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IPA or death

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Everything posted by IPA or death

  1. IPA or death
    I remember that top wood from your post on the LP build a few months back. Nice to see it all glued up and cut out now. That limba is cool too. It's going to be nice, just like that LP was. Great work as usual Marcovis. Looking forward to seeing this one after completion.
  2. IPA or death
    Great work Stewey. Reb Beach or Paul Gilbert would be proud to play that guitar . Nice woods and workmanship.
  3. IPA or death
    You should be proud of that guitar. It's a fine piece of work. Love the natural look of the woods. Congratulations.
  4. IPA or death
    Can I suggest a beer, a bong, or a blonde? Let's relax and let everyone do to their wood or guitar or other whatever the hell they want to do. I've personally screwed up everything I've ever built in one way or another. Sometimes I could hide it or explain it away, other times I wanted to get all "Jimi at Monterey" on it. I forget the point of my post. Could be the beer .
  5. IPA or death
    Yeah, that thinner on the rag would have been ugly. I didn't do that upon further consideration. I just decided to spray some more color on the burst ring to even things out. I did like you suggested and put a few drops of dye into a bit of thinner, then stirred it into the lacquer before it could sink to the bottom of the cup. It turned out slightly darker than I originally planned, but it looks great so I'm happy. All I need now is a couple of clear coats and some patience.
  6. IPA or death
    Drak, I'm not above doing something a little odd, that's for sure. Come to think of it, IPA could have dripped colortone into the lacquer and it sank to the bottom of the cup before I...I mean HE could stir it up. That could explain the color fading as the lacquer was sprayed. It will definitely take some trial and error to get it to match what's already on there. Of course, it's on top of a few coats of clear so I could rub it off and start over, right? How to best do this I wonder? Just a rag with a little thinner on it I'm guessing? Thanks for the help.
  7. IPA or death
    Here's my situation: I borrowed a couple of new spray guns from my uncle to finish my guitar. I have a small compressor which I have sprayed clear coats (Behlen nitro) with on the same guitar and it has been working pretty well so far. That was with the larger of the two guns btw, now with the sunburst part I'm using the smaller one. But when I put a few drops of colortone tobacco brown into the cup with some nitro, it sprayed fine at first then the color largely disappeared. Should I first mix the dye in some alcohol then add it to the lacquer? Would that make a difference do you think? And is it okay to put alcohol into the lacquer in the first place or should/could I mix it with some lacquer thinner? Thanks for any tips.
  8. IPA or death
    Fantastic work as usual. How do you cut the control cavity from the body so cleanly and match it perfectly to it's surrounding wood?
  9. IPA or death
    I sprayed my 4th coat of nitro yesterday and my mahogany back has little pores in it. I thought I had filled the grain well enough...guess I didn't though or how else could it have happened? Anyway, I was wondering what my options are. If I thin my next couple of coats, will it help level things out? Or should I drop fill all those little holes? Or whould I need to sand it down mostly flat and shoot some more coats of nitro? What would be the best course of action?
  10. IPA or death
    I have always used soapy water too, but the Behlen nitro I bought says to wetsand with mineral spirits. Never tried that before but I'm going to this time. Just a thought. Edit: Of course, you're using water-based so forget I said anything
  11. IPA or death
    It's low enough that fretting at the 16th and 17th give you the same note--with a buzz to boot. I don't have the guitar with me right now but I'm certain the other frets are seated well. The chances of not seating 21 out of 22 frets is probably remote, even for me. But I'll check it out when I get home tonight. Thanks Jon.
  12. IPA or death
    So I string up my completed but unfinished LP and everything was great except for the 17th fret. It's low by a substantial amount. Don't know how that happened. I guess I pounded that one fret too hard as I seated it. Anyway, the fretboard is ebony and although I could fill what would certainly chip out from prying it out, I would like to avoid that if possible. Other than flattening all the other frets down to the level of the 17th though, I guess this is my only option. So what advice can you give on avoiding the chipping from the fret barbs as I pry it out? I didn't file down those barbs any before installing either, so they'll be hanging on for dear life. Just wondering if anyone else has had this experience.
  13. IPA or death
    I was just wondering if, when using a HVLP gravity-fed gun, do you have to clean between every use or just at the end of the day? I figure it will have to be after each use since the lacquer hardens pretty quickly and I don't want the tip to clog. I just thought I would ask the more experienced sprayers since it seems like a lot of wasted time and materials to clean after every session when you're on the 1-2 hours apart schedule. Maybe a better question is how long between spraying sessions can you go without cleaning? I guess the worst thing about the gracity feed is that you can't remove it from the gun and cap it while you clean the gun. I take it you just pour the remaining nitro back in the can and then clean. Thanks for any advice you can give.
  14. IPA or death
    Same here. I haven't started spraying yet, but any day. I've got one of those radiant oil heaters too so I'm glad you mentioned that it's helping. Problem here in Virginia is that it seems there was a one-week window between too humid and too cold. But I guess conditions are never ideal when you're a hobbyist right?
  15. IPA or death
    Is this what you're talking about postal? http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=20...uter%20template
  16. IPA or death
    I tried to freehand the cover recess on my current guitar build with a Dremel router base. It turned out less than sharp-looking to say the least. I've since added some slivers of wood to the body and cleaned it up a bit. Hopefully when it's finished, it won't be noticeable. My next guitar will have to be better at such details to look as good as I would like. What's your method for cutting professional grade recesses?
  17. IPA or death
    Looking good Wilcox. Your guitars are really quality work. Congratulations. I like the sunburst on that double cut. Will you also sunburst the headstock? I'm assuming you will, just with a thinner dark ring on the outside, correct? You brought up something I've been meaning to ask. What is the proper degree of final sanding on binding? I guess the lacquer needs something to adhere to, so 400 grit then the finish buildup makes it smooth and no sanding marks remain? Once again, great builds!
  18. IPA or death
    Great overhaul there marksound. Looks killer. That reminds me, I bought some of that Rustoleum Harbour Blue to paint a tele with a while back. Yours gives me a good idea of how it would look (except for a white pearloid guard). Now to finish my LP so I can get to it . Once again, nice "dog" do-over.
  19. IPA or death
    I'm lucky to have access to spraying equipment and will be finishing my guitar soon. I was wondering what inexpensive spraying setups some of you have had success with. I've finished a couple of guitars with aerosol cans before and would up with lots of dust and/or bugs in the finish. I would really like to step it up with my current build. I have a shed that I could use to keep the fumes out of the house, but it's dusty and full of cobwebs. I thought maybe I could staple some plastic sheeting up on the rafters and make walls and a floor out of the stuff too. Then perhaps get some HVAC filters and a cheap box fan to suck out the fumes. Woud this work well enough? I've read about the dangers of motor blowups with flammable finishes and fans. What precautions should I take to avoid this? Thanks for any tips you've got.
  20. IPA or death
    Check out the finishing schedule at Stewmac's site (under "reference"): http://www.stewmac.com/freeinfo/ And read the many fine tutorials here. Some put dye directly on bare wood (like maple) then finish over it. Then there are those who seal the wood, mix the dye in lacquer, and spray the color on. This helps if you mess up a bit since you can clean it off and spray again. If it's dyed into the wood, it will take a lot of sanding to get it ready to go again. Remember, for the most part, there's more than one way to skin a cat.
  21. IPA or death
    I've used the Stewmac furniture powder in epoxy to fill around inlays in rosewood. Worked good, just practice on scrap to make sure you've got enough in there to match your fretboard. I haven't used their black version for ebony, though it's bound to work just as well as the rosewood version. I did have some water soluble dye powder from Stewmac from years ago which I recently used to fill around inlays on my ebony fretboard and headstock overlay. It worked well for me.
  22. IPA or death
    Great looking guitars. The carving really makes for a unique instrument. You've got to enter the GOTM when you get it completed.
  23. IPA or death
    Looking good bro. I think that stain will look great on the nice ash body you've got there. Looking forward to seeing this one progress.
  24. IPA or death
    Love the guitar bro. Nice work for sure. I think I'll be using that same chrome pickup ring idea for my LP build. I'll have to see how it looks after assembly to stay with it because the original rings I bought match the creme binding. But I just painted the plastic rings with aluminum colored paint so no big deal in replacing them if they don't work. But enough about me , your guitar looks great. Hope you get the pickup configuration straightened out to your satisfaction. Also, is that N4 neck the one with the extreme (get it?) upper access designs, aka the "Steven's Cutaway"?
  25. IPA or death
    That's the route I would go too. A light amber or cherry red on that top would be beautiful imo. Great build no matter how you decide to finish it.
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