Just thought I'd summarise how my refinishing has gone (if anybody remembers! It's been a long time, the lacquer gun broke!)
So one day I decided to make a replica of steve lynch's charvel. I emailed him for specs and he said that it was an alder body from 1984, kahler pro and EMG81.
So I dropped my fishing line into the Ebay sea for a while and got my bits and pieces - I actually got a basswood model 2 body from 1987, and a 1986 maple neck so I am told. It's been my first refinishing project. Here's how I went about it:
First I stripped the body and headstock. Dunno if you guys know but THIS TAKES A LONG LONG TIME!!!! The original finish must have been a 2 part poly. I shed many frustrated tears and discarded many bald sheets of sandpaper. Electric sander.
I filled the trem route with a thick wooden block, painstakingly hand sanded to a perfect fit, araldited it in place. And then used automotive filler to make it merge perfectly with the top of the guitar. Then after the priming, I started the white spraying. I also bought a vinyl Charvel decal from best-decals.com and clear coated over the top.
I then masked off the body and shot a few coats of red.
I then Bought a router and did two practice kahler routes on some scrap wood. I'd never routed before in my life! My third route it was for real, my hands were shaking so badly and I felt positively sick with fear of screwing it up!
But it came out alright. I was suprised at how soft basswood was, it was like routing through butter. Anyway..
The actual body needs a few more coats of lacquer, some 2000grade sanding and a polish, but here it is as it is now:
So that's that! Thanks for checking it out!
Needless to say, refinishing is harder than it looks, and I was just a 17 year old boy who pretty much didn't have a damn clue! I actually restarted the finishing process from scratch a Whopping total of 3 times ... but let's just forget that shall we... Yes I think I better had.
-Alfred
So one day I decided to make a replica of steve lynch's charvel. I emailed him for specs and he said that it was an alder body from 1984, kahler pro and EMG81.
So I dropped my fishing line into the Ebay sea for a while and got my bits and pieces - I actually got a basswood model 2 body from 1987, and a 1986 maple neck so I am told. It's been my first refinishing project. Here's how I went about it:
First I stripped the body and headstock. Dunno if you guys know but THIS TAKES A LONG LONG TIME!!!! The original finish must have been a 2 part poly. I shed many frustrated tears and discarded many bald sheets of sandpaper. Electric sander.
I filled the trem route with a thick wooden block, painstakingly hand sanded to a perfect fit, araldited it in place. And then used automotive filler to make it merge perfectly with the top of the guitar. Then after the priming, I started the white spraying. I also bought a vinyl Charvel decal from best-decals.com and clear coated over the top.
I then masked off the body and shot a few coats of red.
I then Bought a router and did two practice kahler routes on some scrap wood. I'd never routed before in my life! My third route it was for real, my hands were shaking so badly and I felt positively sick with fear of screwing it up!
But it came out alright. I was suprised at how soft basswood was, it was like routing through butter. Anyway..
The actual body needs a few more coats of lacquer, some 2000grade sanding and a polish, but here it is as it is now:
So that's that! Thanks for checking it out!
Needless to say, refinishing is harder than it looks, and I was just a 17 year old boy who pretty much didn't have a damn clue! I actually restarted the finishing process from scratch a Whopping total of 3 times ... but let's just forget that shall we... Yes I think I better had.
-Alfred
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