# Yew & Flame Maple Guitar [Completed]



## ByronBlack (22 Oct 2008)

I started with some previous pictures of this build a long time ago with my previous guitar, but seeing as the photos were missing from that old thread, I thought it best to start a fresh one just for this project.

Here's the WIP shots up to current time:
















































So there we are, today saw the routing of the electronics cavity, tomorrow will see the boring for the string-through ferrules and the tune-o-matic bridge studs and the jack connector.

After that, it's just got to be sanded all over, and the first spay of paint can go on (solid black for the back of the body and neck. The headstock will also be black). The flame maple will be picked out by black dye and then sanding back, and after that it'll be ready for the clear coat.


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## Philly (22 Oct 2008)

Looking good, BB!
The horns are an interesting shape - you going to soften them at all?
Cheers
Philly


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## Pete Howlett (22 Oct 2008)

You wanna get some plasterboard up in that shop of your Byron...


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## Ironballs (22 Oct 2008)

Looking good, are you going to be spraying your finish and if so what and how? I'd love to spray my own but will only do so if it looks pro.

PS - might have found somewhere in the UK that does the 3M stikit rolls, just need to get in touch with them to ask


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## Pete Howlett (22 Oct 2008)

Ironballs - Behlen in the UK should soon have guitar lacquer and vynil sealer in spray can fowmat...


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## ByronBlack (22 Oct 2008)

Philly - I'm undecided on the horns. I designed it for as it is now, but it has crossed my mind to do some more work on them, I'll have to mull that over some more

Pete - Plasterboard/plyboard, it's somewhere on my 'to do' list, I should be doing a part of it this weekend hopefully.

Damian - This will be a spray finish. I'm using Behlen's 'Top Coat Lacquer' spray can finish, and also their coloured dyes. I've not settled on a brand yet for the solid black. It is indeed straight forward to get a pro finish using spray cans - have a look at the article I linked to recently on your guitar thread, Dan Erlwine shows you how to use spray-can nitro and dyes to finish a guitar, the results are superb. I hope mine comes out as well.

Here's the link to the Behlen product: http://www.behlen.co.uk/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=AERFINISHING


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## Pete Howlett (23 Oct 2008)

Byron

This is not the product link - the musical instrument aerosol lacquer hasn't arrived in the country yet...


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## ByronBlack (23 Oct 2008)

Pete, this is available now (or was at the time of buying), I've got 4 cans sitting right here in front of me which I've had for the last few months.


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## ByronBlack (13 Nov 2008)

The finishing process has started in earnest for this project.

Some pics:

Faux binding and maple top taped up





Control cavity and string-through holes taped up, and sanded to 400grit





My makeshift spraying arrangement





4 coats of sanding-sealer. A couple more coats are to go on yet.





So there we are. The solid colour (black) will be spraying tomorrow, when that is done, the front-maple section will be dyed and sanding back ready for the all-over clear coat.


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## ByronBlack (13 Nov 2008)

Just got in after putting on some colour coats.

Scuff-sanded the sanding sealer





Tack-clothed ready for color coating





First coat of black





Different angle





Last one





I'll be applying at least another 3 coats of the colour and then onto the dying and clear stage. Despite the cold-weather it's going on well with no orange-peel.


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## shim20 (13 Nov 2008)

looks awsome


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## wizer (13 Nov 2008)

Looking good mate. What sprayer are you using?


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## ByronBlack (13 Nov 2008)

Thanks Shim!

Tom - I'm using Behlen's Nitro Cellulose based aerosol cans.


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## Ironballs (13 Nov 2008)

Looks good, nice pro job.

I'll get some pics of mine up, though you'll struggle to see much progress, I seem to have spent a lot time jig making


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## Waka (13 Nov 2008)

That looks absolutely fantastic, really looking forward to seeing it finished.

Do you make anything else apart from Instruments?


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## ByronBlack (13 Nov 2008)

Ironballs - jig making is essential, and well worth the time making them, because when you make the next instrument, it'll be twice as fast and twice as easy.

Waka - I make plenty of other stuff too (time permitting), but lately have concentrated on guitars. (you can find a number of my projects by doing a search with my username - I made a nice little arts and crafts table that was featured in British Woodworking last year).


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## ByronBlack (16 Nov 2008)

I've finished applying the solid colour today.






Tomorrow will see the removal of the masking tape and hopefully there will be a nice crisp edge for the faux-binding, if not, I'll have to make a little scraper to clean up the edges.


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## Philly (16 Nov 2008)

Looking great, BB!
Philly


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## ByronBlack (17 Nov 2008)

Cheers phil,

Today was the big unveiling to see if my taping was good enough to give a crisp binding edge. It was also the day to put down the first part of the stain to bring out the flame in the maple. Here are the pics from today:


Mostly a nice edge:











You can see the fretboard has come out nice and distinct from the black on the hand-side of the neck





Headstock has come out nice too





The bound edge taped up ready for staining the top





And the first part of the stain: the black brings out the flame nicely





The stain will be sanded back so that only the stain in the flame portions remain leaving the rest colour of maple, then a clear coat of nitro will be sprayed over the entire guitar and polished to a gloss finish


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## Philly (17 Nov 2008)

Oh yes, going to be pretty special.
Great work,
Philly


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## Ironballs (17 Nov 2008)

Nice looking work so far, glad to see the spray cans are working out well. Is the workshop heated-ish or a chilly outbuilding?


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## ByronBlack (17 Nov 2008)

Philly":1tnssl5j said:


> Oh yes, going to be pretty special.
> Great work,
> Philly



I hope so - I'm nervous about the clear-coats, it'll be make or break when I come to that.



Ironballs":1tnssl5j said:


> Nice looking work so far, glad to see the spray cans are working out well. Is the workshop heated-ish or a chilly outbuilding?



The workshop isn't heated, but is insulated and it is staying surprisingly moderate even with the cold weather, I don't have many draughts and its in the open of a south facing garden, so it gets the sun most of the day and tends to stay relatively warm.


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## ByronBlack (18 Nov 2008)

After staining the guitar yesterday, it was time to sand it back to emphasise the flaming figure. It was also the secound round of staining. I've started building up the layers of stain to form a slight 'burst'. Also this second round of staining has introduced a different mix, this one with red pigment to give it more of a warm colour - it doesn't show up too well in these photos though.


Stain sanded back; you can see how the flame has really popped.







A much thinner black stain goes on top





A warmer red tint is added, along with building up the layers for the bust - this is shot when it was still wet, the affect is a lot more subtle than it appears here





All that is left to do now is wait till it's dry, and give it a very light sanding to bring a little more of the brighter maple out and emphasise the graduated burst. 

After that, it's the clear coating.


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## Shadowfax (18 Nov 2008)

That's going to look really special.
Well done BB.

SF


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## ByronBlack (20 Nov 2008)

The natural binding was cleaned and sanded, and the first coat of the clear lacquer was applied, I have a few very small chips on the black side where I took the tape off to repair, otherwise it's come out really nice.

After a single coat of clear, it really brings out the colour and figure. I can't wait to see what this looks like when it's finished and glossed up with the gold-hardware.

Pics:

A little scraping tool I made to clean up the natural bound edge:






Natural binding scraped and sanded, it's came out better than I expected, a nice crisp edge






Another shot from the side:






And here's a shot of the first coat of 'clear'. It really brings it all out and brightens it up, I'm very happy with it so far.


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## Waka (20 Nov 2008)

Very impressive.


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## TrimTheKing (21 Nov 2008)

That's looking great now BB, love the flame highlights.

Mark


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## ByronBlack (17 Dec 2008)

Ok,

The finish process is almost finished. Just an application of swirl remover to go, and then it's adding the hardware and soldering the electronics. I've gone for all gold - hardware, including a gold covered humbucker and gold pickup ring, very bling ;-)

Here's some shots of the final pass of wet-sanding:











I'll most probably start the hardware installation tomorrow evening, but won't be complete until the end of the week as I'm still waiting for parts to arrive.

Info on the finish:
I used behlen jet colour nitro gloss black for the solid colour, liberon pigment stains for the top, and finally about 2 cans of behlens aerosol nitrocellulose. I've gone for a relatively thin finish as this is not a gigging guitar. 

I let the nitro cure for about 3 weeks before wet sanding. I started at 600grit and worked my through to 1500. I'll be using some polishing compounds for the final buff.


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## Pete Howlett (17 Dec 2008)

Behlen now has 'Musical Instrument Lacquer' in aerosol can form and a great DVD on doing a spray can sunburst on an acoustic guitar. However they have not yet got the sunburst tints in stock. 

I'm just figuring out how to use their spray cans so I can do a video. Unlike other cans I have used, the coating is very thick from the can and you need quite a distance from object to nozzle to control the spray or very quick motion to lay down a thin layer. Probably be better on a larger object than my little ukulele...


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## ByronBlack (17 Dec 2008)

I cant speak for the new product Pete, but these cans are pretty easy to use. I shoot from about 12 inches away and I get a fairly nice medium dry to light wet coating. After about 10mins, I can go over again with another light coat. I did this two to three times each night. I didn't both sanding between each major coat as it was going on quite smoothly.

I do however have a few spot repairs to do on the back-side where I've sanded through a few spots. I've made the finish purposely thin, but in hindsight, should probably have put a few more coats on to accommodate the wet-sanding.

For my next guitar, I'll be using Rustins Plastic Coating, as the wet-sanding and polishing process is greatly reduced as is the curing time, I'm not overly joyed with the nitro in terms of ease of use.[/i]


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## Pete Howlett (17 Dec 2008)

I've used french polish, acid-cat, pre-cat, conform lacquers (American melamines) and have settled on cellulose for one good reason - ease of application and you can repair it. You won't be able to do that with Rustins...


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## ByronBlack (18 Dec 2008)

From all the feedback I've got, Rustins is much easier to apply than nitro, granted it won't be as easy to repair, but then it's a hell of a lot more durable in the first place.

Either way, I'm pretty new to finishing, and I guess it's one of those things where everyone has a particular favourite method depending on their tastes/skill etc..

I've just found nitro a little too delicate to use, but that's not to say it's been terrible or anything. I think the results have been good on this guitar, it's just the curing time is a real pain, something I won't have to worry about with the Rustins.


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## ByronBlack (20 Dec 2008)

Here we have the completed guitar.






Today was a long one, I installed all the hardware, soldered and installed the electrics and the most tedious of all; made a new nut (which was actually quite satisfying).

For those interested, the hardware is as follows:

Tuners = Gold mini Wilkinsons
Pickup = 'Tonerider' covered generator
Bridge = Gotoh tune-o-matic
Nut = handmade bone
Frets = Jumbo (24)
Controls = 1 Vol, 1 Tone

It sounds a fair bit different to the walnut explorer, this is a lot more woody/middly, with more resonance and sustain, whereas the explorer is darker and more 'gutteral' sounding (hence why I use it for metal), this one seems to play really well for blues and more cleaner sounds. It sounds great with my carlos santana patch in 'amplitube' uber-sustain.

The action is a little high at the moment, and the intonation needs tweaking, but other than that, it plays pretty nicely, I'm chuffed as monkey's with the outcome of the nut. It's the first I've made from hand, and have to say following the 'stew mac' article it was a piece of cake. 

A little tip for anyone who doesn't want to spend a fortune on nut files; buy a set of 'solder-tip' cleaners. They are thin round files, and the gauges match perfectly to strings, for about £3.00 I was able to get a set, and they file the string slots in a bone nut in a matter of seconds/minutes, very accurate to use, and a hellava lot cheaper than specialist nut files.

So, this one is done, the next one is on it's way


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## Philly (21 Dec 2008)

Looks fantastic, Colin! You must be very pleased? =D> 

So are you happy withthe Tonerider? Been looking at getting some for my Strat.
Cheers
Philly


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## Mattty (21 Dec 2008)

That is fantastic! You must need a massive skills range to make something like that. Well done mate. :ho2 =D> :deer


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## filsgreen (21 Dec 2008)

Great to see the finished guitar BB, you must be really proud of what you have made. Are you going to start another one?

Phil


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## wizer (21 Dec 2008)

Agreed, it looks lovely. Quite and exercise in woodworking skills, making something like that.


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## ByronBlack (21 Dec 2008)

Thanks for all the kind comments, it's nice to be able to share my efforts with everyone. Although despite the positive comments, there are many things (as is usual I suppose) that I feel I could have done better, but that's why we do this - to improve each time?

Philly - I've only played it for a short while, but I have to say, for £24 for the pickup I'm really impressed, it's not as expressive as the seymour duncans I have in the explorer, but it is brighter and has a nice sound. It has more 'mids' than the SD's, which I think is what makes it nicer for blues/rock as opposed to metal where a scooped mid is more appropriate.

For the money, I would say they are worth checking out - if you've not already done so, have a look at their website, they have sound samples of all their pickups. I didn't listen to the single coils (which I assume you have in your strat?).

Phil - I am proud, this guitar has been 'on and off' for the best of three years, so it's nice to finally see it finished. It confirmed a number of ideas that I had; some work, some don't and it was a good excercise in testing out a sprayed finished, so all in all it was a great exercise.

Am I going to start another one? Absolutely!  It's already under way. I'll be starting a new thread for it very soon. This next one will be a 'neck-through' in sycamore and mahogany with an ebony fingerboard.


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## TrimTheKing (21 Dec 2008)

Looks lovely BB, excellent job 

If I can be a dumbass for a minute and admit to knowing nothing about the makeup of a gee-tar, what is a 'nut'?

Cheers

Mark


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## Mr Ed (21 Dec 2008)

TrimTheKing":2d95sfps said:


> If I can be a dumbass for a minute and admit to knowing nothing about the makeup of a gee-tar, what is a 'nut'?



You beat me to it - I was just about to ask the same question :lol: 

Looks good BB

Cheers, Ed


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## ByronBlack (21 Dec 2008)

fella's, a 'nut' is the item you find at the end of a guitar neck that the strings sit on. It's responsible for keeping the strings at the right spread, and also provides tuning stability and also shapes the tone and resonance of the sound.

Here's a close up pic:


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## TrimTheKing (21 Dec 2008)

Cheers BB 

Mark


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## Shakespeare (21 Dec 2008)

To say I'm as proud as Punch Col, is an understatement. For a Dad to see his Son making something like that is a real "choking" moment. Well done Col.

Dad


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## OPJ (22 Dec 2008)

Absolutely superb, I've really enjoyed following this - and I've learnt a bit too.


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## ByronBlack (22 Dec 2008)

Cheers Shakey & Olly

I learnt a fair bit on this build too, which is what the purpose was, so now, hopefully, the next one should be bording on the perfect unlike the last two, where both had a couple of small niggly faults.


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## Ironballs (22 Dec 2008)

Very good and nice job on the nut too, all finished very well. I've got the Behlen DVD to watch over a spare hour at Christmas. I am a looooooooong way from having to decide on a finish for mine though. Well done mate


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