WezV DC Juniorish build

Jazzthat

Looking cool . I personally like the black borders around inlays .
I am looking forward to see what they look like once lacquered .
What's sort of finish are you going to apply to fingerboard ?

WezV

it will be nitro all over.  Tv Yellow on the body and a light amber tint on the neck. 

It may end up a fairly consistent colour over the whole guitar when I spray the tints. we will have to see, and tweak the colour tones if needed 

Jazzthat

I am also considering nitro on my project guitar , well neck for now , and see how it goes later with the body .

How do you go about polishing fretboard between frets once nitro ( or any top coat )has been applied? 
On my last spray , it was a long journey before I got reasonably good finish  , but it's far from perfect.

This time round I am going to lightly lacquer the fretboard , polish , buff and then put frets in ( for the first time ) .
Hopefully this will look good .

WezV

I try to get a level coat right over the frets, then scrape them back fairly soon after painting.

I don't want to be level sanding between frets, so laying a nice even coat is key.

Jazzthat

WezV said:

I try to get a level coat right over the frets, then scrape them back fairly soon after painting.

I don't want to be level sanding between frets, so laying a nice even coat is key.

Oh I see . That's probably where I had gone wrong with it . 
I needed to sand between frets to get  the shine to high gloss .

SteveRobinson

In Dan Erlewines book on fretting he shows a technique of sanding between frets with tiny pieces of abrasive, using a circular motion. 

It's a slow process but it does work to remove orange peel and other imperfections

WezV

We all know fender are not individually sanding between frets every time they lacquer a maple board.... the aim is to not have to sand at all.


So far I have finished sanded, sealed , then fretted.  The sealer helps keep the board clean whilst I do the rest of the work, and should help ensure I am fully prepped for an easy finish later in the process.


I'm more worried about getting the TV yellow right than I am finishing a maple neck  

SteveRobinson

WezV said:

So far I have finished sanded, sealed , then fretted.  The sealer helps keep the board clean whilst I do the rest of the work, and should help ensure I am fully prepped for an easy finish later in the process.

Well yes, this is how I approach a maple neck too. A single coat of clear lacquer is enough to seal. 

But sometimes you do need to sand between frets!

Jazzthat

SteveRobinson said:

WezV said:

So far I have finished sanded, sealed , then fretted.  The sealer helps keep the board clean whilst I do the rest of the work, and should help ensure I am fully prepped for an easy finish later in the process.

Well yes, this is how I approach a maple neck too. A single coat of clear lacquer is enough to seal. 

But sometimes you do need to sand between frets!

Yeah I've seen that initial coat on maple fretboard approach on your website
I now think , I'll stick to finish after frets .

Jazzthat

WezV said:

We all know fender are not individually sanding between frets every time they lacquer a maple board.... the aim is to not have to sand at all.


So far I have finished sanded, sealed , then fretted.  The sealer helps keep the board clean whilst I do the rest of the work, and should help ensure I am fully prepped for an easy finish later in the process.


I'm more worried about getting the TV yellow right than I am finishing a maple neck  

I am looking forward to see end results on that build . 
Can you post close ups of finish between frets once you have done that ?
I'd like to see how you do it without polishing  as I have failed miserably on that

WezV

There is a maple boarded build of mine that's already lacquered a few threads down from this one

Also, I didn't say no polishing.... I said no level sanding

WezV

And I should point out my aim is usually "vintage patina" rather than high gloss

Jazzthat

WezV said:

There is a maple boarded build of mine that's already lacquered a few threads down from this one

Also, I didn't say no polishing.... I said no level sanding

Yeah my bad , I meant level sanding

WezV

The weather has been delaying the start of finishing, but today seems like a good day to start.    Just sprayed the first dusting of white basecoat

PhilKing

Great to see this coming back onto the radar Wez

WezV

A few months settling in with strings on will have helped  ensure its all nice and stable, and it allowed me to get the worst of the weather out the way

Its now had a couple of coats of white.  This will be followed by some natural wood coloured grainfiller before the yellow starts.

One concern is the possibility both neck and body will end up too similar in colour, as both will rely on amber tints.   To try and control this a bit I am going to do the body colour first, then spray the neck separately with its own tint.  Something with less yellow, and a slight hint of tobacco brown perhaps.   

WezV

Put the first coat of  tint on the body.  Its more of an early 50's wheat than a late 50's yellow... but 2 more coats should warm it up and let me see if I need to use a more obviously yellow colour.

WezV

This is 3 coats of lightly tinted nitro.  Definitely getting there, but maybe still a bit pale at the moment ???

SteveRobinson

I don't think it's too pale at all. I'd stop there.

I find it's always risky to think "just one more coat" and it tips you over the edge and there's no going back.

WezV

SteveRobinson said:

I don't think it's too pale at all. I'd stop there.

I find it's always risky to think "just one more coat" and it tips you over the edge and there's no going back.

Yeah, that's why I decided to stop and think about it.  I can always add more, but can't really start again on this type of finish without losing the grain.