Southpa

I taptaptap

What you are describing is more complicated and difficult than building a neck from scratch. Go ahead and take the plunge! In for a penny, in for a pound I always say. Rip that old neck down the middle 2X, just remember to take off the fretboard first! j/k If you are going to sacrifice a bolt on neck anyway, but still don't want to get involved in doing fretwork, you could still use the existing fb if you are careful.

Catalyzed poly is loaded with the binder "isocyanate", a proven carcinogenic (cancer causing). No filter will stop isocyanates and air fed system should be used and/or a good vacuum fume hood in your painting area. BTW, it looks like your buddy's neck could use a fret dressing. I see dimples in the last picture.

I agree , you will be opening a can 'o worms. Doing a proper refin on a maple fretboard is going to involve pulling all the frets, sanding down, new poly (or whatever) and then a refret. Is that really worth doing on a Squier neck? The grey green you see might be mould and maybe only a little cleanup is needed. Try some hard rubbing with a rag dabbed in a mild bleach solution.

Huh, this thread is 5 yrs old, oh well, I see nobody mentioned Jack Bruce. And its kind of ironic that Entwistle was mentioned here before his untimely death but his music is still around and rates up there in my book. One of the best things I've heard about 'thunderfingers" is (was) that in private life he was one of the quietest people you'd ever meet, but one of the loudest on stage.

Oh yeah, another late great bass player was Gary Thain (again RIP) from Uriah Heep in the 70's.

nitrocellulose is naturally hairy

huh??!!

Get busy and clean your basement. And those paper coveralls you see painters wearing aren't just to prevent them from getting their clothes dirty. They also prevent dust, lint ...and hair from contaminating the work.

Does anyone have any recommendations for rattlecan clearcoat that will be compatible with createx paint and not *too* nasty to use?

I've used Minwax high-gloss poly numerous times and have had good results. Never had any compatibility issues so long as previously laid down paint is well cured. Its necessary to scuff between applications to ensure a good mechanical bond.

I just bought a bottle of Titebond III today, anybody got something to say about that stuff?

It doesn't matter so long as all those metal parts ie. stop tailpiece, bridge, strings and tuners , are touching each other.

string it up and play it

Simple method,well, this is MY method anyway and it hasn't failed me yet .

Cut away the tape from ALL metal contact areas on your pickguard that would otherwise require grounding. That includes all pots, switch, pickups etc. Then run ALL ground wires (switch, pickups, bridge or tremblock AND shielding) to volume pot. You can treat the tone pots as one ground, ie. run a wire from farthest tone pot to the case of the next one then to the vol pot. Lastly, run a wire from the vol pot casing to output jack. To ground your shielding you can crimp an eye lug to a wire and then use a small wood screw to hold the lug in contact with the copper tape in the bottom of your control cavity, the other end is soldered to the vol pot casing.

Tone pots should also be grounded to themselves. Third lug is pushed up in contact with the pot casing and then soldered. Thats the surest way I know to ground a guitar.

All I can think of is to tear it apart into individual components, check them thoroughly with a meter as well as continuity of each wire (ground and hot). When you are sure everything is functioning properly AND you know which wire is which , rebuild the system. If its still not functioning like its supposed to then post a picture of your pickguard and wiring. We'll fix this thing yet!

Checking pots? I like to use an old style non-digital meter (set to Ω), touch between various contact combinations, including pot casing, while turning the shaft. Look for the resistance "sweep" on the meter. Same method with switches, btw, wiring a strat switch can get confusing too! It may sound obvious, but still hasn't been mentioned in this thread, what wiring diagram are you using? Make sure you are following it the right way round. I've done it before myself!

Now where did you read that? Does someone named Litch ring a bell??

Thinking about it. Otherwise its a dirty, messy, noisy (at times) and tedious chore... a necessary evil. The physical action required in all the steps is just an afterthought compared to the challenge of deciding how, when, where and why I'm going to do it, and what tools and materials I will use. The name of the game, for me, is economizing my efforts / actions and "getting it right the first time". Otherwise, I'm just a real lazy bastard who fixes guitars for beer.

It doesn't matter what you are painting, you can easily GOOGLE what causes orange peel. Orange peel is orange peel whether you are painting a stratocopy or the Queen Mary. But when it comes to guitars specifically I think the answer to your question is what is written on the can!

First post for you on this forum but you should spend some more time reading what has already been written here about orange peel and painting techniques / materials and equipment. The last stuff you want to use for painting a guitar is that thick gooey enamel. And if you DO want to use it you have to thin it out a bit so it won't land on your work in big clumps and dry before it can level out. Thats the reason why you have orange peel.

What to do? If you want to continue using the enamel then you have to WAIT. Thats another reason why enamel is not used, it takes a million years to cure! You will have to level sand out all your orange peel, even down to the primer or wood if thats what it takes. And practice mixing the right paint / thinner consistency, gun settings and shooting technique(s) to achieve the finish you want ...ON SCRAP WOOD!

Otherwise strip it all off and use something that is more forgiving like polyurethane or lacquer. AND, as mentioned, you are using the wrong mask! That is a particulate (dust) filter mask and will not stop aspirated paint fumes, feeling a bit dizzy!!?? Go get yourself a half mask respirator with the proper charcoal filters that stop hydrocarbons.

okay if i were to build a Les Paul style guitar with EMG pickups would I have to buy pots wire etc. or do EMG pickups come with everything i need?

Generally, everything is sold separately, but all those other things can be supplied by your local music store.

I heard you need long shafted pots for les paul types of guitar do those come in with EMGs or can i just make the les paul thinner?

The pots are sold separately. The short shafts are generally for mounting onto pickguards. Thats why a long shaft is required for wood mounting. I HAVE used short shaft for wood mounting on maple but the wood can be dangerously thin.

I want to wire it so 1vol and 1tone will effect each pickup where can a diagram for this?

Hey! Lets not get too lazy! Its called GOOGLE time to do some reading.

My own design, first build from around 2003. This guitar has 26 frets.

Interesting point you make, since the guitarnuts article that I referred to earlier actually stresses that the pots should touch the copper foil, for instance at point 17:

QUOTE

17. Remove any wires which are soldered from the shell of one pot or switch to the shell of another. These wires are ground loops because the bodies of the controls are also electrically connected through the foil on the back of the pickguard.

Thats exactly my point. In my case I elected to leave all the ground wires attached and isolate the electrical connectivity to the foil on the back of the pickguard. Just make sure those components are only grounded once.

By using tape on the underside surface of the pickguard you are doing two things.

1. As Paul M mentioned, shielding the circuit from EMI and RFI.

2. Grounding the individual components that are mounted on the pickguard.

I'll bet the components (switch, pots and possibly pickups) are being grounded twice, through their respective ground wires AND through their metal parts contacting your shielding tape. When I put conductive tape on my pickguards I always make sure to isolate all those components. I cut a large enough space from the tape so the metal parts like switch base, pot cases / shafts, and whatever else that is already grounded otherwise, will not touch the tape.