In reality, it’s never complete, there’s always something that needs to be done, but for the purposes of moving on to other guitars, guitar 901 is complete.  I’m still not fully satisfied with the finish, but I know what needs to be done to increase my satisfaction with the subsequent guitars.

There are miniscule creases in some areas of the finish, but only because I know they are there.  I’ve never played a resonator guitar before, so the sounds I produce tend toward the seasickness range, but I’m determined to learn.

All in all, it is a very nice guitar, and the sound is very fine.  In the hands of a real player, it should be sweet.

It’s been two weeks since I applied the final coats of lacquer on three guitars.  They have sat long enough for the lacquer to be ready for final sanding and buffing.

The resonator:

I’m going to tackle this guy first because I’m so interested in playing it as soon as possible.

Finally, Carol’s and Beth’s guitars, very different, but quite stunning.  They’ll look great, and I’m anticipating good quality guitar like sounds coming from them once they’re strung up.

Even though these both are Koa guitars, they have very striking differences.

Applied the final coats to all three mentioned guitars, and now they will sit for 2 weeks to cure.

Zebrez:

And 902, Carol’s parlor:

Finally, 904, Beth’s OM:

I just returned from Guitar Camp.  It is always an enlightening experience.  Got a good chance to show off some of my wares and do a lot of lutherie talk.  Check out the links section to see the PSGW site with info about camp, teachers and schedule.

Before I headed off to camp, I ran out of lacquer.  As lacquers all have their special formulation, I wasn’t able to find anything locally, so had to order McFadden online.  It had arrived before I returned home from camp, so was able to resume the spray cycle today.

I’m on 10 11 12 for guitar 901, the resonator.  Once I get those last coats applied today, it should sit and cure for several weeks before final sanding and buffing.

For 902, the mahogany/koa parlor, and 904, the koa OM, I’m on 7 8 9, with a final application of 10 11 12 tomorrow then followed by the curing.  I’m getting much better with the lacquer application, and I’ve got the wet coat without drip application almost perfected.  This trio of guitars will have my best finish yet, and dangerously close to perfect.

I’m becomming more and more dissatisfied with my spray booth location within my workshop.  Even though I’m using air venting and exhaust fans, and isolating myself in the back inside a shower curtained stall, the spray dust escapes and gets on everything in the shop.  It’s bad enough to have wood dust everywhere without the spray dust.  I’m not sure what the solution will be, but I’m on the hunt for a better location within the house.  In the meantime, I’ll use the current booth to complete the spraying on these 3 guitars.

Three guitars in the spray booth for another session today.  The Resonator, 901, got a ninth coat of lacquer.  Before I spray 3 more, I’ll see if there’s a need for any gap filling.  Not sure if I’ll try and fill the gaps with lacquer or epoxy, depends upon presence and severity.

The Koa Parlor for Carol (902) is really handsome.  Carol sez “old country”.  This is after the 6th coat.

Beth’s OM (904) is also on the 6th coat.

Tomorrow:  Coats 7 through 9.

I’ve been distracted from getting into the spray booth because of Carl’s guitar.  I can see a pattern here.  What I really like doing is the preliminary stuff, and by the time I get to the finish and setup, I’m easily distracted.  I had planned all along to start the spraying of 3 guitars ready for the booth since last Monday.  It’s Friday, and I finally allowed myself to do a lacquer session.  I got 3 guitars prepped for spraying, finally, by end of day yesterday:  901 – the Resonator which has already been sealed and grain pore filled; 902 – Carol’s parlor ready for sanding sealer; and 904 – Beth’s OM.  Here they are waiting to be sprizted.

First the resonator, then the two koa’s.  After each received one coat, I finished with two more coats on the resonator as it’s in the layer the lacquer phase.  The sanding sealer for the two koa’s is the prep before the grain pore filler, which I will do tomorrow morning.

Carol’s parlor with the first coat……….

Now Beth’s OM……..

This is all just a precursor of how that koa is going to shimmer.  I’m very happy.

Carl’s components arrived today, and I’ll balance the waiting for lacquer to dry with actual guitar construction.

Applied Mahogany Red to the Zebrawood body and mahogony neck for the Resonator guitar.

There’s a few spots where glue hasn’t been sanded out, so I’ll need to go back and bring that down to wood, then spot stain again.

Well, it’s been a while since I’ve posted, but  I have been busy.  I’ve been spritzing Boeshield on my power tools and I got the garage cleaned and arranged and everything fits nicely.  The new (used) drum sander is in place with a repaired switch, and the new oscillating spindle sander is in the shop and has already contributed to nice neck shapes.

The resonator guitar has been neglected recently, but I got back on it and set the frets, attached the neck and worked on setting up the saddle and string height.

It’s all scraped and sanded and ready for the next step of grain filling and staining (OK, after sanding @ 220 one more time).

Still need to trim back the frets and bevel, but I’m letting them settle for a day.

Installed lag bolt/neck bolts for zebrez.