I'm still here, I've just been busy with the holidays, work, kids, buying a new car, etc. I have also had a couple setbacks. The spray booth we were making was not ready when I was ready to start finishing and the pickups were about two weeks late due to a problem with production at Seymour Duncan. I ended up applying the initial coats of sanding sealer with foam brushes, which meant I also had to do more sanding to get the finish leveled. Now the booth is complete and I just sprayed the next couple coats on one of the guitars. I will spray the other tomorrow and then start with the finishing lacquer. I am using water-borne lacquer for the first time and so far, if it is anything like the sanding sealer, it works great. It is very clear and glosses very nicely without any sanding or polishing (I will still do these steps, but when I sprayed the nitrocellulose lacquer, it was not glossy until I sanded/polished). Before applying any finish, I installed the nuts on the Tele style guitars and put the side fret markers on the rosewood fretboard guitars. Here are some pictures, starting with installing the side fret markers and then the finishing. I did not have the camera with me today, so I don't have any pictures of the spray booth or spraying. I am not going to go into detail with the pictures like I usually do, but there's not much to explain. Some of the pictures are brighter just because they were taken with the flash on.
Here are pictures of the side fret markers being installed. They are actually small pieces of plastic rod. The fretboard is drilled and the rod is inserted and glued in with superglue. The rod is then cut and sanded flush with the side of the fretboard. The top four pictures are the hollow body Telecaster and the bottom four are the Hollow body Les Paul. I have not done this on the green Tele as it does not need to be finished as soon as the other two, but it will be done.
Here are a few shots of the hollow body Telecaster body. I have just begun putting the sanding sealer on. I don't have any good shots with a high gloss because even without using a flash, the lights reflected on the shine and made for not very good pictures. The last picture is the back of the neck. I tinted the sealer to give it an aged look instead of staining the wood, which would make it a much darker amber color.
Here are several shots of the hollow body Les Paul in various angles and at various stages of finishing. Most of these shots are after the lacquer has dried, so you can see that the gloss is fairly good even without any sanding/polishing.
Here is the green, Celtic themed Tele. I have not finished the neck yet, but the body top, sides and back all have one coat of sanding sealer. I will need to apply a few more sprayed coats and then the regular lacquer. The close up shot shows details of the wolf inlay.
Well sorry it has taken so long to post. Life is busy. Most of these pictures were taken shortly after my last post, but I have just not had time to post until tonight. I hope you enjoy the progress. I am planning on finishing the spraying this weekend, wiring and setup the following week, and tweaking/adjusting the first week of December so I can send the two hollow bodies out the second week in time for Christmas. Oh, by the way, the cases have also arrived. Let me know what you think so I know that you are reading this. Thanks,
Aaron
