'm planning on doing the same thing for my Explorer, because there are a lot of sharp edges on the guitar, and I don't want to take the chance and have it chip accidentally. What I've gathered so far from the thread is: -Home depot 2-part epoxy -thin 50% with mineral spirits -dye white (I want a white primer under my black lacquer and red HoK accents) -paint on as smooth as possible with a foam brush, let sit. -flip after 30 minutes and repeat the other side -wait again -sand down to desired - assuming around 150 --> 320-ish -possibly repeat? Do I have to do the pickup cavities/control cavity? It's hard enough trying to sand those areas, let alone brush on epoxy I know it's easy with a spray can, but brushing means less fumes, and if this stuff is as tough as you say it is... hahaha Any steps I might be missing/advice I might not have heard? Everything is appreciated, thanks in advance.

Thanks for the info again! I've been looking into epoxy as a primer. Wes did an awesome ESP-style guitar and put epoxy over it as a primer. I could follow what he did and just dye the epoxy white to use as a base. Then I could put a black lacquer over with the HoK candy red, and finish with a combination gloss/satin clear. What is the difference between lacquer and shellac? Reason I say this is because I'm looking at the website of a paint store that is down the street from me. They sell clear shellac and oil-based poly gloss for pretty cheap. Also, they're a Benjamin Moore dealer, and BM has an acrylic poly that the company could order in for a pickup. Perhaps these could be alternatives to expensive clear lacquer. Another option would be ReRanch; they have 16oz rattlecans of lacquer gloss and satin. I know it's a rattlecan, but it's still fairly inexpensive, I just don't know how much I would have to buy... Speaking of how much to buy, do you know how many ounces of spray I would need to do the bevels and back of neck in red? HoK sells what I want in 4oz bottles.

Ugh, sorry to hear, man.... Is it anything binding could fix? It's not a ton of space, but I dunno, it's what came to mind. Or some thin wood laminate on each side? It'd look pretty cool, in my opinion, having like, skunk stripes not down the middle, but on the edges of the neck. Got any pics of it?

Yeah, I did, tried it on a few different settings. I dunno, the amp is pretty beat up, it's from '83 and has been around several different owners. I know it's the amp; I've heard it played through a couple different sources, which is fine for me. I like my headphones, and whenever I play out, I'll plug into the PA. But yeah, straplocks on a guitar with a strapjack? You could add a second strap on the back, but if that's the case, you might as well just use a regular jack What is the deal with two straps on the butt of the guitar, anyway? Extra stability? Now that I think about it, my strap has two holes on the end...

Yeah, I think that'd look pretty sweet too, Nitefly. Also, if you're planning on going to a 26.5" you gotta have big hands But anyway, if you want it to be a direct replacement for a 7-string neck, make sure that the scale on the neck is 26.5 too, or you'll have one funky-sounding 'tar!

Oh wow, thanks a LOT, Sand Paper!!! I'd say I owe you one, but it's clear that you're the expert at this game Yes, I did mean polyurethane, or just urethane, I'm not sure what the difference is, but I DO know my latin and greek prefixes pretty well From what I hear, a lot of people use it, and it's reputed to be very hard. My main concern with thickness/hardness is that there are a lot of sharp corners on this guitar, and if a corner gets knocked the wrong way or anything... I'm not known for having a mile of patience, heh. I've also heard people using epoxy as a primer, and it's reputed to be rock hard, but a B* to sand. I suppose I could dye it white and apply it with a ton of sanding. Or just pick up some Krylon primer You say to use black lacquer. Please correct me, but doesn't lacquer have a very long cure time. So say I get some black lacquer from ReRanch or wherever I can grab it. Do you have any preferred brands? Do I have to mix/reduce it? I haven't heard anything about adding orange to black to make it black-er, so I think I'll stick with a lot of buffing at the end to give it a really deep look. Like I said, I'm planning on getting HoK candy apple red premixed, for a little bit of eye-catching-ness. The website says something about "unique chemical makeup" (Bah, it's all fancy Ed Roman doubletalk), and that it should be good over and under just about anything. Is one 4oz bottle enough to do 6 bevels and a neck back? I know nothing about the loads/capacities/covering of spray guns, so I'll probably get 8 oz to be on the safe side. I might even go down to the local car paint shop and see what they have for candy red. Black lacquer means lacquer clear, that I know. I know you mentioned avoiding lips in the finish; If I were to paint the back of the neck satin, that's just one more lip to smooth out. Would you recommend shooting satin clear over the neck back, or buffing the gloss out with 0000 or microgrit cloths? I really can't stand a sticky gloss neck feel. Sorry I've tossed to many questions your (or the general public's) way Just a guitar noob trying to get by in the world. Thanks again, and thanks in advance!!

Got that one right.... I've got my next three projects planned out. Hahaha, same here The body is lookin' real sharp, and I love the idea of doing a magnet control cover! I just hope the magnets are powerful enough to stay on... It's looking like you recovered pretty well from the routing accident! Good luck on the rest of the project, I'll be keeping my eye on it.

Oh my sweet lord......................................... I'm putting my vote in for Best Maple Cap Ever. Sorry "Vine," Drak has my vote. I'd be scared as all hell trying to route or drill into that top...

GOT IT! Ok, so you'd want to take a body and a cap or a two-piece body, and route out the top and bottom where you want the cavity to be. You would drill the holes down through the top, where you'd want the knobs and whatnot to go. Then, wire up the whole thing onto a board like this. Not on a silicon wafer, but a piece of whatever you think would be sturdy. wire the pickup wires, feed them through to the pickups, and tie like a piece of string or something to the pots or switch so you can manouver it when you glue the top on. Stick the necessary wires going to the pickup jack out the side, then glue the top on. Paint/stain as needed, watch out for the wires sticking out, then pull the pots and switches through the top of the guitar with the strings you attached, tighten up the screws, sort the pickups out, and wire the output jack on. Of course, hope to god your wiring is correct the first time. Convoluted, yes, practical, no, but it's what I came up with. Ok, I'm done now. Seriously.

Wow. Forever impressed, Setch. While we're on the topic, what DID your first guitar look like? And I LOVE how people like you can make cavity covers out of the same wood, matching up grain and everything! How does that happen, do you just order the wood bigger than needed and take a slice off the back, like a veneer? ::EDIT:: Ever since my control cavity and wiring experience/mishap, I've been thinking not really of ways to hide the control cavities, but the controls. I LOVE minimalistic-looking guitar faces. So I've been toying with the idea or, ere I were to make a Vai-style guitar, to route the monkey-grip out 3/4 of the way, starting from the back. I personally don't like the grip, but I thought it could be a cool place to mount a switch or knob or something, no? Haha, probably not

Aaaah, excellent. Thanks a bunch, ihocky! Knowing me, they probably don't make poly primers, at least not readily available. The train of thought I was riding said that if you're supposed to stick with one type all the way, the primer should be included. So I take it that Krylon and Duplicolor plain white primer is acceptable to use as a base for color and clear? It'd save me a decent amount of money as opposed to buying primer for the spray gun. I'd really want to go with HoK all the way, but they're all, "Only use our stuff!" and their stuff is supremely expensive. All I'm planning on getting from them is a bottle or two of candy apple red to do the accents with. Plain black and clear are cheap enough to get anywhere.

I have a few similar questions: Would an oil based grain filler react adversely to any type(s) of primer? Also, I can't seem to find what the makeup of the rattlecan primers are. I want to use poly colors and a poly clear, but I can't tell if the primers are the automotive shops/Home Depot or whatever are poly, nitro, acrylic, or whatnot. How would I go about finding this out, or does it not matter what type the primer is?

Update: Just added new pics to the Fotki! One pic of the tuner holes recessed, one of the grain-fill in progress, and the reaffirmation of the fact that I cannot, for the life of me, use a camera www.fotki.com/xanthus Now I'm hunting down someone on campus with a scanner so I can scan my dozen-odd REAL photos that I just got developed. I'm tellin' ya, the digital camera is the best invention ever. Where do we stand now? I filled the body and it came out really nice, but I'm debating on whether I want to throw a second coat on or not. I'm trying to get the paint situation sorted out, because I'm so completely lost on what types/brands to pick out. If anyone has any advice, the thread is here, any comments are appreciated. Another update when the scanned pics get done.

Just added 2 new photos to the build section on my fotki. www.fotki.com/xanthus One of the countersunk tuner holes, and the other of the early grain-fill stages. I'm searching the dorms for someone I know with a scanner so I can scan the other pics I just got developed. Enjoy

http://www.hokpaint.com/scripts/depot.exe?...esid=0928155303 I just came across this, so I dunno how long they've been making it, but apparently HoK makes a chrome, copper, gold finish, and the first thing the jumped to mind was Satriani's chrome guitar. Just a little helpful link, in case anyone was interested. Oh yeah. It's really expensive

The only reason I think it wouldn't be a good idea would be if you didn't measure properly http://www.guitarbuildingtemplates.com/electricguitar.htm That's how this guy does it, although he usually has the front and back as separate. Depends on how many routes/holes you're going to be drilling, I'm thinking.

It's coming out good, I like how that headstock turned out Is the pickguard actually 3 pieces, or is that just a pencil line traced in there?

Hi all! I've finally got around to the finishing stages of my Explorer. Just grain filled and sanded back the body and neck (mahog/maple) with some oil-based BenMoore fill. It worked pretty good, and came out very nice. Now, I've been toying around with ideas, and came to some concrete solutions: One, I want a black/red color scheme. I did a mockup here and threw it up to Fotki. Black body/headstock, red bevels/back of neck. Other than that, I'm pretty much stuck. Would the oil-based filler affect the painting process? I'm also planning on using poly, as I've heard a lot of good things about it. It dries very hard, which is what I need, because there are a lot of sharp points on this guitar. I was thinking of picking up two cans of poly primer, white. That'll be enough to prime the body, right? Maybe 3, because I know you shouldn't use more than 1/2 or so of a rattle can. Another option would be to get the primer for a gun. It'd be cheaper, no? How many ounces of paint would be needed to sufficiently cover a body with a spray gun? I've never used a gun before, but I won't be painting this body, anyhow, haha. For the black, I was toying around with several options. First, and easiest would be a straight black. Second, Drak mentioned "piano black" in a thread that I posted on. Mixing orange in with the black, I think he said. That would be the look I'm going for, really. A really deep deep black. I don't know how much of the deep "void" effect is a product of the paint used or the clearing process or buffing or whatever. But I suppose that's why I'm on the forum, to be enlightened. Third option would be to put just a TINY bit of pearl to the black. Just enough to be barely noticable. Reason for the third option would be to match the candy apple red that I was thinking of doing the bevels and neck with. I wanted to try something along the lines of the Kevin Bond Rhoads, a real deep red with a little bit of shimmer to it. I was thinking of picking up the 4oz HOK apple red candy. It's pre-mixed, so I wouldn't have to add reducer or anything, and I think 4 oz is enough for doing 6 bevels and the back of the neck. So my options would be: -Regular black with candy red neck -Deep "piano black" with candy red neck -Pearl black with candy red neck As far as steps are concerned, would I want to spray the black first and red over it, or red first, or tape off the red completely. Suppose I'd have to do a test on my scraps to find out which one comes out the closest to what I'm looking for. I also wanted to clear the back of the neck satin, with the rest of the guitar gloss. Is it just as simple as taping off the section to be satin'd and spraying? Because if there's one thing I can't stand, it's the sticky feel of a painted neck. Sorry if I'm tossing out questions left and right. I've read many a tutorial, and I feel that I'd be capable of the actual painting process, I just haven't a clue what to buy. I've really got to give it up to everyone who has knowledge about this stuff, the makeup of paint and how they react with wood and each other, because it's definitely a field that is way over my head. Thanks in advance, all!