So, into part 2, I melted my decal by using an acetone lacquer instead of a nitro lacquer. Not toi be phased I applied another decal over the Osmo, left for a couple of days and built up with nitro. Meaning to carry on building the decal up I accidentally sprayed the acetone over the nitro. Horrified, I sanded off that coat with 800 grit but not before I'd noticed something interesting, the acetone coat on top of the nitro covered better, and gave me the matte finish I was after. I've found out you can spray a decal over Osmo if using nitro, the nitro spray I had gave me orange peel but I finished with the Rustoleum acetone that covered and enhanced the headstock as far as I'm concerened. I've just found this out, but it's looking good. 👍

I've a Yamaha BB4 NF4iii - what a mouthful! 😝 

I bought it from Ebay a few years ago and it was the natural lacquered finish but was dinged up and scratched in places, so I decided to remove the lacquer and sand down to bare wood (Alder). I'm a huge fan of Osmo as you can see in the pic lol and the body was treated to 3 coats of polyx natural matte a couple of years ago. The head stock had to be done too, as that came with a few dents as well. I love the feel of the body now, it feels beautiful and not like some manufactured slab, but the neck and headstock are maple so I will be revisiting that again to deepen the colour.

I found this site while searching for whether you can apply a clear matte lacquer to Osmo, I didn't get an answer but there was a similar thread here about whether you can put osmo over lacquer so I thought I'd give it a try here and ask the experts. 😉 

As you can see from the headstock, I had to sand the Yamaha lettering off to remove the old lacquer and I was thinking about getting a water slide transfer to put it back on then spray a clear coat lacquer on it to fix it. But I know nothing about applying decals to guitars so am unsure whether I'm barking up the right tree. I will be applying over osmo so any advice would be gratefully accepted, also would anyone know where I could purchase said transfer?

Thanks

Tony

It's been a while but I've finally got around to starting another metal flake paint job.

I've made this Strat type body out of a big chunk of Sapele I've had for years. All the usual prep, carving and sanding through the  grades of sandpaper, then grain filling, more sanding etc. I used white primer, sanded it back before spraying a black basecoat. Then came the Psyco Flake ✨✨✨✨ and several coats of clear. I'll leave it for a couple of days before sanding it flat and applying more clear coats. Then I'll sand it flat again so I can start adding candy colours and more clear.

The Psyco Flake is insane. It looks like thousands of thin shiny needles, about 3 or 4 mm long. It has a strange rainbow holographic effect that makes it feel 3D, it messes with my head. I decided to shoot it through a gun with a large needle and air cap but it soon clogged up. I had to fall back on using my dry flake gun, that worked. I've not got my spray booth set up yet so I got flake everywhere. 😂✨✨✨✨

ill be painting a setneck guitar with the neck already glued in. I want a solid black color with a shiny clear coat….

after watching the finishing videos my thought is:

sealer

grain filler

paint

scuff (repeat until solid color)

clear coat, scuff, repeat until I have enough coats of clear…

then I move to flattening and polishing… does that seem right? I think I’ll start with a nitrocellulose so I’ll get a black and a clear coat…. I have a spray gun and a clean area to paint with ventilation.

am I missing anything here? I’m excited to finish this one 

Following @tv101 ’s lead I’ve been applying Liberon Easy French Polish. Probably because it’s so easy, it comes with little specific instruction compared to the extended series of 12 step Youtube videos on normal French Polish. The only guide I could find was on the web shop where I bought it, which suggested painting the stuff on with a £28 French Polish brush.

Instead, and still following my master’s lead, I made up a rubber (sheep’s wool and teeshirt cotton) and attempted to paint on a similar layer. Although it’s touch dry in minutes, I waited the recommended 3-4 hours before rubbing down and applying another layer. 

What I didn’t expect, 6 layers later, is that French Polish - even Easy French Polish - exposes every pore in your close-grained finely sanded wood. And also reveals for the first time, all the band saw scoring on the sawn veneers front and back.

Turns out that the first scene in any self-respecting French Polisher’s act is rubbing the wood down with pumice powder - a kind of traditional rubbing compound. The wood dust then fills the pores.

So, is there any point, at this stage, in rubbing in more shellac with some artificial P1000 grit (not 0000 steel wool - I’d end up with a uniform grey guitar), or should I just sand and varnish and repeat until all pores are filled in?

Look closely at the highlight. You can see the pores. It’s like HD telly!

I'm thinking of giving faux binding a do on a current build. 

I've done a bit of research and I'm looking for any advice from those with experience.

My plan is to

• sand body up to 320. Leaving the top edge sharp.
• Use shellac sanding sealer to seal sides of the cap (sycamore in this case) and then tape the rest of the sides for belt and braces.
• Stain the top using spirit stains (I'm using the blood of ghosts😉)
• Once dry, sand a chamfer around the cap edge (revealing the unsustained cap) and the sides.

I'm going to do a test on some scrap, but as I'm an idiot any experience welcome!

Cheers

Dan

I haven't but I do now. A friend of mine gave me an acoustic guitar that has seen better days and started to clean it up. The fretboard was full of gunk and detritus. I tried all the usual ways of cleaning but I soon realised that the fretboard had been painted black. I've decided to carry on scraping it all back to the original wood, I think it's quite nice.

What was going to be a simple cleaning job, fret polish and restring, has turned into something much bigger. This is where we all need to be careful if we are working on other peoples' guitars. I'm glad this is my guitar and not a customer's.

Anyway, it's an experience and I think it will look better when I'm finished. 

Sorry if this question has been posted before.

What is the advised cure time to leave liberion finishing oil before starting assembly?

Looking on line the suggestion is 24/36 hours, bit of seen other advice of leaving it up to 4 weeks?

Some photos of my first build below, that's had 6 coats of FO.

 Cheers!

I am considering getting my feet wet into spray painting, after having bought a small cheap airbrush setup for touch up work in guitar repair.
To do the occasional guitar (re-)finish, what would you guys and girls recommend ( spray gun type/compressor/accessories )?

I already have the mask and spray booth ( ikea clothes rack )
I need to be able to do both nitro and water based finishes.

Budget: As low as possible

I'm undertaking my first electric set neck build and of course getting ahead of myself and planning the finish before I've completed making the templates😅.

I've had good results using tru oil on bolt on maple necks and don't have the luxury of somewhere I can spray (or the skills).

I'm using mahogany neck and body as per mark's course. Rather than a straight oil finish I was thinking of using tru oil over a stain.

In my head the schedule is grain filler, stain (both water based) and then tru oil over the top when fully dry.

I know I won't get a fully flat or mirror surface and the TO will shade the finish, but just looking for confirmation I'm in the right track (or not)?

Cheers!

Dan