Leaderboard

This weekend was supposed to be finishing...off the bodies. As planned I routed the unfinished body for the Kahler trem. I did have a template prepared but lost the nerve to use it after checking against my linework on the body and finding things weren't totally square. I wasn't sure which to trust more but I went with the line work. So I removed the guiding woodwork from the template and stuck it directly to the guitar body and made sure it squared up. It turned out kind of OK although it still doesn't look square, it's still better than the template. So I reached a point where good enough had to be good enough, so long as the bridge sits in the right place. I also decided on a dayglo camoflage pattern for the Mean Machine. I liked the juxtaposition of a pattern designed to hide something against colours that were designed to be seen. Yesterday I coated the body in dayglo pink and was really happy wiht how it turned out. No drips, blobs or runs - thanks to putting the can in some hot water for 10 minutes before I used it. For the camo, a bit of online research online suggested laying down the lightest of three colours first and then applying two more through stencils on top. I found a camoflage stencil and printed it out on two sheets of A3 for cutting out and the lightest colour out of either green, blue, purple or pink was pink. I cut out and reinforced the stencil for both stencils and found a need for low tack double sided tape to keep the stencil close to the surface and minimise excessive blurring. However after spraying this morning, the whole thing was a total write off and for multiple reasons. 1) The combination of pink (as the lightest) and the next lightest (blue) make the guitar look more like eighties hair metal than something ironic and urban. Plus the blue on top of the pink is so dark that it makes the final, darkest purple lighter. It's not what I was hoping for. 2) I was impatient with stencilling the back coat. The front coat was touch dry but I didn't realise it was still soft. So it has marks from being laid on the cardboard backing. I know, I should have put it on something like tooth picks or can caps or something. 3) The flourescent paint isn't opaque. Dayglo colours don't seem to play nicely with each other so any finish that involves layering on one top of the other is not really going to work without white undercoat. Plus, trying to get a layer of colour to line up with the under coat while there are blurry edges is adding another level of complication that can probably only be best resolved with extra time to cure and masking tape. Camo is really too much faff to mask off with tape, and the thin, flexible masking tape I have doesn't stick anyway. I've tried. 4) The undercoat revealed all sorts of minor dings, scratches and over sanded edges anyway, which I thought might be hidden by subsequent layers but weren't. It's not that big a deal for my own guitar but I want to do better. The factories can do it with minimal effort so I probably can, too. Hmmmmm, you live and learn I guess. But it's going to mean at least a 2 week delay to assembling the guitar because the acrylic needs so long to finish gassing off and harden - assuming I continue to use acrylic. Either way the whole lot off is going to get sanded off and I'm going to start again. Maybe the original spray bomb idea was still the best after all. However I'm going to abandon super glue finishes on bodies as anything other than sealer because it's time consuming to apply and sand evenly and consistently over curved surfaces. Using a sanding tool also sometimes creates more problems on the body sides than it solves because of the speed, even if I think I'm being careful. So...in terms of alternatives to superglue there is 2k sealer but that still leaves a question over primer. One is to go back to the japanese made 'Mr Hobby' undercoat ontop of superglue sealer. But its pretty expensive and provides a standard of finish that is way smoother than the 320 grit I really need. It's more than is needed. Another idea is to use 2 pack polyester resin. Over the summer I made a guitar with Jon Shuker. After applying sealer Jon went and thickly applied a mystery finish which I sanded back. It had drips and runs in it which surprised me because Jon is pretty skilled in applying just the right amounts of finish. Jon later revealed it was 3 pack polyster resin (resin + catalyst with a separate accelerator) diluted with acetone for spraying thickess. . A quick search on Google revealed that sprayed resin was quite the health hazard requiring a full hazmat suit and ventilator with air supply. He said it could be brushed on which seems to be a safer option. Polyester resin is really cheap and easy to find in China so that may be worth a try just to see if I can lift the standard of finish before the colour coat is applied. In other news, I started on the cavity cover for the other body, where the sustainer PCB would go. I was surprised at how difficult it was to find 3 ply acrylic sheet online so settled for a 2mm thick plastic trem cover for about 70p which is just big enough for the cavity cover. And it's thin enough that I can glue some sapele veneer to it and sand it flush once shaped to fit. Then seal with superglue and primer. I'm having to improvise with final sanding that shape though owing to a lack of benchtop sanding tools.

I'm no expert but what I do know is that it is a lot better than my older Hohner, and it was the best of all those that were thrust in my hands, both in feel and sound - it also happened to be the most expensive. None of those guitars were dogs by any means, which is a world away from my experiences some 40 years ago. After I parted with my cash the guys claimed that this £400 guitar holds its own up against more expensive guitars, and he was actually going to have this one for himself. I am extremely pleased, I just need to improve my playing!

Nice guitar! I remember first hearing of Lag about thirty years ago. Electrics, in that case - some very Superstrat type guitars with a lot of work put into the maple tops - like PRS had started out making an answer to Ibanez. I've never played one of their acoustics, but I gather they are very nice indeed. Enjoy!