DAMMIT!!!

I DO NOT need another guitar. I need to SELL some guitars. But the GAS is bad for this one.....argghhh. Hmmm....wrap around tail piece, custom headtsock shape with custom inlay, and some Dynasonic pickups (or maybe the new "Dyna like" pickups GFS are coming out with). Dang...

Do not be terribly surprised if I update this before days end with a "trigger pulled" note....

From Stuff

Yay! Pictures!

Finally, some new photos. Before work this morning I drug the Explorer and Corvette outside and shot their progress to date. First, the Explorer:

No progress yet...this is what she looks like at this time. It's all gassed out and ready to sand and buff. I figure I'll work on that when the `vette is all painted. Probably not much more on updates for the Explorer till it's done, really. Beside rubbing it out, all I need to do is a fret level, new nut and assembly. Run of the mill stuff.....maybe I document the processes, maybe not...we shall see..

Click on the photo to see the Explorer Gallery:

From Explorer Kit

On the Corvette I have made much progress. I finished stripping all the old house paint and varnish off. Sanded it out. Filled the grain. Shot sand and sealer. Sanded that out. Then shot a couple passes of clear on it. Then I sanded the headstock face smooth and tried to touch up the Gretsch decal just a little bit. After I had masked it off, I shot the headstock face black and then put a couple coats of clear on it. IN and amongst that process I also pulled the old frets and sanded to board to re-radius it to 12" and smooth it out. I refretted, leveled and crowned and smoothed the ends on the new frets as well.

So...at this point I need to decided how I want it to look. I have three options I am considering. Keeping it like it looks now...which would mean just shooting more clear. Doing a natural burst...basically fogging dome medium walnut tinted clear around the edges to give it a bit of a burst finish. I also have enough Stew Mac Cherry toner left from my Astro Jet project to finish it in clear red. I am going to not have a chance to work on it again till early next week, so I have the time between then and now to contemplate this. I suppose I could also finish it like the Explorer somewhat....clear yellow(ish) in the middle, medium brown around the edges fading into a darker brown I have. Hmmm..

Again, clicking on the photo opens a gallery with more pics. The darker area on the right side of the body is from the original pickguard (long gone). When it deteriorated / disintegrated it did something to the wood...something soaked into it.

From 66 Corvette work

Really, I do...

..I have some photos of various things I've been working on, but time and circumstances means I don't know when I'll be able to edit and upload them. Lots going on here not guitar related. But, that doesn't mean I haven't had the chance to get a little work done to help me wind down after a day. Let's see...

The Explorer still hangs and dries. It's actually ready to sand out and polish now, but I've been focused on other things. Soon I will get back to it and wrap it up.

I got the bridge holes drilled for the `64ish Corvette. I also pulled the old frets then smoothed and leveled the board. It was really evident how small the old frets really where once they're out. I'll try to get a photo up.

A while back I acquired a fret bending tool for a great price. It's the roller kind that does great, consistent bends and is easy to use. I ran some Stew Mac fret stock I got off ebay through it and used some Titebond 1 to glue them in. I Dremeled the ends off last night and leveled them. Started the crowning process and ran out of steam before I could finish. This morning I finished crowning, rounding the ends and then did the polishing with my Micro Mesh. They look great. The wire is smaller than what I used on my `61 Corvette. I need to look up the exact dimensions, but it's kind of the width of current Gibson wire, but the height of current Fender wire. I nice compromise to my taste. I think I'm going to really like them. The tangs where not as deep as the old wire, but I still think they got plenty of bite into the rosewood.

Soooo, I hope to get back to sanding out the Corvette, addressing the headstock (going to try and save the original Gretsch decal) then on to grain fill, sand and seal, etc.

I've put my drill press away, back in the garage, but before I did I worked on that Bulldog LP kit some. I clamped the neck into the body. It's a tight, positive enough fit I knew I could do this to locate the bridge without having to glue yet. I got the bridge and stop tail locations calculated and drilled their holes based on dimensions for Gotoh parts, which is what i will eventually get for it.

Next I drilled out the tuner holes in the headstock to fit some mahogany dowel rod I have. I plugged the original holes with the dowels because they did not line up with the Gibson headstock overlay I'm using. After the glue had dried I trimmed and sanded everything flush and glued the headstock overlay on. It's the older style Gibson logo with the crown in the middle. Then I drilled new 10mm holes in the correct places and set everything aside for another day. I may or may not have the LP ready for finish before the weather turns too cold to paint outside. I'm not going to fret about it, if it happens, it happens. If not, it'll make a nice little winter project.


BTW....this is the leading contender for the Corvette refinish. A "natural burst". Basically just clear coated mahogany with a bit of transparent brown sprayed around the edges. I like it a lot.

From 66 Corvette work

Oops...forgot pictures again...

Didn't do anymore to the Explorer yet..still letting it gas out prior to sadning and polishing the nitro. Might get to that next week. I did make some progress on the Corvette though. It's stripped and I had started sanding it out, but I stopped that for a bit and turned my attention to the bridge this week.

I don't, at the moment, have a permanent place to set up my drill press. So I cleared some space on my bench and lugged it inside and set it up. Damn it's heavy. I used it and my newly acquired 1/2" plug cutter to make some proper mahogany plugs with correct grain orientation. I got the old bridge holes drilled out to 1/2" with a Fostner bit, cut some lengths of 1/2" diameter mahogany dowel that fell short of filling the holes by around a 1/4" or more. This allowed me to use the mahogany plugs to cap off the holes and have wood with the grain going the correct direction instead of end grain, like on my Twist restoration.

Once these had dried overnight (Titebond III), I cut the plugs flush and marked up the exact location of my new Gotoh tuneomatic. I could have sworn I had a 7/16th" diameter drill already, but I could not locate it. Had to run out to the hardware store and pick one up. So, now the new bridge holes are drilled. I think next week I will sand some more and start getting the frets pulled in prep for the refret. Not sure how far I will get...

...because I decided whilst I have the drill press out and set up I will go ahead and do all the drilling on my Bulldog Les Paul kit. It will need to have the headstock tuner holes plugged and redrilled to line up with the Gibson headstock overlay I've acquired. Plus then the bridge and stop tail holes need to be drilled out. I will likely then set it aside and refocus on the Corvette and perhaps some other projects I have in the wings. We shall see.

I don't have any good photos of the Bulldog kit yet, but these are their pics of my exact kit. The gallery also has some representative photos optional one piece neck and a shot of the style of headstock overlay I chose.

From Bulldog LP kit

Blush!

I was really fighting the finish on the Explorer that last week. I kept getting blushing on the front as I would apply clear coats. This weekend I picked up a can of Behlin's Blush Eraser. Last night I took the Explorer outside and layed it down face up and shot a couple coats of blush eraser on the problem areas. Miraculously, they disappeared! So the stuff works as advertised. Now, as it has enough clear on it, I just need to wait a week or so, then sand and buff the finish, Here's a terrible photo so far:

From Explorer Kit

Last week I also got started on my "mystery" `vette. I say that because I've not yet precisely dated this one. The serial number is more or less illegible due to a past refinish by a previous owner. I know the first number is a 4, and thin it's something along the lines of 76?4?, with the question marks representing illegible numbers and the 6 a not 100% certain guess. In any case, it's either a 1964 or a 1965, this much I know.

Anyway, I got all the hardware stripped off and started using Citrus Strip to get that hideous finish off there. It went quickly as it seemed to be house paint overcoated with clear varnish. I'm part way through sanding at this stage and have started working on getting the bridge holes plugged. The original bridge is long gone, someone (around 1982 I think) fitted it with a tuneomatic style, but didn't get it in quite the right place. I have a nice Gotoh tuneomatic I'm going to instal.

From 66 Corvette work

Here's a before shot linked to the "before" gallery as well.

From 1966 Gretsch Corvette

My first burst.

And it's not exactly pretty, but I'm going to run with it. This week I grain filled the Explorer, applied sand & sealer then got it painted with the three tone burst and started the clear coating. I used Behlins spray cans I got at Rockler. After I had a smooth base of sand & sealer I shot it with their Natural Toner, which is sort of like ReRanch neck amber mixed with clear lacquer. It gave the mahogany a nice golden tint and helped even out the color overall of the different pieces of wood.

I tried the paper mask method to get the edges black and was pretty unhappy with the result. I used brown paper grocery sack and it wasn't stiff enough to give me a uniform edge. I think the method is usable, but think poster board(or foam core board) and very careful sizing is necessary to get a more predictable edge.

I pushed ahead though and applied some of their Walnut Toner to blend the natural and black. In theory and practice the colors look great, but the execution leave something to be desired on my part. I sanded some of the walnut off and tried to redo it for a cleaner appearance, but it still didn't turn out quite like I wanted.

The uneven black bugged me a lot though, so I broke out one of my old airbrushes and a can of compressed air I had sitting around and shot more black on the edges to give it a better look. That part turned out real nice. I think next time I'll either use the airbrush for the black and walnut, or try the cone spray tip on the walnut, because the directional tip it comes with was too concentrated to get a good fade.

I could sand it all down and start over, but I'm not inclined to. It looks passable and, frankly, I want to be done with it and move on to the next paint job before the cold weather gets too close. I learned a lot, found readily available colors that work real well on mahogany and am sure the next burst I do will come out just like I want. I'm thinking of the same color combo for my `64 Corvette, perhaps adding a fourth color they have called Dark Walnut to allow an even more subtle bursting effect.

I'll be putting on the final top coats of clear, weather permitting, next week and will get some shots of the Explorer to upload. I wanted to shoot some this morning for this update, but out net was down again at home, so I didn't take the time.

Uh-Oh

I finished building my first pedal kit this morning. And it works! It's a General Guitar Gadgets "Rodent" kit, which is a clone of the Pro Co Rat distortion pedal. It uses a OP07 integrated circuit chip in place of the original LM308, but supposedly they're pretty close and it can be retrofitted with the LM308 should I find one.

It only took some time last night and then again this morning to get it together. It was fun. I may be in trouble too. Way too many cool pedals to build out there, in kit form and not, plus modding Boss pedals. This could be a drain on the funds. I've already modded two Boss DS-1 Distortions. One sounds great...the other sounded pretty much like ass, so I did some more/different stuff to it. Better, but still not right.

Anyway, great projects in pedals. Soldering, assembly, and then painting....all the kinds of things my hands like to do. Here are some pics of the Rodent....I'll be trying it out at practice this thursday and then taking it apart to paint. I have a very cool idea on that front. Already have another of their kits at home, the Brown Sound In A Box 2 (BSIABII) and have the Digital Reverb on the way. They have a 20% off sale till tomorrow:)

From Pro Co Rat Clone