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Hi everybody, this is me chronologing my build of 3 guitars for my Stepsons and myself!

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One of the kits...

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Stain in grain filler...

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The sanding...

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The vinyl sealer first coat...

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I don't think it's going to bad for my first ever build... Honestly I don't know how to even play yet! Lol! But I have Rocksmith and am picking it up when I got time...

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My redneck paint booth, ugly yes, but it's working great so far!

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Hi tech booth ya got there!

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http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC

Hey Travis,
Cool stuff going on there.
Are the kits Saga, GF, or some other brand?
What is the overall quality of the kits?
Dan

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wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

The tele and station are "raw" kits. I can't remember the V.... Is solid mahogany neck and body...

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I plan on swapping stuff after I get some experience, and on the kids guitars too if they really take off with it

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That's my 1935 design Garwood speedster 16' in progress...
Cold molded construction and will drop a budget build 350 in it, very labor intensive though as I'm trying to keep the whole boat build under 25,000.00$usd.... Very good eye my friend...

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See http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthread.php?151400-Building-a-1935-garwood-speedster&highlight=garwood for my thread on the boat....
Which also happens to be on tapatalk FYI?...


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So this is 4 layers of vinyl sealer, and 6 layers of clear lacquer. Next is wet sanding with 800 grit, two more layers of lacquer and then buffing x4 compounds...

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OK, held my tongue long enough.....
You can't relic something that is brand spankin new...
And so far, it all looks ghastly.

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

well you can, but......it generally looks more convincing when the scratches go on after the finish, not before.

Tell Fender that.

Relic finishes are supposed to duplicate age and natural wear. I see none of that here. Honest opinion, they look ghastly.

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Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

Smokeater, I'm with everyone else on how I think it looks. Not a fan of the colors particularly the color being on the fret board as well.

I think this is a case of not working out the final look before you jumped into the process, and I think what you've done would be considered "distressing" more than "relicing". The distinction is that relicing is meant to mimic the look of an instrument or object that at its origin was pristine, and over time wear and tear and exposure has taken a toll. This implies that part of the process includes first doing a top quality finish with pristine material.

Distressing on the other hand is made to mimic an object that started out pristine, showed some wear and then was usually refreshed with one or more subsequent finishes usually by a non professional. So you'd have dings and scratches that were just painted over instead of filled, flush sanded and then painted over. Often times you'd start with a clear or stain finish, then apply a paint, then beat the crap out of it to bring some original color back through, then maybe a glaze and final finish.

It looks like you beat the crap out of it, went over it with color and maybe filler? And then did clear coats, and it doesn't really look like any finish I've seen before. It seems confused by the choice of color too, going with one transparent color on everything is just not working in my opinion.

I probably should have said something earlier but I was holding my breath thinking I may not see the big picture. I'm not trying to cut you down, obviously you've done a lot of work already and if you like it that's what matters. I just wanted to offer some constructive criticism in case you weren't stoked on it either and wondered what went wrong.

I've never understood "relicing" a guitar. I also don't understand ripped up jeans or rat-rods or anything else that purposely trashes something nice. I once asked a lady blues singer if her Les Paul was really old - she said "no, I just play the sh*t out if it"

The relicing or beating the crap out of them, should be easy for my stepsons, and blue and green are there favorite colors.... Mine is the V of which I was going for more of a distressed look, I guess it may have bled over more than I intended... But overall this has been a positive learning experience for me, as it is my first stringed instrument build...

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All layers of lacquer are on... Next up, 4 stage buff job!

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