Kit Guitar finishing help needed

[Structo]

Yes, there really is more to it than most people think.

But, just start with baby steps.

Soon you will have a second addiction to building amps.

[M Fowler]

For us car lovers and guitar builders in the crowd.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03mV8WfX ... re=related

[billyz]

This is a really timely post for me. I just started a Pinecaster build with a neck from Musickraft. I am using the Fender Blonde from Guitar reranch.

What I found so far is. I did not order enough clear lacquer. But, found the Deft Clear Lacquer at Lowes to be excellant and cheaper.

I made the mistake of spraying the Tinted clear on before any clear coats.
Had to rub it off with acetone, got all splotchy. Yes, I used sanding sealer first. I have about 10 coats total on now. I have used 2 cans of clear and will probably need two more. I am doing a neck as well.

Will pick up the polishing head from harbor freight too , good tip.

I will probably have too relic it due to all the specks and such, my garage is pretty dirty. It will be hard to wait before final polishing.

All in all it was a good excuse to buy that bosch sander , which really helped out.

[Structo]

I usually only spray two cans of clear over a solid or trans color.
That is enough to wet sand and polish.

Three cans will help prevent sand throughs if you are not experienced at wet sanding.

Yet it remains very thin due to the fact that nitro lacquer melts into itself and as it dries it shrinks keeping the overall finish thin.

Be sure and give it adequate drying time to gas off.

I recommend 30 day cure period for the lacquer to become hard enough to work with.

If you can set up a fan to blow air on the body while it is hanging that will help it gas off.

Usually with the tinted clear it is best to spray a few coats of clear over the color, then lightly mist the tinted lacquer evenly.
Then spray a coat of regular clear to see the effect of the tint.
You keep sandwiching the tint until you get the amount you want then spray the rest of the clear.

Or you can spray the tint closer to the surface and when you wet sand it will be a bit blotchy to mimic a old guitar.
Remember, vintage guitars are not yellow where the arm rubs on the body or other contact points. Such as the forearm area.

Of course you are well past this stage now.

Deft is one of the lacquers that reportedly doesn't yellow with age.
I have one tele that has white binding that seems as if it has yellowed just slightly.
I built that one in 2007.

I have used Deft quite a bit. Some report slow cure times and say it stays soft. I haven't really experienced that.

The one piece of advice I can give you is to stay away from the corners and edges when you wet sand.
The lacquer usually shrinks and pulls tight in those areas so the lacquer is much thinner there.
A motto we use is "the corners will take care of them selves."
In other words, if there is no orange peel on the edges, then no need to sand them at all.
Just polish them later.

The main reason we wet sand is to remove the orange peel in the lacquers surface. The pebbly looking surface that resembles the skin of an orange.

You will want to start at the highest grit that will cut and remove the orange peel, yet not so coarse as to remove too much lacquer.

For me that is usually 800 but I have started before with 1000.
IMHO 400-600 is way too coarse and will remove too much lacquer.
Then once the orange peel is removed move up to the next grit.
That would be 800, 1000, 1200, 1500, 2000.

Sand with the next grit until the previous grit scratches are removed.
For first timers a good method to use is to sand at 90 degree angles with the next grit so you can see when the previous grit scratches are gone.

A good lube for first timers is baby oil. No need to soak the paper in it either.
Just put a little in a bowl and dip the paper in it.
Water is the old standby but if you get water into a screw hole it can swell the wood and split the finish. You do not want that to happen.
Always use a small block when sanding.
I use a large eraser as my block.
Change the baby oil every time you move up in grit to avoid having larger grit particles in the oil.

[billyz]

Structo,

thanks for the tips, I may not need the extra can. But i would rather have it just in case. It is looking pretty good so far. More yellow than I wanted but it is ok. I went one coat on the tinted clear. But I wanted a more whiteish than smoked out look.

I did not use a paint stick like I have in the past. I put the nails in like an old fender and lay it down. I think that is why the paint does not go as far. I cannot empty the can that way. The neck built up pretty fast.

But I am having fun. I also got some of Dales hardware. titanium bridge plate and Red Volkart saddles etc.

[Structo]

Sounds good!

Be sure to post some pictures when you git'er done.

I like a pain stick then I made a simple thing out of wood with holes in it so I can stick the paint stick in it and rotate the body horizontally.

The only time I spray with the body down low and flat is on metallic paints, where you want them to land a lot drier on the body for the proper flop of the flakes.

But there is no right or wrong way as long as the end product is nice.

I was really skeptical when I first started painting guitars with spray cans.
I had tried it when I was a kid (who didn't?) and the results weren't very good.
A few years ago I joined the ReRanch forum and learned the proper way to finish guitars with nitro lacquer.

There is no reason you can't get as pro of a finish using spray bombs verses using pro spray gear.

You just end up with a bit more orange peel on the surface which can be easily sanded off.

Here is the ReRanch Gallery. I would say that 90% of these guitars were finished with spray cans.

http://s223.photobucket.com/albums/dd84 ... n-ReRanch/

[billyz]

I have always used a paint stick in the neck so I just wanted to do one this way, with the nails.

BTW, be careful of the RedDirt bodies. I found out the neck pocket is too narrow ,after I started painting of course. I did not have my neck yet. The Blackguard neck I got from Musikraft is the bomb though.

Also , the RedDirt neck pocket is very shallow, but i am going to try to live with it unless I can't get the saddles and pickups high enough.

I had so much orange peel happening that I just did a light 800 grit sanding. This coat is looking better. Rattle cans just take alot more time and effort, at least from me.

Also got a "Bakelite" PG off ebay and will lacquer it too.

[surfsup]

Structo, that first tele looks fantastic. Geezus lemme know if you ever wanna sell it.

[Reeltarded]

I've done a couple stained guitars with binding and it can be a bitch.
Mine have plastic binding so the masking was a must. I tried scraping it the first couple times but I would either nick the wood or take too much material off.

Aha! I can help you get your scraping game on.

Here is a graphic of my typical scraper. I make them from carbide flat stock, thick enough not to chatter when you drag it. I think about .050 or so average.

You shape the binding channel at the edge of a belt sander according to your overall dimension. Start with the thin edge, the 'short', then sand the tip off to match the depth. Leave a couple mil in both dimensions so the color actually overlaps the binding. If you look closely, there is ALWAYS a tiny tiny edge of color left over the bindings to keep a great line.

This does both faces at once.

I hope it's understandable.

Thanks for all the help, all of you. I hope this helps someone.

EDIT: Also about materials. Deft is good. The best lacquer available is that sub-$2 a can stuff at Walmart, and some of the home improvement outlets. It's made in China..

Unlike the modern stuff you get in quanity NO plasticizer. For my vintage repair work, I MUST use it. I flip the cans, drain the air, then puncture the can and drain a case into my quart gun.

It's not just a good standby product, it's the BEST!

[Dave Johnson]

Here's one of my attempts at a finish. The kit was unplayable junk from B.Y.O.G. The sealer wouldn't let the top take any stain, so I used a black saddle makers dye & bursted the edges in black. Looks can be deceiving. This thing was crap every step of the way. Ended up scrapping it. But it looked nice. Read a neat tip for bursting, involving a cardboard cutout of the guitar body. You set it over the top, on plastic push pins, and spray around the edge at an angle.
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/ph ... 9.jpg?dl=1
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/ph ... 6.jpg?dl=1
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/ph ... 2.jpg?dl=1
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[M Fowler]

Dave,

I like what you have done with your kit guitar looks good!

Mark

[Structo]

I built one of those PRS clones from Saga several years ago.
They slather this bullet proof sealer on everything including the flame maple veneer on top of the body!
I tried sanding it carefully off but ended up sanding through the veneer in several places so I ended up painting it a solid color.

I ended up using Shoreline gold.
After I painted it I didn't really like the color.
It's a cheap throw around guitar that I let anybody play.

[IMG:342:480]http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b392/ ... 8852d4.jpg[/img]

[IMG:342:480]http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b392/ ... 779654.jpg[/img]

[passfan]

I hand scrape my bindings with a razor blade. I angle it slightly, just enough to let me control the line thickness. It also softens the edge which feels nicer when you lay your arm over it.