Continuing the Yellowjacket

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Greetings folks,
Im coming towards the end of my current build. Its a 3/4 scale guitar, in roughly the shape of a PRS but with my take on the carving. Think - sucked sweet.
Neck is a walnut/padouk/maple laminate, and the body leftover chunks of horse chestnut from my other 3/4 scales. Top is rippled ash from a churchyard in Glasgow.
Anyway, before i glue the neck in, i am going to polish the body - it has been sprayed with Steve Robinsons cans and drying for about 3 weeks. You will notice growth lines and unfilled pores - this is intended, though we'll see how effective when finished.

So, the setup. A dish of water with a drop of washup liquid to act as lubricant, old towel to rest body on, a selection of wet'n'dry from 800-7000 grit, some micromesh, polishing compound (Farecla G3 and G10), spray bottle with clean water. And a cuppa.

https://i.imgur.com/VBlmhxR.jpg

First few seconds of 800grit - shows a nice matting on the flat and further work to be done on the carved bit.

https://i.imgur.com/IInQSXh.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/pH9ezEZ.jpg

More when it's done :) Thanks for looking

Adam
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Comments

  • JalapenoJalapeno Frets: 6378
    Looking good, the zebra pattern's not to my taste - but what do I know as an old fart ! ;)
    Imagine something sharp and witty here ......

    Feedback
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  • KalimnaKalimna Frets: 1534
    The zebra pattern is becsuse my little boy, Isaac, likes wildlife. Its supposed to be a wasp/yellowjacket you see :)
    First attempt at a 'burst too....
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  • KalimnaKalimna Frets: 1534
    Ok, so all polished up now... Didnt quite go according to plan, as I managed to sand through the edge a couple of times. For a lesser amateur luthier (!) this would be a problem. However, i see this as an oppurtunity. Behold, the micro-relic! 
    Anyway, here is the body sanded to 800 grit - im happy with the pores showing.

    https://i.imgur.com/8qAcn6U.jpg

    The back. Originaly this was going to be all black, but i couldnt leave that spalting and minor flame covered.

    https://i.imgur.com/7mbKTQU.jpg

    Applying the polishing compound by hand after working through the wet'n'dry to 7000.

    https://i.imgur.com/RiDj0tj.jpg

    All done. At some point im going to get a buffing wheel as im not quite happy with the level of gloss here. 

    https://i.imgur.com/ZCgsyEu.jpg

    The back, at an angle to enhance the shine

    https://i.imgur.com/fbGBoS9.jpg

    And one of the micro-relic'd areas. Interestingly, the gloss goes uninterrupted over the sand-through, though there is no lacquer there.

    https://i.imgur.com/bE3eb5y.jpg

    Anyway, comments welcome as always :) 
    And onto glueing the neck....

    Adam

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  • PeteCPeteC Frets: 409
    Lovely.  I really like that figuring in the top 
    nice work ! 

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  • KalimnaKalimna Frets: 1534
    Cheers, thank you :)
    I have a fair bit more of the ash - next for thst wood is going to be a bass...

    Adam
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  • paulnb57paulnb57 Frets: 3044
    I love it when the paint sinks into the grain...superb!...
    Stranger from another planet welcome to our hole - Just strap on your guitar and we'll play some rock 'n' roll

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  • KalimnaKalimna Frets: 1534
    Thanks Paul,
    Here is the neck glued on, showing off the nice zidicote. Frets to be done later today.

    https://i.imgur.com/MRO647r.jpg

    The neck, showing the laminates. To save wood, i did a scarf joint at the headstock, but the glue up slipped a little.

    https://i.imgur.com/MBvezCg.jpg

    And lastly, my boy Isaac (who came up with the name Yellowjacket) and a quick mock up with the Creamery 'tron-a-like in the background.

    https://i.imgur.com/8t21Kif.jpg

    Adam
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  • Looking awesome
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  • Andyjr1515Andyjr1515 Frets: 3127
    I REALLY like that!  Lovely job :)
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  • KalimnaKalimna Frets: 1534
    Thanks chaps :)
    Still a bit to do, and im not too happy with the fretboard edge, and the neck profile doesnt have enough 'shoulder'. But i do like the aesthetics :)

    Adam
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  • KalimnaKalimna Frets: 1534
    Thanks chaps :)
    Still a bit to do, and im not too happy with the fretboard edge, and the neck profile doesnt have enough 'shoulder'. But i do like the aesthetics :)

    Adam
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  • lysanderlysander Frets: 574
    Lovely stuff, nice burst !
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  • KalimnaKalimna Frets: 1534
    Ok, job for today. Frets.
    The one part of the build i dont enjoy, and am never happy with the results. Anyway, onwards!

    https://i.imgur.com/nl5bAs1.jpg

    Adam
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  • PeteCPeteC Frets: 409
    good luck with the fretwork - lovely looking guitar - lucky lad to to have you as his Dad ! -  got him playing guitar yet ?  
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  • KalimnaKalimna Frets: 1534

    Cheers - the fretwork went OK - polished up to 7000grit and Autosol'd, but I discovered a problem on the neck that I don't think is fixable at all. I can *just* about live with it, but Im buggered if I know how I let it happen. Essentially, I have carved a convex longitudinal curve into the fretboard edge, to the tune of about 1-1.5mm. There should just be enough fret left to prevent string slippage. But Im damn annoyed with myself.

    More pix to follow later on :)

    Adam

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  • TTonyTTony Frets: 27345
    Kalimna said:
    Ok, job for today. Frets.
    The one part of the build i dont enjoy, and am never happy with the results. Anyway, onwards!



    Adam
    Is that a home brew neck tensioning jig??  

    Kalimna said:


    The back, at an angle to enhance the shine


    So, after you'd sprayed the colour, what have you used to achieve that level of shine?  It's something I tried to do on another build, but got nowhere near, so I'm looking to learn ...
    Having trouble posting images here?  This might help.
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  • KalimnaKalimna Frets: 1534

    That is supposed to be a home-brew take on the StewMac jig, however it needs work as the neck supports can only be adjusted from above. I should still be able to use the threaded inserts in the baseplate, but the vertical rods need changing. So, it doesn't work as the stew-mac jig does, but the elastic cord keeps the guitar comfortably secure, and the neck supports allow easy access to do fret work.

    Regarding the polishing, I followed a few guides online (not least those to be found on @SteveRobinson website), but here is the schedule I used. It's also Steve's nitro lacquer cans I used

    Spray base colour, yellow
    Spray 'burst (black and transparent brown, partly to blend, and partly because I ran out of black)
    About 6 sessions of 3 coats each clear lacquer, one session morning before work, one before bed over 3 days
    Leave for 4 weeks
    Flat the lacquer with 800grit wet n dry (all sanding done with wet n dry, soaked and a couple of drops washing up liquid to help loosen slurry)
    When all low spots sanded to (though not as critically here as I wanted to leave some of the pore finish showing through), move up through the grits
    800-1200-2500-3000-5000-7000
    You will notice a small reddish square on the right hand side of that photo - its been cut from an old childrens playmat (sort that slot together, jigsaw-like) that is a fairly dense foam and provided backing to the sandpaper.
    Once sanded through the grits, I used the 2 polishing compounds (Farecla G3 and G10 here, but Meguiers, 3M etc have similar products) applied with squares from an old t-shirt, using a fair old pressure to do so. Rubbed off with same (but clean), and a final go-over with the lambswool bonnet attached to the drill.

    The level of shine you see is slightly exaggerated by the angle Im holding it, but is a fair reflection (in this instance, no pun intended!)

    What I have learned is that edges sand through a lot more quickly than you realise, and a mechanical polisher of some sort will allow you to achieve a higher shine (i.e. smaller final scratches) than by hand alone. So a proper polishing mop is called for.

    Any more questions, please ask away :)


    Adam

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  • TTonyTTony Frets: 27345
    Thanks.

    I probably will ask some more, just as soon as any of my current on-going builds are ready for finishing.

    I’ve only used oils & stains (thus far anyway) for finishing.  Perhaps I need to try out some spray cans sometime - the finish you’ve got there far outshines (!) anything I’ve achieved.
    Having trouble posting images here?  This might help.
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