I just had the same glue problem with a Les Paul kit - glue spots on the top. To resolve the problem, I hired a painter to put some embellishments over top. It looks really great! I had to pay for it, but it was worth it!
I think the best way to hide the glue in the center would be to get a nice looking pinstripe from an auto store. It will look planned, not like a mistake.
Looks good Brad. I'd put a clear on to seal it, then spray a trans color coat. Those glue spots won't be as noticable. The center seam never takes the dye when you hand stain it.
My idea about what u should do with it is see if ur foot goes clear thru that POS when u kick it. I bet it does. Great work with the water paint as usual tho👌
Hey Brad.. I dig the new video. I have a suggestion for the glue. Maybe a light rubbing w/ 1000grit on either side of the seam.. then airbrush work to hide anything that's left over. PS.. can't wait for the follow up.
You could get the bulk of the glue off the center seam using some 0000 steel wool with a circular scrubbing motion on each side of the seam and lightly over the seam. The steel wool won't burn through the veneer very easily. Just go little by little and test with a little dye as you go. Worst case scenario, put a Bigsby on it to hide it!
With that line of glue down the middle, this is a lesson to anyone who builds or wants to build their own guitars. When you get glue squeeze out, dont wipe it off. Just let it dry, then scrap it off with a razor blade or cabinet scraper. You may still have a tiny line but it will be barely noticeable. Love your vids Mr. Brad!!
I'm interested to see how you would fix the glue stripe, but a trapeze tailpiece would definitely help take the focus off of it, and if I remember right from the last video about this kit, there were some concerns about thin wood where the included bridge would mount? The trapeze tailpiece might solve both problems there.
I love the fact that you share us amateur's pain in your videos! I'm going to attempt some accenting on a thin flame maple veneer. I think on a similar video you started sanding your accenting layer using 400grit, yet here you go in using 800. What's your final recommendation on where to start with the sanding? Any other recommendations on accenting a veneer? Starting with lighter accent colors? Did I see you doing accenting with a dark colored filler, or did I just make that up?
You can accent with a dark colored filler, but that’s more for woods like ash and oak. Not so much a flamed maple thing. You can definitely accent using lighter colors, and even without using an accent color you can get a cool effect on flamed maple. I used 800 here because this is a very cheaply built kit and the veneer was unbelievably thin. In a more recent video I accented some flamed maple veneer on a better kit. It is still very thin but not as bad so I used 400 grit instead. It’s a matter of balancing speed with being careful.
@@BradAngove I appreciate your help - as always. I guess I'll try my chance with a thin coat of black dye, light enough that I can give up on sanding anytime one switch to my main color (navy - blue - turquoise something) ... Let's hope I don't run into any glue-lines, I really do not want a stripe through the middle...
Someone has mentioned the Hot Rod look already; I was going to suggest an acrylic racing stripe with matching headstock. Another great video Brad, thanks for all the tips and tricks. 👍🏻
Your voice is so calm that makes it satisfying to watch I have a Vintage V100 AFD, and that guitar usually has a lot of veneers, but mine has just a few Is there a way to make them darker?
Whatever color you do for the edge, perhaps you could have a super long thin triangle of the color come straight up the middle tapering to a point to where the neck meets? Anyway, looking good so far.
I had a similar problem with a kit. I was able to scrape away glue from the surface with a razor blade. Of course try it in an area you can hide. My veneer is also very thin. And it bubbled up. I took a hypodermic needle with glue and injected it into the areas and was able to get them down. Of course I micro fine and only inserted the tip and let gravity help me get it around. Those are what worked for me. Also on the back of your guitar, I would mix a very watered down black and make sure no glue is back there. Mine had glue finger prints all over it. Good luck with this one. It will really test your ingenuity. Some of the suggestions I saw are really good like the one about spraying around the f holes to hide the glue with a airbrush. But I don't like the skunk stripe down the middle. It kills the look.
Could a thin channel (2mm-3mm?) be routed down the center of the front of the guitar and a thin strip of wood or plastic added to the channel? The flamed maple looks great and the shape of the guitar is nice and it would be a shame to put the effort into a beautiful finish and have a noticeable flaw.
That glue line happens to 90 of vacuumed veneers, it just depends if the factory worker making them cleans the excess off or not but most cheap kits are going to have this problem. After you finish prepping the wood use a touch of metho or turps to wipe on the veneer and see if there are any light areas of glue that aren't absorbing. Then you can use some 1200 g (so you minimise material loss) sandpaper to tidy it up. but If that doesn't work use Goof Off.
About the glue line, couple things come to mind. Inlay a complementary veneer, or paint an accent line. Doing some graphics would be easy to do, and could add some detail. Sometimes the glue can be washed with solvent/water, being careful about lifting the veneer. I bought one of these kits, also have a bit of this. Alternative is to lay out where the hard ware may hide the defect. I got a trapeze tailpiece, and made a wood insert, completely hides the defect.
Hey Brad! I was curious if you bailed out on the hollow body kit in this video. I wouldn’t blame you if you did - but I was definitely interested in seeing how you handled that glue line. I love the idea of a pin stripe. Thanks for all the great videos!
1/ For the blisters - While still damp place a thick sponge over the blisters and weight it down, leave to dry for a few days before removing weight and sponge. Basically press the blister out while still damp. 2/ For the glue spots - Use Goof-off or similar acetone based product and a small fine wire brush to remove surface glue. Essentially the product whatever you use is only to soften the glue and the wire brush is to scratch the unwanted glue away. Use the wire brush only in the direction of the grain. Depending on the glue spot at hand you might end up with tightly spaced and surprisingly deep gouges that will hold stain and will need re-staining and filling with clear coat or you might get lucky and simply have nil evidence that there was ever any glue there.
Hey Brad! Try a product called Goof Off with a small wire brush or firm toothbrush to get most of that glue off. With some care, it should come right away.
I’m familiar with goof off. I’m a little concerned about the possible effect on the veneer though. This isn’t glue sitting on top; it’s basically coming right through the thin veneer.
Many acoustic guitars use an inlay on the center of the back to hide joints. With the right style it could be a vast improvement to the overall aestethic. With the sound holes I would shadow the edges with the darkest color in the palette of the body, to tie all together. BTW, I am refinishing and rebuilding a 12 string electric and your vids have been a great help.
I will be amazed if the tailpiece and even the bridge that came with the kit actually mount on, you need an archtop style bridge and tailpiece when there's no solid mass in the guitar to hold the posts under tension of the strings
You might try a highlight down the center to cover the glue line. Use a piece of leather with a wider bottom flare and go under the stop tail to thinner at the bridge pickup. Or a thin veneer of a walnut or a dark stained wood to do the same thing?
Now, if it were mine and I came across these issues, I would turn my back on a water-based dye and use either a gel stain for full coverage or an acrylic dimensional writer to outline and accentuate (these can be smoothed out to flat and can also act as a secondary glue). I love strong outlines so I'm partial to the dimensional acrylic maybe even using it over a stain gel. And, Vaseline. I used it two days ago when I forgot to put gloves on after making and while finishing a counter shelf for my kitchen counter. It worked faster and better than any scrub soap or paint thinner I've ever tried. It took 4mins to get my hands completely free of polyshades and that stuff if flippin' sticky (it works to get hair dye off a forehead, shoulders, back, butt, etc, too, just in case anyone comes to need to know this).
is there some paint, that you would be pleased with, that you could paint a black zig-zag line down the center to cover the glue line, or a reverse burst of black (or whatever color you chose) to cover all the glue marks while still maintaining the flametop look?
@brad angove- is there a semi transparant wipe on stain/color i can use were i dont need to worry about the glue showing because i just want to see the grain a little?..mainly when you look close kinda thing..if yes,were do i find?..what is it called?,ect?
I’m not familiar with a product like that. To achieve that effect, I would mix a small amount of pigment into my paint and spray a semi-transparent coat. Or depending on the paint I might thin it down more, or mix colored paint with clear… you get the idea.
question, I have basically the same type of guitar kit hollow body as you. What grit of sandpaper sould i start with on the body before i start applying the stain?
I would try a wood scraper to try and get rid of the glue stripe! I like the colours Brad will look good with a tru oil finish.. it's a nice looking guitar but God dam it's cheap!!! Are you sure it's not a new epiphone? Good job brother
There r some good solutions in the comments to your glue line problem. But I’d just sand it down and paint it maybe a pearlescent white and move on. Btw, LMI’s luthiers glue shows under a black light to avoid such costly mistakes. It also dries quickly and harder compared to Titebond.
u can use those pencils for repair scratches on wood... just find the right color tone u need man.. i use them very often on veneers that have glue issues...
@@BradAngove I don't mean just painting the center one color, I mean painting in detail with different colors to match the grain/stain of the wood around it. You would need at least 3 different colors to do it. I guess just putting a pin strip up the middle would be easier though.. :P
When I say it’s not great for finish sanding, I mean literally sanding a finish for polishing purposes. You can still use it to speed up all the preliminary steps. If your budget is a bit higher, triton makes a very versatile electric orbital sander.
@@BradAngove Again thank you for the time in replying. I am going to build a solo kit (using your link! :) ) for my father (who has everything, except a hand made (sort of, at least hand finished) guitar from his son. He plays all acoustic, so this will be something completely different for him. Thx for your help, time and inspiration!!! Best to you and yours!
I have two ideas for that annoying glue joint. 1. Get a furniture scratch cover marker of a shade that could blend well with the color you have...and color that glue joint with it, and rub it into the finish around the marker line to blend it in. Of course this would assume that the marker would actually stick and cover the glue. 2. This is gonna sound whack ass nuts, but if method 1 didnt do the job, I would consider running a router down that line just wide enough to get rid of it and only deep enough to glue in some kind of straight inlay that runs along the center of the guitar and actually replaces some of the top material thus getting rid of the glue line....and you could get creative with the material and colors that you decided to inlay. Yea, this would be a little more dangerous (to the guitar) overall, but would look good as long as you kept things straight and uniform. You would only need to go around 1/8 of an inch deep max (maybe even shallower) using some kind of straight edge as a guide so your router doesnt get out of control. 3. Actually, I have one more idea.. lol Tape the guitar top off in a straight line on each side of the glue joint so that you have an even line running up the middle of the guitar. Tape off the rest of the guitar top. Go find a can of spray paint of your color choice and paint over that line up the center with a few coats so that the glue is well covered by the paint. a really dark red or brown should look good. Then go ahead and do the finish as you would have... just making sure to get the paint looking good first. So there you go!
that looks really cool... i wouldnt know that was a cheap kit untill you told me! also, i need advice again... so i picked up an old bass for around 20 dollars. when i stripped the paint i realised it was a plywood body. my original plan was to plane off 5mm from the top and then glue on a nice veneer on top... but i coldnt since the plywood wouldnt look too good just being stained...is there any paint you could recommend which doesnt require a tonne of preparation before spraying and isnt too expensive?
@@BradAngove cool, thanks. and as for the paint, i found some black nitro lacquer in spray cans for roughly 20 dollars each. ill send the brand name in another comment when i find it again. and could you possibly point out any better finishes? ive started staining the neck blue with dark blue grain, and then im going to apply a polyeurathane finish. if there is any better colour for the body could you possibly give some advice too? thanks.
@@BradAngove I had the same question. I got my son a guitar body for Christmas, but it has like 1/4 inch flamed maple top not just paper thin veneer. Would you still say 600 grit prep?
Hey Brad have you made a video on the proper way to sandpaper off guitar paint and primer by hand? I recently tried sanding off some lacquer paint with 80 grit sandpaper and I think I just need stronger paper
black binding material straight up the middle but then you got sound holes to deal with.... I'd just paint it Candy Apple and maybe airbrush some interesting graphics. Actually why not try laminating either a cool fabric (aka Steve Vai's Curtain Gem) or some Dark Comic book pages, could look good in Black and White, even News Print like Headlines from this year plastered randomly over a White background or even all the paperwork, instructions etc that camw with the kit (depends on if you got any though). Even pages out of a Guitar tab book using some classic tracks could be interesting......damn! you got me thinking again! Anyway, that veneer top is toast and not worth saving, good for a technique demo but little else. All the best mate and have a great Festive Season ;)
sorry to bother, i am very new in the guitar world. Is it possible for the staining in the veneer body to vanish overtime?, if yes, is there a way to restore it? thanks🙏
Bad Brad !!!! I need advice! Got a beautiful oil based stain finish on a guitar and want it to look exactly as it is... Tung oil won’t seal over stain... so what can I use? Help!
If you take a new razor blade. Put masking tape around blade leaving a gap in the middle the width of your glue line. Scrape the line using the razor blade towards you not away! You should be able to get most of the glue off the worst thing would leave a straight thin line of course that is the joint and would look normal. Be careful lightly drawing the blade towards you.
Put a racing stripe with two smaller pin stripes??? Easy enough fix and it'll look cool it'll have to be a solid color to that's only natural because your concealing a glue blemish.... lol 😎 it'll look good trust me....next time just rub some water on it to find out where the glue spots are and mark them lightly with a pencil...then lightly sand them out.....
I would think the glue has saturated the area. I could be wrong. If I’m right though, then in order to scrape through the glue you would also be scraping all the way through the veneer.
This is what kills me about the cheap Chinese kits - if they just would have taken an extra 60 seconds with the glue-up of that veneer top it would have been stellar. You won't be "fixing" that - as you have surmised, you've got solid glue coming through the veneer. The only choice is to re-veneer. It's not hard, but the binding will present a challenge.
I would have tried a scalpel to get rid of axcess glue before staining. Just lightly remove some glue at the joint. So The glue wouldn't be so prominenta. "Swedish guy"
O by the way if you see this name pop up at times its krusty buzzard on my grrandsons screan name.All that work on a beautiful looking flame top just to have your dreams of it trashed by a stupid glue line because they had to save a few cents using a cheap thin asked vaneere. I sure hope you can think of something to camouflage that glue.
I have masked glue lines before with colored pencils. Once you clear, it blends in nicely.
Really? That’s very interesting.
@@BradAngove Yes, have done it to mask repairs or seams. Creating grain lines with pencils is more common in art and furniture, but it works.
That’s awesome. Thanks Chris.
I just had the same glue problem with a Les Paul kit - glue spots on the top. To resolve the problem, I hired a painter to put some embellishments over top. It looks really great! I had to pay for it, but it was worth it!
I think the best way to hide the glue in the center would be to get a nice looking pinstripe from an auto store. It will look planned, not like a mistake.
Looks good Brad. I'd put a clear on to seal it, then spray a trans color coat. Those glue spots won't be as noticable. The center seam never takes the dye when you hand stain it.
My idea about what u should do with it is see if ur foot goes clear thru that POS when u kick it. I bet it does. Great work with the water paint as usual tho👌
Since its a good rockabilly guitar have a hot rod shop pinstripe it to cover the glue spots.
I might throw some stripes of some description on there.
Hey Brad.. I dig the new video. I have a suggestion for the glue. Maybe a light rubbing w/ 1000grit on either side of the seam.. then airbrush work to hide anything that's left over.
PS.. can't wait for the follow up.
You could get the bulk of the glue off the center seam using some 0000 steel wool with a circular scrubbing motion on each side of the seam and lightly over the seam. The steel wool won't burn through the veneer very easily. Just go little by little and test with a little dye as you go. Worst case scenario, put a Bigsby on it to hide it!
With that line of glue down the middle, this is a lesson to anyone who builds or wants to build their own guitars. When you get glue squeeze out, dont wipe it off. Just let it dry, then scrap it off with a razor blade or cabinet scraper. You may still have a tiny line but it will be barely noticeable. Love your vids Mr. Brad!!
Thanks John.
I'm interested to see how you would fix the glue stripe, but a trapeze tailpiece would definitely help take the focus off of it, and if I remember right from the last video about this kit, there were some concerns about thin wood where the included bridge would mount? The trapeze tailpiece might solve both problems there.
Yeah, I think the trapeze will be a must.
one way to fix it would have been to ship it back and get one that doesn't have a glue line down the middle. It's what I would have done.
I think we have different ideas of the definition for the word “fix” haha.
Well done, can’t wait to see what you’ll do to the back and sides...
I love the fact that you share us amateur's pain in your videos!
I'm going to attempt some accenting on a thin flame maple veneer. I think on a similar video you started sanding your accenting layer using 400grit, yet here you go in using 800. What's your final recommendation on where to start with the sanding?
Any other recommendations on accenting a veneer? Starting with lighter accent colors? Did I see you doing accenting with a dark colored filler, or did I just make that up?
You can accent with a dark colored filler, but that’s more for woods like ash and oak. Not so much a flamed maple thing. You can definitely accent using lighter colors, and even without using an accent color you can get a cool effect on flamed maple.
I used 800 here because this is a very cheaply built kit and the veneer was unbelievably thin. In a more recent video I accented some flamed maple veneer on a better kit. It is still very thin but not as bad so I used 400 grit instead. It’s a matter of balancing speed with being careful.
@@BradAngove I appreciate your help - as always. I guess I'll try my chance with a thin coat of black dye, light enough that I can give up on sanding anytime one switch to my main color (navy - blue - turquoise something) ... Let's hope I don't run into any glue-lines, I really do not want a stripe through the middle...
Try misting a bit of water on it first to see if any areas don’t darken, which would mean that there are glue lines there.
@@BradAngove That's another good one - cheers!
Man it looks a lot like what I want as colour for my new project... mine is semi-hollow but looks a bit like that ... awesome video man ! Cheers !
Thanks Alain.
Someone has mentioned the Hot Rod look already; I was going to suggest an acrylic racing stripe with matching headstock.
Another great video Brad, thanks for all the tips and tricks. 👍🏻
I’m liking this idea.
Your voice is so calm that makes it satisfying to watch
I have a Vintage V100 AFD, and that guitar usually has a lot of veneers, but mine has just a few
Is there a way to make them darker?
My favorite way to darken something like that is generally using toner lacquers or other tinted clears. How dark are you aiming for?
To dye for, Brad. I'm gonna have to take a closer look at the one I have for glue issues.
I hope it doesn’t have the same problem.
Hi, your quite a master of the paintbrush. Think outside the box with a nice pattern. Make it a one of a kind. Rob
Whatever color you do for the edge, perhaps you could have a super long thin triangle of the color come straight up the middle tapering to a point to where the neck meets? Anyway, looking good so far.
Nice idea! Like a stinger, but on the top!
You could hide the glue mark if you put some sort of stripe like the Santana PRS
I had a similar problem with a kit. I was able to scrape away glue from the surface with a razor blade. Of course try it in an area you can hide. My veneer is also very thin. And it bubbled up. I took a hypodermic needle with glue and injected it into the areas and was able to get them down. Of course I micro fine and only inserted the tip and let gravity help me get it around. Those are what worked for me. Also on the back of your guitar, I would mix a very watered down black and make sure no glue is back there. Mine had glue finger prints all over it. Good luck with this one. It will really test your ingenuity. Some of the suggestions I saw are really good like the one about spraying around the f holes to hide the glue with a airbrush. But I don't like the skunk stripe down the middle. It kills the look.
Thanks for the info Wallace.
your can paiint match the line with an airbrush. you can feather it out from the middle so it gives a great effect.
Could a thin channel (2mm-3mm?) be routed down the center of the front of the guitar and a thin strip of wood or plastic added to the channel? The flamed maple looks great and the shape of the guitar is nice and it would be a shame to put the effort into a beautiful finish and have a noticeable flaw.
Yup. It would have to be a very shallow channel and it would be a touch difficult due to the curved top, but it could be done.
That glue line happens to 90 of vacuumed veneers, it just depends if the factory worker making them cleans the excess off or not but most cheap kits are going to have this problem. After you finish prepping the wood use a touch of metho or turps to wipe on the veneer and see if there are any light areas of glue that aren't absorbing. Then you can use some 1200 g (so you minimise material loss) sandpaper to tidy it up. but If that doesn't work use Goof Off.
The finish looks good (minus the glue stripes), but I think you've got a lot of interesting work ahead of you on this kit.
About the glue line, couple things come to mind. Inlay a complementary veneer, or paint an accent line. Doing some graphics would be easy to do, and could add some detail. Sometimes the glue can be washed with solvent/water, being careful about lifting the veneer. I bought one of these kits, also have a bit of this. Alternative is to lay out where the hard ware may hide the defect. I got a trapeze tailpiece, and made a wood insert, completely hides the defect.
that's what I thought too. Add a stripe of pearled inlay
I would route a channel down the middle and use some thin veneers. Obviously you can't go too deep but I feel it would work.🙏🏻💜🇨🇦
you could do a sunburst in the guitar and airbrush it to mix with the top where the line is present
Do a faux wood paint stripe down the middle to match the line of the neck all the way to the back!! Look at early eighties gibson midnight specials.
Hey Brad! I was curious if you bailed out on the hollow body kit in this video. I wouldn’t blame you if you did - but I was definitely interested in seeing how you handled that glue line. I love the idea of a pin stripe. Thanks for all the great videos!
Haven’t bailed out on it, I’ve just got a massive list of videos to pump out and it’s been tough to get back to this one.
1/ For the blisters - While still damp place a thick sponge over the blisters and weight it down, leave to dry for a few days before removing weight and sponge. Basically press the blister out while still damp.
2/ For the glue spots - Use Goof-off or similar acetone based product and a small fine wire brush to remove surface glue. Essentially the product whatever you use is only to soften the glue and the wire brush is to scratch the unwanted glue away. Use the wire brush only in the direction of the grain. Depending on the glue spot at hand you might end up with tightly spaced and surprisingly deep gouges that will hold stain and will need re-staining and filling with clear coat or you might get lucky and simply have nil evidence that there was ever any glue there.
Hey Brad! Try a product called Goof Off with a small wire brush or firm toothbrush to get most of that glue off. With some care, it should come right away.
I’m familiar with goof off. I’m a little concerned about the possible effect on the veneer though. This isn’t glue sitting on top; it’s basically coming right through the thin veneer.
Many acoustic guitars use an inlay on the center of the back to hide joints. With the right style it could be a vast improvement to the overall aestethic. With the sound holes I would shadow the edges with the darkest color in the palette of the body, to tie all together.
BTW, I am refinishing and rebuilding a 12 string electric and your vids have been a great help.
That’s an interesting point. Thank you Charlie.
A flaming stripe, a snake, a tree of life, climbing flower, Celtic, Thai or Viking patterned stripe are some things that could work down the middle.
Great ideas.
Saw one video saying spray body and neck with water to raise the grain. After grain rises you do a 220 to 600 sand to remove it.
That’s definitely an option.
I would do a strip of abalone to cover the line in the middle.
Looks cool so far bro! Nice shirt!!
Thanks man.
You could put a bigsby B7 or some other tailpiece on there to cover up the glue line
Glue Contrasting narrow veneer up the center to cover the glue strip. Purple heart might work. Or a strip of walnut.
Brad,
ha i love d zeppel too!
btw merry Christmas to you & your beloved family.
best David
or who the snot is that ed zeppel?
Merry Christmas to you as well David.
I will be amazed if the tailpiece and even the bridge that came with the kit actually mount on, you need an archtop style bridge and tailpiece when there's no solid mass in the guitar to hold the posts under tension of the strings
Yup. The hardware they sent really doesn’t make sense.
Beautiful!!!
You might try a highlight down the center to cover the glue line. Use a piece of leather with a wider bottom flare and go under the stop tail to thinner at the bridge pickup. Or a thin veneer of a walnut or a dark stained wood to do the same thing?
CowTownCustoms I agree with the stripe of walnut. Make it look like a spotlight special.
Mohawk makes some great touch-up kits that will easily hide the glue.
Now, if it were mine and I came across these issues, I would turn my back on a water-based dye and use either a gel stain for full coverage or an acrylic dimensional writer to outline and accentuate (these can be smoothed out to flat and can also act as a secondary glue). I love strong outlines so I'm partial to the dimensional acrylic maybe even using it over a stain gel.
And, Vaseline. I used it two days ago when I forgot to put gloves on after making and while finishing a counter shelf for my kitchen counter. It worked faster and better than any scrub soap or paint thinner I've ever tried. It took 4mins to get my hands completely free of polyshades and that stuff if flippin' sticky (it works to get hair dye off a forehead, shoulders, back, butt, etc, too, just in case anyone comes to need to know this).
Vaseline? You’re kidding. How have I never heard this before?
@@BradAngove cause you never asked me before
💃
is there some paint, that you would be pleased with, that you could paint a black zig-zag line down the center to cover the glue line, or a reverse burst of black (or whatever color you chose) to cover all the glue marks while still maintaining the flametop look?
I’m going to have to do something along those lines I think. An inlay will be too difficult on a top this thin, but painting something in makes sense.
I have seen many get great results with water mixed dyes, but I could never get the look I wanted until I started mixing dyes with denatured alcohol.
I like the alcohol dyes, but it depends on how quickly I want them to dry. For this guy I wanted it to soak in a bit more.
Not a pro at this, but I think I would seal the wood, then lay down some tinted lacquer with a small brush in the spots where the dye didn't take.
I was thinking of airbrushing some tinted lacquer straight onto those areas before sealing actually.
Do you recommend using any sort or grain filler, or conditioner on a guitar like this prior to finishing?
I don’t grain fill these unless it’s a clear filler after dyeing.
Put a Bigsby bridge on her Brad!!! The one with the tail piece that goes over the strap button. Thumbs 32
Maybe an inlay stripe over the glue line? It's more of a back of the guitar thing but it might work for the front, something that matches the binding.
That may be an option. I would probably paint on a fake one in this case.
@brad angove- is there a semi transparant wipe on stain/color i can use were i dont need to worry about the glue showing because i just want to see the grain a little?..mainly when you look close kinda thing..if yes,were do i find?..what is it called?,ect?
I’m not familiar with a product like that. To achieve that effect, I would mix a small amount of pigment into my paint and spray a semi-transparent coat. Or depending on the paint I might thin it down more, or mix colored paint with clear… you get the idea.
I would try an inlay. Something soft so you can sand it down without digging up too much maple.
question,
I have basically the same type of guitar kit hollow body as you. What grit of sandpaper sould i start with on the body before i start applying the stain?
220
Cut a small groove the whole lenght of the glue stripe and insert an inlay, It will lift it's look and look like it is supposed to be there.
couldnt you lift some of the glue with 100% isopropeline or acetone to minimize it then using sanding ? Looks nice !!
Isopropeline could affect the glue under the veneer.
Yeah, I’m a bit concerned because the veneer is so thin. Might cause some lifting I think.
I would try a wood scraper to try and get rid of the glue stripe! I like the colours Brad will look good with a tru oil finish.. it's a nice looking guitar but God dam it's cheap!!! Are you sure it's not a new epiphone? Good job brother
Finished this exact same kit with the exact same color scheme last year.... great minds?
Luckily mine didn't have the glue issue.
after you finish use gluboost with a tint to try to hide the glue line on the front. I want to see you drill the holes for the bridge and tailstop.
I may end up just using a different type of hardware for this one actually haha.
Use a brush technique they use to make faux wood grain to bridge the book match. Might be a bitch to match the color but you are the man.
that stripe won't take dye or stain, but it'll take paint. Might be worth a shot to mix up some latex and finely paint the line away.
I’ll probably hit it with some acrylic and try to create an interesting cover up.
Could put a flat black stripe up the center of the body to cover up the veneer joint
There r some good solutions in the comments to your glue line problem. But I’d just sand it down and paint it maybe a pearlescent white and move on. Btw, LMI’s luthiers glue shows under a black light to avoid such costly mistakes. It also dries quickly and harder compared to Titebond.
u can use those pencils for repair scratches on wood... just find the right color tone u need man.. i use them very often on veneers that have glue issues...
I did a video on that too.
@@BradAngove thats ccool then.. i didn't see that vid ..sorry Brad.. i saw the one with the pencil stains but ... keep up the good work u do man!!👍😊🎸
one way to fix it would have been to ship it the hell back and get one that doesn't have a glue line down the middle. It's what I would have done.
I would get some acrylic paints and hand paint the center and other glue parts to match the dye job.
That might be difficult given the transparency aspect. I imagine you could definitely make the lines less apparent though.
@@BradAngove I don't mean just painting the center one color, I mean painting in detail with different colors to match the grain/stain of the wood around it. You would need at least 3 different colors to do it. I guess just putting a pin strip up the middle would be easier though.. :P
Could that glue stripe be hidden with a metal tailpiece or perhaps a Bigsby?
I think a trapeze style tailpiece will probably help. Any cover up I try to do will need to take that into consideration.
Can your recommend a orbital sander that won’t break the budget . . . Maybe something electric not air orbital sander?
I have a simple rigid electric orbital sander that is capable of many sanding applications. It’s not great for finish sanding though.
Yeah, I don’t have an air supply anymore, so I guess it is back to elbow grease and hand sanding. Thx for taking the time to reply!
When I say it’s not great for finish sanding, I mean literally sanding a finish for polishing purposes. You can still use it to speed up all the preliminary steps. If your budget is a bit higher, triton makes a very versatile electric orbital sander.
@@BradAngove Again thank you for the time in replying. I am going to build a solo kit (using your link! :) ) for my father (who has everything, except a hand made (sort of, at least hand finished) guitar from his son. He plays all acoustic, so this will be something completely different for him. Thx for your help, time and inspiration!!! Best to you and yours!
I have two ideas for that annoying glue joint.
1. Get a furniture scratch cover marker of a shade that could blend well with the color you have...and color that glue joint with it, and rub it into the finish around the marker line to blend it in. Of course this would assume that the marker would actually stick and cover the glue.
2. This is gonna sound whack ass nuts, but if method 1 didnt do the job, I would consider running a router down that line just wide enough to get rid of it and only deep enough to glue in some kind of straight inlay that runs along the center of the guitar and actually replaces some of the top material thus getting rid of the glue line....and you could get creative with the material and colors that you decided to inlay.
Yea, this would be a little more dangerous (to the guitar) overall, but would look good as long as you kept things straight and uniform.
You would only need to go around 1/8 of an inch deep max (maybe even shallower) using some kind of straight edge as a guide so your router doesnt get out of control.
3. Actually, I have one more idea.. lol
Tape the guitar top off in a straight line on each side of the glue joint so that you have an even line running up the middle of the guitar.
Tape off the rest of the guitar top.
Go find a can of spray paint of your color choice and paint over that line up the center with a few coats so that the glue is well covered by the paint. a really dark red or brown should look good.
Then go ahead and do the finish as you would have... just making sure to get the paint looking good first.
So there you go!
You think option 2 is crazy, but I’ve actually done that before haha. It’s just much more difficult on a surface like this one because it isn’t flat.
that looks really cool... i wouldnt know that was a cheap kit untill you told me! also, i need advice again... so i picked up an old bass for around 20 dollars. when i stripped the paint i realised it was a plywood body. my original plan was to plane off 5mm from the top and then glue on a nice veneer on top... but i coldnt since the plywood wouldnt look too good just being stained...is there any paint you could recommend which doesnt require a tonne of preparation before spraying and isnt too expensive?
Does the body still have the sealer on it?
@@BradAngove unfortunately, no... i had to remove it to sand out any imperfections because it had a lot of small dents
does it have to be a specific kind or can it be bought from DIY stores?
It can be bought from diy stores as long as it’s compatible with your paint. The paint doesn’t really need to be a specific type per se.
@@BradAngove cool, thanks. and as for the paint, i found some black nitro lacquer in spray cans for roughly 20 dollars each. ill send the brand name in another comment when i find it again. and could you possibly point out any better finishes? ive started staining the neck blue with dark blue grain, and then im going to apply a polyeurathane finish. if there is any better colour for the body could you possibly give some advice too? thanks.
Perhaps a "kriss sword" shaped inlay "wavey blade" in a dark vaneer, or even an aluminium or stainless strip... 😉 Enjoying your project 🤔😀
Thanks Mark.
Try a hand painted Graphic To cover the trouble spots. That would help to make it even more one of a kind.
Put a long thin black arrow head pointing towards the nick to cover up the glue.
Hey Brad , have you done some light sanding before your first dye ? If yes , what grit ? Thx
Just a little bit at 600 grit.
Awesome thx ... starting project shortly :) so I’ll do thx for advices :)
@@BradAngove I had the same question. I got my son a guitar body for Christmas, but it has like 1/4 inch flamed maple top not just paper thin veneer. Would you still say 600 grit prep?
Do you know if there’s sealer on it?
@@BradAngove there is not as far as I am aware
Hey Brad have you made a video on the proper way to sandpaper off guitar paint and primer by hand? I recently tried sanding off some lacquer paint with 80 grit sandpaper and I think I just need stronger paper
Have you seen my video on how to remove the lacquer from your guitar?
Brad Angove no I haven’t, thanks for the tip
Better idea. Rip 3/4" or more out of the middle and then glue up a nice lamination of ebony, walnut, or other nice wood. Boutique time!
A great job..as always sir!
That seam on the front really sucks!! Sure you will cover it up some how.😁✌
I have haha
I wonder if an appropriate color magic marker would be useful to at least darken that glue line?
I’d be leery of using that because I think it would fade faster than the dyes.
The Chibsons almost always have that (gap) issue where the veneer pieces come together. Don't know why they just don't do one piece?
Wider pieces are more expensive. Also, book matched is the classic look.
@@BradAngove I see. Hope you can fix it. I saw a PRS from a dealer that had that issue and I was surprised it left PRS's factory.
Link to the final everything fitted n ready vdo of this guitar, please.
Have you seen or tried Gluboost? Would like to hear what you think about the products.
I’ve never tried them before. I think I’m going to have to look into them though.
black binding material straight up the middle but then you got sound holes to deal with....
I'd just paint it Candy Apple and maybe airbrush some interesting graphics. Actually why not try laminating either a cool fabric (aka Steve Vai's Curtain Gem) or some Dark Comic book pages, could look good in Black and White, even News Print like Headlines from this year plastered randomly over a White background or even all the paperwork, instructions etc that camw with the kit (depends on if you got any though).
Even pages out of a Guitar tab book using some classic tracks could be interesting......damn! you got me thinking again!
Anyway,
that veneer top is toast and not worth saving, good for a technique demo but little else.
All the best mate and have a great Festive Season ;)
Wow. That was a lot in one comment haha.
What about using some acetone to try and remove the glue spots.
Because the veneer is so thin that would create a risk of affecting the glue holding it down as well.
sorry to bother, i am very new in the guitar world.
Is it possible for the staining in the veneer body to vanish overtime?, if yes, is there a way to restore it? thanks🙏
Did it just fade? That can happen from UV. Does it have a clear coat on it?
@@BradAngove yeah i believe mine’s faded already, does it mean i have to keep my guitar from the UV by putting it in its hardcase?
@ratuclara38 not necessarily. You could just store it somewhere with less sunlight or use a UV resistant clear coat.
Can you do a video on a hand rubbed sunburst?
At some point I will make one, but in the interim the BigDGuitars channel has many of them. Check them out to see how that’s done.
Bad Brad !!!! I need advice!
Got a beautiful oil based stain finish on a guitar and want it to look exactly as it is... Tung oil won’t seal over stain... so what can I use? Help!
Crimson Guitars Finishing Oil will do the job very well.
Over stain?? Ty sir!
Tru Oil
The crimson oil works fine, as do many clear coats. It depends somewhat on what you’re going for as a final product.
If you take a new razor blade. Put masking tape around blade leaving a gap in the middle the width of your glue line. Scrape the line using the razor blade towards you not away! You should be able to get most of the glue off the worst thing would leave a straight thin line of course that is the joint and would look normal. Be careful lightly drawing the blade towards you.
Cool trick
Put a racing stripe with two smaller pin stripes??? Easy enough fix and it'll look cool it'll have to be a solid color to that's only natural because your concealing a glue blemish.... lol 😎 it'll look good trust me....next time just rub some water on it to find out where the glue spots are and mark them lightly with a pencil...then lightly sand them out.....
Use an Orange Sharpie on the glue stripe. It will hide it right away.
Could you add enamel pin strips down the glue lines.
Yes, that’s an option.
use a paintbrush and black paint to make the glue look intentional
or you could do sort of like a stripe that's blended into the grain like a black christmas tree
Cool idea.
Why cant you use a razor blad and litely scap back the areas on top were the glue streeks are
I would think the glue has saturated the area. I could be wrong. If I’m right though, then in order to scrape through the glue you would also be scraping all the way through the veneer.
How did you add the electronics to this guitar
I will show you when I do it haha.
This is what kills me about the cheap Chinese kits - if they just would have taken an extra 60 seconds with the glue-up of that veneer top it would have been stellar.
You won't be "fixing" that - as you have surmised, you've got solid glue coming through the veneer. The only choice is to re-veneer. It's not hard, but the binding will present a challenge.
I’m going to mask it. I’m just not entirely sure how I want to go about it yet.
Black racing stripe motif maybe?
Something along those lines may have to be the play.
A stripe maybe? Inlay a piece of binding?
Probably something along those lines.
I would put purfling down the glue joint all the way.
That would be cool.
There was so many good suggestions after I read the rest of the comments.
You could’ve send it in beginning
Could you sand of that veneer and put on a new veneer?
I would probably just sand lightly and put a new veneer right on top of the old one if I wanted to do that.
I would have tried a scalpel to get rid of axcess glue before staining. Just lightly remove some glue at the joint. So The glue wouldn't be so prominenta. "Swedish guy"
Thanks for the suggestion Swedish Guy.
O by the way if you see this name pop up at times its krusty buzzard on my grrandsons screan name.All that work on a beautiful
looking flame top just to have your dreams of it trashed by a stupid glue line because they had to save a few cents using a cheap thin asked vaneere. I sure hope you can think of something to camouflage that glue.
This is a named guitar?
What do you mean?