Tuesday Morning Guitar Porn

Here are two reasons I love building guitars:

Both have three coats of clear Target Coatings EM6000 gloss water-based lacquer. Many more to go.

Fixing Sand Through

While level sanding the water-based lacquer on one of my guitar builds, I accidentally sanded through to the wood on one of the sharp edges. Here is how I fixed it:

Even with a light touch and 800 grit sand paper, I still managed to sand through to the wood on this sharp edge.

No problem. I just wiped on some of the paint I had left over from spraying the back. It took about three coats to cover the damage.

Next, I used a q-tip to apply some clear water-based lacquer. Four thick coats were applied about thirty minutes apart.

After the last coat of lacquer had dried, I lightly sanded the area with 800 grit to blend. Now I can proceed with wet sanding the whole body. Hopefully, I won't have to deal with any additional sand through before I buff. If I do, I'll repeat the process.

Two Cool Guitar Finishes

This double cutaway features a hand rubbed tung oil finish

This single cutaway features red dye and a water-based acrylic lacquer finish

The necks for both of these guitar projects are finished with hand rubbed tung oil

Two New Guitar Necks

A pair of Highline Envirocaster necks near completion. At this stage, I have wiped them down with natural stain, which helps me to see any potential flaws. None were seen, so now I can proceed with adding the headstock decals. Then, I can shoot the water-based lacquer. 

Sticking With The Plan

Yesterday, I was set to use a pair of control cavity covers for my Envirocaster guitars, which I had fabricated out of black plastic. I resisted the temptation and went instead with some birdseye Maple I had lying in my scrap pile. Then, I got to thinking about how much plastic I have in these guitar builds. In truth, these is only a very tiny amount, but that doesn't include the water-based topcoat. It's an acrylic lacquer. Now I have to rethink my opinion of plastic. In some cases, plastic is actually better than the alternative. I will always choose water-based lacquer over nitrocellulose lacquer.

One More Coat Of Lacquer, I SWEAR!!

Over the last three days, I sprayed my two Highline Envirocasters with a total of about 15 coats of water-based Target Coatings EM6000 Production Lacquer. After the first ten coats, I dry sanded with 220-400 grit in order to smooth out the surface. Then, I sprayed on an additional 5 coats. I did the same for the necks. Now I just have to let them sit for about 2 weeks before I can level sand and polish. My plan is to dry sand with 1,500 grit only before I take the bodies and necks to the buffing wheel. We'll see how it goes.

Build Updates: Both Envirocasters Get Their Final Coats of Finish

I hate wet sanding, however, it is a necessary evil if you want a glass-smooth finish. For these two guitars, I'm trying a slightly different approach that will hopefully dramatically reduce the time I spend wet sanding.

What I did was spray 7 coats of water-based lacquer. After they dried over night, I dry sanded with 320 grit. Then, I sprayed another 7 coats. This morning, I dry sanded with 400 grit and began spraying what I anticipate will be a total of 5 light coats. The first is very smooth. If I can keep it that way with each coat, I hope to be able to wet sand with only 2,000 grit. We'll see, but I'm optimistic.

The Highline Envirocasters and a Highline Legato

I know it looks bad, but trust me, all is well. After 14 coats of water-based lacquer, I dry sanded the finish with 320 grit paper to smooth things out. Then, I sprayed five more coats. Tomorrow, I'll dry sand both Envirocasters with 400 grit and follow with a couple of light finish coats. Both guitars will sit for about a week before I commence with the final wet sanding and polish.

Up next is a Highline Legato. That's a one piece slab of Honduran Mahogany.

The top will be bookmatched flamed Maple.

Build Update: The Highline Envirocaster Blue

After seven coats of water-based lacquer, the Envirocaster Blue is starting to come to life.

Tomorrow, I'll add at least seven more coats.

Guitar Build Update: Applying Finish To The Envirocaster Part 5; The Neck

Okay, so I said I like my necks au natural. However, as so often happens during the course of one of my builds, I changed my mind. Pure tung oil does a great job of popping Birdseye Maple, but once it dries, some of the effect is lost. When it's wet, it shimmers, but after the oil dries, the shimmer is gone. I could wipe on layer after layer, however, that can take days. In the end, I decided to spray on several coats of glossy water-based lacquer to bring back the shimmer. I also coated the control cavity cover as well as both P90 pickups. Check it out:

Now comes the fun part; waiting for the topcoats to cure. If I was using nitro, I'd have to wait about a month, but with the water-based lacquer, I'll only have to let the parts sit for 7 days. In the meantime, maybe I'll start the next build. Stay tuned!

Guitar Build Update: Applying Finish To The Envirocaster Part 3

I the last update, I showed how I spray a burst with my Iwata airbrush.
To apply the water-based topcoat, I usually use an HVLP sprayer, but
it has always seemed like overkill for something as small as a guitar
body. For the Envirocaster, I am using a Badger Crescendo 175T with
a large needle. This will allow me to apply just the right amount of
lacquer with greater precision.

In keeping with the environmental theme, I used Hydrocoat
Resisthane Plus, which is a water-based, pre-cat lacquer. It goes on
smooth and dries rock-hard. Plus, there is absolutely no odor. Best of all, it's safe for the environment and clean-up can be done in a sink.
You can't say that about nitrocellulose lacquer!

In part 4, I'll show you how I finished the neck with pure tung oil. It's not water-based of course, but it's still better than using nitro. Stay tuned!

Guitar Build Update: Finishing The Envirocaster Part 1

After sanding the body to 220 grit, I filled the grain with some neutral
Timber Mate mixed with water.

I brushed two coats of the soupy mixture over the entire body
and allowed two hours of dry time between coats.

After the Timber Mate had been allowed to fully dry, I sanded off the
excess with 220 grit paper.

Next, I vacuumed off the dust and brushed on a couple of coats of
water-based lacquer thinned 1:1 with water. This layer of lacquer will
seal the surface and prepare it for the next step.

In part 2 of the finishing process, I will lightly sand the body with 220 grit and apply a brown burst around the edge. Stay tuned!

Revamping the Nosferatu Guitar

A while back, I stated my lack of love for nitrocellulose lacquer as a finish for electric guitars. Not only are the fumes toxic and explosive, but the resulting finish can take forever to cure. After well over a month, the nitro I sprayed on the Nosferatu guitar just didn't want to harden up. Every time I picked up the body, I'd leave fingerprints imbedded in the clear coat! For that reason, I decided to strip the finish all the way back to bare wood so I could start over with water-based lacquer, a finish I'm far more enthusiastic about. Here's how the process has gone so far:

After sanding the body to 220 grit, I brushed on some black acrylic.

Next, I applied red acrylic with drips and splatters.

Finally, I sprayed on about 6 heavy coats of Hydrocoat Resisthane Plus
water-based lacquer. I'll wait a week or so to let the lacquer cure
before I proceed with wet sanding and the final polish.

 The nice thing about the water-based lacquer I'm using is it dries rock hard in only a couple of hours. In my experience, this stuff will cure out many times harder than nitro. Hurray for modern chemistry!

Finishing With Water-Based Lacquer

There are a couple of notable differences between water-based and nitrocellulose lacquer as far as how they are sprayed and how they dries. Nitro starts to tack up the instant it leaves the spray gun or can and it's usually dry to the touch within 10 to 15 minutes. This characteristic makes it easier to avoid runs, but often results in orange peel if the sprayer is held too far back from the surface. Of course, if you spray too close, runs can and will happen. You have to find a happy medium in terms of far away and how fast you sweep the surface as you spray.

Water-based lacquer, on the other hand, seems to stay wet no matter how far back from the surface you spray. In fact, each coat takes about 30 minutes to an hour to dry. For that reason one needs to be aware of airborne particulates like dust. You don't need a spray booth (although if you have access to one, certainly use it), but it helps to move the guitar into an enclosed space like a closet right after you spray where it can hang to dry.

Like nitro, water-based lacquer also exhibits orange peel. My experience, and what others have told me, is that this is par for the course with WB lacquer. The difference is that WB lacquer's texture is more like an orange peel than nitro. Nitro feels more like 80 grit sandpaper. The good news is that you can sand out the orange peel from WB lacquer very easily. In fact, I usually start with 800 grit rather than 400-600 like I do with nitro. This means wet sanding takes far less time with WB lacquer.

A close-up of the orange peel texture common with water-based lacquer.

The biggest difference (and the reason why I love WB lacquer) is the curing time. Nitro take about 3 weeks to cure before you can level sand, however, WB lacquer takes only about a week. It cures even faster in dry climates like I live in.

Buffing out the finish to a mirror-like shine is also where WB and nitro differ. With nitro, I really have to push the surface into the buffing wheel to remove the scratches left by the final 2,000 grit sanding whereas with WB, I only have to lightly touch the surface to the wheel.

One might assume that since WB lacquer is so easy to sand and buff that it must be less durable than nitro. However, according to the manufacturer I use (Target Coatings), WB lacquer is much harder than nitro. I have a couple of guitars hanging on my wall right now that bear this out.

When you consider other differences like how flammable and toxic nitro is (it's illegal in some places to use), water-based lacquer and its lack of fumes and easy clean-up make it a no brainer IMO. I still dream of the day when a lacquer will become available that dries to a mirror-like finish right out of the gun without any wet sanding or buffing, but until the chemists can make it a reality, I'll have to keep the wet/dry sandpaper and buffing compound at the ready.