Guitar #1 completed
Posted: Sat Nov 18, 2017 9:29 pm
Well, it's done. Many, many lessons learned.
Again, many thanks to all who contribute here, as I've learned so much from you all.
Special shout-out to Barry Daniels and Alan Carruth who both made some really good suggestions on some finishing problems I had - thanks guys!! And yes, Barry, that Griot polisher worked like a champ!
Apologies in advance for the pics. I had a helluva time getting the pics to come out even CLOSE to the actual color, despite farting around with the color balance. If you've ever seen seafoam green up-close and personal, it'll knock your eyes out!! These pics make it look pastel, which is the last word I'd use to describe seafoam green. Tried to bump the saturation, but then the maple and rosewood started looking weird, so I left it alone. These were the best of the bunch.
- The most important lesson is to always build the guitar to match the hardware. Building off of a plan, including placement of the bridge caused a few difficulties that I was able to mostly overcome. The one remaining issue is that the high "E" string is just a tad too close to the edge of the fingerboard. It plays just fine, but it feels a bit odd at first.
- I won't do a spray finish again unless I have the right space. I used rattle-can Seafoam Green from Guitar Reranch, and rattle-can Behlen stringed instrument lacquer for the clearcoats. This actually went pretty well, but having to watch the weather like a hawk to spot the warm, dry days for spraying was a pain inna butt, and despite my best efforts, I got some small pieces of dirt in the finish (my wife is a gardener, and we have the filthiest garage on the block - maybe in the whole city! ). I can live with it, but I'm going to immediately switch to methods that don't require a spray booth to get a good finish. Unfortunately I had my heart set on a seafoam green Tele, so I kept bulling ahead...
Again, many thanks to all who contribute here, as I've learned so much from you all.
Special shout-out to Barry Daniels and Alan Carruth who both made some really good suggestions on some finishing problems I had - thanks guys!! And yes, Barry, that Griot polisher worked like a champ!
Apologies in advance for the pics. I had a helluva time getting the pics to come out even CLOSE to the actual color, despite farting around with the color balance. If you've ever seen seafoam green up-close and personal, it'll knock your eyes out!! These pics make it look pastel, which is the last word I'd use to describe seafoam green. Tried to bump the saturation, but then the maple and rosewood started looking weird, so I left it alone. These were the best of the bunch.