Q418C 355 Kit Build

DannyP

Story so far - went to see the Stones.
Liked Keefs Black ES355
Decided to make one from a kit
Saw American dude on you tube using oil paint with tru-oil and decided to have a go
made a complete town halls of it

DannyP

I followed @WezV ; and @SteveRobinson advice to scrape the oil paint off, which was a massive PITA.

I then built up coats with small amounts of oil paint dissolved in tru oil, and this approach seems much more workable.

I've got to the point where the colour is solid, so I'm half way through scraping the binding, after which I'll build up clear coats with the tru oil

paulnb57

Thats looking good!

DannyP

I've just realised that the bound F-holes are only on later ES355s, and not accurate for Keef's 50s model.

Not sure whether to paint over the F-hole binding now. Hmmm.....

Andyjr1515

That's looking good! 

DannyP

I had aged the hardware with a combination of sanding, brasso and etchant.

I dug out the bridge posts last night and I must have neglected to rinse the etchant off before I packed them away again in the baggy.

They now resemble something salvaged from the Mary Rose.

Ah well - new ones ordered off of eBay today...

WezV

If you are using nickel hardware I would skip the manual wear and just try the etchant, unless you want to add a bit of damage first

DannyP

Well the bits that came with the kit are whatever Chinese pot metal gets melted down out of our recycling bins — with gold*(*coloured) plating. 

The Keef guitar I'm referencing has very little gold remaining, so I've gone in quite hard with the abrasives.

I went for nickle covers on the Iron Gear Blues Engines, because Keef's PAFs have no discernible gold left on them and I like the way nickle ages. I painted six string-stripes on them with etchant and a bit around the bass sides for palm wear and they've turned out OK.

DannyP

Henry VIII's bridge posts as salvaged from the Mary Rose, plus 2 new ones.

http://imgur.com/gallery/qkoqWDt

DannyP

Might have to change that nut to cream

DannyP

with tubes

longjaw

Looking good!

DannyP

Looks a bit chaotic here!

DannyP

Wired up - one wire visible through the F-hole, grrrrrr!

roberty

Great work, this is looking fabulous

Jimbro66

An excellent thread . The trial-and-error approach is a great way to learn (and to inform others). Thanks for sharing @DannyP. It's looking good

DannyP

Jimbro66 said:

An excellent thread . The trial-and-error approach is a great way to learn (and to inform others). Thanks for sharing @DannyP. It's looking good

Speaking of trial and error - I think the oil paint and tru-oil approach could work for a solid colour finish. This project is a bit bumpy and grainy, partly because of the trial and error process, partly through my impatience and partly because it's a relic project anyway.

However, if you:

- stain the wood to get 50% there
- add layers of tru-oil with a tiny amount of the oil paint mixed in with it while the binding is masked until the colour is solid
- unmask the binding and add clear coats

I think there would be good results to be had.

Roland

I’d use Osmo rather than Tru-Oil, but otherwise I agree. Once you’ve got a coat or two of Osmo to protect the colour you can use very fine wire wool to smooth the surface.

longjaw

Any updates? Will it be a good as this:

DannyP

Yes! Sorry!

It's put together now, but I have a problem with the electrics, so I'll be pulling the harness out through the f-hole in the near future!

I'll try to do a little vid when it's up and running