V refinish

giggsy

This weekend I started on my Flying V project – a random V body stuck on a Kramer neck. The type and colour of the refinish would be decided on what I found underneath the paint, and I’ve gone blank and cant think of the name, but I think its plywood that I unearthed… not what I was hoping for, but the more I work on it the more I am beginning to like the random grain of the wood so I am leaning towards a natural finish. But the one problem is that block of chipboard… any suggestions? Or anyone got a spare Floyd Rose lying around?

Still got plenty of sanding to do – finished with 80 grit and gone over it once with 120 – need another good session with 120, maybe tonight if I recover from sander’s elbow.

Here it is just before I started stripping and sanding:

And here it is stripped, sanding begun:

Heath

with the cover upwork and so forth almost looks like it was orginally routed for a floyd rose bridge ..........

giggsy

I think that was the case... It doesn't bother me too much - I'm not doing this to resell it, but would prefer it if it wasn't there

AlanRatcliffe

Simplest thing to do is just burst around the repair and the edges to hide the uglies.

Otherwise, first prize IMO is to do what I did with my Sanox to hide the bridge repairwork - rout right down the middle a couple of mm deep, and inlay a strip of wood:

If you look in line with the height adjustment screws for the neck pickup, you can see the join. I couldn't rout right up to the neck because of the through-neck - I was routing freehand and didn't want to risk damaging the fingerboard.

giggsy

Alan Ratcliffe wrote Simplest thing to do is just burst around the repair and the edges to hide the uglies.

And if I want to do a clear finish? No way around it is there?

Alan Ratcliffe wrote Otherwise, first prize IMO is to do what I did with my Sanox to hide the bridge repairwork - rout right down the middle a couple of mm deep, and inlay a strip of wood

Stunning solution, but I fear (or rather know) that I would royally stuff it up.

AlanRatcliffe

giggsy wrote And if I want to do a clear finish? No way around it is there?

For the edges, if you spray from the body out towards the edges, you can get a pretty tight burst that won't obscure much that you don't want obscured. I suppose you could always mask off and spray a wide, solid "racing stripe" down the middle and leave the outside clear.

Stunning solution, but I fear (or rather know) that I would royally stuff it up.

Maybe someone else can help you with that bit - it's not difficult if someone has the know-how and the tools.

giggsy

Maybe I'm getting a bit ahead of myself with the finish - I am only 120 grit and have 150, 220, 320, 420 and I think 1200 to go! Not too sure if there are any options other than spraying (got a whack of research to do online that I have bookmarked) but will worry about that when the sanding is done.

AlanRatcliffe

Don't go finer than 400 for the wood prep. It's not necessary and anyway if you make it too glassy smooth, the finish won't adhere properly. The finish itself is a different story as that's what you have to polish up.

giggsy

Excellent, thanks - I'll go up to 400 and then make up my mind (or let the V make up its mind) about where I go from there

EDIT: Sorry, one last Q for the night - is refinishing the neck recommended?

giggsy

Okay, so wife is out at a conference and daughter is asleep so I managed to finish going over the body with the 150 grit paper - moving on to 220 now. Was just wondering whether sanding wet is actually worth it when I get over 300 - is the hassle (the mess, plugging of the holes, taping up the cavities) worth it?

MikeM

Before refinishes, sand up to 320 for a solid colour, 400 for natural.

?

giggsy

MikeM wrote Before refinishes, sand up to 320 for a solid colour, 400 for natural.

Great, thanks - got 320 and 420 waiting in the wings! Have you refinished with natural? What did you use?

MikeM

No but I have read a book and researched tons online ?

BUT I will be using some Plascon waterbased clear ? Can get 5l for R300. Just got to see if the spraying rig I am planning to use will work well ?

Technically, I plan to hit the bare wood with a wash coat of shellac, then a proper 2lb cut coat, then my dye/stain (After the seal so it does not smudge in the wood, look around, you might see what I mean) then hit another coat of shellac to serve as a decent coat for the waterbased to stick to... Then just cover with the clear coat ?

Gearhead

Imho you're going to sukkel to see the difference between 220 and anything higher on bare wood after refinishing. At least, when done right - do not sand across the grain, keep enough pressure to sand but not so much you build up heat, never sand with clogged paper etc.

@MikeM: am talking to trustworthy rep about the exact product to use - yes Plascon but specially formulated for (guess what?) piano finishing.

MikeM

Geerty.... Sprayed yet? ?

Gearhead

Sprayed enough to realise I need more light. Am going to install tubes into the booth tomorrow plus a flood from the ceiling. Spraying is easy as long as you can have repeatable conditions and see what you are doing. The hard part is just that - setting up. I expect to be moving on to holding devices and hooks soon. Turntable is also on its way.

MikeM

Awesome. Got my template, but 3mm is a bit too short so finally clicked that I can just make two at once and it'd work ? then it won't be long ?

AlanRatcliffe

Gearhead wrote @MikeM: am talking to trustworthy rep about the exact product to use - yes Plascon but specially formulated for (guess what?) piano finishing.

I use the Plascon nitro. Is the Plascon piano lacquer a nitro or a water bourne finish?

giggsy

Here it is after sanding to 150:

But I now have two problems – around the edges you will see that the sanding is not quite uniform, and then in a couple of areas it seems like I’ve started to go through the first layer of plywood. Here’s a close up of one of the offending spots:

Is there anything I can do? Not too sure whether I should just carry on going and through the top layer…

AlanRatcliffe

Nothing you can do about the sand-through, unless you finish in a solid colour or re-veneer the top. Sanding all the veneer off completely will show the next layer and the grain will run in the wrong direction (it's also not likely to look very good.

BTW - why didn't you strip the controls out before sanding?