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At this point you can disassemble the guitar for finishing.
Final-shape the nut now, too: file off the overhang, round the
corners and the back side, and use at least 400-grit Fre-Cut®
to smooth it. Place a couple drops of glue in the nut slot and
glue the nut in place. The neck finish will cover the ends of
the nut for a professional look.
When your guitar is finished, well-cured, and rubbed-out,
reassemble it, string it up, tune it up and play it. Good job!
If you finish the neck and body separately, you’ll do a better
job of sanding and buffing. When the neck’s attached, it’s
more difficult to fill the grain, sand, and buff around the
neck/body joint. Also, lacquer tends to build up in that area,
and unsightly air bubbles may become trapped there.
The quality of your finish work is certainly important to the
appearance of your guitar. A thin “non-professional” finish
won’t necessarily harm the sound of your guitar, however. If
the following instructions seem beyond your skills (they’re
probably not), or if they seem to be more work than you’d
like, you can simply apply a low-gloss wipe-on finish by hand,
consisting of a couple of coats of waterbase lacquer or fresh-
ly-mixed shellac. This will seal the wood and protect it from
the elements, and you’ll be playing your new guitar a lot
sooner.
The following instructions, for spraying an aerosol nitrocellu-
lose lacquer finish, are pretty close to foolproof and don’t
involve an investment in shop spraying equipment.
For your convenience, we have included wood scraps that
match the wood your guitar is built with, so you can practice
staining and pore-filling. You can practice applying your clear
coats on these scraps as well.
There’s a lot of finishing information in our book,
Guitar
Finishing Step-By-Step
, and many customers are glad they
studied the book before finishing their first guitar. In brief
though, here are some pointers and a finishing schedule to
follow.
Do
practice on scrap wood until your finishing technique has
been perfected. If you’d like your guitar to look as good as it
sounds, don’t rush!
Do
use a backing block or pad when sanding the guitar
body. It helps maintain a level surface. On round surfaces, use
a flexible rubber backing pad, a thick piece of felt or leather,
or fold the sandpaper three or four times to give it firmness
with flexibility.
Don’t
apply more than three coats of lacquer per day. Spray
an initial light misting or “tack” coat, followed several minutes
later by a heavier wet coat. The tack coat gives the wet coat
better adherence and lessens the chance of a run or sag in
the finish.
Do
let the finish cure for 10-14 days or longer prior to final
sanding and buffing.
Do
have thinner around for cleanup. Aerosol lacquers require
no thinner, of course, but it’s nice to have thinner on hand. If
you decide to use spray equipment, always thin nitrocellu-
lose lacquers with nitrocellulose thinner only.
Do
wipe the aerosol tip often. Aerosol lacquers have a ten-
dency to spit if the tip gets clogged. Also, you can clean the
tip by turning the can upside down and spraying until the
spray stream stops. It’s recommended that you do this each
time you are done spraying in order to keep the tip clean.
Do
buy a can of aerosol blush eraser for lifting the bluish
haze that can occur when moisture is trapped in the lacquer
finish. Blushing can result from humid conditions, or if the
coat is sprayed too heavily.
Do
let the surface dry for 24 hours if you get a run in the fin-
ish. Then level-sand the problem area. If you touch wet
lacquer, you’ll leave a deep impression which will be much
more difficult to fix.
Finishing with a traditional sunburst
Dos and don’ts
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