MIMF

I just finish building an SG styled guitar. This is much like the Firebird I built in that I keep buying SGs but never hang on to them. I figure if I build it, I'll keep it. That's worked so far with the Firebird...

This guitar is styled after the 61/62 SG standard reissues out there with the major deviation being a smaller headstock reminiscent of a SG special or a junior. This was done to minimize neck heaviness.

Specs:

Standard Gibson 24 9/16ths scale
Body and neck African mahogany.
Fretboard is palisander.
Frets are Dunlop 6105s
Fretboard inlays are gold MOP
Pickups are Seymour Duncan JB/Jazz combo
Electronics, bridge, and stop tailpiece are Epiphone off of eBay.
Finish is nitrocellulose lacquer tinted with LMIs metal acid dyes
Tuners are gotoh 15:1
Misc plastics and hardware from Stewart McDonald

Fantastic!

Really beautiful. Nice job carving the classic Gibson throat. I played an SG like that. Any tuners beyond the original Kluson type will set the whole guitar out of balance, in my arrogant expert opinion.

Wow! That is a beautiful looking instrument.

A real Beauty! Congratulations!

Gilbert Fredrickson wrote: Any tuners beyond the original Kluson type will set the whole guitar out of balance, in my arrogant expert opinion.

My Gibson PT reissue is equipped with heavier tuners and very well in balance.

Beautiful job on the finish also! Very nice work.

Yes, beautiful. Really.

If i only had the chance to come even close to such results...

Last posting i forgot to mention this. Sorry about that.

Thanks to all for the kind comments. I am very happy about how this guitar turned out in all respects. It sounds good and plays very well. As always, I know where all the mistakes are, and there is only one that bothers me at all.

Amazing finish job. I always loved the shape on an SG. At the risk of wandering into serious NOOB territory, would you mind giving us a rundown of your finish process, sealers used, number of coats of laquer, techniques and materials to flat it and buff out? Whatever you are doing obviously works, and the whole process is still a bit mysterious to me.

Alexander Higgins wrote:Amazing finish job. I always loved the shape on an SG. At the risk of wandering into serious NOOB territory, would you mind giving us a rundown of your finish process, sealers used, number of coats of laquer, techniques and materials to flat it and buff out? Whatever you are doing obviously works, and the whole process is still a bit mysterious to me.

I will tell you what I do and why, but know there are many ways to get to the same end in this craft.

I think it starts even before the filling and sealing. Whenever I'm sanding flat surfaces on the guitar, I use flat hard sanding blocks. The larger the better. I have a piece of 4" X 14" X 1/2" plexiglass that I doublestick sandpaper to when I sand the front and back of the body I believe this gives me a very flat surface to apply finish to. I use a smaller piece on the front and back of the headstock probably 4x6 in. I also use aluminum barstock and the flat edge of carpenter levels for sanding blocks depending on the surface I'm sanding. The key point is that these are very hard sanding blocks. I do all of my final sanding by hand, I don't use any power sanders once the guitar is shaped.

In the past I have used traditional pore fillers with vinyl sealers and washcoats before the lacquer, but I have since moved to using finish cure epoxy as my pore filler and base for the lacquer. There is slightly less complexity using epoxy and I like the fact that I don't have to worry about the color of the pore filler. I don't think using epoxy is any less work. I use 3 thin coats of epoxy applied with a credit card type plastic scraper. Dry sanding with 320 between coats. Here is where I start using traditional rubber sanding blocks. The first coat will be almost completely sanded off going through to the wood almost over the entire guitar. The goal for me is to have all the pores level by the time I have finished sanding the 3rd coat. It doesn't matter I have sanded through to the wood as long as the pores are flat. The key here is that if you sand too much you uncover new pores.

Next I'll shoot the color coat if there is one. I always use tinted lacquer for sunbursts and translucent looking finishes. This is an area where others have staining regimes that work for them. I have tried staining but always gone back to tinting my first coat. I use LMI's MEK based metal acid dyes mixed with lacquer. I just experiment on scrap until I can get the color I want fairly quickly. I want a thin color coat.

Next I start with the clearcoats. I don t really count the number of coats that I put on. When all is said and done I have between 2/3 and 3/4 of a quart of clear on a typical electric. That may be too much, I'm trying to reduce that to the bare minimum but that's where I'm currently at. I have earlier projects that had more than that on and they finish checked after several years. I have several in that neighborhood that are over 5 years old and still look great. Like I said I don't really count coats but what I do is I fill my 250cc paint cup about 2/3 full with straight lacquer then add thinner till the cup is 3/4 full. So just a splash of thinner. The Seagrave and the Cardinal lacquers come ready to spray, but I thin them a bit. So I'll spray one of those 3/4 full paint cups on the guitar in the morning, and another one in the evening. Each one of those might be 2 coats I guess because I usually take a break halfway through a cup to let it flash off completely. I dry sand with 320 the next day. I use standard rubber sanding blocks for this step. I use erasers for sanding blocks to get into small ares. On the 3rd day I switch to 400 for the dry sanding. I avoid wet sanding until the very end. Even using naptha for wetsanding I have seen problems when the naptha got into some open grain in a control cavity or tuning peg hole. Depending on what I see when dry sanding I may do some drop filling between coats. When it sands virtually flat comfortably with 400, I'll shoot one more wet coat and call it good. At that point I've usually gone through 2/3 to 3/4 of a quart of lacquer. Then it's hung up for at least 2 weeks. I like to go a month but I ussually start leveling around 3 weeks.

For the final leveling I use the micromesh kit shown in the picture and at this point I have to wetsand with naptha. I just havent found fine abrasives that will work long enough when used dry. First I will sand it completely flat with the 1500 grit, that's their courses grit and is about like 600. If I try and cheat and think I'm going to get some tiny depression or pinhole out later with one of the finer grits, it doesn't work. And if you think something is so small you wont see it later, well that's just not the case either. So perfectly flat with the 1500 then I move through the grits and I stop at the 8000. I use the dense foam sanding block that came with the kit and erasers in tight areas. I alternate sanding directions with the grits so I can tell when I have removed the previous grit's scratches. So the 1500 might be with the grain and then the 1800 will be across the grain. This takes a lot of time. So as not to rush it I usually spread this out over a few days. Once I have worked through the grits and I've finished with the 8000 it's on to the buffer.

If I have been diligent in my use of the micromesh kit the buffing is easy. I use the Stew-Mac buffing arbor and Menzerna compounds for final buffing. I used to use 4 different compounds, but now I just use the medium and fine. If I've done a good job with the micromesh, that's all it takes. I'll hit it by hand with a little swirl remover if needed. That's it!

Like I said, there are many ways to get there. That is what I do. FWIW.

Items mentioned:







400 grit dry sand before final coat:

Thank you for taking the time to describe your finishing process. That guitar is like a jewel.

Thanks for the tutorial Robert! That de-mystifies it a bit. I don't own a spray gun, so I'll have to decide if I use a Preval sprayer or Reranch/Stewmac rattle cans for color and clearcoats. I've watched every video I can find on Youtube, and understand the basic principles, but have no experience yet with the reality (yet).

Very Nice indeed , look out Gibson

Robert
I didn't think to ask, are you hand sanding all the edges and inside/ outside curves?

Sorry to bring this thread up again, but what a beautiful guitar. And I thought I was finished with electric guitars.