Round Two

[vanstry]

So, did the sanding sealer, then did 5 coats of grain filler. Tomorrow after it cures I'll probably hit it with some 800 grit and give it a light sanding. I'll probably put the neck on it temporarily to see how it looks. Then I'll decided if I'm going to paint it or not before I put the clear coat on it.
The neck is a maple fret neck, so just leaving it all 'plain' might look fine. I'll let it sit around a day or three with the neck on it while I decide.

 

[Cagey]

800 grit is almost certainly too fine. 320-400 is more like it, and that's pushing it. Most finishing schedules would have you use 220. 800 will cause you a great deal of work as it cuts slowly, and it'll leave too fine a surface for additional finish. You'll run the risk of the fresh finish material not having anything to "bite" into, so it won't adhere as well as it should. Any later blemish will result in large areas peeling off.

 

[vanstry]

Thanks.

 

[vanstry]

Okay, during lunch I went out and lightly sanded the body (320 grit, think that's good enough or should I hit it with 220?) Then stuck the neck on it. Still trying to decide if paint, or just clear coat.

Here's two pictures of it currently:

 

[Cagey]

I've always had good luck using 320.

That one looks nice!

 

[musicispeace]

Coming along... What color are you thinking if you paint? If you got grain a clear coat is certainly tempting.

 

[vanstry]

Okay, here it is after painting. The cellphone camera doesn't capture the pearlesence effect very well, but it really looks nice. Probably will give it a couple of days to fully cure before I clearcoat it.

 

[rgand]

That blue looks great. Nice choice on that color.  :icon_thumright:

 

[bagman67]

Wowsers!  That is *very* nice.

 

[BigSteve22]

I gotta agree, that's one spiffy look'n blue!  :cool01:

 

[vanstry]

And on to round three. Body got scratched accidentally. So now I have to sand it all back to the beginning and start over.

I think my spray gun is having issues too, think I might go use that old automotive spray gun that's been sitting in my tool box unused for 30 years.

Building this guitar has been the biggest pain in the ass of anything I've ever done. Just about ready to throw in the towel.

 

[Cagey]

How badly scratched? Lacquer is repairable, to a degree.

 

[bagman67]

How badly scratched? Lacquer is repairable, to a degree.

Metallics don't respond well to trying to fix'em.  Maybe not a full re-do, but it's definitely hard to get it right doing a spot-fix.

 

[vanstry]

Down to the wood. Apparently the high performance gloss clear coat I'm using (general finishes) softened up the paint underneath, was putting the second coat on, and it got bumped and took everything off down to the wood. So I have to sand it all back and start over.

Wondering if I should switch to a different clear coat, but it can't be anything that requires a real respirator. But honestly, I'm just starting to think this guitar is cursed. The first one I did, didn't have any real serious problems. But this one has been nothing but.

 

[bagman67]

I've had cursed projects before.  Some long-time subscribers will remember my telecaster that I hung from a hook in my garage ceiling one night after I applied a lovely burst job. The hook fell out and the body hit the floor and effed up my nice new burst.  Much swearing ensued.  Later, bridge screws (2 of them!) broke off in the body, despite using pilot holes of the recommended diameter and waxing the screws.  I reckon the damn thing just didn't want to be a guitar.  I finally chucked it.

 

[Cagey]

Succeeding coats of lacquer are supposed to melt the previous coat(s). It's part of the process, and is unavoidable.

Why can't you use something that requires a real respirator? They're not as expensive as you might imagine. Something like this 3M unit...

...can be had in the $25-$35 range, and they're highly effective. I have one and I can't even smell  the acetone in the air, let alone worry about breathing that or any particulate matter any in. I even have emphysema, and I don't worry about it. Comfortable, functional, replaceable filters, what's not to love?

 

[vanstry]

I have asthma, and I'm spraying this in my garage. Don't really want to get into any chemical products.

 

[vanstry]

Well I sanded off the clear and a bunch of the color came off in the process. Will be interesting to see if the paint can cover this, or if it's all going to show through.

 

[vanstry]

Well that was a spectacular failure. And something hit the paint job (inside the small paint booth, and there's nothing there) and completely ruined the spray job, not that it was looking all that good anyway. Apparently this doesn't cover anything.

So yeah, I'm done. I got about $700 in bass parts for this build if anyone wants to come up to Sacramento and pick'em up. This was supposed to be a hobby to get away from work, cause I enjoy building stuff. Instead this has turned into just pure hell. I think I'll just be happy with the one I built already.

And no, I'm not shipping anything anywhere past the garbage can. I don't care that much. This thing has cost me more money in time wasted than in parts.

 

[Logrinn]

Why not just assemble it? Leave the body as it is and get a bass that you can play?
As it is now, it's not that different from one of this month's Guitar Of The Month entries.