Good times and new guitar project

[mark1178]

Here's a quick update.

First photo is a pic of my little bitty workbench. Yes, I'm in an apartment so it's fun waiting for the weekend afternoons to turn on the nice and loud power tools.

Anyway, so I took a trip to Harbor Freight to get a couple clamps, but they had a nice sale going on and they had their trim router on sale for 30 bucks. Grabbed that and a roundover bit and now the guitars have a nice 1/4" rounded edge. Later on I'll buy a better bit since this is a harbor freight product after all and I don't expect it to last a long time.

The neck pocket and edges of the carve were done with a rasp and file. Did the neck pocket by hand since HF didn't have any flush cut bits, didn't mind at all since I have a love for working wood by hand...wait... For the neck I just installed an old squire strat neck into it and drew a line in pencil and filed down as close as possible and did a test fit again and it's a little bitch of a ledge but it's nothing that would hamper my playing down.

Now I'm just waiting on the couple of JE Moser stains and Timbermate to come in and I'm getting close to finishing this body up.

 

[fdesalvo]

awesome man cave haha.  Great progress so far. How do you control the sawdust in there??

 

[mark1178]

awesome man cave haha.  Great progress so far. How do you control the sawdust in there??

Yeah it's a total man apartment lol. As far as dust goes, I do all the sanding out on my balcony, I have a cat and I don't want her breathing in any mahogany dust. Did all the filing and carving outside too since the weather has been nice.

I did do the roundover inside with the hose of my vacuum cleaner on while I routed.

 

[mark1178]

Of course the stain isn't on Amazon Prime, won't get it until next Monday  :-\

 

[fdesalvo]

Way cool man.

Haha isn't that how it is? Amazon prime is awesome until it holds up progress. 

 

[Surf n Music]

Haha I love how you got a whole work bench in your apartment! Sick!! That body shaped up nicely! Way to go  :icon_thumright:

 

[mark1178]

Thanks Surf! Can't wait to get these done. After watching some Eric Johnson videos I need a start, but now that body on the left will get a swimming pool-ish route and I'll grab a strat pick guard that I'll be cutting up, then a tell comtrol plate, since I don't trust myself enough to carefully cut the toggle switch slot...well...time for photoshop

 

[BigSteve22]

mark, I've been single twice myself. Sounds like you got your s*#t together, brother. Can't wait to see your new baby.

 

[mark1178]

mark, I've been single twice myself. Sounds like you got your s*#t together, brother. Can't wait to see your new baby.

Yeah, it sucks but we were both miserable together. Happy now I can now focus on things I enjoy doing guitars, playing hockey, jamming with friends and focusing on saving money to get a house in a couple years so I don't have to worry about bothering the neighbors.

This weekend, final sanding and staining and grain filling (bondo for the Bondo guitar). Really can't wait to get these babies done. Someone give me $4,000,000 so it can get here faster.

 

[Cagey]

I didn't go back through the thread so this may be useless advice, but...

If you're gonna shoot the the things with lacquer, good for you. Properly done, it's a fine finish that will allow you to correct a lotta sins and end up dead-nuts gorgeous. But, trust me on this: the stuff takes a while to harden properly and it will shrink. Be patient. Hang the thing for several weeks, at least. The longer the better, really. Usually, you can finish sand and polish/buff out in two weeks, but I'd give it 4 to 6 if you can.

It's early in the year here in the states, weather-wise. Depending where you are, finishing season is roughly comparative to growing season unless you have a dedicated paint booth. So, govern yourself accordingly.

 

[zebra]

Just out of curiosity, does the cold dry weather or a north-eastern winter lend itself to the finishing process?  I mean, the coldness seems that it could retard certain elements of the finishing process, but the dryness seems like it could accelerate other elements...just thinking as someone who's lived in both Buffalo, NY and Seoul, South Korea - wondering how that would play out (hehe, now I'm in central CA, so if I want, I can finish any day of the YEAR!  :hello2

 

[Cagey]

Both factors are important. Usually, if you want a higher-quality finish in a home environment, you wanna shoot lacquer. With that, the rule of thumb is what they call the "rule of 65". Don't shoot if the temperature is lower than 65 degrees F and/or the relative humidity is above 65%. Those are "do not exceed" levels; actually you would like the temp higher and humidity lower. You can cheat that a bit with chemistry - more or less reducer and/or more or less retarder, but the rule is a red line that'll keep you from even considering a day's worth of toxic fume inhalation.

I keep a Honeywell widget similar to this out in the garage to guide my decisions...

They run about $40 or so, but it beats the snot out of having to strip and re-do a finish. When you consider what it would cost to have a professional finish applied, it's a small price to pay. Although, I've said it before and I'll say it again - Warmoth finishes are a bargain. Unless there's a color or style they just won't do, it's foolish to do it yourself. I know it seems like a lotta money on the going-in side, but you can't really do it yourself for less. The amount of labor involved is too much, and you're not going to shoot catalyzed poly, which is a wicked hard finish. Plus, it's their ass. If Mr. Warmoth Painter Guy is having a bad day and sags/runs the thing, they're liable to just toss the body because stripping and refinishing is a nightmare from hell they can't afford if they want to stay in business. If you do it, all you can do is cuss up a storm and start over. No fun.

 

[mark1178]

Thanks Cagey, always appreciate the sound advice. I would more than love to spray a lacquer finish on this, but I'm unable to because I live in an apartment. So, I'll be staining and then go in my storage closet and spray some sanding sealer then wiping on the lacquer. I could go to an auto body shop and have them spray it but money is tight so I'll do what I'm able to.

 

[Surf n Music]

You just gotta spray it in the morning before work, leave a few windows open and all is clear by night  :toothy12:

 

[zebra]

Both factors are important. Usually, if you want a higher-quality finish in a home environment, you wanna shoot lacquer. With that, the rule of thumb is what they call the "rule of 65". Don't shoot if the temperature is lower than 65 degrees F and/or the relative humidity is above 65%. Those are "do not exceed" levels; actually you would like the temp higher and humidity lower. You can cheat that a bit with chemistry - more or less reducer and/or more or less retarder, but the rule is a red line that'll keep you from even considering a day's worth of toxic fume inhalation.

I keep a Honeywell widget similar to this out in the garage to guide my decisions...

They run about $40 or so, but it beats the snot out of having to strip and re-do a finish. When you consider what it would cost to have a professional finish applied, it's a small price to pay. Although, I've said it before and I'll say it again - Warmoth finishes are a bargain. Unless there's a color or style they just won't do, it's foolish to do it yourself. I know it seems like a lotta money on the going-in side, but you can't really do it yourself for less. The amount of labor involved is too much, and you're not going to shoot catalyzed poly, which is a wicked hard finish. Plus, it's their ass. If Mr. Warmoth Painter Guy is having a bad day and sags/runs the thing, they're liable to just toss the body because stripping and refinishing is a nightmare from hell they can't afford if they want to stay in business. If you do it, all you can do is cuss up a storm and start over. No fun.

This is exactly the sort of knowlegable, well-informed, and articulate response which makes being a member of this forum so enriching....

 

[Cagey]

It's a fun place. Sort of the "open source" forum of guitar/bass finagling. Everybody gives, and everybody gets. I think the humanists call it "reciprocal altruism"  :icon_biggrin:

 

[mark1178]

Thanks to fretless' thread and the JE Moser stains...this is what I've got. I'm wiping on the satin poly and waxing it after in about a week. This weekend I for some reason, am buying a washer and dryer so next month is the neck, and depending on the price of the clothes cleaning guitar-blocker, I'll probably grab the pickups this weekend.

As a side note, I bought the VEH humbucker from GFS sounds really awesome in my SG, nice clear bright tone, can get some nice EVH tones.

 

[zebra]

Wow, that stain took really well!  I really like the way it accentuates that deep forearm contour. 

I have a beautifully creamy, light-colored poplar body that I stripped and re-shaped, and way planning on doing a fretless-style job on it. Seeing you results are...very encouraging!

 

[mark1178]

Thanks zebra! I was really surprised how well it took the stain considering its mahogany. That JE moser knows what he's doing.

Not sure how well pop,at would take stain, just make sure you test it on a scrap piece. Since I cut the body myself I had plenty of scrap to test it on.

 

[fdesalvo]

Wow, that stain took really well!  I really like the way it accentuates that deep forearm contour. 

I have a beautifully creamy, light-colored poplar body that I stripped and re-shaped, and way planning on doing a fretless-style job on it. Seeing you results are...very encouraging!

Really - I've never seen hog stain up so nicely.