Fixed the neck heel radius issue - now it fits like a glove. Drilled the jack hole in the body as well as the wiring channels, and neck mounting holes in the heel.
And now it's paint...
This guitar is loosely based on a guitar that I played and loved, and should have bought, but didn't - a '59 Esquire Relic that I came across on a used rack a few years ago. So I'm shooting for a similar vibe. And while I'm not necessarily into relic'ing for the sake of looking old, I AM into the feel. The 'old pair of shoes' feel.
This makes life easier in some ways (dust in the paintjob? don't care) and harder in others (I want it comfortable but not overdone.)
In the spirit of Leo, I wanted to knock this shit out like a bean counter. We're not making a McInturff here (not that I could if I tried)....we're making a
plank...and the steps I'm following are from a bill of materials from the fender factory in the 50s listing the steps involved that a builder on another forum posted.
Sanded to 320, then primed:
Let it dry for, oh, 30 minutes or so, then grain filler. No pics of this step, sorry. I purposely didn't completely fill the grain 100% because I wanted some of that "sunken" old lacquer look, not a new plastic-y look. So, in particular towards the butt end of the body, I left it a little raw. But generally you take the grain filler, which is like a thick liquid or paste, and rub it into the grain and rub off the excess. And that's that.
A few minutes to dry, a little touch of sanding and then the black lacquer color coats:
I just sprayed coat after coat until real lightly until I felt it was a good thickness for what I was going for. Then clear lacquer, then hang it to dry:
Let it dry for a couple hours then we sand, sand, sand, sand. And sand some more. At this point, if I were going for a classic factory NOS finish I probably would have let it cure for number of days and then sanded and buffed it out. But again...plank....
So I wet-sanded. 400, 600, 1000. Then micromesh - 1500, 3000, 6000. But no buffing/polishing. At this point it leaves a slick and level finish (except for the aforementioned lack of total grain filling) but still somewhat matte/dull/scratched. Pretty much exactly what I'm going for. A little extra finger pressure here and there to actually bust all the way through the finish, but not too much. And this is where it sits:
Tuners and bridge are incoming - I'm leaving the bridge mounting holes undrilled until it arrives. Then we'll be heading down the home stretch...
