Markku Nyytäjä's candy blue Tele

[Mark Swanson]

You are pretty brave applying and scraping the binding after the color coats! I would rather put the binding on before the color and mask it off, and just clean it up afterwards.

[Markku Nyytäjä]

Lacquering the body with 2-component acrylic lacquer. I wet sanded the cured lacquer surface with 800 and 1200 grit papers before spraying the next one.

After the final (in this case 6th) coat of lacquer I wet sanded the surface with 800, 1200, 1500, 2000 and 2500 grit papers, doing the the flat surfaces with a plane sander...

... and the edges, including the cutaway, by hand.

Having sanded the lacquer smooth I polished it with Farécla G3 paste compound and G10 finishing compound, 3 times with both makes 6 times. The flat surfaces could be buffed with a sponge buffer attached to a random orbital sander.

[Markku Nyytäjä]

The trickier parts like the cutaway were easier to polish with a cotton cone buffer attached to a hose extension on power drill.

Of course the neck had to be sanded and polished. Wet sanding here...

... and polishing here.

Once the neck was polished, I installed the tuners.

[Markku Nyytäjä]

Soldering the pickups to the electronics.

Stringing the instrument. At first I strung it with a 0.10-0.46 set but changed to a heavier gauge, a 0.11-0.52 set of Dean Markley Blue Steel strings. They feel right for this guitar.

After stringing the guitar and tuning it I set the intonation using a clip-on tuner.

I tested the finished guitar on the 60W hybrid half-stack I have in the the storage room at the workshop. This one is a rock guitar.

OK. This is about all about this blue lady. I hope you find some of this interesting and useful.

[Markku Nyytäjä]

Thanks, Mark. Yes, I have thought of making a tutorial on product photography, including musical instruments. At work I have a good studio and photographing in a space intended for the task can be learned by anyone willing, but not everyone has the space and expensive studio lighting gear. I think what we need here is a guide on how to take good product photos at home with cameras and equipment anyone can purchase. It's about how to build a backdrop, set up lights, set up and use the camera and how to finish the images on a computer without having to purchase expensive professional software. There are decent free image manipulation programs you can download.

It's just that having access to professional tools is the easy way, and I'm quite spoiled. I should step outside my comfort zone and rely on mcgyverism, make do with crude tools and materials. That is a challenge, but I don't see why I couldn't pull it off. All I actually need is some extra time to do that, everything else is lying in a drawer or a closet somewhere. Everyone has a white cotton sheet for backdrop and luthiers have extra pieces of wood everywhere. I'm not promising to make a tutorial right away, but I do think it's a good idea to make one.

[Mark Swanson]

That is exactly what we need Markku! it would be great if you had the time, and I imagine that it could be saved in article form to keep for future reference. Many people seem to have a lot of trouble with posting photos.

[Jason Rodgers]

I'll 2nd the tut' request. Teach us!

[Markku Nyytäjä]

I'll start producing material for the tutorial: photos, text, drawings, example shots... I'll post some pics I've shot on my living room table and my kitchen table (even more crammed-up) to demonstrate you don't need a full scale studio to get good product photographs. It does help to have good lights, though. The best way to emulate daylight studio flashes on a low budget is using bright white multiple LED work lights. You can get a LED floodlight with a stand for 20 €, while portable studio strobes cost at least 200 € apiece. And you can always shoot in daylight. The thing with shooting in ambient light is that you need a tripod, because long exposure times may otherwise cause motion blur. There are good inexpensive tripods around, a lightweight compact camera won't require a 10 kg tripod.

I turned a pair of 5B maple drumsticks just for fun, after noticing I had two 16" pieces of maple just perfect for drumsticks every time I made a Fender type neck. This photo was taken in a cheap mini studio. I purchased a portable mini studio with a small tripod and two daylight temperature halogen spots. It's a 40x40x40 cm white fabric cube with one wall open. It cost 40 € and suitable for photographing small objects, up to the size of drumsticks placed diagonally. A mini studio is easy to build too. All you need is some wood, white fabric, glue, corner clamps and a stapler.

These are the pickups I made for this Telecaster. I took this photo on my living room table, using an A3 size colour laser printout of the Texas flag as a backdrop. I used my portable studio flash system for light, because I have them, but I could have used LED floodlights diffused with a piece of white greaseproof paper instead.

I did use a professional camera for both shots, a Nikon D200 for the drumsticks and a Nikon D800 for the pickups, but good results can be achieved with small compact cameras, if they're set up and used right. These compact cameras are so simple to start shooting with that most people don't bother to read the owner's manual. There is often an awful lot of useful info there, from setting up the white balance to close-up photography. An inexpensive compact camera is probably a lot more versatile than the owner knows.

Lesson one:

Bear in mind that the built-in light meters in cameras are calibrated for "medium grey", a neutral grey tone that reflects 18% of all incident light. A white surface reflects 80%, four times as much. When shooting against a bright white surface such as a wall or paper, take a metering from the background and set the exposure correction of the camera at +2, and you'll get a correct exposure. Without the correction your images will be underexposed. You may be able to crank the midtone lightness level close to normal, but you'll lose all low end detail and end up with a lot of noise.

[Jason Rodgers]

Er... when you do post something, could I make a special request for a couple links to some basic terminology or a glossary of photography terms?

[James Tonguet]

Very sweet , love the pearl top binding

[John Mueller]

Markku: Very nice work.

Mark S: Could you split the photo tutorial into its own thread? I'll never remember where it is otherwise.

[Markku Nyytäjä]

OK. I'll make a separate tutorial thread and I'll try to be as down to earth as possible. I teach quite a few beginners at work too and I have to explain everything in a way that is comprehensible to beginners. I shall explain the basic terms, maybe make small a photographic vocabulary. This all will take time and I hope no one expects me to do it in a jiffy.

Funny. Building musical instruments has been my main escape from my day job, teaching photography. And here I am, teaching photography.

[Mark Swanson]

Sure, take all the time you need! It's very kind of you and it will be so helpful.
When you get around to it start a new thread as you said! thanks again!

[Bob Francis]

Markku, you do great work, and your photos are always very good- you did mention that you teach photography. So if you feel like it, this is just a hint that I bet you could do a great tutorial on taking good instrument photos!

[Michael Polutta]

Beautiful guitar.

I got concerned when I saw the picture of you spraying catalyzed finish wearing just a tank top. IMHO, that's not safe. If that finish uses isocyanates, those can be absorbed through the skin. Be careful.

[Markku Nyytäjä]

Thanks for the warning, Michael. It has been a very hot summer and I've worn clothes just because I need pockets for my keys, phone & wallet. And I guess I can't walk the streets naked without consequences either.
It may not show in the pictures, but I have an open window behind my back. I only spray for a couple minutes at a time and then leave the room for 15 minutes while the fresh lacquer sets. I do take heed of of your words and I'll be careful.