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Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2009 2:11 pm
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[Panting] OK, after some busy days I'm finished painting (hey, who needs to earn a living anyhow?).

Here's the bod with two coats of blue nitro lacquer:
ImageImage

And here it is a couple of days later with the clearcoats on top:
ImageImage

I agonised about how much clear nitro to spray on: thinness versus the need to be able to buff it to a high gloss without breaking through into the color coat below. I finally sprayed five clear coats - but there's still time if anyone thinks that's too little!

Here's a couple of details of the color coat, before the clear lacquer went on. Remember the problems with the neck pocket on the first page of this thread? Here's the finished pocket:
Image

And here's the rebuilt trem cavity:
Image

You can just see the little lip created by rebuilding the neck side of the block cavity on the front of the body. I wondered whether to rebuild that all the way down the depth of the body but decided to just extend the rear overhang all the way round as another little clue to anyone in the future that it ain't a legit Fender body. Don't want to assist any sucker sales in decades to come!

Incidentally, like everyone else who posts pics of their guitars on this Forum I feel the need to emphasise that these photos don't at all represent the real color of this paint job. I've tried tinkering around with the color cast in Photoshop to make them look more like the real thing - without much success. You just have to take my word that this blue is in fact just about identical to Fender's Sonic Blue (in one of it's incarnations, anyhow).

The difference between the pre- and post-clearcoat pics is misleading too. But on that, I took the opportunity to finish a scrap piece of wood with exactly the same process as the guitar, 'cept that I clearcoated half of it and left the other half just the blue paint. Naked blue lacquer on the right:
ImageImage

In the second picture I've covered half that color test crosswise with a piece of card. I shall now leave it on a windowsill for as many years as I can be bothered to study the effect of daylight on the paint with and without the clearcoat. That's in relation to the discussions we've had on this Forum of the idea that in the '60s Fender clearcoated some of their bodies and not others. Let's see how that works out on this test sample. I'll post on it as the years pass!

People have been surprisingly involved in the fact that I've been doing my finishing flat. Half way through this week's work I suddenly became irritated with the little block of cushioned wood I've been balancing the body on while spraying, and I ran myself up a slightly better tool for the job:
Image

Not exactly high-tech, but at least now I can reach in underneath to rotate it as I work, rather than trying to move it round by fingertipping the underside of the body. I doubt you'll be seeing that stand available for purchase from Luthiers' Mercantile any time soon, however!

Right. I'm afraid Orvilleowner has got wind that there now follows a hiatus while I leave my lacquer to harden for a bare minimum of three weeks. I suspect Mr Twelvebar would prefer that to be a full month - and I tend to agree with him. Let's see how long I can hold out...

Here's the bod in a corner of the spare room hanging to dry on my glamorous Dan Erlewine designed Stew-Mac guitar drying stand, imported at vast expense. Well, no...:
Image

See y'all in a few weeks for the finished instrument and the guitar porn photos!

Cheers - C


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Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2009 2:30 pm
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dude i love that color i want a strat that color that strat will definitley look bad $@!

looks awsome now put it together

we want to see it done


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Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2009 2:34 pm
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About time for a update!! :lol: I have been waiting patiently for the next installment. I've been bored with all the usual post. Looking good my friend. I'm very proud of you! :wink:
Oh, the sign for Big O is a nice touch!!


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Post subject: Cool!
Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2009 2:49 pm
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That is really cool i wish I could make a strat myself. Can't wait to see the finished project!

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Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2009 4:04 pm
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Ceri wrote:

Right. I'm afraid Orvilleowner has got wind that there now follows a hiatus while I leave my lacquer to harden for a bare minimum of three weeks. I suspect Mr Twelvebar would prefer that to be a full month - and I tend to agree with him. Let's see how long I can hold out...


Cheers - C
hah You got that right. I say 30 days. A huge benefit from you painting every single surface of the guitar is that when you succumb to your jones to do the final buff and polish, you have plenty of discrete places to do a fingernail test. If the clear is still too soft, you leave it be and come back later. Cure times can vary by a huge degree, given many variables. Different lacquer formulas can have very different cure times, so depending on brand, and how much you thinned it it can vary. Temperature and humidity can play a huger role too. I would imagine you have a high humidity climate, so brace yourself for a potentially LOOOONGGGGG cure time.

Your little stand/lazy susan isn't too far off from what fender used in the early days, except they didn't make a soft padded surface, they actually drove nails into the body of the guitar and used em for legs.

It looks great, on my monitor your blue looks very very nice. excellent job, you should be very proud of the miracle save you pulled on that body!!(also i cant make out the branding you put in the neck pocket, and the trem cavity, any chance on a close up from aftter those were applied?

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Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2009 5:21 pm
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Hi Rock God: yes, it's a nice color, isn't it? I've been wanting one like that for a while...

Hop: do you remember what that "Hello Orvilleowner" sign is about? Cast your mind back to the EddieVanHalen incident...

ilovefender!: well, you can! I think we've proved that here if nothing else. And no, I can't wait, either...

...But, Twelvebar, I will! A month will soon pass...

***

But, hey! I forgot to give the results of the lacquer weight test. If you recall, Nikininja sanded 197 grams / 6.95 ounces of polyester lacquer off a MIM body. My figures were...

Prepped body before finishing: 1678 g / 3 lb 10 7/8 oz.

After priming: 1700 g / 3 lb 11 3/4 oz.

Finished body: 1730 g / 3 lb 12 3/4 oz.

So the lacquer weighs 52 grams / 1 7/8 oz. Of which the primer is 22 grams / 7/8 ounce: a little under half the total.

Image

So my nitro effort is roughly a quarter the amount of finish of Fender's polyester. I actually set very little store by that, but no doubt it'll be useful ammunition for the "thin-skin" devotees...!

I also tried measuring the thickness with my digital calipers. After the sums the finish is supposedly 0.47 mm / 0.004 inch thick. However, that should be taken with a huge pinch of salt. The caliper reading fluctuates depending how hard I press on the little thumb wheel on the instrument and I have no confidence that I'm comparing like with like.

Let's follow the Ninja and believe in the weight figure. The modern way to think about guitar finishes!

Cheers - C


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Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2009 6:07 pm
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Nice job. Real nice job. I like that color too :wink:

Thanks for the call out!

I can't wait to see the finished product and hear how it plays/sounds.




(When it grows up, will it have two necks?)

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Last edited by orvilleowner on Fri Feb 20, 2009 9:14 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject:
Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2009 6:14 pm
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orvilleowner wrote:
Thanks for the call out!


Yeah, well: I've been waiting five months to reply to your "hello" with a sign on a red guitar. Still waiting...

And no, I don't think this one will ever sprout a second neck. Takes a real man to handle a blue Strat with two necks!

'Night all - C


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Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2009 6:59 pm
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Ah i gotta strip the hardware off my body now and see if i've met the required levels for a thinskin.

Well done Ceri. Thats a lovely looking body. I hope the neck is suitably tinted to match.

Smart lookin mate really nifty.
Now 1730, i gotta beat that :lol:

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Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2009 7:44 pm
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Hello Ceri,

Very nice indeed,
I was wondering what is the device in
the neck pocket & tremolo cavity?
The "Ceri" coat of arms?

Cheers.


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Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2009 7:58 pm
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Mr Bill wrote:
I was wondering what is the device in the neck pocket & tremolo cavity? The "Ceri" coat of arms?


That "coat of arms" looks like the UPS logo to me.

:?:

I bet Ceri puts a Ferrari sticker on the back of it when it's assembled.

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Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 4:17 am
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Mr Bill wrote:
I was wondering what is the device in
the neck pocket & tremolo cavity?
The "Ceri" coat of arms?


Haha - yep, that's more or less it. Don't know if anyone remembers the shield logos big band drummers used to put on the front of their bass drums - Gene Krupa, Buddy Rich; those fellas. It's based on that look.

It's just there to indicate that this ain't trying to pass itself off as a real Fender. Small, but there for someone who looks closely.

(And to be absolutely clear: there's no commercial advertising activity going on here. Strictly amateur - I'd never be able to make a living at this!)

***

Oh, and Niki: 52 grams is the weight to beat. Though I'm not sure it would be a good idea: I'm worried that this coat could be too thin, rather than not thin enough. If we did want to make it even thinner then I guess we could use the colored nitro as its own primer - with the additional expense that would involve. And maybe we could omit the clear coats, though I wouldn't be keen on that.

Personally I think the thickness of the paint is not terribly important (within limits). But it was an amusing exercise.

Cheers - C


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Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 5:37 am
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Yeah your right i better forget it. I may look at refinishing that sapele body of mine though. Comparing it to what ive done with the mim body is unfair as the paintjob i've done is nowhere near as well executed as yours. Also i was aiming for a sunk paint effect that you see on some old guitars.

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Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 8:06 am
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Wow i really am liking what i see so far.....how's the weather there Ceri?From the pics it seems a lil cloudy and the camera didn't capture the gloss effect....the re-build neck pocket looks fantastic and so is the trem cavity!

Fabulous.....cant wait for the whole project to finish!Kudos to you Ceri...!!

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Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 9:17 am
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belphedeus wrote:
...how's the weather there Ceri?From the pics it seems a lil cloudy and the camera didn't capture the gloss effect....the re-build neck pocket looks fantastic and so is the trem cavity!


Ha - nothing wrong with your eyes! Yes, the final pics of the body flat were taken outside yesterday and it was very cloudy. I think that is mostly the reflection of a tree behind me that you are seeing in the lacquer.

Also, immodest of me but I'm secretly really pleased with that pic of the neck pocket. It looks OK, doesn't it? Especially when you think how it started out.

Phew - there've been some dicey moments on this thing where I was wondering if it had been a horrible mistake to be doing it in public! Touch wood: unless I drop it downstairs or something I think it's probably going to be all right...

Cheers man - C


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