DLP Les Paul - 11 - Trying to Finish the Finish

I have been leaving the DLP Les Paul hanging in the garage for well over a month since I last applied lacquer so at the end of last week I started wet sanding the body.  I don't trust myself with courser grades of wet and dry sand paper as it's so easy to sand straight through the lacquer so I have come in at 2000 grade wet and dry from the start.

So it means a lot more work but I would rather be safe than sorry at this stage.  Straight away I noticed a lot of sunken areas in the grain, small valleys sitting below the general level of the rest of the paint.  The are not cracks in the paint of lacquer but it just seems that the previously smooth surface has sunk!

 Also an are on the side had actually bubbled, so I had no choice other than to sand through the lacquer and paint back to bare wood and respray the side.  It's quite obvious that the wood had not dried out completely leaving moisture trapped under the layers of paint and lacquer.

I masked the body and sprayed the side with black paint and let it set for a couple days before feathering the edges.  I will need to spray several coats of lacquer over the resprayed area but before I do that I want to flatten as much of the existing finish and respray lacquer over the whole body.

Hopefully if I put enough lacquer over the whole body it will fill in all the voids and give me a nice surface to flatten and polish.  Not ideal but practical!

Telecaster III - 22 - Finishing Touches

With the pickguard finished connected all the electrical parts together which was a simple enough job.  I added an additional grounding wire to the base of the bridge, I had to drill a hole through to the bridge pickup cavity and pass the wire through the same hole the pickup wires passed through.

I took the neck off one more time and cleaned and lubricated the truss rod adjustment nut.  I also sanded the neck cavity just to remove some of the unevenness caused by over-spray. The machine heads are already on the neck so it's time to string the guitar up for the first time.

Straight away I noticed that the neck needs tilting slightly so I shimmed the front of the neck pocket raising the nut end slightly.  I wish I had something like an old pound note to use just to add to the antique feel! (None UK Friends - We don't have Pound notes any more in the UK!)  I also had to add 2 string trees to the head. Not the round style the oldest fender heads have, I'm not trying to make an accurate copy, just an approximation of something 50+ years old!

Once the neck was shimmed I filed the nut and set the height of the strings as per fender's specifications.  I also set the bridge string height adjusters and adjusted the intonation and pickup height.  Time then to tune up and plug in... There is a crisp clear twang from the bridge and a more rounded punchy sound from the P90. Perfect!

The guitar looks great and sounds even better.  Even though I never planned a finish like this it's turned out to be the finest instrument I have made to date.

Telecaster III - 21 - Custom Pickguard

My original concept for this guitar was to feature a rather unusual and original pick guard and a P90 pickup in the neck position.  I built another Telecaster last year with 2 P90s and the sound that impressed me most was what came out of the neck pickup.  With that in mind I made a template but I just don't think the design sits well with the relic body.

So I had a look at a stock Telecaster pickguard, I had a couple to play with and the pearlescent white one looked great, but in my opinion it doesn't scream old.

I also like the idea of a 5 hole pickguard, like fender originally installed on their earliest Telecasters.  So with this in mind I set about creating a bespoke pickguard made from an unused / un-etched copper backed PCB board.  I cut out a basic card template and then used my jigsaw to cut out the basic shape before grinding the edges to the template outline on my drum sander attachment.

Once the basic shape was achieved I marked the neck position carefully on the blank and slowly filed away the material testing the fit frequently.  I don't want large gaps anywhere, so patience and care was required as I slowly worked towards a nice snug fit.

Once the neck slot was finished I was able to position the control panel and mark it ready to cut it's slot and once again I want the fit to be perfect.  Again patience and care was needed to ensure a perfect fit.

Next I cut the P90 pickup hole, I pondered how I was going to achieve a perfect fit knowing the routing for the pickup slot is already tight and there is not much room for adjustment.  So the position of the hole in the pickguard has to be perfect.  My solution was to put 4 pieces of masking tape across the guitar, the edges of the tape ran level with 4 sides the cavity so that when I put the pick guard on top of the guitar again I was able to mark the position of the tape and where the lines intersected marked the exact position of the cavity below.

I carefully used my jigsaw to cut the cavity out leaving plenty of the line to allow me to file the rest of the material away testing the fit as I went along. After quite some time I was happy with the fit and I dropped the pickup into its cavity and fitted the pickguard and everything lined up perfectly.

Finally I filed away an section to accommodate the bridge and drilled and countersunk five holes for the screws.  I went over everything with fine wire wool, this brought back some of the shine and removed the tool marks and layout lines, it will age nicely to a dark colour over the coming weeks. I found some pretty old screws which had nicely rusted and aged in my garage and attached the pickguard.

I like it and I think it goes well with the rest of the body, defiantly not another like it in the world I think!

Telecaster III - 20 - Decided to Relic

It has been some time since I posted anything about this guitar, in my last update I had filled and sanded the body ready for paint but the weather was too cold so I put off painting until things warmed up.  During the course of the summer I primed the body but noticed one of two areas where the paint bubbled so I would sand back and prime again.

I decided to paint the body brown in the end, the neck is oak and I liked the idea of earthy colours for this particular guitar. After several coats of brown paint and lacquer I left the body to hang in the garage while I went on vacation and everything seemed fine.

However when I looked at the paint after my holiday the same bubbling had occurred.  I suspect it was down to the wood I used.  I believe it must have not been fully dry and moisture is trying to escape causing the bubbles.  So my choice was to sand the body down to bare wood again or have a go at creating a 'relic'

I decided to go for the relic option and set about sanding away at the finish I had so painstakingly produced with sand paper and wire wool.  Luckily the worse of the damage to the paintwork was right on the front and back where the guitar would normally sit under the players arm and the perfect place to simulate years of playing.

I took a lot of paint off using a course sand paper and then started gradually feathering the edges to produce a nice gentle transition between the paint and the bare wood before wet sanding the body as I would normally.

I imagine the player of this guitar wore a heavy trademark leather jacket which just wore away the paint over years of repetitive use! He may have even refinished the guitar himself a couple of times... Who knows, it's all make believe!

The exposed wood looks too new underneath so I stained it with a couple of coats of darkish wood stain.  I then rubbed most of this out with wire wool. There were a couple of other

While I was working on the body I also started the ageing process on the metal components.  I had read that PCB etching fluid was ideal for this and I just happened to have a tub full at home!  The technique requires some roughing up of the chrome parts first (a couple of light scratches here and there and rub down with wire wool especially in areas where wear would normally occur over time).

The components are then covered with a single ply of tissue and the etching solution is brushed on and left until the desired amount of ageing is achieved.  It worked perfectly until I realised I had aged the wrong bridge!  I aged the correct bridge in the same way and the results were great.  I want to repair a little bit of the damage so everything was buffed with metal polish.

The results were great.  I didn't damage any of the screw threads in the same way but some of the screw heads received the same treatment.

While this was going on I was also bumping and dinging the body with anything I could fine, particularly around the base where it may have stood on hard stage floors or bumping into amps.  Also around the jack socket and behind the bridge adjustment screws.

I tried the neck on for size and it fits great.  I don't plan on doing any damage to the neck, once again i imaging the old one wore out and this is a recent replacement!

Next I have to decide what pick guard to put on this guitar, I have some ideas including something completely original but that will have to wait until my next post.

DLP Lap Steel Guitar - 8 - Final Finishing

Over the past month or so I have been adding the finishing touches to the DLP Lap Steel Guitar.  The body was progressively sanded with finer grades of sand paper and finally scraped smooth with a cabinet scraper and then fine wire wool.

The body is made of cherry and darkens naturally in UV light so leaving the guitar hanging in the garage for the past couple of months has matured the wood beautifully.  I had decided to use gun stock oil to finish the body to give a smooth hard wearing semi gloss finish and started adding thin layers using a lint free cloth.

The fingerboard is made of mahogany and needed several thick coats to fill the grain, I used my finger to apply the finish liberally.

 
The body starts to take on a natural sheen after a couple of coats.  I apply a coat then leave it to dry for an hour or so and then apply another adding about 3 coats a day.  After about a week I wet sanded the body to both flatten the finish and remove any dust which had found its way onto the body.  I was then able to apply the DLP logo once the face of the head was sanded flat, I used a water-slide transfer and started over coating with more finish once it had completely dried.

After hanging the guitar to dry for a couple of weeks I buffed the finish with a fine abrasive compound and then applied a coat of furniture polish and started re-assembling the finished instrument.

Re-assembly was quick as the hard work was done before the finish was applied.

I'm very pleased with the finish, the fret board has a lovely deep shine and the cream binding I used as fret markers has an antique feel to it now.  The green abalone fret dots look deep and shiny as well.

The routing for the P90 pickup looks perfect so no need for a pick guard, it would be for aesthetic purposes only as a pick guard probably wouldn't be needed on a lap steel guitar.

I used Tru-Oil to finish the guitar and I have to give it a thumbs up, it is easy to apply, the odour is not unpleasant or too harmful and the finish can be almost anything you want from a dull matt finish to a high gloss mirror like shine.

A Tru-Oil finish is easy to repair and takes polish well also.  I chose not to buff the body and neck too much but did shine the fret board to a slightly higher sheen.

There is a lovely natural contrast in the grain of the wood and I think that adds to the unique personality of the instrument.  There certainly wont be another like it anywhere in the world!

I strung the guitar up and tuned it to a basic open E and tested all the electronics before carefully packing it away ready for sale.  As much as I would love to keep this instrument I cant do it justice so it needs to go to a good home.

Have a look here on ebay for any of my UK readers who are interested.

Encore Bass Refinish - 4 - Refinish Finished

The Encore Bass refinish is finally complete.  I spent a week or so sanding down the nitro lacquer flat before buffing the scratches out.

I started with 800 grit wet and dry sand paper and gradually worked up to 1500 and then onto gradually finer polishing compounds.

Slowly the scratches and swirls start to disappear and the shine begins to form.  I used a hand held car polisher buffer to apply the compounds and  polish but did the hard to reach places by hand.

Once I had a nice mirror finish I re-assembled the guitar.  I had purchased replacement tuners as one of the originals had gone missing and had been replaced by something similar in the past.  Also the tone pot was very noisy so I ended up replacing both pots.

I also replaced the worn out control knobs but everything else is original.  I set the string heights and intonations and tested the bass out and it sounded great.

Unfortunately I only took one picture of the finished guitar as a colleague snapped it up as soon as it was finished.  It looks beautiful though, I would describe the finish as a very very light relic.  It was always my intention to portray this 30+ year old guitar as one that had been hidden away for years and years and hardly ever used, like finding a gem in the loft one day.

Ibanez Blazer Bass Re-Fret

A colleague mentioned that he had an old bass which has no frets... not because it's a fretless bass because the previous owner had pulled them all out!  He asked me if I would be able to fit new frets and I agreed. This is a Ibanez Blazer serious bass, a serious contender of the Fender P bass I'm told.  It's a well worn but solid guitar.

The guitar itself has been modified in the past, there is a non standard pickup installed and the pickguard has been cut down to bare minimum.  There is also a plate on the back of the guitar which is completely nonstandard.  

The first thing I noticed is how long the scale length is compared to an Encore bass I own.  I started by cleaning out the existing slots with a fine saw then blowing them out with compressed air.  I measured the width of the marks left by the previous frets and sourced so fret wire to match.

I profiled the fret wire and cut 21 pieces to size and then began installing them with the assistance of some super glue.  I don't want the new frets coming lose in the old slots.

It took a few hours to install all 21 frets but I wanted to make sure each one was seated as well as possible.

I then trimmed the overhang as close as I could and started filing the frets as close to flush to the neck as possible.  I have to consider the fact that this is a maple neck and it has been lacquered so I have to be careful not too remove any of the finish.  Another option would be to rub the old finish back and respray but that changes the scope of the job completely.

Once the edges were made flush I made the neck as flat as possible by adjusting the truss rod to remove the natural bow in the neck. I then marked the face of each fret with blue indelible marker and started leveling the frets relative to each other using a straight edge with sandpaper double sided to the flat edge.

Once I have removed a little of the blue pen across the face of each fret I know that there are no high or low spots across the entire neck.next I have to re-crown each fret so I marked each fret again with blue pen and then, after masking the face of the neck, I took a modified triangular file and started re-profiling each fret.

I did this along the top of each fret and then put an angle on the edges of each of the frets and moved onto progressively finer grades of sand paper to remove the tool marks left by the course crowning file.

Once I had sanded each fret down to 1500 grit sand paper I moved onto abrasive polishing compounds using my dremel tool giving each fret a beautiful shine.  Before I started to refit the neck and set everything up I thought I would have a look under the two covers.

To my surprise I found a 9v battery under the rear cover implying that the pickup must be a passive one, looking under the front cover I found that the jack socket it a stereo one rather than mono.

It would be fascinating to know a little bit more about the set up of the electrics but that is something for another day.  I replaced the battery as a courtesy and reassembled the guitar.

I had chosen a string gauge as per the factory specifications from the Ibanez website and adjusted the string height as per the factory specs.  I check intonation and finally gave everything a quick polish and test.

The frets look like they have always been there.  By selecting a gauge of wire that matched the original width there is not much to give away the fact that this is a re-fret.  It was difficult to file the frets flush to the sides of the neck without damaging the existing finish but overall I am very pleased with this and hope the owner is as he has a fine instrument here.