TWANG Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 Will post pics if there's any interest. No. 1. Gonna see if I can get the cheap looking gloss off the finish of the lp studio sunburst. Buying a black and decker mouse random orbital sander and these fiber pads that don't scratch. Will test it out on a bass I have with a nasty finish first. Then move on if it seems I've got the hang of it. Comes with a finger attachment for the cutaways, and other small places. No. 2. FadedEpis dot studio.. gonna add two more pots to this right off the bat. so it's four controls with three way like a regular dot. Then I'm thinking.. opposite direction. take some finish off then gloss it! My hope is that the gloss reduction will follow the gloss. because the guitars I've seen that way looked really nice. But I'd leave the binding glossy. So I'd have a redder finish.. glossier than the worn cherry.. with gloss black binding. I'm going to do some other things to the dot studio, too.. but they are secret. bwahahaha you'll never get it out of me. right now, anyway. So, should I post pics and so forth? TWANG By the way. How the heck are ya? Everybody good? Life ok and all? Getting your playing time in? and while I'm thinking of it. Ace Hardware has 20% off everything in the store tomorrow.. and 10% off on power tools. So, if you need something saturdays good on that. I could save a few bucks going ebay on the b&d but Ace is local people and always good in a pinch, or otherwise, so I'm tossing my business there when I can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captmidnight Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 Post away Twang, I'd like to see. Best be careful taking any of that finish off...there was a thread back just before the new forum started or right after, and I forget who did it but they tried to take the finish off a Dot. They ended up sanding thru the finish and first thin layer of the laminated wood on the back of the guitar. I do think you will have something to keep you busy for the next few weeks! It's gonna be slow going and tedious work...goodluck with it! Capt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InsideMan Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 TWANG, I'm presuming you were inspired by recent discussions here. ;-) But, YES, I would be very interested in your progress and snaps, especially of the Dot studio. I am afraid it shows me to be a bit of a Scotsman, but the "silk purse from sow's ear" thing, when pulled off well, has always fascinated me. Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitmore Willy Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 TWANG, Sounds interesting. Looking forward to pics. Hope all goes well. Also, let us know if you come across any problems along the way. I'm sure you will find solutions if you do....but....(might save anyone else that decides to try it from the same aggravations.) Willy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bender 4 Life Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 Ditto Twang....post away......... i've been toying with the idea of getting a D/S and upgrading/moding it to suit myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sexygibson Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 What are your plans for the L.P. Studio. You gonna take the finish off and leave it with a natural finish ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duane v Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 TWANG By the way. How the heck are ya? Everybody good? Life ok and all? Getting your playing time in? Other than the belly ache early this morning, doing rather well.... However, I would feel a ton better if you'd quote me a price on this $1800 bag of parts that needs assembling. My Luthier don't wanna see anymore projects from me the rest of the year#-o Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWANG Posted February 28, 2009 Author Share Posted February 28, 2009 Duane. happy to help if I can. My neck hurts. It's this chair. Took me a while to figure it out, but just wont adjust to my body. Every time I get up from the pc I'm rubbing my neck. Off to an estate auction and this goes out on junk day! On the dot: yeah, it's already a thin finish. So I'm going to practice on two other guitars. One a thick poly coated bass.. and the other my 50 year old silvertone archtop. the silvertone should give me a good idea of what to watch for on the dot.. both being carved tops and very thin finishes. and the poly coated bass will show me what can happen to my lp. the idea on the dot is thin it a tad... then finish sand by hand.. then clearcoat. From there, I'll stop and switch to the lp. On the lp, I've seen these done.. removing the gloss. and they look much better. So after I practice on the poly coated bass I'll take the gloss down all over it. Starting with the neck. Then it's polish and buff it up and it should give me a nice muted sunburst with a glow.. as I've seen on others. Then, assuming that works, it's back to the dot which is glossed, and take that new gloss down the same way.. that should give me a dot studio that is brighter looking, but not cheapy looking.. with glossed binding. By the way. the dot came with GFS Mean 90, p90 in the bridge, and GFS Dream 180, 12 pole humbuck at the neck. I am going to review these pickups against my Kent Armstrongs, also humbuck size p90, and 12 pole humbuck. I can already tell you the Mean 90 doesn't have the .. TWANG!.. the KA's have.. but it did sound pretty nice. I don't intend to knock these, I can also tell you, as they do sound pretty good! Gotta get to work though first, I have people waiting. I'm hoping to see both the dot and lp looking much better and passing along some useful information on how it goes to everyone in here. Will definately take a lot of pics and try not to jiggle or use a lamp for light. *G* TWANG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianh Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 Twang, I took the finish off a heavy poly gloss black Genesis Standard with a heat gun after reading several posts recommending it on this forum. (At least I think it was this forum.) I had tried sanding a bit as well as paint remover (apparently a big no-no) and it just laughed at me. Anyway, I put the heat gun on low and used a small metal spackle knife, and it started to come off, suprisingly easily without gouging the mahogany. I should qualify that and say it took several laborious hours, but no dust and no grain damage or unevenness. Then some light sanding and voila, its ready for pore filler. I'm not wild about refinishing perfectly usable guitars, but this one was a mess, and had been spray-painted in spots just for starters. I also recently got a blondy Sheraton II that was dropped but not structurally damaged, so after I see how this comes out I may try to refinish that one too. In any case I'd be very interested to hear about your progress on stripping the LP and the bass. Post some pics if you think of it. Cheers, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billy Dean Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 Twang' date=' I took the finish off a heavy poly gloss black Genesis Standard with a heat gun after reading several posts recommending it on this forum. (At least I think it was this forum.) I had tried sanding a bit as well as paint remover (apparently a big no-no) and it just laughed at me. Anyway, I put the heat gun on low and used a small metal spackle knife, and it started to come off, suprisingly easily without gouging the mohagany. I should qualify that and say it took several laborious hours, but no dust and no grain damage or unevenness. Then some light sanding and voila, its ready for pore filler. I'm not wild about refinishing perfectly usable guitars, but this one was a mess, and had been spray-painted in spots just for starters. I also recently got a blondy Sheraton II that was dropped but not structurally damaged, so after I see how this comes out I may try to refinish that one too. In any case I'd be very interested to hear about your progress on stripping the LP and the bass. Post some pics if you think of it. [img']http://i608.photobucket.com/albums/tt163/brianehuff/P1000515.jpg[/img] Cheers, Im interested to know what products your going to use in your re-finishing process brian. I'm thinking of buying this beat up old Yamaha sg-1000 from my neighbor and doing some resto to it. I like the heat gun idea (i wouldn't be confident using a power sander). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianh Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 BD: I'm new at this but so far I'm following the guidelines in Stew/Mac's Guitar Finishing Step-By-Step: But Twang is definitley more advanced in this area. I'm hoping he'll post his project shots on the forum so we can learn from them. In any case, there is a fairly straight-ahead process in the book that seems relatively affordable and doable in the home shop, without expensive pro-shop equipment. (Famous last words.) PS: Those old Yamaha SGs are fantasticaly well-built guitars. Let me know if you know of any up for sale. Check this site: http://www.historicguitar.com/id23.html Cheers, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pohatu771 Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 Twang, you're not glossing that Dot Studio are you? I think it's possibly the best-looking example I've seen... I would add the extra controls, but I don't see a need for the finish. Of course, I haven't felt it, so maybe the finish will make it feel better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWANG Posted February 28, 2009 Author Share Posted February 28, 2009 It looks really good, actually.. very dark red finish and pretty uniform except for two small places in the back. But it's rough as hell feeling all over. And the gloss wont really be a gloss when I'm done. it'll be a glow, instead of flat. I don't want the glossy look on it, just some warm shine. I'm gonna gloss it. then dull it. Then polish it. voila! The thing about heat is just be careful.... the glue is made to give under heat.. that's how you take a fretboard off, for instance, and lots of other things. So be sure you clamp things when removing finish, or after so the parts will settle back. but good job brian.. that looks to be coming right along. made a red tort tr cover for the dot already.. making guards for others in red tort so I knocked one out using the scraps..just to see how it'd look. looks really good! definately going with red tort guard later on. and the gfs mean 90.. compared to the KA p90 bucker size.. the gfs is deeper, warmer.. but then the KA is in my sheri.. so part of that is the guitar.. But overall, I'm quite impressed with the GFS mean 90. I had to tweak the truss rod, adjust the bridge, reset the pickup height for balance. but it sounds very good.. plays very good, too. shipping lets 'em get too cold so things get out of whack. I've only spent about fifteen minutes with it, but I'd say I'm not at all nut about the dream 180 or whatever that's called. I think the mean 90 blows it away tonally and even output seems a tad stronger. I might put the dream in the neck of my lp.. with it's 12 pole KA in the bridge that would be a pretty nice twin humbuck combo. Much as I like the p90 sound.. I really don't need two with it. That would let me put two p90s in the dot.. heh. cool. and a brighter one, the KA may wind up at the neck.. could sound very nicely balanced that way. I like the bottom end on the GFS.. and I want to say right now, that's not a bad pickup at all esp. for that money. But it is not as hot or bright as the KA. Just a little less hot, quite a bit less bright. Fadedepi deserves another thanks from me. I'm gonna have a lot of fun with this guitar. tWANG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWANG Posted March 1, 2009 Author Share Posted March 1, 2009 I just happened to sit fadeds dot near my vj today.. geez that's a good looking pair. man, now I'm really thinking about keeping it. here's my next step for it while practicing the finish process on some junkers. put a KA p90 in the neck position. put in two new pots. added a red tort tr cover.. so add a red tort jackplate. remove black switch plate.. reduce in size.. then build another in red tort and countersink the orig, shrunk into it.. make red tort guard. install dunlop straplocks. gloss the headstock face after a little finish sanding to get rid of string change scratches. That much alone might really do a job on this.. will post pics when that much is done. TWANG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jo.schumi Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 hi twang, i am really really curious about the results of your experiments. by the way i have installed the tusq nut this week-end ... much better than before. good luck. jo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWANG Posted March 2, 2009 Author Share Posted March 2, 2009 thanks jo. wish I could get to it sooner but I've got too much to do.. will keep the group posted though! TWANG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
animalfarm Posted May 29, 2009 Share Posted May 29, 2009 Thank You, Brianh for posting the link to this thread!!!! Much useful information!!!! Totally excellent - I have heat gun at shop, oscillating sander, sledgehammer, towchain, so I should be able to get the nasty paint off my "project" git. There are lots of posts regarding changing out electronics, which I can do, and am still learning from the posts. Not a WHOLE lot regarding refinishing - It's a trial by fire deal... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianh Posted May 29, 2009 Share Posted May 29, 2009 Thank You' date=' Brianh for posting the link to this thread!!!! Much useful information!!!! Totally excellent - I have heat gun at shop, oscillating sander, sledgehammer, towchain, so I should be able to get the nasty paint off my "project" git. There are lots of posts regarding changing out electronics, which I can do, and am still learning from the posts. Not a WHOLE lot regarding refinishing - It's a trial by fire deal...[/quote'] Just keep that gun on the lowest setting - too easy to loosen binding and fretboard glue or burn the wood. But it's definitely easier than sanding and less chance you'll sand through any veneer. Good luck! Cheers, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordy01 Posted May 29, 2009 Share Posted May 29, 2009 Good to hear from you Twang. Definitely pictures. We all need some education. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
animalfarm Posted May 29, 2009 Share Posted May 29, 2009 Educate, Educate! My current standby awaiting destruction, neck is in great shape, but it's black. will keep black headstock front, not sure about rest yet. note: yep, bolt-on, not ready to jump to the "set neck" league yet... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pohatu771 Posted May 29, 2009 Share Posted May 29, 2009 Is that a Sparrow guitar? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlg Posted May 29, 2009 Share Posted May 29, 2009 Hey Twang, are going to Gloss BIG RED??? or do you have a different Dot Studio for this? Anyway, pictures!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWANG Posted May 29, 2009 Author Share Posted May 29, 2009 I decided not to. I first tried a bit of gloss on the binding... I thought that might look pretty good. But it really didn't match the top. then I got the top looking really nice with a very light application and rub off of lemon oil and decided to leave it that way. My photobucket is messing up, but I'm trying to get some pics ... I ebayed it and got one bid. oh well.. I need another guitar anyway. I posted these before, but I can't resist. that red guitar with the floyd.. 100.00 with hardshell case. gonna put it in the appropriate forum here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWANG Posted May 29, 2009 Author Share Posted May 29, 2009 that's actually a flame top. but the sun was too bright and washed it out to plain red. TWANG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWANG Posted June 1, 2009 Author Share Posted June 1, 2009 Big Reds new voice. epi vj with 6V6. TWANG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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