@@Name-lq1rk I meant buying them new, as a "road worn" model. You can get actual worn out guitars at pawn shops, but if they've really got serious mileage on them, you'd probably have to have the frets replaced.
24:34 I am a professional, and he's right. I am in the process of refurbishing an original 1968 Gibson SG in nitrocellulose lacquer. It's taken me about 6 weeks of painting, 2 weeks to let it cure enough to level sand, and 2 weeks of sanding and buffing so far. When im done with that, it will still need to cure for another 2 weeks. This is pretty standard procedure around my shop. I have well over 300 hours in this guitar and it is GLASS smooth. I still have another 8 hours worth of sanding and polishing before it is PRS quality and i can re-assemble it, set it up, etc.
I AM A MASTER FINISHER. I HAVE 45 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE WITH EVERY FINISH AVAILABLE FOR EVERY SUBSTRATE. I AM CERTIFIED FOR ALL FINISHES. I RECOMMEND USE AN INFRARED LAMP TO CURE ANY FINISH IN LESS THAN AN HOUR. IT IS USEFUL FOR METHYL CELLULOSE, NITRO CELLULOSE, AND ACRYLIC LACQUERS. I HAVE ALSO REFINISHED GUITARS AND PIANOS FOR HIRE, BUT I PAINT EVERYTHING.
So, this guitar must be worth beaucoup bucks when you are finished. That is the problem, not many guitars are worth that much love opposite buying new.
@@stephenbowyer7269 I have a $99 Kramer that is one of the best guitars I've owned. I've owned many-thousand-dollar guitars. You love what you love. I love women while my best friend of 30 years loves guys. If you love it, it's priceless, and no amount of money is... Oh, who am I kidding? I wouldn't put more tha $700 into my Kramer.
@@tomsanders9491 I'The reason I dont used lamps for nitrocellulose, is because it can be humid here, and when spraying coats, as you know, it traps the water molecules in the paint as it floats through the air. I want the stuff to have the longest open time possible so the water can evaporate out. In fact I typically use retarder or thinners to make it take LONGER to cure. I'm not saying lights are a bad idea, but for me, they aren't the best option given the environment I'm working in.
I've always used clear plexiglass to make my pick guards. Had one that I took a fine brush, and white paint, and drew some some skulls and some scroll work on the back side, then shot over the designs and whole back with black paint. The top side came out looking awesome. No matter how sloppy your paint spray on the back side, it always looks smooth as glass on the top side.
I've got no real interest in making a guitar but I'm definitely going to take those painting techniques and use them for something else so thanks for sharing!
But the guitar did have a cool, worn, vintage look to it. And the original single coil pickup would still sound pretty good too but I guess the guitar was worth refinishing it and replacing some things.
Hi Bob. Little tip for 2 colour bursts. Spray the centre colour first. Then take your cardboard template and instead of putting it straight on top pop some thumb taks into it. Then you can put it on top of the guitar sat on the heads of the taks. Then spray from above with your outside colour and you will get a really natural and smooth fade!
Great video. Sent it to my dad who is a vintage guitar junkie. Bit tip: there is a flush cut router bit with a bearing at the top (closest to router) to follow the same sidewall as the pickup holes allowing you to exactly match the existing holes without carving anywhere outside the existing hole profile. It’s meant for template routing but can be used to deepen an existing recess. Bob, you probably knew that but I am just sharing for others.
@@Iliketomakestuff My brother had a guitar that he turned into a clock witch I have now and he put some kind of tape on it. I wanted to know. How do I remove the tape without ruining the finish before painting it?
Scuff sand and you won't even get down to the wood, but the stripper will work at lot faster. Plastic scrapers are your friend when working on soft wood. Your results are great though Bob!
OK, this is the second or third video on this channel I have watched, and I love this style of how-to video because you aren't a perfect craftsman and you show us how to deal rationally with mistakes in a project as it develops. At the same time, you don't waste my life with unscripted chatter. Love this channel, and love this project. Suggestion 1: you had the right idea 100% to you a mask over back and front to create the burst. My opinion is that you should have trimmed the masks in about 25mm (1 inch) all around to get the outer darker ring to extend where you wanted it to go. The trade you made back to the lazy susan was exactly right. In any case, I think your 2-tone experiment turned out super. Suggestion 2: the reason the guitar was so noisy to start was that it did not have the grounding wire that runs from the bridge hardware to the control cavity. This was obvious in the diassembly, and it was a glaring omission in your re-assembly. To fix that, take off the bridge hardward and sand a space on the bottom to "shiny," (meaning: no rust or paint). Get a length of black wire about 250mm (10 inches) and strip the ends about 20mm (3/4 inch). Tin the ends with solder to avoid any random strands. Run the ground wire through the hole under your bridge to the controls cavity (I can see the hole is already there in the video). The end which sticks out under the bridge needs to lie flat under the bridge touching the surface you polished up, and the contact has to be solid/tight. The other end of the ground wire ought to have connection to the back of your pots (usually: the back of the tone pot). If you do that, I will bet a cup of coffee your hum disappears 99.9%. Great project, great channel.
Dude, "Suggestion 2" shows a glaring omission. I mean, that's bush league stuff. Thousands of dollars worth of woodworking equipment and... after all that time spent on the pickguard which has nothing to do with "refinishing"? Call it out for what it is. And your use of the term "suggestion": WTF? is this guy in 3rd grade? 25 minutes of our time wasted. He should have just bought a new guitar, and made a video about that!
@@squirlmy Well, it's a glaring omission to someone who works on guitars all the time. It may not be that to someone who is primarily a hobby woodworker.
Very good work. The only thing I would add is shielding underneath the pickguard and in the cavity in order to create a Faraday cage. You could've used copper tape or even aluminium tinfoil from your kitchen.
@@leonardodic3po607 True, but this is a simple mod that goes a long way. I presume that this guitar won't see any modding in at least 10 years or ever, but it's a bit easier knowing in the back of your head that you don't have to do as much once you decide to change something in the cavity whenever you decide to make changes. This could just be my OCD because I am a guitar player that mods his instruments fairly often and hates lining cavities in his guitars :)
@@leonardodic3po607 The point of the shielding is not to get rid of pickup hum (shielding doesn't do anything to prevent that). The job of the shielding is to isolate the electronics from electromagnetic interference. Without it, your signal line in the guitar will act as an antena and pick up all sorts of shit like electromagnetic waves from a transformer. This is also the reason why instrument cables are coaxial (signal line in the middle, surrounded by the shielding). If you use speaker cables, which is highly adviced not to do, you'll probably get some massive humming comming out of your amp.
You can get spray on shielding, and even just using graphite spray will make a big difference. Graphite spray is a lot cheaper than the nickel spray, and is almost as good as metal, though you will have to place a nice copper strip glued to the case to make a good contact to it. Plus you can spray plastic and get a reasonable amount of hum reduction. Just hasve to watch out for compatability between plastics and paints with the carrier solvent used in the screening sprays though, they do cause wrinkling on plastics and dissolve a lot of paint types as well.
That came out great! If you wanted a factory gloss finish, you'd be applying lacquer and sanding it back for weeks and then finish wet sanding up to 8 thousand or so before switching to automotive buffing compounds. It takes forever.
You can make it pretty nice without going too insane. It was easier than I thought. You don't have to sand between every single coat.You don't have to hit every grit #. Maybe #600 between coats. Wet sanding makes it easy. Final sand with 800,1200,2000 ish, buff with McGuires Mirror Glaze and a buffing wheel on a drill or cheap auto polisher. Looks like glass. :)
Ooooh I have a 1962 Musicmaster my father gave me. His had a humbucker modded on too but we had it removed. Love that guitar, even if all the paint chipped off long ago and the body is just a slab of wood.
Nice work Bob. It turned out pretty good, and you’ve got decent cab skills. Side note: you get the factory gloss more from polishing rather than just adding a bunch more coats.
Actually it's both. high grade sand, another coat, high grade sand, another coat. the more you do that you build up a sheen on each layer and the final polish is like glass
Lifted from an article on sanding sealer: "A word of warning is in order. The stearates make sanding sealer rather soft. If you put a hard, brittle finish, like lacquer, over a thick, soft one, like sanding sealer, it is much more likely to chip and crack. For that reason, if you use sanding sealer, stick to one or two coats at the most, and plan to sand most of it back off. For the same reason, and because it tends to shrink as it cures, it is not advisable to use sanding sealer instead of pore filler." Now, granted this is not the typical sanding sealer that Big Box Lumber stocks but personally I prefer grain filler over sanding sealer if I am going to apply color and clear coats on top. But this is personal preference. I think your guitars turned out great and I loved watching the video.
Hey Bob, I just wanted to say that I really loved what you did with this guitar! It looks super cool and it has inspired me to refinish my old guitar. 😁
@@terranovnicek1567 then why'd he put a photo of him playing it 8n the thumbnail. I'm not asking the man to shred all I'm saying if a man owns multiple guitars he can at least play smoke on the water for us
@@arando4359 then why'd he put a photo of him playing it 8n the thumbnail. I'm not asking the man to shred all I'm saying if a man owns multiple guitars he can at least play smoke on the water for us
Very satisfying to watch. I am sure with all the guitar fanatics out there you can probably run a whole channel on refinishing guitars and never run out of material for it. Thank you for sharing.
I really like this channel, he really does what I like! Keep it up Bob, try to make one of those kit guitars or a custom amp or something, you do great stuff!
For temporary work holding use a piece of masking tape on both surfaces and super glue the tape to each other. It will give good work holding and is easy to peel off. Also always do a dry run on fitting objects in to cavities before you start working on finish, it just saves so much time and heartache.
I've thought about it. Josh is currently making a bass from pieces of a kit. I would probably do the same, make the body and buy the neck because I don't have time to make that part perfect.
Fantastic job, good tips and build. One very good tip I will add is, assemble your pick guard first, dry fit everything before finishing guitar. That way no chance of marring up a perfect finish. Also this tip works for kit guitars as well. Make sure everything fits proper first, believe me some kits are close but no cigar.
A good way of getting an even sunburst is to do the outer ring and then make a second piece of cardboard the same shape but 1" smaller in all dimensions. You then centre this piece but use blocks to hold it about 3/4" above the surface, allows a pretty even bleed. Can mess with the dimensions/height of the smaller piece for different styles of sunburst. This is a good job you did, I really like the look
Nice job! As with any project, having the right tools and space to work is essential to obtain similar results. You might have mentioned the spray booth which is necessary for using nitro cellulose paints and a mask to prevent inhaling vapors.
Verrrry nice paint job. That's why I'm watching this. I'm an abstract acrylic painter, drummer, and bass guitar player. I've always wanted to paint a guitar or bass body.
As a hobby I have fret levelled and refinished some cheap guitars with a good result. My buddy asked me to work on his dad's 57 musicmaster that was in pieces when I got it. I had never worked on a valuable guitar before and pretty much obsessed about it. Most of the old vintage parts still worked, so I was able to give him his dad's guitar back with a new finish in playable form. He was happy. For me it was so nerve wracking that I will never do it again. I will stick to cheap guitar parts. My job did not look anywhere as good as yours. Loved you video.
Your content ALWAYS gets better produced, presented, everything. Every episode. You are an incredible creator! Can more kids stop watching let’s plays and start watching your channel?
The Tele pickups were a great idea, Ace. Groovy. You were really fortunate that the string spacing matched the pole pieces in the pickups. Some of those bridges and necks have different specs.
That video has been in my recommended for literally MONTHS now, and I will now watch it. Ironically, this fits perfectly, because I want to refinish an instrument and maybe I can learn some things here 😂
To get a mirror gloss finish you have to use wet/dry 800, 1000, 1500, and 2000 grit sandpaper (use high quality papers that do not clog as quick as cheaper sandpaper does (3M makes really good stuff). The way I leaned to final sand clear is to spray 12 to 15 coats 9no need to sand between as the layers below will blend into each other. Start with 800 grit in circular motions. Once that's complete move to 1000 grit in a straight motion (length of the body/ or with the grain) to remove the swirls from the previous. Next more to 1500 again in circular motions and finally finish with 2000 in a straight motion. Each step will require you to remove the dust. Also at any stage you are looking to create a hazy look. Any high spots will still look glossy under a light and at eye level from the sides. You don't have to do this wet, but it keeps the dust down though it is messier. Finally using swirl remover and a buffing wheel (or a lot of elbow grease) polish to that gloss shine. Any burn through (meaning you went to hard and removed paint) will have to be touched up. Also black guitars will show every single flaw in the finish so prep work is essential. Take your time with the process because once you see the results you'll be really impressed. In fact you can go beyond the factory finish and make yours pop more.
I agree with just about everything noted above, I just would like to add a few hints and suggestions. Using a orbital car buffer (look at Harbor freight for best priced 6 in buffer, then buy a 5 and 3 inch backing plate. ***DO NOT USE THE PADS YOU SEE AT HF. *** (I only use them for non-wood counter tops) is the best advice to keep from "burn through" forget swirl remover. I am a detailer on the side and love paint correction. My advise is skip the swirl remover all together and do it all the way. Take it to 3000 then a high end compound (NOT TURTLE WAX CRAP) Use a pro level product not enthusiast grade (what you find at Walmart and on most auto store shelves, with the exception of NAPA). Cut with a medium cutting pad (using a 3 in backing plate is best for this size project) The pad color depends on manufacture.(Buff & Shine or Lake country orange flat pad) remember do not overload your pads a little goes a long way. After that, I would use a white then green flat pad (either of the companies above) and a high grade polish. to finally seal it, you can choose Wax, (my favorite is the POXY form HD) or best yet, ceramic coat it.
@@beamerstrumpet Thanks Scott & KJ Finishing a guitar is tough work, lots of trial & error, and finding what works best. I get humored by some of the dings given to the guy making the video, some are pretty spot on funny. But reading through the comments people offer up what works for them and for me sometimes I get more from the comments than the video.
Great Video!! I LOVE guitar rebuilds! Even if it’s a Harmony Les Paul Style junk .. if someone made it theirs .. it’s Art And It’s Awesome!! Spread The Love And Music!!
@Malchik Blue So tell us, what is the problem with the finished guitar? It's not like it was in pristine original condition when the video started. As stated, it's been refinished multiple times already.
Can you do a video where you buy a cheap second hand guitar and so something cool with it? Like revitalise it or even cut it up and make it into art or furniture :)
The angle of your pickups will make a difference. Don't quote me on this but i believe the bridge pickup is angled towards the neck on the bottom E string to keep a more natural warm sound while the top E string is closer to the bridge to give it more treble which is nice for blues players. However this is preference and how you want your guitar to sound. BTW fantastic video man! keep rocking!
As a guitar builder myself I would recommend when you do the burst to free hand it with no cardboard sounds hard but its not. and you get a more dramatic burst.
I tought that with a 2 color sun burst you applied the, in your case, yellow first in all the guitar and the red only in the edges and fading to the center. It's the first time i've seen it done the other way. Also it' s the first time that i've seen a sunburst done with templates.
Thank you for doing this. It was really help full. I too got a second hand guitar in the 70's and it made its way back to me. My son and I are looking to refinish it.
I've finished a lot of guitars in the past I've never done any kind of sunburst looks very good one day I will try. Great job on cutting your own pickguard. One of my first guitars ever was a Mustang and you mention it in the video. Wish I still had it. I was 10 yrs old when I had it in 1976. Oops now you know how old I am.
I'd also add that those frets are über nasty looking, masking off the fretboard and hitting them with the same red polishing compound or using dedicated fret rubbers will make a world of difference to the feel of playing the guitar, that and cleaning the fretboard too.
@@tomthelampy The electrics inside the guitar (that includes the guitar cable going to the amp) are very sensitive to electromagnetic radiation. It's not going to do any damage, but it will cause some obnoxious humming when the guitar is plugged in and isn't fully shielded. That's why all the electrics need to be fully surrounded by a conductive material which is then connected to ground. nstrument cables are allways shielded, so you don't need to worry about that, aside from actually using an instrument cable and nothing else! The shielding blocks (most of) the electromagnetic radiation (coming from any transformer, for instance) and does a ton of work when it comes to dehumming your guitar sound.
The pick-ups he used were Fender Noiseless, so i don't think he'll have a problem with hum... But you're right, if it was traditional single coils, then foiling the cavitiy would be a great thing to do if you're already doing refinishing work :)
been refinishing guitars for almost a decade - a heat gun and a putty knife is the fastest way to get the paint off. Can probably strip a guitar from top to bottom in under 10 minutes. great vid!
Good to see the struggle. It's helpful to see how much work and rethinking is involved in projects. Heads up if you are putting in new pickups: Look at the intended placement and see if you want to do the same thing. If not maybe choose different pickups. Those Tele pickups could have been positioned as intended given that you were making a custom pickguard. And although it might not make much difference to you, it will look better to most guitarists and likely perform better if you use them as they were intended by design.
I sold my old Dean Edge 6 to some guy who wanted to make a project out of it. He showed me a photo of the work he did on it the day after he received it. He did one of those dip jobs on it with white, blue and black paint. It looks so much better than the original amberburst finish.
Instead of spray adhesive for the pickguard, why not just screw it to the board template? You already have the holes drilled. I'm also in the process of building a guitar. What is the time between coats of sealer, color, and clear that you made? I heard "every 30 minutes or so" but was that for the clear only or all three?
A rule of thumb for paint is if you are not sanding then wait until it's tacky, but does not come off on your finger. Since this is the kind of finish that hardens by literally drying (instead of chemically hardening, like automotive paints) it probably can dry even more before spraying the next coat since solvents from the new layer would soften up the previous layer enough to stick to it. Since Bob said that the lacquers he used are identical, only two were tinted, it's safe to say that waiting 10-15 minutes past the "tacky, but does not come off on your finger" is a safe bet for all three. In this case it's better to be on the safe side and let it dry a little too much than not enough so you won't end up with a sticky mess that takes a week to dry. If you plan to sand, then wait until you think it's dry and try a small spot. If the sand paper clogs with a bunch of gummy bits then it's not dry enough. It depends on the temperature, but an hour is usually enough, especially if it gets to dry outside in the sun.
Not sure how the weather will hold up in the cold winter, but thank you for the response. What exactly does sanding between layers do? Get more of a shine and smoothness since it flattens the surface before the next coat?
Not necessarily more shine right away, but better adhesion of the following layer (especially with automotive/catalyzed paint) and a smoother surface. If you want a really shiny surface you have to sand it up to 1500 grit (or higher number, finer) sand paper and then buff it with special pastes. You can just buff the paint without sanding, but it's not advised since most of the time there will be imperfections like dust particles or overspray that will stand out on a polished surface and ruin the look. Going back to your original question about a pick guard, the reason why tape/glue is better than screws is because running a bit into a screw will destroy the bit where with tape or glue the bit would just cut through. In rare cases aluminum or brass nails or screws can be used since a typical wood bit will cut soft metals. The easiest way to copy one would be to double-sided-tape the old one to the piece of material and use a trading bit in a router to copy the outline perfectly. If your bits have the same issue as ones in the video (bearing not flush against the cutting edge) then space the 'template' and the material with some blocks, then you can even champher the edge without un-sticking everything.
@@ckortjester I think sanding between coats gets rid of any imperfections, such as if the finish develops a ridge or any dust that might get onto the workpiece and get stuck to the finish. There are more descriptive videos and online tutorials about finishing wood.
@@ckortjester Yeah, like the others mentioned, sanding between coats flattens the surface, particulary the areas of rough overspray, which is important to achieving a quality finish. An important thing to note is that with lacquer, unlike oil based enamel paint, each new coat "reactivates" the surface lacquer of the previous coat. I'm not sure that "reactivates" is the proper term, but what happens when the wet lacquer you are currently spraying hits the dry lacquer already on the surface of guitar, some of the dry lacquer from previous coat (or coats) actually becomes wet again. This means that each new coat sort of melts into the existing coats. So scuffing the surface to allow the next coat to adhere better isn't necessary with lacquer. You essentially end up with a single coat of lacquer that builds thicker with each spraying. With oil based enamels, each coat dries and remains dry when the next coat is sprayed over it, so if you spray it ten times, there are ten distinct coats of enamel. Just to help illustrate this distinction between lacquer and enamel paint, say you have 2 guitars and you spray one with 10 coats of enamel and the other with 10 coats of lacquer. You would probably never actually do this, but for the same of example, let's say each coat of both enamel and lacquer was a different color. (For example, the first coat of each was red, the second coats were yellow, the third coats were blue, etc.) When you were done, if you sawed each guitar in half and looked at a magnified cross section of the enamel paint that you just sawed through, you would see 10 distinct layers of 10 distinct colors. You would see the thin band of red of your first coat, then the distinct band of yellow of your second coat and and so on. It would look as if you stacked 10 sheets of different colored construction paper together. Looking at the cross section of lacquer on the other hand, instead of seeing distinct bands of red and yellow, you will see a red zone fading into an orange zone fading into a yellow zone. The orange zone is where the 1st and 2nd coats melted together. This bleeding together effect of lacquer makes it very easy to work with compared to enamel. If you spray too much lacquer and it starts to run, you can simply tilt the body the opposite way and the run will stop and you can watch it flatten out as the coats beneath it melt. Lacquer is very forgiving in that respect. If enamel paint runs, there's no way you'll get it to dry flat. You'll eventually have to sand out the run which is a pain in the ass and a time suck. Lacquer flows across the surface and levels very nicely. However it becomes very important, especially if you are going for a high gloss "mirror" finish, that on at least the last few coats, you sand the entire front and back of the guitar using somewhere in the range of 180 - 220 grit paper on a flat sand block. Wet sand light with long strokes across the entire surface at all different angles. That surface may look flat without doing this, but you'll find out after your final sanding, once you've worked your way up through 3000 and start to use a rubbing compound... as that mirror gloss emerges... If you didn't use a flat sanding block for at least the last few coats... its like looking at fun house mirror. Reflections are all distorted and wavy because the surface, although it appears super smooth, it wasn't flat. Because lacquer flows so easily, the surface can become wavy so it's super important to knock it down flat with a sandblock after those final coats. Another thing with lacquer to be aware of is that it dries to the touch very quickly. However, especially the more coats you use, it can take weeks or months to actually cure. Be really careful handling the guitar in the hours and even days after your final coat. Even though the surface is dry, the lacquer is not cured and you can easily put a deep thumbprint in the finish is enough pressure is applied.
Clear acrylic pickguards are awesome because you paint the BACK of them and they look like a high gloss sheen. If you look at any of the early pickguards on the 60s rickenbacker guitars or basses, you’ll see this.
Painting a guitar body, especially a fender style one is relatively easy and cheap requiring not much more than some sandpaper and a few tins of paint. ......making a pickguard requires, routers, scroll saws, belt sanders, pillar drills etc etc. Just go out and buy one.
Nice. I think your results are nothing to be ashamed of. I'm in the process of restoring a '63 Musicmaster that somebody tried to turn into a black guitar. I am thinking of doing the maroon burst of that era. Thanks for the video.
The '70s are my favorite Music masters, Broncos and Mustangs. They were usually poplar, an odd looking wood that is still relatively soft and inexpensive.
Do you have anything about refinishing a surfboard. I recently purchased a surfboard at a garage sale for $5 and it need to be refinished. Can you help out.
I Like To Make Stuff what about an electronic desk with like inbuilt wireless charging, cable management, rgb with a panel with buttons (arduino) am can we have some more 3D printing stuff
I've put in a spare peace of wood into the neck hole as a handle to move it and to hang it without rotating. It also allowed me to clamp it to a table without something touching the surfaces. Made a camo pattern on it and it turned out awesome. Actually it was a pretty similar kind of project. My first electric guitar ever, old paint, crappy components and now it's revived. Only my pickguard was bought, because I didn't trust myselve enough for that.
When I made my pickguard I used the back edge of a razor knife blade to scrape the bevel, that pickguard material scrapes away very easily. The knife I used was one of those small click type with the breakaway blade. Putting the casing of the knife against the body made a useful guide. I imagine any type of sharp edged scraper would work. Also screwing some sort of handle into the neck slot would help articulate the body as you paint.
Pro DIY tip...if you dig up or make a box of some sort, say a large bandpass box, and a small box heater to blow into it, you can keep any materials that need warming(all your paints/stains) toasty warm just setting them inside and using an old t-shirt to cover the opening. I've kept cans warm to the touch in a shop environment where the air temps were just above freezing. Using a cloth door will ensure vapors can exit instead of building up and being a fire hazard. Yes, you can spray in those conditions as long as you can bring the surface temp of your project up to spec, torpedo heaters and infra red curing lights are your friend...
Not bad, I'm in the middle of refinishing my guitar and has been refinished a couple of times. From my experiences different brands use different finishes and materials. So far the three guitars I have refinished used Poplar and had a coat of glazing. On my current guitar I just sanded it and used Bondo Glazing and Spot Putty to fill voids, dents and deep scratches. I'm going for a Satin/Matte finish and so far built up two coats of paint before sanding with 320 to knock it down then probably two more coats with a Matte clear finish. Planning to try a clay bar to smooth it down then finish it off with some wax to seal it up.
* after the refinish *
- Hey, mate, who did you say that signed my guitar?
- The Beatles
- Oh.
Lol
Yuss! First replier!
Underrated comment
@Gogolatomic As a spanish-speaker, I didn't notice what's wrong
+Emilio Montes de Oca González it's "did you say" just saying "did you play" not "did you played"
I was actually really into the vibe of the guitar before the refinish.
Sames. Had a really good, road-worn, retro look.
If you like guitars that look like they've been through a war, you can actually buy them like that. They cost a fortune, though :)
@@Name-lq1rk I meant buying them new, as a "road worn" model. You can get actual worn out guitars at pawn shops, but if they've really got serious mileage on them, you'd probably have to have the frets replaced.
Needed new pickups though
Yeah it had character before he painted it lmao. Now it just looks like his other one hanging on the wall.
when you see all the work that goes into refinishing a guitar, it makes me appreciate the factory produced guitars so much more.
Especially considering that some really cheap ones have nice finishes :)
Fender Custom Shop guitars.....
takes months to make one guitar.... and they cost $5,000+
you should build an entire guitar from scratch 🤘
Cuvtixo D - did the same confusion lead to your name?
Cuvtixo D damn you’re lame.
Stop The hate god dammit
you can either refinish this guitar with a lot of effort to make it look epic
or you can play punk rock
yeees! 😂
I prefer the punk option
Few coats of primer, thatll do
Play punk rock
1950 LADA..... check out my new country album on my profile.
24:34 I am a professional, and he's right. I am in the process of refurbishing an original 1968 Gibson SG in nitrocellulose lacquer. It's taken me about 6 weeks of painting, 2 weeks to let it cure enough to level sand, and 2 weeks of sanding and buffing so far. When im done with that, it will still need to cure for another 2 weeks. This is pretty standard procedure around my shop. I have well over 300 hours in this guitar and it is GLASS smooth. I still have another 8 hours worth of sanding and polishing before it is PRS quality and i can re-assemble it, set it up, etc.
I AM A MASTER FINISHER. I HAVE 45 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE WITH EVERY FINISH AVAILABLE FOR EVERY SUBSTRATE. I AM CERTIFIED FOR ALL FINISHES. I RECOMMEND USE AN INFRARED LAMP TO CURE ANY FINISH IN LESS THAN AN HOUR. IT IS USEFUL FOR METHYL CELLULOSE, NITRO CELLULOSE, AND ACRYLIC LACQUERS. I HAVE ALSO REFINISHED GUITARS AND PIANOS FOR HIRE, BUT I PAINT EVERYTHING.
So, this guitar must be worth beaucoup bucks when you are finished. That is the problem, not many guitars are worth that much love opposite buying new.
@@stephenbowyer7269 I have a $99 Kramer that is one of the best guitars I've owned. I've owned many-thousand-dollar guitars. You love what you love. I love women while my best friend of 30 years loves guys. If you love it, it's priceless, and no amount of money is... Oh, who am I kidding? I wouldn't put more tha $700 into my Kramer.
Do you ever use any wax to help give it a glossy shine?
@@tomsanders9491 I'The reason I dont used lamps for nitrocellulose, is because it can be humid here, and when spraying coats, as you know, it traps the water molecules in the paint as it floats through the air. I want the stuff to have the longest open time possible so the water can evaporate out. In fact I typically use retarder or thinners to make it take LONGER to cure. I'm not saying lights are a bad idea, but for me, they aren't the best option given the environment I'm working in.
20 points for doing a really nice job, -1 point for not playing it for us. You have been bested by Mike Boyd, my friend.
C’mon man, just because you paint a house doesn’t mean you have to live in it !
I've always used clear plexiglass to make my pick guards. Had one that I took a fine brush, and white paint, and drew some some skulls and some scroll work on the back side, then shot over the designs and whole back with black paint. The top side came out looking awesome. No matter how sloppy your paint spray on the back side, it always looks smooth as glass on the top side.
I've got no real interest in making a guitar but I'm definitely going to take those painting techniques and use them for something else so thanks for sharing!
But the guitar did have a cool, worn, vintage look to it. And the original single coil pickup would still sound pretty good too but I guess the guitar was worth refinishing it and replacing some things.
Hey, you should try building your own guitar from scrap or a kit. That would be awesome to see
Hi Bob. Little tip for 2 colour bursts. Spray the centre colour first. Then take your cardboard template and instead of putting it straight on top pop some thumb taks into it. Then you can put it on top of the guitar sat on the heads of the taks. Then spray from above with your outside colour and you will get a really natural and smooth fade!
ThePippin89 great advice. I was going to suggest this, but I'm glad you did. Kudos.
ThePippin89
Aah, that's very clever! Thanks for the advice!
Wow that's a fantastic idea, and very timely. I'm going to do exactly that.
I’ve used this technique, works great! Very even fade.
I never plan to do this but I enjoyed watching you do it.
Great video. Sent it to my dad who is a vintage guitar junkie. Bit tip: there is a flush cut router bit with a bearing at the top (closest to router) to follow the same sidewall as the pickup holes allowing you to exactly match the existing holes without carving anywhere outside the existing hole profile. It’s meant for template routing but can be used to deepen an existing recess. Bob, you probably knew that but I am just sharing for others.
Good tip.
@@Iliketomakestuff My brother had a guitar that he turned into a clock witch I have now and he put some kind of tape on it. I wanted to know. How do I remove the tape without ruining the finish before painting it?
Would have been nice to hear what it sounds like.
I would have put a Midi Pickup in. If i had cows to kill. Moo Lah at VACAVILLE - the walking paychecks on probations' slavery
d ja are you alright
Scuff sand and you won't even get down to the wood, but the stripper will work at lot faster. Plastic scrapers are your friend when working on soft wood. Your results are great though Bob!
Thanks!
I love it
You said stripper😂😂😂😂😂😂
Cam Johnholtz really, just really. That is the definition of a ten year old joke.
@@rianrushwood1426 if you check his channel, looks like he's 9 or something. So that's probably a compliment
OK, this is the second or third video on this channel I have watched, and I love this style of how-to video because you aren't a perfect craftsman and you show us how to deal rationally with mistakes in a project as it develops. At the same time, you don't waste my life with unscripted chatter. Love this channel, and love this project.
Suggestion 1: you had the right idea 100% to you a mask over back and front to create the burst. My opinion is that you should have trimmed the masks in about 25mm (1 inch) all around to get the outer darker ring to extend where you wanted it to go. The trade you made back to the lazy susan was exactly right. In any case, I think your 2-tone experiment turned out super.
Suggestion 2: the reason the guitar was so noisy to start was that it did not have the grounding wire that runs from the bridge hardware to the control cavity. This was obvious in the diassembly, and it was a glaring omission in your re-assembly. To fix that, take off the bridge hardward and sand a space on the bottom to "shiny," (meaning: no rust or paint). Get a length of black wire about 250mm (10 inches) and strip the ends about 20mm (3/4 inch). Tin the ends with solder to avoid any random strands. Run the ground wire through the hole under your bridge to the controls cavity (I can see the hole is already there in the video). The end which sticks out under the bridge needs to lie flat under the bridge touching the surface you polished up, and the contact has to be solid/tight. The other end of the ground wire ought to have connection to the back of your pots (usually: the back of the tone pot). If you do that, I will bet a cup of coffee your hum disappears 99.9%.
Great project, great channel.
Dude, "Suggestion 2" shows a glaring omission. I mean, that's bush league stuff. Thousands of dollars worth of woodworking equipment and... after all that time spent on the pickguard which has nothing to do with "refinishing"? Call it out for what it is. And your use of the term "suggestion": WTF? is this guy in 3rd grade? 25 minutes of our time wasted. He should have just bought a new guitar, and made a video about that!
@@squirlmy Well, it's a glaring omission to someone who works on guitars all the time. It may not be that to someone who is primarily a hobby woodworker.
@@squirlmy Wow, way to be a complete jerkwad while adding nothing constructive to FX Turk's comment. Job well done!
Very good work. The only thing I would add is shielding underneath the pickguard and in the cavity in order to create a Faraday cage. You could've used copper tape or even aluminium tinfoil from your kitchen.
Yeah, good point. The new pick up wires were shielded, but yeah, you should totally line the cavities.
@@leonardodic3po607 True, but this is a simple mod that goes a long way. I presume that this guitar won't see any modding in at least 10 years or ever, but it's a bit easier knowing in the back of your head that you don't have to do as much once you decide to change something in the cavity whenever you decide to make changes.
This could just be my OCD because I am a guitar player that mods his instruments fairly often and hates lining cavities in his guitars :)
@@leonardodic3po607 The point of the shielding is not to get rid of pickup hum (shielding doesn't do anything to prevent that). The job of the shielding is to isolate the electronics from electromagnetic interference.
Without it, your signal line in the guitar will act as an antena and pick up all sorts of shit like electromagnetic waves from a transformer. This is also the reason why instrument cables are coaxial (signal line in the middle, surrounded by the shielding).
If you use speaker cables, which is highly adviced not to do, you'll probably get some massive humming comming out of your amp.
You can get spray on shielding, and even just using graphite spray will make a big difference. Graphite spray is a lot cheaper than the nickel spray, and is almost as good as metal, though you will have to place a nice copper strip glued to the case to make a good contact to it. Plus you can spray plastic and get a reasonable amount of hum reduction. Just hasve to watch out for compatability between plastics and paints with the carrier solvent used in the screening sprays though, they do cause wrinkling on plastics and dissolve a lot of paint types as well.
I have a massive interference on my homebuilt les Paul. I will try the aluminium foil trick. Maybe solder a ground wire to it. Thanks for the tip
Nice job!
If you guys approve, then it sure is!
That came out great! If you wanted a factory gloss finish, you'd be applying lacquer and sanding it back for weeks and then finish wet sanding up to 8 thousand or so before switching to automotive buffing compounds. It takes forever.
I bet it would look awesome, but I really like that satin finish
You can make it pretty nice without going too insane. It was easier than I thought.
You don't have to sand between every single coat.You don't have to hit every grit #.
Maybe #600 between coats. Wet sanding makes it easy. Final sand with 800,1200,2000 ish,
buff with McGuires Mirror Glaze and a buffing wheel on a drill or cheap auto polisher.
Looks like glass. :)
I Like To Make Stuff Satin/Nitro finishes are huge right now, anyway, with the popularity of “relic-ed” or road-worn guitars.
Ooooh I have a 1962 Musicmaster my father gave me. His had a humbucker modded on too but we had it removed. Love that guitar, even if all the paint chipped off long ago and the body is just a slab of wood.
Nice work Bob. It turned out pretty good, and you’ve got decent cab skills.
Side note: you get the factory gloss more from polishing rather than just adding a bunch more coats.
cool to see you here!
Actually it's both. high grade sand, another coat, high grade sand, another coat. the more you do that you build up a sheen on each layer and the final polish is like glass
@@jamesfoo8999 Nitrocellulose lacquers doesn't adds up in layers
Oh boy. Now that I know he didn't polish it, I'm not going to watch the rest of it.
*I'm gonna teach you how to refinish a guitar...*
( _proceeds to make a pickguard for 9 hours_ )
IT ONLY TOOK ME 30 YEARS TO MAKE IT LOOK EASY.
It takes time
I learned from personal experience
Making a pickguard isnt the easiest thing and since Im a guitarist.....well yeah
Only one thing missing… you playing! Awesome resto! I play guitar, and my old teacher built guitars. Great video, and rock on!
Ok
lets be honest
the guitar looked like mac n cheese when he used the paint stripper
Huh
Lmao never realized
I love that you include all those trial and errors, those are what we learn from. Thanks for the vid!
Lifted from an article on sanding sealer:
"A word of warning is in order. The stearates make sanding sealer rather soft. If you put a hard, brittle finish, like lacquer, over a thick, soft one, like sanding sealer, it is much more likely to chip and crack. For that reason, if you use sanding sealer, stick to one or two coats at the most, and plan to sand most of it back off. For the same reason, and because it tends to shrink as it cures, it is not advisable to use sanding sealer instead of pore filler."
Now, granted this is not the typical sanding sealer that Big Box Lumber stocks but personally I prefer grain filler over sanding sealer if I am going to apply color and clear coats on top. But this is personal preference. I think your guitars turned out great and I loved watching the video.
Was highly disappointed that we didn't get to hear it at the end lol but I guess that wasnt the point of the video. Great job though!
Hey Bob, I just wanted to say that I really loved what you did with this guitar! It looks super cool and it has inspired me to refinish my old guitar. 😁
but I kinda dig the look of the old finish, it have a cool, vintage, road-worn vibe to it. But I guess it needed to be fixed up anyway.
Waited the entire video to hear a clip of some playing. Nice job otherwise.
Not everyone is confident enough to broadcast their ability to the entire world
Terran Ovnicek true. And the video is about refinishing, not about pickups or tonewoods or anything like that.
@@terranovnicek1567 then why'd he put a photo of him playing it 8n the thumbnail. I'm not asking the man to shred all I'm saying if a man owns multiple guitars he can at least play smoke on the water for us
@@arando4359 then why'd he put a photo of him playing it 8n the thumbnail. I'm not asking the man to shred all I'm saying if a man owns multiple guitars he can at least play smoke on the water for us
EZ_O_NATOR to show it from a better angle? I don’t see the issue here.
Very satisfying to watch. I am sure with all the guitar fanatics out there you can probably run a whole channel on refinishing guitars and never run out of material for it. Thank you for sharing.
I really like this channel, he really does what I like!
Keep it up Bob, try to make one of those kit guitars or a custom amp or something, you do great stuff!
For temporary work holding use a piece of masking tape on both surfaces and super glue the tape to each other. It will give good work holding and is easy to peel off.
Also always do a dry run on fitting objects in to cavities before you start working on finish, it just saves so much time and heartache.
you've probably been asked this before, but have you ever considered building a guitar from scratch?
He’s made a shovel guitar before
@@howan2508 I am aware, I found this channel when he made it for Rob Scallon
I've thought about it. Josh is currently making a bass from pieces of a kit. I would probably do the same, make the body and buy the neck because I don't have time to make that part perfect.
I Like To Make Stuff that would be awesome! I would love to see you make one.
Yesssss!
So satisfying to see this guitar being reborn. Awesome job.
I honestly think the cherry burst looks killer. Nice job! Would have loved to hear you playing it, just for a little bit.
Fantastic job, good tips and build. One very good tip I will add is, assemble your pick guard first, dry fit everything before finishing guitar. That way no chance of marring up a perfect finish. Also this tip works for kit guitars as well. Make sure everything fits proper first, believe me some kits are close but no cigar.
I love seeing old guitars given a new lease of life
Me too, I've refinished a few and they look so nice.
A good way of getting an even sunburst is to do the outer ring and then make a second piece of cardboard the same shape but 1" smaller in all dimensions. You then centre this piece but use blocks to hold it about 3/4" above the surface, allows a pretty even bleed. Can mess with the dimensions/height of the smaller piece for different styles of sunburst.
This is a good job you did, I really like the look
Nice job! As with any project, having the right tools and space to work is essential to obtain similar results. You might have mentioned the spray booth which is necessary for using nitro cellulose paints and a mask to prevent inhaling vapors.
Video quality has improved a ton! It has not gone unnoticed
he's gonna be pissed when he realizes he forgot to mark the hole for the pickup switch
Oh I just realized I see what you mean
Apparently you missed 19:30
sharp brain lol. took me minute to figure out what you said!
Nice catch!
Verrrry nice paint job. That's why I'm watching this. I'm an abstract acrylic painter, drummer, and bass guitar player. I've always wanted to paint a guitar or bass body.
Yeah I looked up the serial number on my yamaha RGZ custom when I bought it, turns out it was the 18th guitar on the 3rd of august 1988.
As a hobby I have fret levelled and refinished some cheap guitars with a good result. My buddy asked me to work on his dad's 57 musicmaster that was in pieces when I got it. I had never worked on a valuable guitar before and pretty much obsessed about it. Most of the old vintage parts still worked, so I was able to give him his dad's guitar back with a new finish in playable form. He was happy. For me it was so nerve wracking that I will never do it again. I will stick to cheap guitar parts. My job did not look anywhere as good as yours. Loved you video.
Your content ALWAYS gets better produced, presented, everything. Every episode. You are an incredible creator! Can more kids stop watching let’s plays and start watching your channel?
The Tele pickups were a great idea, Ace. Groovy.
You were really fortunate that the string spacing matched the pole pieces in the pickups. Some of those bridges and necks have different specs.
From what I saw string spacing was off quite a bit. Didn't think much of it though
Dude!!! Slingshot 57 was honestly one of my favorite bands in highschool!!! Lol
That video has been in my recommended for literally MONTHS now, and I will now watch it.
Ironically, this fits perfectly, because I want to refinish an instrument and maybe I can learn some things here 😂
To get a mirror gloss finish you have to use wet/dry 800, 1000, 1500, and 2000 grit sandpaper (use high quality papers that do not clog as quick as cheaper sandpaper does (3M makes really good stuff).
The way I leaned to final sand clear is to spray 12 to 15 coats 9no need to sand between as the layers below will blend into each other. Start with 800 grit in circular motions. Once that's complete move to 1000 grit in a straight motion (length of the body/ or with the grain) to remove the swirls from the previous. Next more to 1500 again in circular motions and finally finish with 2000 in a straight motion. Each step will require you to remove the dust. Also at any stage you are looking to create a hazy look. Any high spots will still look glossy under a light and at eye level from the sides. You don't have to do this wet, but it keeps the dust down though it is messier.
Finally using swirl remover and a buffing wheel (or a lot of elbow grease) polish to that gloss shine. Any burn through (meaning you went to hard and removed paint) will have to be touched up. Also black guitars will show every single flaw in the finish so prep work is essential.
Take your time with the process because once you see the results you'll be really impressed. In fact you can go beyond the factory finish and make yours pop more.
I agree with just about everything noted above, I just would like to add a few hints and suggestions. Using a orbital car buffer (look at Harbor freight for best priced 6 in buffer, then buy a 5 and 3 inch backing plate. ***DO NOT USE THE PADS YOU SEE AT HF. *** (I only use them for non-wood counter tops) is the best advice to keep from "burn through" forget swirl remover. I am a detailer on the side and love paint correction. My advise is skip the swirl remover all together and do it all the way. Take it to 3000 then a high end compound (NOT TURTLE WAX CRAP) Use a pro level product not enthusiast grade (what you find at Walmart and on most auto store shelves, with the exception of NAPA). Cut with a medium cutting pad (using a 3 in backing plate is best for this size project) The pad color depends on manufacture.(Buff & Shine or Lake country orange flat pad) remember do not overload your pads a little goes a long way. After that, I would use a white then green flat pad (either of the companies above) and a high grade polish. to finally seal it, you can choose Wax, (my favorite is the POXY form HD) or best yet, ceramic coat it.
@@beamerstrumpet
Thanks Scott & KJ
Finishing a guitar is tough work, lots of trial & error, and finding what works best. I get humored by some of the dings given to the guy making the video, some are pretty spot on funny. But reading through the comments people offer up what works for them and for me sometimes I get more from the comments than the video.
Great Video!! I LOVE guitar rebuilds! Even if it’s a Harmony Les Paul Style junk .. if someone made it theirs .. it’s Art And It’s Awesome!! Spread The Love And Music!!
Realy nice finish
Keep up the good work as always
Thanks!
Totally awesome! Another quick win you can add is shielding in the pickup cavities.
as soon as I buy all this wood-working equipment, I'll refinish a guitar worth $150.00 when I'm done.....
It’s a ‘78 Fender Musicmaster. They’re worth a little bit more than that.
Arby Cook waaaayyy more
@Malchik Blue So tell us, what is the problem with the finished guitar? It's not like it was in pristine original condition when the video started. As stated, it's been refinished multiple times already.
@@professorbooty0311 I've seen refinished CBS era fender bodies and necks go for sub 250.
The whole paint stripping process was really satisfying to watch in my opinion
Can you do a video where you buy a cheap second hand guitar and so something cool with it? Like revitalise it or even cut it up and make it into art or furniture :)
The angle of your pickups will make a difference. Don't quote me on this but i believe the bridge pickup is angled towards the neck on the bottom E string to keep a more natural warm sound while the top E string is closer to the bridge to give it more treble which is nice for blues players. However this is preference and how you want your guitar to sound. BTW fantastic video man! keep rocking!
Wet sand finish with norton 600 and then polish with polishing compound.
As a guitar builder myself I would recommend when you do the burst to free hand it with no cardboard sounds hard but its not. and you get a more dramatic burst.
I tought that with a 2 color sun burst you applied the, in your case, yellow first in all the guitar and the red only in the edges and fading to the center. It's the first time i've seen it done the other way. Also it' s the first time that i've seen a sunburst done with templates.
You did a great Job Bob! The outcome looks fantastic.
Thanks!
That tablesaw to hand proximity in the intro gives me the chills
I want to see all of your guitars!!!! Oh yeah yeah
Thank you for this video. I've decided I am happy with the current color of my bass.
Good work Bob, what about a guitar playing demostration?
Watching you do it was relaxing. Me doing it, not so much. But videos like this, do inspire.
You really should use protective gear. Especially when using paint. The fumes are really bad for you.
Thank you for doing this. It was really help full. I too got a second hand guitar in the 70's and it made its way back to me. My son and I are looking to refinish it.
Cool project-looks good. You should use a mask when spraying nitro. Nasty stuff.
I like that you took people through all the learning/trial and error.
You made your old guitar pretty but you don't give us a little show...
At least do us that fafour of showing what you got man😉
I've finished a lot of guitars in the past I've never done any kind of sunburst looks very good one day I will try. Great job on cutting your own pickguard. One of my first guitars ever was a Mustang and you mention it in the video. Wish I still had it. I was 10 yrs old when I had it in 1976. Oops now you know how old I am.
I'd also add that those frets are über nasty looking, masking off the fretboard and hitting them with the same red polishing compound or using dedicated fret rubbers will make a world of difference to the feel of playing the guitar, that and cleaning the fretboard too.
Is it weird that I keep watching this over and over again?
Jomz
Yes
not going to foil the cavity? itll make it sound 10x better.
Hey, what difference does foil make? Is it something I should add to my electric?
@@tomthelampy The electrics inside the guitar (that includes the guitar cable going to the amp) are very sensitive to electromagnetic radiation. It's not going to do any damage, but it will cause some obnoxious humming when the guitar is plugged in and isn't fully shielded.
That's why all the electrics need to be fully surrounded by a conductive material which is then connected to ground.
nstrument cables are allways shielded, so you don't need to worry about that, aside from actually using an instrument cable and nothing else!
The shielding blocks (most of) the electromagnetic radiation (coming from any transformer, for instance) and does a ton of work when it comes to dehumming your guitar sound.
@@ichbrauchmehrkaffee5785 Thanks :)
I was wondering if someone noticed. But ya, foil tape or conductive paint. It's for shielding.
The pick-ups he used were Fender Noiseless, so i don't think he'll have a problem with hum... But you're right, if it was traditional single coils, then foiling the cavitiy would be a great thing to do if you're already doing refinishing work :)
been refinishing guitars for almost a decade - a heat gun and a putty knife is the fastest way to get the paint off. Can probably strip a guitar from top to bottom in under 10 minutes. great vid!
I'd love to see a Collab with you and Dan from guns and guitars
Ayush Aripirala hell yah!!!!!
Good to see the struggle. It's helpful to see how much work and rethinking is involved in projects.
Heads up if you are putting in new pickups: Look at the intended placement and see if you want to do the same thing. If not maybe choose different pickups. Those Tele pickups could have been positioned as intended given that you were making a custom pickguard. And although it might not make much difference to you, it will look better to most guitarists and likely perform better if you use them as they were intended by design.
I'd like to see you refinish an acoustic guitar as well.
I sold my old Dean Edge 6 to some guy who wanted to make a project out of it. He showed me a photo of the work he did on it the day after he received it. He did one of those dip jobs on it with white, blue and black paint. It looks so much better than the original amberburst finish.
Instead of spray adhesive for the pickguard, why not just screw it to the board template? You already have the holes drilled. I'm also in the process of building a guitar. What is the time between coats of sealer, color, and clear that you made? I heard "every 30 minutes or so" but was that for the clear only or all three?
A rule of thumb for paint is if you are not sanding then wait until it's tacky, but does not come off on your finger. Since this is the kind of finish that hardens by literally drying (instead of chemically hardening, like automotive paints) it probably can dry even more before spraying the next coat since solvents from the new layer would soften up the previous layer enough to stick to it. Since Bob said that the lacquers he used are identical, only two were tinted, it's safe to say that waiting 10-15 minutes past the "tacky, but does not come off on your finger" is a safe bet for all three. In this case it's better to be on the safe side and let it dry a little too much than not enough so you won't end up with a sticky mess that takes a week to dry.
If you plan to sand, then wait until you think it's dry and try a small spot. If the sand paper clogs with a bunch of gummy bits then it's not dry enough. It depends on the temperature, but an hour is usually enough, especially if it gets to dry outside in the sun.
Not sure how the weather will hold up in the cold winter, but thank you for the response. What exactly does sanding between layers do? Get more of a shine and smoothness since it flattens the surface before the next coat?
Not necessarily more shine right away, but better adhesion of the following layer (especially with automotive/catalyzed paint) and a smoother surface. If you want a really shiny surface you have to sand it up to 1500 grit (or higher number, finer) sand paper and then buff it with special pastes. You can just buff the paint without sanding, but it's not advised since most of the time there will be imperfections like dust particles or overspray that will stand out on a polished surface and ruin the look.
Going back to your original question about a pick guard, the reason why tape/glue is better than screws is because running a bit into a screw will destroy the bit where with tape or glue the bit would just cut through. In rare cases aluminum or brass nails or screws can be used since a typical wood bit will cut soft metals.
The easiest way to copy one would be to double-sided-tape the old one to the piece of material and use a trading bit in a router to copy the outline perfectly. If your bits have the same issue as ones in the video (bearing not flush against the cutting edge) then space the 'template' and the material with some blocks, then you can even champher the edge without un-sticking everything.
@@ckortjester I think sanding between coats gets rid of any imperfections, such as if the finish develops a ridge or any dust that might get onto the workpiece and get stuck to the finish. There are more descriptive videos and online tutorials about finishing wood.
@@ckortjester Yeah, like the others mentioned, sanding between coats flattens the surface, particulary the areas of rough overspray, which is important to achieving a quality finish. An important thing to note is that with lacquer, unlike oil based enamel paint, each new coat "reactivates" the surface lacquer of the previous coat. I'm not sure that "reactivates" is the proper term, but what happens when the wet lacquer you are currently spraying hits the dry lacquer already on the surface of guitar, some of the dry lacquer from previous coat (or coats) actually becomes wet again. This means that each new coat sort of melts into the existing coats. So scuffing the surface to allow the next coat to adhere better isn't necessary with lacquer. You essentially end up with a single coat of lacquer that builds thicker with each spraying. With oil based enamels, each coat dries and remains dry when the next coat is sprayed over it, so if you spray it ten times, there are ten distinct coats of enamel. Just to help illustrate this distinction between lacquer and enamel paint, say you have 2 guitars and you spray one with 10 coats of enamel and the other with 10 coats of lacquer. You would probably never actually do this, but for the same of example, let's say each coat of both enamel and lacquer was a different color. (For example, the first coat of each was red, the second coats were yellow, the third coats were blue, etc.) When you were done, if you sawed each guitar in half and looked at a magnified cross section of the enamel paint that you just sawed through, you would see 10 distinct layers of 10 distinct colors. You would see the thin band of red of your first coat, then the distinct band of yellow of your second coat and and so on. It would look as if you stacked 10 sheets of different colored construction paper together. Looking at the cross section of lacquer on the other hand, instead of seeing distinct bands of red and yellow, you will see a red zone fading into an orange zone fading into a yellow zone. The orange zone is where the 1st and 2nd coats melted together.
This bleeding together effect of lacquer makes it very easy to work with compared to enamel. If you spray too much lacquer and it starts to run, you can simply tilt the body the opposite way and the run will stop and you can watch it flatten out as the coats beneath it melt. Lacquer is very forgiving in that respect. If enamel paint runs, there's no way you'll get it to dry flat. You'll eventually have to sand out the run which is a pain in the ass and a time suck. Lacquer flows across the surface and levels very nicely. However it becomes very important, especially if you are going for a high gloss "mirror" finish, that on at least the last few coats, you sand the entire front and back of the guitar using somewhere in the range of 180 - 220 grit paper on a flat sand block. Wet sand light with long strokes across the entire surface at all different angles. That surface may look flat without doing this, but you'll find out after your final sanding, once you've worked your way up through 3000 and start to use a rubbing compound... as that mirror gloss emerges... If you didn't use a flat sanding block for at least the last few coats... its like looking at fun house mirror. Reflections are all distorted and wavy because the surface, although it appears super smooth, it wasn't flat. Because lacquer flows so easily, the surface can become wavy so it's super important to knock it down flat with a sandblock after those final coats. Another thing with lacquer to be aware of is that it dries to the touch very quickly. However, especially the more coats you use, it can take weeks or months to actually cure. Be really careful handling the guitar in the hours and even days after your final coat. Even though the surface is dry, the lacquer is not cured and you can easily put a deep thumbprint in the finish is enough pressure is applied.
Very unorthodox methods of going about of restoring a guitar but hey it works and it worked out really well! My compliments!
23:19 NOW THATS A LOT OF DAMAGE!!
Lol
We have a 2319
2319 is the code in Monsters Inc for human contamination! LMFAO! Damn, I'm a father.
leathernluv yeah, the guy before you said so, you know, 4 months before you
Clear acrylic pickguards are awesome because you paint the BACK of them and they look like a high gloss sheen. If you look at any of the early pickguards on the 60s rickenbacker guitars or basses, you’ll see this.
Painting a guitar body, especially a fender style one is relatively easy and cheap requiring not much more than some sandpaper and a few tins of paint. ......making a pickguard requires, routers, scroll saws, belt sanders, pillar drills etc etc. Just go out and buy one.
Maybe you missed the name of the channel?
"I Like To Make Stuff
"
Nice. I think your results are nothing to be ashamed of. I'm in the process of restoring a '63 Musicmaster that somebody tried to turn into a black guitar. I am thinking of doing the maroon burst of that era. Thanks for the video.
I wonder if he saw the "cool beans" that I wrote in the neck pocket. FIRST!
2nd great vid
looks like he mirrored it into one of the deeper pickup pockets: 21:45 :)
Saw it!
I saw that too
Fascinating to watch, and really well presented. Nice job!
21:47
Cool Beans!
COOL BBEANS!!!
The '70s are my favorite Music masters, Broncos and Mustangs. They were usually poplar, an odd looking wood that is still relatively soft and inexpensive.
Do you have anything about refinishing a surfboard. I recently purchased a surfboard at a garage sale for $5 and it need to be refinished.
Can you help out.
A. De Jesus would love to see that
I have no idea, sorry
I Like To Make Stuff what about an electronic desk with like inbuilt wireless charging, cable management, rgb with a panel with buttons (arduino) am can we have some more 3D printing stuff
I'd think just a normal refinish like sand a lot of laquer or paint
@@Harrison_Easter Get wireless charging into your surfboard and just use it as a desk.
I know it's a different person that asked.
I like the way it turned out. I especially like the color you chose.
"Cool Beans" :D
COOL BEANS!
I've put in a spare peace of wood into the neck hole as a handle to move it and to hang it without rotating. It also allowed me to clamp it to a table without something touching the surfaces. Made a camo pattern on it and it turned out awesome.
Actually it was a pretty similar kind of project. My first electric guitar ever, old paint, crappy components and now it's revived. Only my pickguard was bought, because I didn't trust myselve enough for that.
chill guys nickelback signed the guitar so its all good
As long as it's just Nickelback.
@@deutan4390 thief song?
When I made my pickguard I used the back edge of a razor knife blade to scrape the bevel, that pickguard material scrapes away very easily. The knife I used was one of those small click type with the breakaway blade. Putting the casing of the knife against the body made a useful guide. I imagine any type of sharp edged scraper would work. Also screwing some sort of handle into the neck slot would help articulate the body as you paint.
Hopefully Nirvana didn't't autograph your guitar! Oops! Thanks for sharing.
Nirvana !! Lmao
Pro DIY tip...if you dig up or make a box of some sort, say a large bandpass box, and a small box heater to blow into it, you can keep any materials that need warming(all your paints/stains) toasty warm just setting them inside and using an old t-shirt to cover the opening. I've kept cans warm to the touch in a shop environment where the air temps were just above freezing. Using a cloth door will ensure vapors can exit instead of building up and being a fire hazard. Yes, you can spray in those conditions as long as you can bring the surface temp of your project up to spec, torpedo heaters and infra red curing lights are your friend...
The finish needs color sanding! And buffing!
Mikes Garage i know!!
Not bad, I'm in the middle of refinishing my guitar and has been refinished a couple of times. From my experiences different brands use different finishes and materials. So far the three guitars I have refinished used Poplar and had a coat of glazing. On my current guitar I just sanded it and used Bondo Glazing and Spot Putty to fill voids, dents and deep scratches. I'm going for a Satin/Matte finish and so far built up two coats of paint before sanding with 320 to knock it down then probably two more coats with a Matte clear finish. Planning to try a clay bar to smooth it down then finish it off with some wax to seal it up.
This is yellow poplar. It is probably used becouse it's pretty cheap wood.
your patience is inspiring