Your enthusiasm is contagious and willingness to share luthier trade secrets much appreciated man! Just getting interested in guitar building as paying $5,000 for a Les Paul Custom is just obscene.
Awesome. I have actually done a little bit of finishing. I did a gloss Strat neck with tru-oil. It was tricky but I got it. After several attempts. I gave up on the spray can nitro as it was going to taker forever to cure, and I was itching to get the guitar don so I could play it. I really do like these videos on building and finishing. Thanks for posting them.
We have gone through many iterations of the finishing process. Oil & wax is one of my favorite finishes to this day and you can get really nice results, as you knw, without having to have a bunch of equipment.
If you do not mind me asking. As far as using the paste wax for the holes. Do you just line the edge or rim of the holes or cover the entire opening of the holes?
see my dad owned his far share of body shops. i was tough to go in one direction keepp the paper wet and when it start to glide across the surfface like steping on ice move on to the next grade of paper.. but damnit if i aint getting scratches in my finish.i sanded the body with 600 before painting it soit would bite put down my clear let it flash and then aw wet coat nd then the dry app of flake. no issues i did run out of hardner and a had to wet sand with 2000 and re clear it but it looked good . but aftwer ui cut and buffed it i sen scratches in the surface man it makess me mad. iam useing 3m 3 step system. by thre way .and starting with 1000 grit to 5000 finish grit. and iam using automotive enam,el basecoats and catalized automotive clear upol clear to be exact. what the hell am i doing wrong:?
Hey Matt love the videos. I have a couple of questions about the fabric covered guitars. Dose the fabric need to be 100% cotton? Can you use the tight bond glue if you use nitro lacquer nitro sealer?
Hi Michael, Thanks for watching, we have had the best luck with the standard cotton fabrics. You would need to do some tests on the thinner silky stuff. BTW the darker the colors the better. It gets a little like a wet t-shirt contest if you go with light colors LOL You should be okay with titebond and lacquer sanding sealer. The real downside with that stuff is going to be durability. Are you just not wanting to use the Simtec? There is probably something else that is good to go I'm not familiar with all the stuff.
Texas Toast Guitars Hey Matt thanks for the quick response. I've only used nitro lacquer. I guess I need to check out the simtec. Thanks for the videos brotherman!
yum yum...!!! good stuff! T T Men! Old paint and body days..wax on wax off. Work my guitar body just like a custom car or bike. Head painter say boy work the panel evenly. Always go in a light circle! 800 1500 2000 3000. then two different grades buffing compound with 2 different pads. then final polish with a new fresh wool pad. ye wool it was the 80s. lol there were not foam or 3 phase rubbing compound kits out yet. ! Good ol days at Bundys Body Shop Dayton Ohio...i Dont know any other way...lol Mack say go to drink one beer before you go in the paint booth..lol
People at the paint shop often ask me why we do stuff like this. I think they come from a production paint mindset. As my old mentor used to say"...We are trying to do better than custom car finishes."
@@TexasToastGuitars production paint in my world is macco and earl shibe ....lol Custom.paint is far from production painting. Best thing is when i get told my guitars are to shinny . guy said your a custom car painter arnt u..lol. Yupi load it on. Make it deep. To shinny to be a guitar finnish..lol
hard to say I get distracted pretty easily these days. You should start telling people you are better, faster and stronger than me... they won't know who you are talking about but you should still say it.
I’ve tried using mineral spirits to wet sand the primer and color coat on my guitar as was suggested by a couple things I read. It works great for the sanding process, my problem is every time I flip it to do the other side, the surface, (and I’ve tried several materials to set it on) imprints it’s imperfections into my paint. Like the mineral spirits is making the paint soft again. Do I need to let it dry a couple hours before flipping? Or should I try soapy water instead? I thought I wasn’t letting the paint cure long enough, so I left it for a week and then tried, but yea now I’m concluding that the mineral spirits is thinning the paint and making it wet again. Any advice? Thanks
Hi Ryan, The short answer is that the only coats you should be wet sanding at the top coats or clear coats. We do not use automotive type primer we use a 2 part sealer that we sand to 320 or sometimes 400 dry. We never, ever, sand color coats... unless we got some crud in the paint or a sag/run and are going to spray more color. The only wet sanding we do is on the top coat, we use automotive urethane. You can use what ever you want to do this. Mineral spirits is good is you have exposed wood as you will be less likely to get moisture under the finish and pop it up. Frankly water is just fine and we started using a spray bottle instead of a bowl it works great. Watch Chris's video we did a few weeks ago for more. We stopped using lacquer all together.
this dude knows his stuff! thanks for the info.
"Chicks dig it" Now THAT'S funny. Thanks for the video!
Glad you enjoyed it brotherman
Your enthusiasm is contagious and willingness to share luthier trade secrets much appreciated man! Just getting interested in guitar building as paying $5,000 for a Les Paul Custom is just obscene.
Thanks for watching Hadley, I hope I can help you along your guitar building journey. Send me some pictures sometime.
Stay cool amigo
Awesome. I have actually done a little bit of finishing. I did a gloss Strat neck with tru-oil. It was tricky but I got it. After several attempts. I gave up on the spray can nitro as it was going to taker forever to cure, and I was itching to get the guitar don so I could play it. I really do like these videos on building and finishing. Thanks for posting them.
We have gone through many iterations of the finishing process. Oil & wax is one of my favorite finishes to this day and you can get really nice results, as you knw, without having to have a bunch of equipment.
wow dude super informative!! Thanks so much for sharing this!
Great video. Thanks Matt!
Thanks for watching Matt.
Let me know if there are any videos you would like to see... I'll try and put them together.
How thick is your clear coat? Also how do you apply the wax?
If you do not mind me asking. As far as using the paste wax for the holes. Do you just line the edge or rim of the holes or cover the entire opening of the holes?
Awesome tricks !........Thanks!
Thanks for watching Lou
see my dad owned his far share of body shops. i was tough to go in one direction keepp the paper wet and when it start to glide across the surfface like steping on ice move on to the next grade of paper.. but damnit if i aint getting scratches in my finish.i sanded the body with 600 before painting it soit would bite put down my clear let it flash and then aw wet coat nd then the dry app of flake. no issues i did run out of hardner and a had to wet sand with 2000 and re clear it but it looked good . but aftwer ui cut and buffed it i sen scratches in the surface man it makess me mad. iam useing 3m 3 step system. by thre way .and starting with 1000 grit to 5000 finish grit. and iam using automotive enam,el basecoats and catalized automotive clear upol clear to be exact. what the hell am i doing wrong:?
Hey Matt love the videos. I have a couple of questions about the fabric covered guitars. Dose the fabric need to be 100% cotton? Can you use the tight bond glue if you use nitro lacquer nitro sealer?
Hi Michael,
Thanks for watching, we have had the best luck with the standard cotton fabrics. You would need to do some tests on the thinner silky stuff. BTW the darker the colors the better. It gets a little like a wet t-shirt contest if you go with light colors LOL
You should be okay with titebond and lacquer sanding sealer. The real downside with that stuff is going to be durability. Are you just not wanting to use the Simtec? There is probably something else that is good to go I'm not familiar with all the stuff.
Texas Toast Guitars Hey Matt thanks for the quick response. I've only used nitro lacquer. I guess I need to check out the simtec.
Thanks for the videos brotherman!
yum yum...!!! good stuff! T T Men! Old paint and body days..wax on wax off. Work my guitar body just like a custom car or bike. Head painter say boy work the panel evenly. Always go in a light circle! 800 1500 2000 3000. then two different grades buffing compound with 2 different pads. then final polish with a new fresh wool pad. ye wool it was the 80s. lol there were not foam or 3 phase rubbing compound kits out yet. ! Good ol days at Bundys Body Shop Dayton Ohio...i Dont know any other way...lol Mack say go to drink one beer before you go in the paint booth..lol
People at the paint shop often ask me why we do stuff like this. I think they come from a production paint mindset. As my old mentor used to say"...We are trying to do better than custom car finishes."
@@TexasToastGuitars production paint in my world is macco and earl shibe ....lol Custom.paint is far from production painting. Best thing is when i get told my guitars are to shinny . guy said your a custom car painter arnt u..lol. Yupi load it on. Make it deep. To shinny to be a guitar finnish..lol
Hi Matt,
How long from start to finish does it take you to wet sand and buff one bodie? Just want to know if anyone is slower than me lol
hard to say I get distracted pretty easily these days. You should start telling people you are better, faster and stronger than me... they won't know who you are talking about but you should still say it.
40 min w a machine 5 "DA.sander. edge in by hand.
I’ve tried using mineral spirits to wet sand the primer and color coat on my guitar as was suggested by a couple things I read. It works great for the sanding process, my problem is every time I flip it to do the other side, the surface, (and I’ve tried several materials to set it on) imprints it’s imperfections into my paint. Like the mineral spirits is making the paint soft again. Do I need to let it dry a couple hours before flipping? Or should I try soapy water instead? I thought I wasn’t letting the paint cure long enough, so I left it for a week and then tried, but yea now I’m concluding that the mineral spirits is thinning the paint and making it wet again. Any advice? Thanks
Hi Ryan,
The short answer is that the only coats you should be wet sanding at the top coats or clear coats.
We do not use automotive type primer we use a 2 part sealer that we sand to 320 or sometimes 400 dry.
We never, ever, sand color coats... unless we got some crud in the paint or a sag/run and are going to spray more color.
The only wet sanding we do is on the top coat, we use automotive urethane. You can use what ever you want to do this. Mineral spirits is good is you have exposed wood as you will be less likely to get moisture under the finish and pop it up. Frankly water is just fine and we started using a spray bottle instead of a bowl it works great. Watch Chris's video we did a few weeks ago for more.
We stopped using lacquer all together.
Texas Toast Guitars Thank you so much! That is very good info, I really appreciate it!
How high do you go with the grits?
So I read somewhere to wait a solid 30 days after applying polyurethane to wet sand so it cures. Is this true or can I do this earlier?
Jeeze I ain't waiting that long, ant spray paint/clear coat will NEVER take more than a few hours max
is this for sanding the stain/paint or also for the finish like poly?
Yes
how do you sand the fabric top guitar?
We only sand the Simtec sanding sealer not the fabric itself