Thursday, 30 September 2010
Sunday, 26 September 2010
Applying the finish
Now I'm on to the finishing stages. Everything has been P400/P800 sanded to allow the lacquer and primers a good surface to adhere to.
The headstock had some sanding sealer applied first of all where I had cut and shaped it. Followed by a first coat of clear satin lacquer.
Next, priming the body.
I wasn't sure whether to lay down the body flat and do a side at a time or to try and hang it. I went with the latter option and used an old office table up-ended and some plastic sheeting to create an L-shaped enclosure for spraying. Using an old coathanger the body then hung from the legs.
My initial coat of primer discovered the Car Plan stuff I've bought does seem quite runny. Therefore, I had some runs straight away and hand to sand them out. Here's a few pics after the sanding.
The old bit of wood you see is actually an old shelf I had lying around which I used to test the various lacquers and paints on.
So a few VERY light coats of primer should now see a good surface for getting the colour coat on.
The headstock had some sanding sealer applied first of all where I had cut and shaped it. Followed by a first coat of clear satin lacquer.
Next, priming the body.
I wasn't sure whether to lay down the body flat and do a side at a time or to try and hang it. I went with the latter option and used an old office table up-ended and some plastic sheeting to create an L-shaped enclosure for spraying. Using an old coathanger the body then hung from the legs.
My initial coat of primer discovered the Car Plan stuff I've bought does seem quite runny. Therefore, I had some runs straight away and hand to sand them out. Here's a few pics after the sanding.
The old bit of wood you see is actually an old shelf I had lying around which I used to test the various lacquers and paints on.
So a few VERY light coats of primer should now see a good surface for getting the colour coat on.
Slowly getting there
After the initial flurry of activity things have been going quite a lot slower over the last month or so. Mainly the issue is time. I'd love to spend a week or so doing nothing but working on this project, but that's realistically not going to happen.
So the pickguard is finished :)
...to get the final fit and to ensure it is flush to the controls and the end of the neck, I attached it to the body and carefully, just a little at a time, filed around the edges at both positions, until the neck and the controls then attached nice and snugly. I did the same with the neck pickup hole until the pickup slotted through it just right.
I also then filed around the edge of the pickguard to ensure sure its edge is inline with the countours of the body and give it a nice bevel (top tip: don't do this at too acute an angle if you are doing it by hand, otherwise if you have a router a special bit can be purchased for the job)
Finally, I plugged the old pickguard holes in the body and drilled new holes in the appropriate places.
So the pickguard is finished :)
...to get the final fit and to ensure it is flush to the controls and the end of the neck, I attached it to the body and carefully, just a little at a time, filed around the edges at both positions, until the neck and the controls then attached nice and snugly. I did the same with the neck pickup hole until the pickup slotted through it just right.
I also then filed around the edge of the pickguard to ensure sure its edge is inline with the countours of the body and give it a nice bevel (top tip: don't do this at too acute an angle if you are doing it by hand, otherwise if you have a router a special bit can be purchased for the job)
Finally, I plugged the old pickguard holes in the body and drilled new holes in the appropriate places.
Saturday, 11 September 2010
Back to Work
Back to building my bass guitar this morning after holidays and the like. The new pickguard material is a lot softer and really easy to work with. Should be abreeze this time around!
Off to see Forest v. Millwall this afternoon so not sure how much I'll get done today. COYR!
Off to see Forest v. Millwall this afternoon so not sure how much I'll get done today. COYR!
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