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My first tint....it went better than I expected.

I first sprayed maple panels with lacquer. I kept adding tint until I got the depth of color I wanted in one pass. Then I divided that by 6 and sprayed the guitar assuming I would have to build up six coats to get that depth of color. And it took six coats to do it......so that worked out well.

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I read Emerson on the can. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...true...but a consistent reading of Emerson has its uses nevertheless.

StuMusic

Yummy!

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Man that's a good looking guitar. Some people just seem to be able to get a guitar to look just right.....

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There is no difference between the man that thinks he can....and the man that thinks he cannot.

I don't know much about solid body guitars, but yours looks sweet. I will tell you honestly that the narrow part of the head stock up where the tuners for the two highest strings are located....that looks risky and fragile to me. However, if you or the potential new owner of this guitar handles it with respect and avoids knocks in that area, I see no reason why it couldn't last for many decades. I think you have built a very sweet and sexy guitar, and I find much to like about it! And this is only number 3? My hat is off to you!
Congratulations,
Patrick

Another great guitar, Stuart.
It looks like maple where the treble tuners are.
It would take more than a heavy knock to break taht, I mean that.

Awesome tint/finish - I am doing something similar with my laminate(s) on my current build, where people will see all 3 layers of wood from the front - this is a spectacular guitar - ESPECIALLY for number 3! Dang dude!

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"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

Is that Sapele?

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"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

Very fine lines Stuart, great work.

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Wisdom is justified by her children

Ya, thanks....it was encouraging to watch it build. Dividing the tint up into six coats was the trick to getting it evenly distributed. That was my main fear going into it. All that fear kind of evaporated after I had the second coat sprayed....it was already even at that point and didn't seem to be all that sensitive to spraying technique. Mind you, I had quite a bit of spraying experience prior to this...but none of it was on any surface as intricate as a guitar.

Yes....that's sapele on the body with a maple facing.
The neck is sapele, peruvian walnut, and maple down the center.

The guitar is 5.5 lbs.

_________________
I read Emerson on the can. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...true...but a consistent reading of Emerson has its uses nevertheless.

StuMusic

I want to grow the gnads and attempt a finish myself on a future build - my hat is off to you for such a superb job with the tint. That Sapele has a nice weight to it - I used/have 2 more pieces of the African Mahogany for numbers 3 & 4 but need to buy some Sapele for #5 - love the ribbons in the grain - you have a great contrast with that tint on the maple against the sapele - I like how that makes the maple look - I'll be watching you!

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"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

gorgeous guitar man! very nice flow to the shape. are those p-90s?

Wow, very nice! Those SD's will be great. What bridge are you using?

The pickups are Seymour Duncan P-Rails (SHPR-2).

Here's a clip of me playing lead with this guitar over a basic acoustic blues track some guy posted at this web site. The clip covers a range of tones from clean to totally processed.

http://www.recordingproject.com/bbs/vie ... hp?t=40228

The bridge design is my own and they are made in-house from A360 brass alloy.

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I read Emerson on the can. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...true...but a consistent reading of Emerson has its uses nevertheless.

StuMusic

Once again, props on the metal work. Your guitars are very clean. I like the blending of layers at the edge of the body, been wanting to do something like this myself, but with the sides being perfectly round.

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http://www.tinyhouseandland.com

I just don't know.
That is awfully shiny.
Maybe a little 0000 steel wool would take car of that.

Seriously, that's beautiful from design to finish!

Is that Cat lacquer?

Kevin Looker

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I'm not a luthier.
I'm just a guy who builds guitars in his basement.
It's better than playing golf.

Thanks Kevin,

No, I tried cat lacquer but it just doesn't have the properties of good ol' classic instrument lacquer. I sanded it off and will probably not further entertain any thoughts of new fangled finishes. Talking with my Mohawk distributor, who does a LOT of furniture, he just boils it to...."there's nothing close to it in workability and latitude". I should have just listened to him in hindsight. I tried UV cure stuff, wipe on stuff, precat lac, catalyzed ployester...you name it. I ended up back with nitro. Basically, it's eaiser to achieve a high luster finish with nitro than with anything else I tried. Most of the last two years was spent fiddling about with finishing. This is after spending about two decades in business as a manfacturer, and developing finishing techniques for everything we made and sold.

I'll soon publish my entire finishing schedule using Mohawk products. It's a dependable and relatively fast way to get all the way downtown with regard to finishing. I've only just arrived there but once having arrived...it seems to be reasonably simple considering some of the ideas I was fiddling around with.

_________________
I read Emerson on the can. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...true...but a consistent reading of Emerson has its uses nevertheless.

StuMusic