chrismjurd
New member
moar elbow grease is needed, looks fab dude!
[BL] Aria Guitar
- Thread starter Feronix
- Start date
Feronix
New member
FINALLY!
My hands and neck are completely dead but I FINALLY DID IT. I am never sanding again!
...well, until tomorrow when I'll sand the back of this one and some more of Kambo's Scarlett...
So yeah, this is how I spent my Saturday evening
So close!
AND FINALLY EFFING DONE, I am so happy right now!
There are a couple of spots where the veneer layer was very thin so unfortunately I ended up sanding through it, but you don't really see it unless you look for it and I reckon the stain will make it even less apparent.
What a beautiful layer of quilted maple veneer.
My hands and neck are completely dead but I FINALLY DID IT. I am never sanding again!
...well, until tomorrow when I'll sand the back of this one and some more of Kambo's Scarlett...
So yeah, this is how I spent my Saturday evening
So close!
AND FINALLY EFFING DONE, I am so happy right now!
There are a couple of spots where the veneer layer was very thin so unfortunately I ended up sanding through it, but you don't really see it unless you look for it and I reckon the stain will make it even less apparent.
What a beautiful layer of quilted maple veneer.
Feronix
New member
Aye, I'm a huge fan of quilted/flamed tops (especially when they're also carved like this one (although this is just a maple veneer on an alder body)) with stains on them (sunburst anyone?). Makes the guitar look so much more interesting than a single solid coat of paint.
If you ever need her back she's yours but until then she's already grown into my baby
Wraith
Bettyswollocks
Aye, I'm a huge fan of quilted/flamed tops (especially when they're also carved like this one (although this is just a maple veneer on an alder body)) with stains on them (sunburst anyone?). Makes the guitar look so much more interesting than a single solid coat of paint.
If you ever need her back she's yours but until then she's already grown into my baby
Its all cool fella she's your baby now, she'll be 16 this month and growing up so well :lol: I'm so proud.
Feronix
New member
Haha no worries, thanks!
Woop woop, can't believe she's that old already! The only thing that really shows she has 10+ years are the slightly worn out frets, but I'm afraid that if I replace those I'm going to end up ripping the fretboard to pieces so I'll pass
This evening I spent a good hour masking up the top (or the front, if you will)!
Started with a couple of A4 sheets with some slight cut-outs in them to save myself a lot of tape and work.
Then slowly add more and more tape.
The way I did the edges was shorter and shorter pieces of masking tape going in a straight line from the edge of the guitar to the next part of the edge. If you add enough of them they actually start to get round.
Kind of like the difference between car wheels in older games and current ones.
Aaaaaaaand done! The top is now completely protected, probably more than it had to be considering I'm not spraying directly at it, it's gonna lie face-down while I spray the back and sides, but will be slightly elevated at the edges due to it being carved, and after all this sanding I didn't want to take ANY chances.
Sanded, prepped and cleaned thoroughly
And some primer for the rough patches (where the paint had gone as some deeper scratches).
Tomorrow I will lightly sand the primer down again and start spraying the sides and back
remember300
Active member
Loving that black gloss.
Coming together well
Coming together well
Feronix
New member
Loving that black gloss.
Coming together well
Thanks mate! Close to being finished now
Big update!
I started off with some cleaning before I proceeded
Much better
Cleaning the body as prep work for... staining!
I came prepared:
Started staining the burst, you can see it slightly here
Gettin' shady
This is the point where I honestly should have stopped, but it was still too grey for my liking.
So I continued. The problem with black stain is though, it's either still grey/has the wood colour coming through, or it turns into a solid black.
I tried to fix it with sanding and more staning but well, things went from bad to worse.
So I decided to call it quits.
Luckily for me, the stain was so thick it didn't soak into the wood at all, which was also the reason that it failed, so I could spray it with water and easily rub it off with an infinite grid sanding sponge.
5 hours of work down the drain and I'm back where I started. Oh well, could've been worse, at least it came off.
With some advice from Kilbane to thin the water-based stain out with... water, I restarted this afternoon.
This did mean, that it took AAAAAGGES but it was worth it
First layer
5th layer
10th layer
I lost count
The good thing was that it basically sunbursted itself due to the carved top and the edges being lower than the rest!
Aaaand the end result, it looks better in real life than in pictures, especially in more naturally-lit areas it looks a lot blacker, but that meant the light was too weak to photograph it properly.
Feronix
New member
Thanks guys! Assembly this afternoon
Did a nice clear coat on her last night! Looks all shiny and awesome
It's a near mirror-like finish on the sides and back, I can use it to do my hair
And the last one with the naked body
Also did some more lemon oil on the neck before I put her back together.
More updates soon!
Did a nice clear coat on her last night! Looks all shiny and awesome
It's a near mirror-like finish on the sides and back, I can use it to do my hair
And the last one with the naked body
Also did some more lemon oil on the neck before I put her back together.
More updates soon!
Geeeeeeeeetar p0rn
Feronix
New member
Are you Elvis?
Routed the pickup wires
Screwed them all in
Dropped all the electronics back in
Secured it from the front
All the knobs and switches:
- Volume knob
- Gain knob
- 5 Way pickup selector switch
- 2 Way Coil Tapping switch (I'm gonna find myself a black LP style cover for this)
All the covers on
Soldered the jack output for testing
Testing all the pickups by plugging them into the amp and tapping them to see if they were working. Surprisingly I'd done all the wiring correctly, even though I kinda took a guess which black & white wires were the top pickup, and which were the middle one as the label came off while routing.
All working, so screwed it in!
Backplate for the electronics back on
Quickly screwed in the strap buttons before I bolted on the neck
The bridge is in place
Screwed in the claw from the back
And hooked on the springs, that seem to have worn a little (can't get the bridge flush with the body, even when the screws are ALL the way in), so I'll be ordering a couple of new ones.
Initial fitting and grounding wire soldered on
Little circle things full of hooks to clamp into the wood, no idea what they're called :lol:
Screw sockets in place
Aaaaand the neck bolted on!
She also has strings on her already and is basically completely finished at the moment, but it's night time so you'll have to wait until tomorrow for finished product pictures
The only two things it still needs:
- New springs for the bridge
- Black cap for the silver coil tapping switch
Feronix
New member
Yeah, sorry about the picture quality, my crappy smartphone is really all I have and I was more focused on building than picture today
also the sun was being stupid, we should turn it off.Aye, thing is there are strings on her now and tuned into drop D with the springs screws all the way into the wood, the bridge still comes up above the body.
Thanks, you'll like the final pics tomorrow. She's gorgeous! Thank you so much again ^_^
