I am by no means a luthier. My father recently built a guitar (also not a luthier) for me from a kit he purchased online. This began my curiosity on the process so I began researching online. That was over a year ago. Lately I've been soaking up info through the Internet, and YouTube in particular, and have felt ready to move forward.
Over the holiday season 2014 I ordered my kit, a '59 carved top electric (Les Paul style--see below), from Precision Guitar Kits (https://buy.precisionguitarkits.com/) and upon receipt have been so impressed with their work. I definitely recommend their kits.
For this guitar, I am going to apply water-based dyes and stains for color and apply a polymerized oil-based varnish (Tru-Oil) as the clear coat. This is due to the low cost of all the supplies as well as the qualities that they impart. Most guitars you purchase in a store are sprayed with either nitrocellulose lacquer or polyurethane, then UV cured for a short period of time before being buffed and polished to a perfect shine. I will be wiping on the stains/clear coats over the course of many days and then allowing that to cure open-air for several more days. This is a much slower process, but the Tru-Oil will impart more chatoyance to the wood grain than spray lacquer or poly. I *like* this!
This guitar will also have the highest quality components possible, ranging from a Gotoh 510 bridge/tailpiece to Seymour Duncan pickups and a GraphTec TUSQ XL nut, and all for a fraction of the cost of a real Gibson Les Paul. Additionally, the finish on this guitar will be totally unique as compared to commercial offerings.
As I stated previously, I am not an expert! This is my first time! If you want expertise, check out the YouTube channels for O'Brien Guitars, Big D Guitars, Brad Angove, Will Kelly, or even Precision Guitar Kit's channel. I also got information and ideas from Geezer Guitars and Fred Yen.
With all that out of the way, let's get started. The guitar is sanded to 320 grit all the way around, and I've taped the bindings and cavities so that I can start applying stain. I taped the cavities not necessarily for today's activities, but for when I finish the top of the guitar. I will be using, as I said, water-based dyes and oil-based varnish on the top and do not want it to drip down into the cavities purely for aesthetic reasons.
As you can see, I didn't fully tape the cavities and such. Why, you ask? Because I'm not spraying...ANYTHING. This gives me more control and thus, less need for completely taping things off.
I will begin by applying MinWax Express Color (Mahogany) water-based stain to the back of the guitar and neck. The directions on this product are pretty simple, which is most of the reason why I chose it! Apply a little stain, then wipe across the guitar with a soft rag and repeat until the guitar is coated. Here's what it looks like before:
And after...
So, that wraps the first day of this project. Tomorrow the dyes for the top are scheduled to arrive via Fed Ex (I shop at Stewart MacDonald). I haven't decided whether to dye the top or begin clear coating the back yet. Tomorrow is a new adventure!
Cheers,
Dean
Siiik!!
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