# Disaster Weekend



## Philly (11 Apr 2005)

Hi All
Finally plucked up courage to spray and electric guitar I bult a while ago. Spent Sat morning playing with my spray gun, familiarising myself with its operation and doing a bit of practise. All ready for the real thing, laquer mixed up and off we go! Guitar is looking good! Put on 6 coats of clear finish, the plan being to mask off the sides and apply a tinted coat to the top to finish. De-nibbs the top before masking up, 320 grit didn't leave it smooth enough. I know :idea: steel wool! Rubbs out the top, looks great, all ready to go. Sprays the top and (yes, you guessed it!) terrible fisheyes!!!! Must of been a small amount of oil on the steel wool. Beat myself around the head with a stick for being so stupid, then stripped all of the finish off again.......... :evil: 
Sunday!
Gonna get it right today.....
Finish sanding the top, wipe down with thinners, off we go. Looking good, mix up tinted laquer, spray that on. Looking real good! One more coat-done. Put the guitar safely down on the bench, turn around an d clean out the spray gun. Turn back around and there is a great big ding in the middle of the finish!!!!! The darn hose must of touched it as I turned around. :roll: After crying for 45 minutes I dried my eyes and wiped my nose :twisted: -maybe tomorrow I can learn to use an airbrush to carry out small repairs! :lol: :lol: 
This spraying lark is great, isn't it? I will not be beat, though! :wink: 
Cheers
Philly ](*,)


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## Chris Knight (11 Apr 2005)

Philly,

I feel or you! I have done that sort of thing too often to count.

A couple of things can help

1. Make a Lazy Susan turntable for spray jobs, it helps keep the hose away from the job if you can stand more or less still and turn the piece easily so that it faces you

2. Throw away all your wire wool - nasty dangerous stuff (ever seen how it burns?) and it spoils more finishes than it helps in my experience.

Anyway I like the colour of your guitar - very psychedelic!


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## Aragorn (11 Apr 2005)

Arrgg! How frustrating. I've been there all too often  
Does the colour of the guitar match your spandex?


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## Philly (11 Apr 2005)

The guitar is the exact same shade as my spangly latex jumpsuit! 8-[ 
(NOT!) :lol: :lol: 
Funnily enough, I play in a Rock band.....
Cheers
RockPhilly :twisted:


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## Taffy Turner (11 Apr 2005)

You mean that your Spangly Latex Jump suit is a different colour? :shock:

I hope after all that work you are not going to do a "Pete Townsend" with it and ram in into the speaker stack???? :twisted:


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## Alf (11 Apr 2005)

Taffy Turner":1fjt0we9 said:


> You mean that your Spangly Latex Jump suit is a different colour? :shock:


This is not conjuring up good mental images here... 8-[ 

One of those projects then, Phil? Oh well, third time lucky, right?  (Pink? Are you _sure_? :-k )

Cheers, Alf


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## Shady (12 Apr 2005)

Whilst I sympathise, one might regard your trials and tribulations as God's justice for daring to present that colour to me - AHH!!!, MY EYES, MY EYES...


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## Mcluma (12 Apr 2005)

Philly,

YOu did say that you were married he :roll: 

Or are you trying to tell us something with the pink guitar, YOU know it is alright, we are all comfortable with it :? 

McLuma


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## Cutting Crew (12 Apr 2005)

Hello All,

I'll second the use of a turntable for spraying, I spent years moving around whatever piece I was spraying, dragging the hose everywhere, dusturbing the dust on the floor and getting dizzy in the process.

Now, with the help of a simple lazy susan bearing and a couple of pieces of ply I simply stand in one place and move the turntable and the piece with it. The only annoying thing is that it took the internet to find out about it.

Regards....Mike


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## Philly (25 Apr 2005)

Good news!
Spent last Saturday sanding the finish off the guitar (for the second time!) and re-spraying it. You'll be pleased to know that I have learnt from my past mistakes! Have a look........




Yes, the colour has changed too-the purple-pink colour had too many "comments"...... :roll: :wink: 
Here's another..








The guitar on the right is a Paul Reed Smith, an American made Uber-Axe. Mine is a close replica with some changes I prefer-I think it came out well. And it plays great! Unfortunately, I couldn't get Little Miss Madam out of the shot........ :lol: 
I used a Screwfix automotive compound to rub out the top-it is an amazing product!
Overall, it came out right in the end. Learnt a lot, too!  
Cheers
HappyPhilly


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## Gill (25 Apr 2005)

Hi Philly

Yours looks the equal of the professionally made guitar - well done!

Gill


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## dedee (25 Apr 2005)

Philly,
very nice and a much better colour.

Perhaps you could place a sound file of some sort on your website so we could all hear quite how good the sound is?

Andy


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## Newbie_Neil (25 Apr 2005)

Hi Philly

Well done, it looks excellent.

I think if it was me, I would have smashed the guitar to pieces after all of the probems.

Cheers
Neil


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## Anonymous (25 Apr 2005)

Nice job Philly  and good idea to leave the pink to the 'little madam's' bedroom furniture :wink:


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## llangatwgnedd (25 Apr 2005)

I liked it in pink

Philly any wip pictures?


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## Cutting Crew (25 Apr 2005)

Hi Philly,

Nice work, I think I preferred the pink as well, any chance of starting over?

Mike


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## Philly (25 Apr 2005)

Thanks for your kind comments! I started making this about 18 months ago (if not longer.....) finished most of the woodwork ages ago, just been getting enough bottle to spray it. It was a steep learning curve (and I wasn't about to accept a rubbish finish!!) but it was worth it!.
The body is made from Bubinga abd a nice piece of curly maple I found. Neck is an old Yamaha neck I love the profile of-spliced a new headstock on for the shape.
No wip pics, i'm afraid (so you won't have to read about it in a magazine :wink: :roll: ) just the completed axe.
Can't wait to use it in anger, now-next gig May 7th!
Cheers
Philly


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## stewart (25 Apr 2005)

Philly
Love the guitar, the shape is great. Shame you didn't stick with the pink - yes, i am married before mcluma gets the wrong idea and finds out i live in brighton, and i have a pink sitting room and bedroom!
on a more serious note, i have been thinking about making my own guitar for some time now - are there any books/websites you would recommend??
cheers
stewart


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## Philly (25 Apr 2005)

Stewart
I found Melvyn Hiscocks "Make your own Electric Guitar" to be very useful-worth reading first, before you get stuck in.
I found the cost of hardware to be as much (sometimes more!!!!) than buying a new guitar-pick-ups can cost over a £100 each..... Luckily I had a fair few bits laying around.
Pink was meant to be purple, but as I only wanted a thin, translucent layer of colour it came out pink (ish). I'm pleased with it though-definitely not starting again,thanks!! :lol: 
Cheers
Philly


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## stewart (25 Apr 2005)

thanks, Philly
Have reserved a copy from the library.
Stewart


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## Chris Knight (26 Apr 2005)

Philly,

A great job but another vote for the pink! You can always redo it I guess if you get bored with the colour!


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