The Luthier Community

It's looking really good Raymond !

She's beauty, my friend, looking wonderful - Can't wait to hear her sing!

E

I haven't posted in awhile for various reasons one of which I didn't think anyone wanted to watch varnish dry.

I've used Stew Mac's brushing varnish on all the guitars I've made to date (all 4 of them...) but for this one I switched to the Target brand of brushing varnish which I was told was the same thing...


I'm here to tell you it is definitely not the same product under a different label... First off the Stew Mac stuff is milky white while the Target stuff is carmel color. It obviously has more amber in it and that builds up with multiple coats resulting in darker spots where the coat is thicker. I could live with that, but the Target stuff does not burn-in and unless I scuff sand between each coat throughout the day it tends to bead up as I brush it on. With the Stew Mac stuff I only needed to scuff sand at the beginning of each day, and even if I didn't it never beaded up like the Target stuff does.

Regardless, I had bought a gallon of the Target stuff so I did the best I could, scuff sanding between coats, and making sure to flow in each brush-stroke. Finished my last coat in early September and then went to Scotland for 2 weeks (wedding and then work). Upon my return, the coat seemed very hard even harder than the Stew Mac stuff which I normally left for 10 days before polishing. I sanded with micro-mesh and went all the way down to their coarsest grit but couldn't seem to get through the brush strokes. Upon closer inspection however I discovered that there is practically no burn-in and as I sanded through the top most layers of finish I was uncovering the brush strokes from the previous coat. The finish is useless. I've had to strip it from both the guitars I was working on and as soon as the Stew Mac stuff arrives I will start over. Maybe next time I'll try the laquer, but I won't ever use the brushing varnish from Target again.

Raymond

Dam Raymond, that doesn't sound like fun at all!!!
What a pain in the a--!

Hope you had fun in Scotland anyway,
Joe

Raymond,

Sorry about the finish! That's (one of) my weak spot. You and I need to attend the Stringfest '10 and get a hands-on lesson on French polishing.

The inlaid birds on the fretboard appear to be raptors, with a falcon on the first fret and a redtail(?) hawk on the 9th. I wouldn't pretend to guess the others but I would like to know if you cut these yourself, or got them from Inlaid artist, etc. I don't know what "PRS style birds" stands for.

I think this is one very nice instrument!

Jim

Thanks Joe. Yes I did enjoy Scotland in spite of having to wear a Kilt for my Sister Inlaw's wedding. Even my son had to wear one. Never thought I'd hear my son ask me why I was making him wear a skirt...


Jim, I got the birds from Inlaid artist, and when I was helping a customer decide what kind of electric he wanted me to build I noticed that many of the PRS guitars use these birds on the fretboard. Here's a picture from their website. Obviously Inlaid Artist is trying to copy them.


The Stew Mac shipment arrived today, so tomorrow I start anew...

Raymond

Hi Ray

Finally have taken the time to play catch up on postings here.
You have quite a fancy little guitar going for your daughter.
She is gonna love it.

That was quite a trip you made to the wedding.
I have often thought the kilt has been to blame for the high scotch consumption.

I do hope your padauk sounds as nice as those I have made.
I am still enjoying the padauk dread.

You might try using those Preval system spray systems to use up the darker of those two you tried. They sell the spray units and the glass bottles at out local Ace Hdwr so I am sure you will be able to find them locally. I use them for shellac now but years ago I sprayed nitro with them too.
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Finishing_s ... _Unit.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Good to see your progress.

Steve

Thanks Steve.

I gave the varnish to a guy who does simple woodworking projects with kids. It's waterbased and is supposed to have a retarder in it to allow brush strokes to flow out. It seems to work well on bare wood, just not very well from the second coat and on, which the kids won't do anyway.

I'm curious how it will sound with the fairly hefty bridge and pickguard, but Olivia is mostly interested in the looks so I went with fancy. Other than the cracks when bending, I'm fairly happy with the Paduak. Way better to work with than purpleheart...

How is the weather in Breckinridge? I've got standing water in the yard and driveway and the humidity hasn't dipped below 70% in over a week.

Raymond

p.s. Ardith and I had to go to a truancy intervention meeting because our kids missed 8 days of school to go to Scotland even though we took all their coursework and homework with us. The meeting was very heavy handed implying that kids who miss school are losers and so are their parents. They went so far as to threaten to sick CPS on familys if they didn't start making their kids attend. We wrote a letter explaining what we had done and how a little common sense would go a long way, but the lady in charge just shrugged. Definitely pushed us 1 step closer to pulling our kids out of public school.