durhamboy Posted July 7, 2019 Share Posted July 7, 2019 Good luck with your move and your new climate controlled workshop when the time comes. In the end, nowhere is perfect, but we compromise because life is always about more than one thing. I get why you wouldn't want to leave Wales. (I love the parts of Australia I have lived in, but despite having been here for 51 of my 66 years, I still miss things about the land of my birth every now and then. Though I suppose I only remember the good bits, as we all tend to do...) Can't wait to see the triplets finished, I know the time taken will be worth it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine Posted July 8, 2019 Author Share Posted July 8, 2019 (edited) I had a minor fiddle with my red Firedragon, did a fret job, made a nut out of black perspex, I wanted black and it has a zero fret so I hope the perspex will make no difference, I put a set of strings on it and adjusted the neck and bridge to being very close, the intonation needs doing but it's not far off as is. I put some strap locks on it and gave it a whirl. Absolutely no hint of neck dive and it's feels so light. I'm pleased with how it plays already, I was a little worried about the neck angle and how that would affect playability but it feels great to me. The angle is 4.5 degrees if you remember which means a high bridge, I had initially though I'd need a thumb rest with it but my arm/hand is supported nicely by the body That's about it now with this one until the others are ready to work on again Edited July 8, 2019 by Christine 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine Posted July 11, 2019 Author Share Posted July 11, 2019 With me having problems with the wiring on one of the twins I thought I'd check how these two were getting on hardening and low and behold they were pretty good so I've cut one back and polished it, have to admit I'm pleased with the result 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabba_the_gut Posted July 11, 2019 Share Posted July 11, 2019 Lovely! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
songofthewind Posted July 11, 2019 Share Posted July 11, 2019 Terrific work, Christine 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkHeart Posted July 11, 2019 Share Posted July 11, 2019 Those are stunning 🤩 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dov65 Posted July 12, 2019 Share Posted July 12, 2019 Christine, what do you use for cutting back prior to a final polish ? One bass i have looks as tho theres a bit over spray when the light catches it...cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine Posted July 12, 2019 Author Share Posted July 12, 2019 1 minute ago, Dov65 said: Christine, what do you use for cutting back prior to a final polish ? One bass i have looks as tho theres a bit over spray when the light catches it...cheers I use wet/dry paper whatever it's actually called. Depending on how well I've sprayed I'll start with 400 - 600 grit, sanding with slightly soapy water, just a little then wiping the surface down until it is just flat, then down through the grits, 800, 1200, 2000, and finally 2500/3000. After that and when it's really dust free I have a foam disc I attach to my random orbital sander on direct drive with Farcell's G10 polishing compound (like a fine T-cut). You don't need the sander, you can do it with a cloth by hand just it takes a lot longer. You could try T-cut, I never have so I can't comment on how good it looks, Gibson also sell a small bottle of polishing compound that could be used afterwards Are you seeing spray spots on the surface? If so I'd say start with 800 with a small block of wood as a pad if it's on a flat bit or just fingers if it's on the neck 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dov65 Posted July 12, 2019 Share Posted July 12, 2019 Not so much spots but a very light misting on the lacquer looks like dust..you cant feel it its just annoying knowing its there. I've got some T cut so i'll give it a go...thanks very much 👍 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted July 12, 2019 Share Posted July 12, 2019 That is indeed a splendid finish 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine Posted July 12, 2019 Author Share Posted July 12, 2019 A disaster appeared overnight, some water crept under the veneer by the volume knob hole and the bridge resulting in a slight swelling of the veneer and in turn a tiny crack in the lacquer. Mostly it's invisible but if you look they are there, I'm not sure what to do now. My options I think are to leave it, try and weld the crack with thinners or fill the crack with either lacquer or superglue/respray. I don't understand why that didn't happen during the intercoat cuts. All in all it's not been a good day 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyTravis Posted July 12, 2019 Share Posted July 12, 2019 I wouldn’t stress - if I had 1/10th of The skill I’d be happy. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted July 12, 2019 Share Posted July 12, 2019 38 minutes ago, Christine said: A disaster appeared overnight, some water crept under the veneer by the volume knob hole and the bridge resulting in a slight swelling of the veneer and in turn a tiny crack in the lacquer. Mostly it's invisible but if you look they are there, I'm not sure what to do now. My options I think are to leave it, try and weld the crack with thinners or fill the crack with either lacquer or superglue/respray. I don't understand why that didn't happen during the intercoat cuts. All in all it's not been a good day Usually when things happen to me that are 'mostly invisible' I have learnt to leave them alone. Mostly invisible to you means definitely invisible to most people.... 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
durhamboy Posted July 13, 2019 Share Posted July 13, 2019 I'm with Andy on this, though of course I haven't seen the issue, but from your description it sounds like it's a very minor imperfection. Weld the crack by all means if you want to insure it can't possibly spread. Curse the hell out of it, fix it if you can't not, then have done with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine Posted July 13, 2019 Author Share Posted July 13, 2019 I've gone down the route of dribbling in some thinners, that mostly welded it up but left a small indentation so I used a micro brush to paint a little thinned lacquer into the cracks. That sat proud so I will be able to use a tiny sanding block to level down and polish again, I doubt it will be 100% invisible but close enough for rock and roll. I'm somewhat relieved 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine Posted July 13, 2019 Author Share Posted July 13, 2019 (edited) It worked out OK in the end, not perfect but a lot lot better, there was four of the things when I checked closely, this id what they looked like before the first dose of thinners but after cutting back along with my mini sanding block (an offcut from a nut ) I left them for most of the day to harden off and continued with other bits, fitting the hardware, making a nut setting the neck. I also fitted the Lull pickup, I have to admit to not opening the bag it was in until today and had a shock when I saw it, it was covered in some sort of thick stuff for want of an idea what it was. I can't imagine it was shipped from Mike's place like that, I assume it got there at the dealers. Thankfully it came off with white spirit At the end of the day I removed everything again and sorted out the repairs and reassembled it all again, soldered in the electrics and gave it a whirl, nice is what it was everything a T bird should be and more. I've still got a few jobs to do, the pickup isn't adjusting in height smoothly and I need to set the intonation and fine tune the bridge but that can wait for a week now for everything to settle down. I was surprised how little I needed to use the truss rod to get the relief low, the carbon rods give quite a bit of stiffness, I'm interested to see how it all is on the other ebony one as that has that super slim neck Edited July 13, 2019 by Christine 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpondonBassed Posted July 13, 2019 Share Posted July 13, 2019 If it's a second, I'll happily take it off your hands Christine. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine Posted July 13, 2019 Author Share Posted July 13, 2019 16 minutes ago, SpondonBassed said: If it's a second, I'll happily take it off your hands Christine. It will have to be a second, I couldn't let that go as a perfect Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted July 14, 2019 Share Posted July 14, 2019 That is flippin' gorgeous! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BreadBin Posted July 14, 2019 Share Posted July 14, 2019 That is stunning 😍 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine Posted July 15, 2019 Author Share Posted July 15, 2019 I've started cutting back the third this morning, I'm not totally happy with the flatness, the gloss really amplifies any slight unevenness that you can't even feel by hand so..... Back to the spray gun for another eight coats or so, thankfully I'm not in a hurry to get this one done as I can't afford any pickups for it yet 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine Posted July 16, 2019 Author Share Posted July 16, 2019 Just some pictures to show what I'm wittering about The bass side has had just a light sanding with 600 grit, you can just see the gloss bits left With just a tiny bit more sanding the surface is evenly sanded, a position I've been in twice already So after a coat of lacquer (excuse the orange peel) the surface is like this, near perfect Fingers crossed even with shrinkage I hope this is just about there now. I'll give it a couple of days hanging then I'll give it another sand down and a couple more coats just to be sure. I think a lot of the problem has been that the very gentle but even curve of the top along with the gloss just highlights the tiniest imperfections. Whereas the twins with their heavily shaped top just hid them, flat surfaces are dead easy. The moral of the story is that I should have gone satin or kept it flat. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ezbass Posted July 16, 2019 Share Posted July 16, 2019 6 minutes ago, Christine said: 😮 oh my! 😍 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muzz Posted July 16, 2019 Share Posted July 16, 2019 Fantastic...they're that good you'd better watch out for Cease and Desists from Gibson... 😕😀 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine Posted July 16, 2019 Author Share Posted July 16, 2019 8 minutes ago, Muzz said: Fantastic...they're that good you'd better watch out for Cease and Desists from Gibson... 😕😀 I hope they're that far removed from a real T bird that they won't be bothered, the basic shape is there but that's about it. That really annoys me, there's few more Gibson fans than me but why do that, Fender don't, I think they have the sense to see it does them more good than harm. I would really like to have thought that my builds would have made people consider buying a Gibson rather than something else. Anyway, that's my hissy fit over 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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