While Jim was keeping himself busy building up a neck blank fore a new commission that we're calling tentatively The Black Dahlia, I decided to get some color on the Tele we're making for Anthony. Here, Jim is slotting Dahlia's neck blank for the truss rod. The three piece, opposed grain system used to strengthen the neck is clearly visible. All three parts are sawn from the same board to maintain the integrity of the neck—the grain on the outside pieces are opposed to use the natural forces of the wood to self-stabilize. The center part is a neutral, quarter-sawn piece.
Now, back to that guitar for Anthony. Most times, for color coats I use nitro with tints, or some PPG colors that are suspended in DBC clear. However, this time I decided to experiment with a waterborne acrylic. I've had the stuff for a while and thought it would be interesting to try. I got it for a window sill refinish project, and it worked so well that I thought it could be used on a guitar.
The first step was to mix some Golden Yellow Oxide and add a little brown until I got the shade I wanted. I did this into the clear waterborne directly, then cut the whole mix with good old H2O until the viscosity was correct for the gun. The color looked good on the test piece, so onward we go.
I'm using a SATA minijet with a 1.1 tip which is my weapon of choice for most small jobs like sunbursting. I decided to use it for this full-body color job because the Minijet has a thumb-wheel fan control on the left side which would let me control the spray with the unfamiliar water-based material.
I needn't have worried. With the air pressure at 30lbs. the material sprayed like a champ. Very easy to control and the build was good. I can see if I had used a bigger tip it might have been prone to sag—after all, it is water. The clean-up was a breeze, and the stuff is almost odorless. I'll let it set up for a day, then I'll continue with the clear coats.
The color is classic Butterscotch, and on the body it looks great. The only question is whether to use the nitro as I usually do, or continue with the waterborne...
Keep em coming guys, I can't wait to see some of the finished guitars.
Posted by: Kevin Madison | October 27, 2010 at 08:04 PM
Great work by a great artist and his sidemen. Jol, how do I go about buying one of your masterpieces? Email me with info.
Posted by: Peter | October 28, 2010 at 10:31 AM
Waterborne!
Posted by: Jimb | October 29, 2010 at 10:29 AM