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The USGA neck arrived, in the typical Tommy Rosamond fashion, i. e. Impecable..
but since the headstock needed to be reshaped, there was a little work to do prior to finishing.
The choice of headstock shape can be a controversial topic, so here I’ll use other photos showing the process as it is shaped into the headstock I use on many guitars.
The first thing is to create a template, of the desired shape, I trace out the existing headstock, re-draw the new style, then using a spindle sander fine tune to the final shape.
Once I’m happy with the appearance, using double stick tape, fasten the template to the headstock.
Now, I use the router to SLOWLY remove the excess lumber, working down to the template, If you’re removing large amounts of wood, you may want to trim the excess with a band, or jig saw first.
Oh yeah, if using tape to secure the template, be certain it is firmly attached, you would want any slippage here now would ya?
once the final shape has been achieved, it’s time to finish sand the bugger.
Since sanding is a concept most understand, I’m not posting a lot of photos, showing my chubby little fingers pushing paper over the lumber, I just begin at the spindle sander then hit it with something like 150 grit, then 220, and finish with 320.
There are a few little things to do to fine tune the shape, mainly the flow from the back of the neck’s profile into the headstock.
I just take a small sanding block and 150 paper and allow the block to follow the natural curve of the neck, removing the hard edges the router left.
once it’s about right, I check in the sunlight, the ‘ol shadow trick, and then finish sand.
Correct any foibles the sunlight may reveal, an that’s completed…
Now, back to our regularly scheduled program, in progress.
This is what I mean by the sunlight trick. By allowing the sunlight to fall over the shape, the shadows will reveal any irregularities in the graceful curves, some may be as subtle as .001 of an inch, but can be quite visible when it’s finished, so a light sanding will correct it and make life easier as you check your finished project in a few weeks.
If you have a fingerboard that doesn’t require lacquer, do not forget to mask it…
Now, let’s make a little amber… I take about 8 oz of lacquer…hey!! You anal types. I said ABOUT. This ain’t rocket science….it’s not gonna blow up, unless you drop your Camel in the acetone laden lacquer.
So pour a bit of lacquer..
and add about 8 drops of yellow… . I’m using Sherwin Williams Universal dye..not cheap and not easily removed from anything you get it on..
Since yellow, is yellow and not amber, I need to add a touch of red…now, you have to consider the natural unfinished color of the neck’s wood as you do this, the very light maple may need a touch of brown also… as I’m mixing, I use a paint stick I have made from a piece of scrap maple as close to the color of the neck as I can find. This allows me to assess the tint as I’m mixing…
Here I’ve added a drop of orange… orange because it’s red and yellow.. a single drop of just red would be too much….
Here you can see the color is about right.. (depending on how your monitor reproduces color)
What you want is a pot of lacquer that is about the same shade as a bottle of fine Scotch, or Amber Bock beer, or for those Southern Baptists, it would be about the color of that sweet iced tea Granny used to make when you were a kid…
now, wipe the neck with a good degreaser, to remove any fingerprints or other funk that may have landed on it… like if you neighbor is outside hosing down his lawn mower with WD 40, that crap can float in the air forever, settling nowhere but on your soon to be sprayed project…
I use lacquer thinner… and don’t forget the area where the tape was attached, it can leave a very thin residue, clean it well…
now. . let’s squirt the rascal.
Oh yeah, when mixing your tint… keep it “thin” you want to have to spray several coats to get the correct shade, this makes it much easier to control. Try to do it in one shot, and you will be washing the neck down with lacquer thinner, thinning your tint and re-doing it. I guarantee.
Here I shot the head, so you could see the comparison with the un tinted maple..
and here’s the neck with one coat compared to one un sprayed…
On this day I had a neck or two going, so there were one or two to compare it too.
Now it’s just a matter of re-applying coats until you have the shade you want. Here’s a tip, don’t do it all at once… leave it to dry for a while, then com back to asses the color. You will get used to seeing he shade as you are applying it, by leaving it, then returning, you get a different perspective.
Once the correct color is applied, allow it to dry for about a half hour or so… like forgetting it for a month is OK too, then shoot the head with a few coats of clear, to make a bed for the decal.
Now that the lacquer has dried for a few hours, I can apply my decal. Since it’s a water slide, I use a special fluid, its called water, great with scotch too.
Let it soak for about a minute, or until is slips freely around. With today’s modern decals, the film is generally a synthetic material and will stretch, so be gentle.
I put a drop or two of water on the neck to facilitate locating the decal.
Then slide the decal off the paper base onto the neck.
I very lightly press the decal into the approximate location, not hard enough to squeeze the water from between the decal and the neck, just hard enough to keep it from floating around.
I do this so I can “eye ball” down the neck, or whatever other visual references, I use to get it located correctly…
Now I “eye ball” down the neck to get it visually “straight” relative to the apearent “lines” of the neck…
Now using the appropriate applicator, I start slowly working the water out from between the neck and decal.
The applicator is one specially designed for this particular use, here you see a roll I keep handy, I find keeping a “Bounty” of them handy is a good thing, also they can be used as a “quicker picker upper”
you will see when the decal attaches to the headstock, then I increase the pressure, to work the remaining moisture out.
If you have additional decals, apply them now, it the same manner.
Just a brief word about decals. Years ago the glue allowed for unprotected decals to have a reasonable service life. Those on Vintage products that are all “chipped” or gone, rarely fell off, they were eaten. The film was a gelatin, some used egg white, so the insects would find ‘em and have a feast.
Today the bugs wont eat the films used, but the glue is much less aggressive, so some protective coating is a must.
Once the decal is set, check it closely in good lite from several angles…
Now I let it dry thoroughly over night, tomorrow is lacquer day…
Well, I was outside, spraying, taking photos, and I realized... there isn't anything to show... ya just squirt, wait for paint to dry, and repeat, over and over….
I put down about 5 coats of lacquer on the whole neck, note, 5 coats of lacquer gives a film thickness about equivalent to one coat of a enamel, poly, etc etc…
I let it dry then lightly sand the decal, to reduce the obvious hump the lacquer leaves… then I will resume coating only the headstock face and resident decal. Again about 5 coats, allow to dry a day or so, sand, then finish with 5 coats….that will take me through the weekend, but .. the body’s about ready to polish, so I’ll be getting to that….
After a little wait, I wet sand to reduce the film thickness over the decal get it approximately level with the surrounding area…
since I’ll be putting about 5 more coats on ‘er it doesn’t need to be perfect at this stage
I do this to any decals that are applied, and check to see it there are any areas with serious “Orange Peel” if so I’ll sand them too, but not to the level I’ll do when I’m ready to polish.
I do the back of the neck too, since it a large flat area, it just makes final wet sanding that much easier..
After this interim sanding, it’s back to spraying for a few more coats…
OK… that’s long enough… time to scratch ‘er up a little. When wet sanding, the choice of grit is really a matter of taste. I’ve heard of some beginning with 320, moving up to 400, then 500, and incrementally working up to a paper of several thousand grit. When I hear that, I wonder what made ‘em stop…
Seriously, there is no reason to go through all that. The finer grits will only reduce the time it takes to polish and buff the finish, but is won’t make it any shiner. I use 500 or 600, then 800 on nitro. On harder finishes, I may take it one more step to 1200 grit.
But here, I’m using 600 first….
Another thing that may help. . . I see some using a block that is way too small, I wouldn’t use anything smaller in flat area than, say. . a credit card. The large flat area helps “block” the surface to a very flat condition. Here, I’m using a piece of Corian that’s about 3 ½ by 4, more or less. I do “relieve” the edges with sand paper to reduce the chance of a slip-up gouging the surface.
But using mineral spirits as the wetting agent, I use circular motion watching the reflection of the lights overhead in the wet surface.
After a few minutes, wipe the surface, allow the residue to dry, and check in natural light.
You are looking for a nice even matte appearance., no glossy spots should remain.
Here on the back, I have stopped early too show how NOT to do it. While this could be corrected as I move up to the next grit, that would be slower cutting, resulting in more work.
So go back, wet it again, and continue sanding until the surface is completely matte.
To do the edges, on a Strat since about everything else is a curved surface, I go to using my hand, this allows great control and feel.
One thing you must be careful about, on the rounded edges, the small area where the paper actually makes contact can come under pretty significant pressure. The paper will cut the lacquer MUCH faster than the large flat area using the flat block, so watch what you’re doing. Get careless, and you will be saying words your Mother didn’t want ya to learn.
On the inside areas, you will find them a bit more tedious to sand, but stay with it until the entire surface is matte.
Now, once that’s done, it’s time to move up to the next grit…. I’m using 800 here, which will be the last….
now just repeat all the above, but you will see, it takes much less time and effort. Just go over everything, watching closely.
since you cannot really “see” the difference between the matte surface resulting from the 600 grit, as compared to the 800 grit, it’s just a “feel” thing, and if you miss a few areas, you can correct as you’re buffing… Just to put things in perspective, I’ve seen guys that wouldn’t go any higher than 400 grit… then buff away.
Now, get in some quality lighting. I prefer the sunlight….check for any areas that may have been missed. They will appear glossy.
Give it a good look….
If any areas still have glossy spots, go back and correct them, ,
It doesn’t matter how small, they will stick out like a lunar crater in the finished body.
You should now have a smooth, evenly matted surface, ready for the buffing wheel.
I neglected to mention, there is considerable difference in the various brands of sand paper. There’s Norton, Gator Grit, Mirka, Klingspor, 3M and on and on. I have found that the 3M imperial is about the best, fastest cutting around.
So we have a nicely sanded body, waiting for a chance to shine. I “charge” the buffing wheel with tan buffing compound.
This product it available from Grizzly.com. It’s not as messy as the liquid compounds.
Then just press and keep it moving.
This took about a minute… really. About a minute. Ok, Ok… so I lied, really about 68 seconds.
This is about 10 minutes into it…
The only caution with lacquer is that it will soften due to the heat generated by friction. This is a “double edged sword”. The soft lacquer takes a polish very fast, but soft lacquer can scratch quite easily too. Jut be careful.
One of the areas that usually get less attention is the inside of the horns; they can be rather tedious to polish. If using a power buffing wheel you must be careful not to allow the wheel to burn through. Particularly on the sharp corners around the neck pocket and heel.
Just take it slow, I usually reduce the wheel speed to the lowest setting.
It’s attention to detail in these areas that reduce that much adored “Home made POS” look to a minimum.
Once this area is completed, I work around the outside edges. Watching, the reflections in the gloss on the body, much like looking at a reflection in a mirror, this will allow you to see any abrasions remaining from the wet sanding, and address them.
And this is the finished product…
And the back……
at this point the body is complete… I will take a good car wax and give it a good polishing.
Next. . . . it’s Pickguard time.
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