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!

DLP Mandolin - 13 - Spraying a Sunburst

After chiseling the pickup I filled some of the edges where the laminate had chipped.  I could have used binding around the edges but I consider this a prototype so I decided not to bind the edges.  I had a large piece split between the pickup cavity and the neck but I was able to glue it back in place.

After a couple of rounds of filling I sanded the whole body with 180 grit and then 400 grit sandpaper.  I had put a couple of coats of sanding sealer on the whole body a few weeks ago.

My plan is to paint the pine on the sides and the neck black and then apply a sunburst on the front, back and headstock veneer. I want to leave the layers of the laminate showing on the side of the body so I carefully masked them off.

To make the sunburst effect I cut a piece of card and trimmed it slightly smaller than the body.  I then raised it above the body with several small nails pushed through the top of the card making it stand high enough to allow some overspray underneath to give a nice smooth transition.  I masked the neck and the face of the head.

After the front had dried I repeated the same thing on the back of the body.  The grain still shows through on the sides under the black spray.

After leaving the body to dry overnight I removed all the masking tape before the paint set too hard, hopefully avoiding the paint chipping on the edges.

I made a similar card mask for the head a gave that the same sunburst effect as the body.  I will leave this to dry thoroughly for a week or so before I mask the fretboard and apply lacquer.

DLP Mandolin - 12 - Attaching the Neck

With the holes for the machine heads drilled and access to the truss rod adjustment nut created it was time to glue the neck to the body.  Now the joint is not one that can be taken apart at a later date, the top will be glued over the the joint so essentially the neck becomes one with the body.

After 24 hours I removed the clamps and the neck is set solid into the body.  I spent some time then cutting out the slot for the neck in the top and refining the fit.  It's almost time to glue the top to the body but first I drilled two holes for the volume and tone pots.  I spent a lot of time changing the position of the two controls but settled with them parallel to the centre line.  There is not going to be much space so I couldn't be too choosy.

I have the pickup I intend to use.  It is a humbucker hotrail pickup.  There is an option to coil tap the pick up but I wont use that, just to keep things simple with a single volume and tone control.  Hopefully there will be enough room to get my fingers inside to connect all the electronics once I have glued the top to the body and finished the instrument.

Finally last night I made a template ready to route the pickup cavity.  I am waiting for a pickup surround to arrive so I cant cut the cavity quite yet until I know the size of the surround.  I can then lay out for the pickup cavity and cut the slot.

DLP Mandolin - 11 - Drilling Holes for the Machine Heads

Last night't task was to drill the 8 holes for the machine heads.  after some careful laying out I marked up the 4 holes each side taking into account the length of the all in one plate on the back of the head.

Now this is where my new drill press really comes into it's own.  I put a sacrificial piece of scrap underneath the head so the bit didn't rip through the back of the head.  I used a 'lip and spur' drill bit to minimise tearing on the face of the head although there is a ferrule to tap in which would hide minimal tearing.

I still have to drill a step into the top of each hole to accommodate the ferrules but that can wait until tomorrow.

DLP Mandolin - 10 - Shaping the Back of the Neck

This evening I carved the back of the Mandolin neck.  I started by filing the nut end to the depth I required. I'm conscious that this tiny neck has to support eight strings without warping and yet not be too thick as to be uncomfortable to play.

Once I had the required thickness at the nut end I started to shave the edges of the neck.  I used a small block plane and a spoke shave and tried to take even amounts from each side of the neck.

I originally had glued a block to the neck and has intended to carve this flush with the back of the body but decided to remove it tonight.  It was getting in the way of the carve and when I offer the neck to the body it looks better without.

Gradually the carve starts to take shape, I used a cabinet scraper blade and 60 grid sand paper to continue to refine the profile.

The neck fits perfectly and removing the small block I had glued on gives easier access to the higher frets much like a bolt on neck does on an electric guitar like a Stratocaster.

I can now think about laying out and drilling the machine head holes and also creating a slot to allow access to the truss rod.