Son's Tele Project

BrianSkeezer · Tue Aug 11, 2020 6:17 am

Mossman wrote: ↑Mon Aug 10, 2020 9:20 pm
BrianSkeezer wrote: ↑Mon Aug 10, 2020 4:41 pm Well, we had a setback today. I went out to check on the body, and it appears that the clear coat bubbled, a lot. I'm not sure if it got too hot sitting in the sun or what, but it pretty much peeled right off in sheets. It only stuck to the sides, which were not getting full sunlight. this is the first time I've had this happen with this paint combination. We'll get it sorted, it just sucks.
Looks good, though! I've never had poly bubble up on me, but I've never left it in the sun to dry, either. How long did he let the paint cure before spraying the poly? If the paint isn't done off-gassing, then the poly won't adhere to it. That has happened to me.

It was curing in the sun for the rest of the day Sunday, then in the garage overnight, about 20 hours. I'm pretty sure I've done this in the past and not had issues. It's ok. Now he can drill the holes for everything (like I told him to do before painting) without having to worry about messing up the paint. He'll be sanding this week again.

Tue Aug 11, 2020 7:11 am

Looks great so far Brian, hope the setback isn't too bad!

BrianSkeezer · Sun Aug 30, 2020 9:03 pm

It's been a few weeks since the last update, but we've been working on it here and there. I sanded it back down for him, and he repainted it. We've had a lot of humidity here over the past few weeks, which sucks for painting, but we got it done. We let it cure for the past 4 days. And it seemed good, so we sanded and buffed it today.

After sanding and buffing, we found that the clear is still a little soft, so we're going to leave it for a week to see if it hardens up. If it doesn't, I'll have to get some automotive clear and hardener and spray it with my gun. It looks killer though!

TheIrritableLuthier · Sun Aug 30, 2020 11:26 pm

That's looking great!

AnotherJim · Mon Aug 31, 2020 6:45 am

BrianSkeezer wrote: ↑Mon Aug 10, 2020 4:41 pm Well, we had a setback today. I went out to check on the body, and it appears that the clear coat bubbled, a lot. I'm not sure if it got too hot sitting in the sun or what, but it pretty much peeled right off in sheets. It only stuck to the sides, which were not getting full sunlight. this is the first time I've had this happen with this paint combination. We'll get it sorted, it just sucks.

How long did you give the paint to cure? I think duplicator is one the paints tha5 recommends at least a week, maybe 30 days of cure. Compatibility can also be an issue. Did you use duplicator clear. Either way, that stinks. It was really looking good.

BrianSkeezer · Mon Aug 31, 2020 4:50 pm

AnotherJim wrote: ↑Mon Aug 31, 2020 6:45 am
BrianSkeezer wrote: ↑Mon Aug 10, 2020 4:41 pm Well, we had a setback today. I went out to check on the body, and it appears that the clear coat bubbled, a lot. I'm not sure if it got too hot sitting in the sun or what, but it pretty much peeled right off in sheets. It only stuck to the sides, which were not getting full sunlight. this is the first time I've had this happen with this paint combination. We'll get it sorted, it just sucks.
How long did you give the paint to cure? I think duplicator is one the paints tha5 recommends at least a week, maybe 30 days of cure. Compatibility can also be an issue. Did you use duplicator clear. Either way, that stinks. It was really looking good.

the can says 10 minutes between coats, 30 minutes can be clear-coated. I waited a day to clear it. I've used the Duplicolor clear in the past and it never hardened, so I use Minwax polyurethane clear. I've done that combination on 5 guitar bodies before and it worked every time, then this one bubbled and peeled. It seems to be ok now. I kept it out of the direct sunlight, but the humidity has been way up here also, and I've been worried about that.

BrianSkeezer · Mon Sep 07, 2020 7:42 pm

We worked on this project for Labor Day. I had him do a final buff with polishing compound. Then start putting it all together. We got some trash strings on it before doing the wiring so he could put some dents in the bridge saddles to mark them for a file line.

This was his first time soldering. He did ok! Like all of us, he needed an extra set of hands, so I helped him out by holding things. The wiring came pre done, but they wired the switch wrong and there was no middle position, but I figured it out after looking at one of mine. The pickups are a set of cheap A5s that sound really good but are microphonic.

All in all, it looks and sounds great and he seems happy. On to the pics! You have to click on them to see them right-side-up. Edit: I weighed it, it came in at 8 pounds even....not too bad!

Longblacktie · Mon Sep 07, 2020 8:50 pm

Looks awesome! Did you buy the body and neck or make those as well?

I love doing projects with the kids. My older boy got spray paint happy and redid a few of his guitars without knowing what he was doing. He saw me doing it and went ahead and tried his hand at it while I was at work. Pretty rough work haha but he had fun. Then he realized a lot more work was needed for finishing and kept all his newer guitars stock and never picked up a spray can again.

My youngest is 3 so I have a bit before he gets into it.

BrianSkeezer · Tue Sep 08, 2020 5:23 am

Longblacktie wrote: ↑Mon Sep 07, 2020 8:50 pm Looks awesome! Did you buy the body and neck or make those as well?

I love doing projects with the kids. My older boy got spray paint happy and redid a few of his guitars without knowing what he was doing. He saw me doing it and went ahead and tried his hand at it while I was at work. Pretty rough work haha but he had fun. Then he realized a lot more work was needed for finishing and kept all his newer guitars stock and never picked up a spray can again.

My youngest is 3 so I have a bit before he gets into it.

He cut the body shape from a plywood blank that I laminated. We started this project right before the old site was taken over, and I was too lazy to start from the beginning here... Sorry about that. I bought the neck, since that's the important part and I've never made one and really don't have the drive to do so.

I also like doing projects with the kids, but I have a hard time not jumping in and taking over. He drove me crazy on this one during the sanding because he just didn't work on it. It took a lot of willpower to not go out and do it for him. I kept saying, "If it was mine, it would've been done by now." We were both very upset when the clear peeled, and I told him that I'd sand and repaint it, just because he had worked so hard on it and I felt that by me putting it in the sun had ruined it. I should be doing more of this with them. My daughter has her learner's permit now, and that it our "doing things together time" at the moment. I know some of you guys can relate on that one.

andrewsrea · Thu Sep 10, 2020 1:34 pm

Nice Redburst!

He framed it very nicely! Not an easy thing to do.

Chocol8 · Thu Sep 10, 2020 6:12 pm

Looks great! Now he needs to build a 5e3 Tweed Deluxe clone or better yet a 5e8a “Low” power tweed twin (warning: may be LOUD!!!) to pair with the tele!

BrianSkeezer · Thu Sep 10, 2020 7:57 pm

Chocol8 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 10, 2020 6:12 pm Looks great! Now he needs to build a 5e3 Tweed Deluxe clone or better yet a 5e8a “Low” power tweed twin (warning: may be LOUD!!!) to pair with the tele!

I wouldn't mind that at all, but I don't have all of the equipment for him to be able to do that. I hope one day that he can play better than me and enjoys himself doing it.

Thanks everyone for the compliments! I'm pretty proud of him.

Mossman · Thu Sep 10, 2020 9:33 pm

BrianSkeezer wrote: ↑Thu Sep 10, 2020 7:57 pm
Thanks everyone for the compliments! I'm pretty proud of him.

You should be. He's got one up on me... I've never crafted a guitar body from a block of wood. And as long as I know people with CNC routers, I probably never will!