Geometric

Peter Crossley

Peter Crossley

New member
urr..

dunno what I'm doing anymores...

nice wiood...

9tWni8F.jpg
 
I haven't heard of that one before, but there are so many beautiful woods that I haven't ever seen. That one is stunning.
 
the weather here in Oz has been flaky at best, high humidity, not good for spraying, but I have struggled through and with the aid of my trusty air dryer on my spray system have managed to get to the final spray.
Now to wait for 3 or 4 weeks for the nitro to get rock hard before final finishing and assembly...

2311yCE.jpg
 
Gorgeous as usual.
I keep telling myself that one of these days I'm going to come down there and visit you. I've got a daughter in New Zealand (I know that's not really very close to Aus, but it's closer than the states).
 
GuitarDoc said:
Hey Peter, what bit do you use to counter sink your control knobs?
Click to expand...

I use a cove router bit wiith the bearing removed off the top of it.
drill the centre hole of the control to the same diameter as the bearing shank.
then use that to centre the router bit, so it doesn't wander.
it will leave a small circular piece of timber proud at the centre, this is removed when you drill the correct size hole for the shanks of the vol/ tone/ selector.
i use the router bit in a pedestal drill.
test on scrap first, fairly high speed on the drill,
also, if your guitar top has a contour to it, which mine do, you will have to adjust the body with packers to make sure that the body is perpendicular to the router..

again, test on scrap.
the finished counter sink will be a bit rough, especially on figured timbers, you can sand this down a bit, but don't sweat too much, because the lacquer will fill the rough bits, when sanding in between coats, i dont sand the counter sinks, this way the sink will fill with lacquer and give a great finish..

last of all use a very sharp cove router bit, the more expensive the bit, the better the finish.
 
Great suggestion. It all makes perfect sense.
I've got several cove router bits...never thought to just remove the bearing. Duh. :smack:

You don't sand between every coat do you?

I will first use a sealer. Then a grain filler when it's needed. Sand. 6-9 clear gloss coats (over at least 3 days). Cure for 3 weeks. Level sand. 2-5 more clear gloss coats (over at least 2 more days). 2-3 more weeks cure. Then final sand and polish. I alter that schedule a bit depending on the wood I'm using or if I put a burst in the finish.

Sorry for picking your brain so much, but have you ever tried pre-cat lacquer? I understand it gives a much harder more durable finish. If so, what do you do differently with it? So far I've tried it on a couple guitars over the past few weeks and only on the last 2-3 clear coats. Seems to work great, but this is my first experience with it and I don't have any long-term results to judge by yet. Don't know if I should be using it on ALL the clear coats.
 
Ok spray schedule
I grain fill with an oil based filler, which is able to be hand buffed to a dull shine.
then I do 4 coats, scuff sand,
this is daily so I let the lacquer cure overnight, sand in the morning then spray

i do 4 coats each day,
after about 12 coats i flat sand, then any colour goes on, followed immediately by another 4 coats,
then scuff sand, and 4 coats,
then a harder sand , but not flat, and another 4 coats
then a flat sand and the final 4 coats

so around 24 to 28 coats.
most of these are removed during the sanding process..
all my luthier mates here in Oz do different stuff, one guy I know uses epoxy to grain fill, I don't like it because it yellows over time.

pre cat is great lacquer, just treat it exactly like nitro...
yes all your clears and colours should be the same stuff.
 
Peter Crossley said:
Ok spray schedule
I grain fill with an oil based filler, which is able to be hand buffed to a dull shine.
then I do 4 coats, scuff sand,
this is daily so I let the lacquer cure overnight, sand in the morning then spray

i do 4 coats each day,
after about 12 coats i flat sand, then any colour goes on, followed immediately by another 4 coats,
then scuff sand, and 4 coats,
then a harder sand , but not flat, and another 4 coats
then a flat sand and the final 4 coats

so around 24 to 28 coats.
most of these are removed during the sanding process..
all my luthier mates here in Oz do different stuff, one guy I know uses epoxy to grain fill, I don't like it because it yellows over time.

pre cat is great lacquer, just treat it exactly like nitro...
yes all your clears and colours should be the same stuff.
Click to expand...
I did a guitar with wipe on poly. I would dilute it with water 3-1. Sanded between coats starting with 600 and finishing with 7000.
It took months. So I hear you.
But it's worth it.

Sent from my SM-A115A using Tapatalk
 
Thanks so much for sharing, Peter. I really appreciate your input. I've been doing this for 15 years but am continually learning new stuff about techniques and products. So much fun!

Yes, I've tried epoxy to grain fill. Didn't like it at all, not only because of the yellowing. There were some compatibility issues and I had to completely remove all of the finish back down to bare wood (after months and months of spraying, curing, sanding, etc.) and start over. Could have been my technique at fault, but I'm not willing to keep trying it. There are too many alternatives available.

I tried Fill-N-Finish (a very thin super glue). On my first couple tries I applied it as recommended, with a plastic spreader as thin as I could. But that ended up way too thick. Now I wipe it on with my fingers (gloves, of course) as thin as possible, to where it instantly all just soaks into the wood. No surface pooling at all. Then sand it smooth after at least 24 hrs cure. It leaves a smooth, glass-like surface. Biggest problem, besides the vapors (must wear spray mask and goggles) is that it melts bindings if not smeared on THIN and fast.

But I only use grain filler when I have woods that are very porous with really open grain.

I end up putting on 15-20 clear coats (in addition to sealer, grain filler, color, and burst coats) but, as you say, a lot of that gets sanded off with at least 2 level sandings and the final sanding before polishing.
 
Aceman said:
Even his half assembled guitars look better than most....
Click to expand...

Oh yeah!

And Peter's inlay work is even more incredible. He is certainly a master at anything guitar!

That's just my opinion, but it's coming from another guitar builder and a perfectionist. I certainly recognize skill.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top