3rd project, 1st attempt at a real suburst

Lat summer I worked on my first scratch build (documented here:[URL="http://www.tdpri.com/forum/tele-home-depot/561429-virgin-build-thread.html[/URL])...

At the time I had started a second body (out of some cherry I had lying around) as a backup in case I screwed up the main project. I made a neck too, that I tested fretting before the main one as well. The fretting went alright, and the body had been sitting around, so I finally got around recently to trying a proper burst (Behlen's Starcast Amber and Encore Brown) and finishing it off. I'll post some process pics of the finishing process below.... Here's the finished product with some Nocaster pickups installed. Still needs a proper set-up, but I'll post some sound clips when it's done. So far I love the sound of the Nocasters, esp. the neck pup!

 

Here are some shots of the burst and finishing in process...











And after polishing the gloss…






Had some trouble deciding on a pick guard - I didn’t love the white standard one, and the Black thin line hybrid style didn’t look right at all, so I improvised a bit, and went with the swooped white guard, keeping the full horn…








It was a pretty challenging project trying to get the burst right... I ended up with a couple burn throughs on the edges when I wetsanded it. In future I will err on the side of MORE CLEAR. I think I only gave it one rattlecan of Watco clear - maybe a can and a half. Next time I'll do at least two to be safe!

 

Thanks everyone! I am pretty happy with the finish for a first real attempt... There are two small streaks of burn through on the edges from wetsanding, but I think after a few weeks I'll stop hyper focusing on those.

The Watco worked well for me - spraying outside, making sure not to spray when the humidity was above 80% - maybe you are getting blush from the humidity? On colder days (below 15 degrees C) I warmed up the can in hot water for a while first. I did at least 9 coats of clear on this - next time I would go to 15 I think to avoid burn through. Each coat I did was 3 passes (widthwise, lengthwise, diagonally). I found the Watco pretty forgiving - though not quite as forgiving as the Behlen's toner lacquer, which was very nice to work with. (In comparison, I shot some Design Master lacquer on another guitar that was much more of a pain in terms of runs and uneven coverage).

I let this sit for over a month before sanding and polishing, which I think helped a lot. A previous project that I only waited around 10 days before wet-sanding did not come out nearly as well....

For the polishing, I wetsanded with 600 and then 1500, and I polished with Meguire's "ultimate compound", mostly by hand, with a bit of help from a buffing wheel on my drill...

 

I didn't sand over the whole thing between coats - just to get out bit of lint that accumulated while hanging outside, and to flatten drips etc. (I did 2 or 3 coats each day, and then waited to sand out the irregularities until a day later before recoating - just using 400 grit...)

 

Here's a quick vid to hear how the Nocasters sound... I still need to level and dress the frets on this guitar (you can hear it fret out on a few bends!)

Taken on my iphone - not the best audio quality, but you can get an idea. Love the neck pickup, myself...