avengers63

I like #2 also.

Even with poly, you'll want to wait a few weeks to wetsand, just to make 100% sure it's cured all the way through. I just buffed out a box I had put two coats of brush-on poly onto. I let it sut for over 3 weeks, but a couple of the drips were still just a touch tacky in the center. That being said, I suggest putting some Krylon on some scrap and seeing of any given finish smears it. PLEASE let us know your results.

It doesn't have to be shellack. Not that there's anything wrong with using shellack for a washcoat, then something else on top, it just isn't necessary. You could just as easily use whatever the clearcoat will be for the washcoat, albiet thinned down.

If you're gonna go that route (enraging Greenpeace), cover the thing with baby seal pelts, use genuine ivory for the nut & tuner buttons, and mount the wood over a smokestack of a rubber-burning plant and let the heat dry it.

Yes! Even chrome accent tape, if you apply it under the clearcoat, would be awesome. If the whole thing is covered in formica, the body won't need a clearcoat. To me, that's just a beautiful proposition.

That'd be pretty sweet. Does it come in a rattle can? I don't have a spray booth or a gun, so I'm a bit limited in the color department.

Not only that, but like Def Leppard's drummer, he has but one arm. He covers his deformity with an ugly purple jacket to hide his shame.

Use a washcoat before staining. This will help stop the blotchiness and uneven absorption of the stain. And buy Bob Flexner's book.

I'll probably be trying out the rasp more in the future. I have one, I'm just not good with it yet. By contrast, the angle grinder was REALLY easy to get used to. I read Setch's tutorial about 3 times, as well as Eric Hauri's well-documented tutorial of his GBO V8, watching Perry's videos, and re-reading Hyssock's chapter on carving. Honestly, I was as prepared as I could be to do it. After practicing on the pine I was very confident, and I'm fairly pleased with the end result. The issue was with the router blowout. I think in the future, I'll NOT try to rout the ends of the horns. I'll use the drill press planes someone turned me on to. It might not be as smooth or quick on operation, but if it eliminated the possibility of this continuing to happen, it's well worth it. I can see how trying to do the binding routing at this point would be difficult at best. I'll chalk this up to a rookie mistake in the order of operations. With all the heming & hawing I've been doing about trying the binding, I guess I was needing an experienced guy to tell me not to do it. Thanks. Overall, I think it may be time to stop with this body. There's a point when you're just making things worse if you keep tinkering with it, and I think I'm there. I know there's a way around the mistakes I've made, I just don't have the skill or knowledge to do it right now. I believe my plan now is to do the final prep sanding (smoothing the sides, carve, and eliminaring the burns) and make the control cavity cover from some thin mahogany.

http://www.formica.com/publish/site/na/us/en/index.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formica_%28plastic%29 It's a plastic-like product that's usually used as countertops. It's laminated to particle-board. The stuff is very durable & scratch resistant. The appearance and texture is basically limited to the manufacturer's imagination. http://www.danguitars.com/TheHistoryofDanelectro.html Original Danelectros used formica, among other things, to cover their guitars with. This is what gave me the inspiration to look into it. Considering that I LOVE retro-styled stuff, a modified Dano with some retro countertop laminate is a perfect fit.

http://www.fetishguitars.com/html/galassia...elli/cat05.html The one on the right. Seriously - why would they have made this one? http://www.fetishguitars.com/html/misc/europe/russe.html Dude. I mean.... What... ??? http://www.conklinguitars.com/bizarregalle...nedescript.html The man wanted a candy cane. I can't even make fun of him for this one. It's just too easy. On a better note, I've always liked Conklin's Foxxe shape. It was pure hair metal. This one's paint job is dumb, but the shape is still great. http://www.conklinguitars.com/bizarregalle...mbdescript.html

Yea... the grain isn't getting picked up right in pictures. The flash is really highlighting the slight figuring in the middle, but not really doing anything for the amazing colors that are being displayed on the rest of it. There are a LOT of colors soming out that just aren't shown. BITS: For the back, I used a 1/2" roundover. That may be more than is traditionally used, but I think it really helps the comfort level of the back. For the sides, I went along the template with either a 3/8" or 1/2" flush trim bit. You can still see the evidence of the bearing on the side of the body, just below the glue joint. I haven't sanded the sides down yet. CARVE: I used a shallow cove bit with a bearing to make the "carve line" around the preimeter. I didn't go all the way to the points of the horn because I wasn't sure how steep I wanted to have the carve angle there. For the actual carving, I used an angle grinder with a sanding flapwheel. It isn't your traditionally shaped carve. It's more of a gradual slope than a true archtop-type carve. But... with that being done around the horns, I'm not sure how the binding would look. Honestly, the main reason I want to do the binding is to hide the mistakes around the edges. I'm nervous about it because I don't want to dork it up further. One important lesson I've learned from doing the test carve on the pine and the actual carve on the chechen: set up a makeshift table and DO IT OUTSIDE!!!!! DANG but that dust covered EVERYTHING in my shop. I ain't never doin' THAT inside again!

If I thought I could pull it off, I'd use some chrome edging like they use for diner tables. Looking at the material, however... it's pretty thick and fairly wide. I don't have what it'd take to bend it into shape much less cut it to width and smooth/polish the edge. I had resigned myself to using the formica on the sides as well, but your idea of the chrome trim isn't bad. Hmmm... Also, going with the original theory of the Danelectro - uber-cheap construction - I recently decided to use pine for the core.

I'm with Dan on this one. Wood would distract from the denim blue too much. The current black rings are OK, but chrome would be a lot better.

I'm not sold on the LP yet, but it could grow on me. The tele looks pretty good. That's one of those bodies that you can do dang near anything with and it'll still look good. The strat isn't bad. The others aren't quite there. Anyway, my whole plan is to modify the Danelectro "bowtie": As you can see, the thing had NO access past the 14th fret. I just love the vibe of the thing otherwise. It's bog, square, clunky, and all 50's style cheese. Putting that aqua formica on it would just be perfect. It really needs the P/G, but not gor protection. Goodness knows you'll NEVER scratch through the formica. No, the big white P/G is to break up the pattern. Without it, it's pretty overwhelming. For electronics, I've been pricing used DeArmond pups. Don'tcha think that'd really top off that retro jangle thang I'd have going on?

Gluing up the pinstrpie. One half has already been done up, the other is in the clamps. I have to do it in 2 parts. The finished width will be 14"-15", and my planar is only 13" wide. After both sides come out of the clamps, I'll plane them down to the exact thickness. The next step is to true the edges of the zebrawood and pretty much repeat the process. Just for giggles: This will be the center lam for whatever I'll be making with the bubinga. It'll come in at 3" wide. Actually, it'll be either just over or just under by 1/8" - I don't remember which. It hasn't been glued up yet - a lot of my clamps are being used to secure the thin mahogany pinstripes. I'm still considering splitting the center piece of maple and adding a thin jatoba stringer. I'm afraid it'll be too much visually, so I'm just not sure yet. Then again, the bubinga isn't figured, so it won't be competing with anything.

OK, here's what happened. When I was routing around the trebel horn and the neck pocket, I had a couple of blowouts. After having such a major blowout with the jatoba a few weeks ago, I was REALLY taking it easy. Not that it mattered. Anyway, I was able to patch them up as well as possible. The neck pocket was widened out where it got ripped away, and you'll never see it once the neck is in place. The trebel horn is another story. The best I was able to do is glue on a piece with similar grain and shape it. These other two pics are just better views of the carve. http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff15/av...y%201/wip08.jpg http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff15/av...y%201/wip10.jpg I'm still toying with the idea of putting a cream binding on it.

Bingo! I've been wanting to top an ax with this. Specifically, a Danelectro-inspired body. I'd only want one with this covering, but the smallest size of the formica would cover 4-5 guitars. I was looking for some input before I went for it.

Tell me the truth, guys.... do these look stupid? strat rhodes v les paul firebird explorer

Thanks. It's a nice, bright, medium blue. Despite being a little generic, you don't see it very often. It should be ready to have some poly slathered on it by this weekend. With any luck, the 'redesign' I've been working on will be ready then as well. (probably not)

If you don't want to sand off the bug (That just sounds funny to hear, huh?), you could try wiping the area down with lacquer thinner. That might 'disolve' the fresh lacquer enough to lift out the gnat. If that works, leave the body flat to dry - the semi-liquid lacquer should come pretty close to self-leveling. Now, I don't know if this would really work. Lacquer can be disolved with the solvent pretty much forever. I'm figuring that since it was just sprayed, it would be pretty easy to 'melt' it. But honestly, it's just a guess.

I'd almost agree with you about GOTM. The more traditionally shaped bodies with natural finishes tend to do better than a camo Warlock would. Personally, I think the multi-color paint jobs would be harder to do than just slapping some lacquer on it. Did you spray the paint yourself?

Dude... you're loopy. Why in the world would you go to that much trouble for a plywood body?

Like the PRS I'm finishing up, this will go up for sale. However, were something unexpected happen and I keep it, I'd most likely finish it clear. Maybe I'd experiment with shellack. FWIW: I just won two things of interest on eBay. 1) a set of mini-humbuckers from a Gretch Pro Jet for $45 shipped. I have designs for them already, but I'm not going to let the cat out of the bag on that one just yet. 2) A piece of bubinga 37x6.25x2 for $22.50 shipped. It'll probably yield 6x1.75. With a center lam of maple/jatoba I have in the works, this should make nice body wings.

I used some watered down wood putty once. I scraped it into the pores with a plactic putty knife, then sanded it smooth when it dried. It may not have been the ideal solution, but it worked. Of course, I wouldn't suggest this, especially if you're going for a clear finish, but it worked in a pinch.