This week has been full of progress both on our electric builds and our finishing techniques.
Monday and Tuesday were spent wrapping up the details on our blueprints and beginning work on our templates for construction.
I was glad to finish my blueprint. Although it was very time consuming and tedious, it is very nice to have a full scale plan for the build and have all the details ironed out before starting the actual build. This should help eliminate any problems along the way.
Wednesday we dove back into finishing techniques, which I am enjoying quite a lot. I have always been interested in how the gorgeous, perfect finishes were achieved on furniture and instruments. It is another part of this whole process that separates the true craftsmen.
This week we learned the process of brushing on Shellac, and French Padding finishes. We also learned how to apply colored pore fillers, and use turbine spray units to apply seal coats and clear lacquer.
I enjoyed the French Padding, a hand applied finish technique in which you apply a very thin finish in thin layers using a light polishing motion and a cotton, and cheese cloth pad. It takes some patience and skill to apply just the right amount in each coat and polish just enough so as not to rub through the work you have done. I applied 4 coats on Tuesday, and 4 coats on Wednesday using the brushing and padding methods.
8 coats of Brushed on Shellac
8 coats of French Padding
In between coats of shellac there is a 1 hour dry time. This time was used to apply colored pore fillers to a few more Mahogany boards. The pore fillers are also interesting to me. They are used to fill the open pres and grains of the wood to provide a smooth surface for clear coats later. They are colored with dyes to color the grains and the surrounding wood providing rich looking shades in the finished projects.
The pore filer is brushed on, allowed to sit a few minutes, then squeegeed off pressing it deep into pores and removing the excess from the wood surface. Its messy but fun work!
Med. Brown Mahogany pore filled on Mahogany Veneer
Gibson Red as seen on SG and 335's pore filled on Mahogany Veneer
We also laid out a dye color chart onto a piece of Maple veneer using all the common dyes in the guitar industry. This will help later when trying to color match a finish for repairs on finished instruments.
There will be many projects going on at once in our two day finishing class, and all of them have dry times between coats which we use to practice spraying finish with the turbine spray guns in our downdraft spray booth. The booth used fans and filtration systems to keep a steady stream of clean air running in from the ceiling and out around the floor of the room. this helps remove dust and contaminants from the room as well as over spray from the air.
Down Draft Spray Booth
We also got to try our hand at spraying an aerosol toner onto a Spruce board we had prepped last week. The toner is a colored lacquer that is used to color the wood before clear coats are applied.
Medium coating of Cherry Wood toner on Spruce Board
Friday was spent installing the neck, bridge and stop bar, and routing a pick up cavity on my mock up electric body blank. This mock up has proven to be an essential learning tool as it allows us to encounter and solve problems that may arise with these tricky tasks before attempting them on our actual electric builds. I have taken a rectangle Poplar block and routed a neck pocket for a bolt on neck. Bolted on the neck. Laid out and installed a Tune-o-matic Bridge and Stop-bar tail piece. Then laid out and routed a cavity for what would be a humbucker in the neck position.
Toss in a pick up, a volume knob and string it up and you've got yourself an electric guitar Bo Diddly style!
That wrapped up my busy week in the shop. Next week its more finishing work and starting the body construction for the electric build! Thanks for looking and stay tuned!
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