The Apprentice

[rickoshea]

Oh, yeah, right.

lol ... I've just spent an hour going over it again checking for any imperfections - sad but true . I did get the soundboard sealed though with a shellac/alcohol mix (a weak form of french polish). Its even a wee bit shiny now which will please Knock but I'll wait till I have a few more pics before posting them

[FlyingPancreas]

a wee bit shiny

You'll have to do better than that, boyo.

[guitarist21]

You'll have to do better than that, boyo.

HE'S BACK! Oh, FP, I have missed you.

[missedmyexit]

Bump.... For no other reason then I've been thoroughly enjoying these posts.

[rickoshea]

lol .. thanks . I've been waiting on a delivery of shellac flakes to make up my cuts of French Polish so thats delayed things a bit. I also ordered a dedicated fret levelling file, a fret crowning file set, and a set of good nut files. So ... we're good to go and start the finishing, I'll hopefully get some photos of the process up over the weekend

Its time to get shinyyyyyyyyyyy

[gitmo]

lol .. thanks . I've been waiting on a delivery of shellac flakes to make up my cuts of French Polish so thats delayed things a bit. I also ordered a dedicated fret levelling file, a fret crowning file set, and a set of good nut files. So ... we're good to go and start the finishing, I'll hopefully get some photos of the process up over the weekend Its time to get shinyyyyyyyyyyy

 

Rick,

 

You've made quite an investment in tooling, gonna have to build some more to get a proper return.

 

Better pick up one of these for the shop:

[rickoshea]

Rick, You've made quite an investment in tooling, gonna have to build some more to get a proper return. Better pick up one of these for the shop:

lol .... I would be more than happy to stay out there believe me . I have nice plans for the next build which may well be for someone a lot of us know but thats after I get this girl shinyyyyyyyyyyyy

[knockwood]

but thats after I get this girl shinyyyyyyyyyyyy

Shiny is nothing to {censored} around about, noob.

[LaurentB]

I think next time I'll do ot this way as well, with masking off the bridge area. I did it the other way around, with paint stripper, but that got a bit under the masking tape and then resulted in a bare patch of wood next to the bridge.

[pinchegordo]

GREAT THREAD JUST READ ALL 17 PAGES.............CAN'T WAIT TO SEE THE FINISHED PRODUCT,GREAT JOB MAN,CONGRATS

[rickoshea]

I'm on a mission to give Knock a hard on .... this is going to be well shiny

Pore filling. There are many ways to fill up the wee bloody holes in hardwood. I was going with this :



yup - superglue, or CA glue, or the stuff that bonds my sodding fingers together more often than enough. First a few coats of a dilute French Polish are applied which makes it easier to fill the pores. This makes the guitar a wee bit shiny :





then ... and this felt completely and utterly wrong to me ... superglue is dropped on and spread with a playing card to start filling up the pores. The result is a bit more shiny :



then this is sanded back with damp 800 grit paper theoretically leaving the pores filled with the glue. You might be able to see some of that here :



..... or you might not . I've been having problems getting these craters in the zebrano properly filled so am considering doing the pore filling by more traditional means using pumice. This initially will make the guitar a lot less shiny - sorry Knock :poke: lol

Laurent - its much easier this way methinks, and Pinch - thanks ... I'm hoping the finishing goes well at this stage

[LaurentB]

Oh damn, that is so spectacular, those first layers of lacquer, isn't it? I had some trouble getting the rosewood porefilled properly as well, yes.

You have inspired me to definitely go build a second one someday. But first I'm off to Michigan, USA for six weeks

[dgimcmillan]

Rick, Laurent et al...

I'm a little confused about filling the pores on the guitar. In your opinions, is pore-filling a cosmetic-only function?

The reason I ask...everybody talks about a guitar "opening up", and describes the process in terms like the molecules loosening up to allow for more reverberence etc. when it's played.

If you fill the pores with something like CA glue, aren't you actually slowing down the "opening up" process? Wouldn't pumice actually be better?

I'm just wondering..

Ian

[LaurentB]

Rick, Laurent et al... I'm a little confused about filling the pores on the guitar. In your opinions, is pore-filling a cosmetic-only function? The reason I ask...everybody talks about a guitar "opening up", and describes the process in terms like the molecules loosening up to allow for more reverberence etc. when it's played. If you fill the pores with something like CA glue, aren't you actually slowing down the "opening up" process? Wouldn't pumice actually be better? I'm just wondering.. Ian

 

 

Porefilling is necessary to prevent having to use immense amounts of lacquer to achieve a smooth surface. Otherwise the lacquer will continue to be absorbed by the pores.

 

Porefiller isn't used for the top though, and as most of the sound comes from that I wonder how much effect it has on the overall sound.

[Misha]

Me think this is the thread of the year!

 

Wow Rick: what a nice guitar!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[rickoshea]

basically what Laurent said ... you'd never get a smooth surface and have a moon crater guitar .

Me think this is the thread of the year! Wow Rick: what a nice guitar!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks Misha .... mais j'esp

[knockwood]

mais je ne suis pas press

[kwakatak]

Looking good rick. From what I can tell with this whole process, the devil is in the details.

Sometime-poster, AGF regular and fellow western-Pennsylvanian Yamaha Junkie is in the final stages of his first build as well and is doing French polish as well. He's got a thread documenting it over at AGF and he had some shots of the polish in progress. He's not sweating the pore-filling for some reason though. When I saw this pic I asked him what was up:



He came back with:

You start with a few thin layers of Shellac/alcohol. Then pumus (fine ground volcanic ash) and alcohol to create a gritty sludge of wood and shellac. The last picture on the clean paper was day 4. Today I level sanded the back. I still see pores, I'm good with that. I started Glazing today, wait 2 days (probably) sand again. Level then sit a few days. Fine care wax ( I have the name written down. Then she s I still am a week behind on the front. I found a ding on the center on the back of the neck. So, I just filled that with super glue. Sanding probably set my neck back 2 days from being finished. I also got the Fretboard radiused (16") then worked my way up to 12,000 grit (yep) sandpaper. I am starting to gather tuners, bridge, bridge locater tool.... Man I hope this thing doesn't implode when I string her up!

I'd think that at this stage you'd really want to sweat the details. There's no sense backing off now, right?

[Misha]

basically what Laurent said ... you'd never get a smooth surface and have a moon crater guitar . Thanks Misha .... mais j'esp

[rickoshea]

for some reason I cant multiquote .....

Kwak - yep, thats the traditional way to fill pores when French Polishing. Using CA glue is quicker and probably more effective but I'm having diffs with my application technique methinks. French Polish bonds perfectly to the superglue so I may try it once again . I'll be pore filling till all the wee buggers are filled - as you say, its all in the details

Misha - vous

[rickoshea]

so shes had a couple more coats of shellac in readiness for either the pumice method of pore filling or trying the superglue again - we'll see cause I have to leave her 24 hours.

Fretwork time - the fret ends needed filing to bring them flush with the binding on the fingerboard. This is done with a dead flat fret levelling file ... and it's easy enough. Here the 2 frets on the right are done with the file resting on the 3 on the left ready to bring them back :



once finished they now need angled. I made a jig to hold the file at an angle of about 35deg - this ensures all the frets are the same rather than doing each individually :



onto the frets :



and the filing is done up and down the fingerboard :



and all nice and even :





then I masked off the fingerboard to protect it from the finishing :



and laid a few layers of dilute French Polish on the headstock and neck .... more pore filling next

[garthman]

That binding looks good, mate. Nice work - the frets look almost as good as my Pacifica.

[rickoshea]

cheers .... high praise indeed saying they look as good as a Yamaha
Hopefully they'll stay that way after I level them then make them all shiny again as well

Oh yeah - just remembered, I have this strange inkling to do a slothead sometime :poke: :poke:

[garthman]

Oh yeah - just remembered, I have this strange inkling to do a slothead sometime :poke: :poke:

Can't wait that long, matey :poke::poke::poke:

[rickoshea]

Can't wait that long, matey :poke::poke::poke:

I'll cut the headstock off this one and pop on a slothead then :poke: