Wayyyy behind in updates....

It's been so crazy at work for the last three weeks, I haven't been able to do more than edit and upload the pictures I've remembered to take as I worked. Not sure if I should just do one huge update, or try to break it down into smaller parts. I'll decide as I go.

I suppose it was two thursdays ago....April 30th, I stopped and got some sand paper and beer after work. It was a gorgeous, warm sunny day and friday was just around the corner. I sat outside with my Might Mouse sander, a bandana wrapped around my face and proceeded to sand away the remaining finish on the back, headstock and neck. I goofed up and took a picture of the front of the guitar again, rather than the back which I'd spent a couple hours sanding on...go figure.

From Astro Jet work 1

Sometime the next week....it would've been monday or tuesday...I spent time hand sanding the last of the finish out of the cutaways, touching up here and there and (as best I could) steaming the one significant dent out of the back of the neck. I couldn't get it all the way out, so I used a spot of Rockler's house brand wood putty (color:Spice) to fill it in. I had tried to put some of the Rockler putty over my hide glue filler spot to take care of some small voids, but it didn't seem to react well to the hide glue. Nevertheless, it did fill some of the voids and I was able to finish sanding this area and getting it smoothed enough for my taste.

From Astro Jet work 1

As the week progressed I finished filing and smoothing out the binding and installed the side marker dots. I decided to extend the dots further than the thumbnails go on the neck and took them down to the 21st fret. I've been playing up in that regions more lately, and find having some indication of where I am a help. I'm just not good enough to go completely markerless. Anyway, it went well and the dots looked very fine when I got everything smoothed out.

From Astro Jet work 1

That thursday, May 7th, I checked everything over and proceeded to the next step...the headstock inlay. After block sanding the face of the headstock smooth and even, I used a micro chisel and cleaned out the areas where inlay bits had gone missing. I'd ordered a small piece of mother of pearl inlay material from Stew Mac to replace the missing bits. Unfortunately, it does not match the old material. I'd noticed this a while back and debated trying to re-do the entire Gretsch inlay myself and eventually chose not to. I wasn't sure it would not be beyond my capabilities and I knew it would take me weeks to accomplish. In the end I kept as much of the original as I could and just replaced the missing bits. The new bits do not match, but I'm pretty much OK with that. I neglected to take pictures when I got done, but will hopefully get to that this week. I used superglue to glue the bits in and seal in the old inlay bits that where left. It worked well and alowed me to fill those somewhat sunken areas and bring everything up flush to the headstock face.

From Astro Jet work 1

The last bit before launching into the next phase was a final sanding in 120 then 220 grit with the Mighty Mouse and some hand work to get it all smoothed and prepped for grain filler.