new life to this old strat... my next project

[Cagey]

That looks like a helluva deal, but all the reviews of it talk about shooting oil-based and latex paints and stains, which are pretty high-viscosity finishes. They're getting better results than you would with a brush, but that's no surprise. I'd like to hear from someone who's shot lacquer with it. If their "fine" nozzle is 1.5mm or larger (which would be "fine" for those coatings), it'll be way too big for lacquer.

 

[stratamania]

There are a number of places in the UK that stock Earlex, and probably ship to Europe if it helps anyone. Searching Google for Earlex UK should bring up a few possibilities if not available locally.

 

[Vallhagen]

Thanx for continuing the hints. I found hvlpshop.co.uk, which seems to be... exactly what i look for. Shipping to sweden is still not cheap but the mains voltage will be correct etc.

They also had some info page on the subject, "Choosing HVLP sprayer". turns out the Earlex 5500 seems to be the right thing again, saying "the gun is a professional level gun".

Though all those models still confuze me a bit. When i browse Earlex assortment, they also have cheaper "more plastic looking" stuff.

 

[Cagey]

I've gotten great results from my Earlex. You can see some examples of what I ended up with here, if you're interested.

That's not how it shoots; there's a lotta finish sanding and polishing that happened to get it to that point. But, at least that was reasonable/possible.

 

[Vallhagen]

Ah yea, thats the thread for your signature guitar. Good reading. And indeed great result.

Cheers

 

[Cagey]

Thanks! Luckily, everybody's afraid to touch it for fear I'll beat them to death, so it's still in as-built condition  :icon_biggrin:

 

[Vallhagen]

... and back to the work...

... returning from http://unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=25378.0 - some pickguard fix - i have spent a few hours finishing. Getting close to ready. Not really there yet, but i tried to capture the current finish status in the pic below. Sanding done, as well as some "ultra fine scratch remover". I will work in some hard wax, then i shall be done. Anytime in a near future.

You can also see in the pic that i had to re-route some half centimeter for the humbucker. The pickup position in the pickguard turned out... off-standard too.

Cheers

 

[Cagey]

That's looking pretty sweet!

If you find any reason to whip out the routerbeast again, you may want to knock off that little peninsula between the bridge pickup and control cavity. It has no structural reason to be there and all it does is get in the way of your wiring. Then you sometimes have to fight with your pickguard wiring to get the 'guard to lay down flat and play nice.

 

[Vallhagen]

Good eye, Cagey! I'll see if I fix that or just leave it as it is.

Cheerio

 

[fdesalvo]

Looks great! 

 

[Vallhagen]

Yay! It took some weeks longer than expected. On the other hand i havent rushed this project at all.

Here it is playing and ready. My #1 guitar is back! All colors! Sometimes i love e-bay; found RED straplocks too! And blue tuners.

Funny, i guess i cant take pics. The yellow looks almost dull here, and the truss rod cover plate looks like no color at all (yes it is red too). Maybe too sunny, is that possible? Anyway, gotta share:

Cheerio!

 

[Vallhagen]

...adding an infamous BEFORE/AFTER pic session! Indoor picture, i think the colors came out more "true" here. Left picture the same as the first post^^, right picture two minutes old.

 

[BigSteve22]

Congratulations! I've been following this build since your first post, really enjoyed watching it come together. Glad everything worked out so well for you. Enjoy your new baby.

 

[Vallhagen]

Thank you BigSteve for encouraging posts now and earlier!

This one really came out great. The neck is better than ever after "Cageyish" burnish. I also let a friend with pro luthier skills do some fretwork, which truly added a dimension of niceness. It was necessary as well, some frets were worn out.

...then i may understand that these colors are not for everyone, but i really love it this way

***

Cagey, if you read this: I just pulled the trigger and orderred that Earlex HVLP station (from hvlpshop in UK). Thank you for all info regarding it. I can see at least three projects coming up in a (near) future, so it will get used!

 

[stratamania]

Well done, a colourful guitar of many colours and congratulations on the HVLP you've ordered.

 

[Cagey]

Cagey, if you read this: I just pulled the trigger and orderred that Earlex HVLP station (from hvlpshop in UK). Thank you for all info regarding it. I can see at least three projects coming up in a (near) future, so it will get used!

Good for you! You won't be sorry. The thing works great.

I'll warn you ahead of time because it may surprise you as it did me: because the thing uses a turbine to provide air flow rather than a pressurized storage tank, as soon as you turn it on there will be air coming out of the spray gun. No material, just air. The only time material comes out is when you trigger the gun.

Also, if you didn't buy a 1mm needle valve for it and you're going to shoot lacquer, get one. Anything larger is much too large. Even the 1mm part will allow you to shoot far too heavy for the material if you don't crank the flow control down. Be sure you have something to practice on before you start shooting bodies.

 

[Vallhagen]

Well done, a colourful guitar of many colours and congratulations on the HVLP you've ordered.

Colourful it is Thanx stratamania!

...
Also, if you didn't buy a 1mm needle
...

Thanx Cagey for additional hints.

Yes i am looking for that 1mm needle. The hvlpshop didnt show it on their site, so i mailed them to check if they can provide me one, additional to my purchased station (i guess they'll respond soon after this weekend). If not, i'll get one from somewhere else, they are on ebay

... then I have to dive deeper into the world of laquer, tints, dyes, stains and ... etc ...

Cheers!

 

[Cagey]

As long as you're throwing money around, you may want to consider getting a thermometer/hygrometer for the area you'll be working in. I use these widgets...

...because I have the base station that will communicate with several of them as well so I can see the temp/humidity in several places around here. But, since the unit is not quite as fancy as some, it costs a bit less and still accurately tells you what you want to know. There are certainly plenty of other units out there to choose from.

The reason you want one is it's important that you don't try to apply finish in a less than ideal environment. Not paying attention to that will either return less than stellar results or you can wreck it entirely. Plus, once you get the feel for things, just knowing what the temp/humidity actually is tells you a lot about how far to thin or retard your mixes so they go on smooth and don't sag, run or orange peel too much. Better to wait for weather to improve than to spend hours and dollars repairing a finish that perhaps should never have been shot.

 

[Vallhagen]

Gotta love internet now and then. A guy over at Madbeans forum identified the neck: It has to be a Lado, canadian brand who did some work for ESP and Kramer. I did some google pic search and the headstock shape looks very much "Lado trademark". Mystery solved!

As i'm here, I took a few more pics:

Cheers