Stratocaster Project - 9 - Another New Finish

I have been working on the finish of this Stratocaster copy for some time now.  I wasn't happy with the first finish I applied which was also bright red so I sanded everything down and sprayed the body solid heritage cherry but I didn't like the colour!  I always wanted a red 'Hank Marvin' like Strat so I started from scratch and resprayed the body red again.

There were a few pits and marks which needed spot filling with lacquer.  I used nitrocellulose clear lacquer so I was able to carefully spot fill and then sand smooth after a couple of days knowing the lacquer would melt into itself leaving no trace of the blemishes.

Sanding down a guitar body by hand is not easy and I made things more difficult by starting off with 1200 grit sandpaper.  I have sanded through the finish on previous bodies in seconds using courser grades of paper and knowing how thin I had applied the lacquer I did not want that to happen again.

I started with 1200 grit and then onto 1500 grit.  All the areas I had drop filled with lacquer flattened out and blended seamlessly so I then went through 3 different grades or abrasive liquids applied using a hand held buffer. This certainly made the job much simpler and quicker.  There was still some areas that the buffer couldn't reach which  completed by hand.

Finally I buffed and polished to a lovely mirror finish and started assembling the hardware.  It wasn't long before I had attached all the body components before attaching the neck and fitting the strings.

Everything tested fine and I am now a proud owner of my very first Strat.  It's nothing like Hank Marvin's, for starters it has a rosewood fret board, an alder body, silver hardweware and a rather sparkly pick guard.  But this time the finish is staying as it is... no more refinishes for some years please!

Painting and More Painting

I have continued the various stages of painting the guitar and mandolin bodies throughout the week so I thought it might be an idea just to update the site with my progress. Over the previous weekend I prepared and sanded the 2 Telecaster bodies I am working on ready for grey primer.

Both bodies are looking great but I had discovered some splits in the finish of the solid body model much the same as I had experienced on the Les Paul body.  They are both made from the same stock so perhaps there is something in that.

Both bodies are sprayed the same colour but the light plays tricks in the above picture making them both look different colours!  Hopefully the primer will be fully hardened by the weekend allowing me to lightly sand a key for the topcoat to adhere to.

I have sprayed several light coats of black aerosol onto the Les Paul body.  I will leave this to sit for several days before lightly sanding everything and applying several more coats.

The Stratocatser body I am working on has already been covered with several light coats of nitrocellulose lacquer but over the past week or so there are a couple of areas which have sunk! I have spot filled these with lacquer and hopefully when I apply a couple more coats they will blend and finally sand smooth with the rest of the surface.

Finally I sanded the mandolin with 600 grit sandpaper all over just to smooth everything out ready for several more coats of lacquer.  There are a few places I spot filled on this body as well, especially arounf the edges on the top.

DLP Les Paul - 10 - Sanding, Painting, Sanding, Painting!

It was back in February when I last updated this blog on the progress of the DLP Carved Top Les Paul, I haven't been having a great deal of success preparing the body for paint.  Each time I apply a layer of primer it would start to peel.  Small lines would appear and then swell into a split.  So I have been constantly sanding back, filling and then priming in an effort to get rid of the imperfections.

Gradually all the patient sanding and filling started to pay off and the splits became less frequent... but equally frustrating!

I have ended up using several different primers and sealers (all compatible thankfully) giving a rather psychedelic effect! I eventually sprayed a couple of coats of clear lacquer over everything and left it to cure for a week or two before carrying on.

Today I applied 3 uniform coats of grey primer.  Hopefully I shouldn't see anymore splits and can start thinking of applying the colour.  This body will be black.  I have already primed and painted the neck black and applied several coats of nitrocellulose clear lacquer.  This will have to wait a couple of weeks before I can wet sand and buff.

The body will be black and all the hardware will be chrome, nothing too fancy but hopefully quietly stylish!