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First CBG to leave the nest

Posted by Don Goguen on August 8, 2010 at 12:48pm in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion
Up until now, I've just been building instruments for myself.  A few weeks ago one of my good friends was intrigued enough with my new hobby to ask me to build him one of his own. 

It was kind of bittersweet seeing it leave but it was really great to be able to share the gift of music with a friend.

I took a few pictures before it headed out the door.  Hope it is only the first one that find a new home.  The biggest problem I have is getting my guitar player friends interested.  They seem perplexed by these.


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  • Brett Morgan August 11, 2010 at 2:26am
    That's makes perfect sense ;) thanks for the reply, saved a bit of time not masking up frets ;)

    Brett

    Josh Gayou (SmokehouseGuitars) said:
    It is.

    I used to do that but it turns out that lacquer doesn't stick to fret wire very well at all, so you don't need to mask the frets. Just spray it on and then buff out the frets with steel wool.

    There is no good reason to lacquer a fretboard if it is made from dark wood. You lacquer light colored woods like maple because it keeps them looking pretty. Oils and dirt from your hands will make the wood look pretty shabby in a short time if you don't. You can't really see this on a dark wood because (surprise, surprise) it's dark.

    Brett Morgan said:
    I remember seeing a youtube video where a guy masks all the frets with blue tape before he sprays it, looks like a laborious task...

    Brett

    Don Goguen said:
    I've had no issues with lacquer over danish oil. You just need to give the varnish in the oil a few days to set. The archtop and tele in my profile have a spray lacquer finish. Both are finished using danish oil.

    Danish oil is varnish dissolved in a finishing oil. Think stain and varnish combined together. The advantage to it is that the oil drives the varnish deeper into the grain. This is where the depth comes from with danish oil. Once the varnish has set there is no problem adding a top coat finish.

    Brett Morgan said:
    It came up nice, would there be any problems using tung oil or danish oil on a neck then using clear lacquer over the top?
    Brett
    Don Goguen said:
    For finish I typically use a danish oil for the neck and then finish it off with a combination of bees wax and boiled linseed oil that I melt together in a can on the stove (double boiler).

    On this one the box was a little beat. Also the back on this box is unfinished. I lightly sanded with 600 grit and even though the box had some kind of lacquer sealer, the oil + wax really did a great job of cleaning this one up. I used a golden oak gel stain on the back and a little on the rest for touch up. I was really pleased with the back on this but neglected to shoot any pictures of it. One trick I use to give the neck a slick hand feel is to warm up a chunk of bees wax to soften it a little (20 seconds with a head gun) and then rub it into a soft cloth and then go over the neck. Gives it a nice shine and a really great hand feel.



    Brett Morgan said:
    Looks like your mate got a nice one, what was the body finished with?

    Brett
  • Josh Gayou (SmokehouseGuitars) August 10, 2010 at 5:21pm
    It is.

    I used to do that but it turns out that lacquer doesn't stick to fret wire very well at all, so you don't need to mask the frets. Just spray it on and then buff out the frets with steel wool.

    There is no good reason to lacquer a fretboard if it is made from dark wood. You lacquer light colored woods like maple because it keeps them looking pretty. Oils and dirt from your hands will make the wood look pretty shabby in a short time if you don't. You can't really see this on a dark wood because (surprise, surprise) it's dark.

    Brett Morgan said:
    I remember seeing a youtube video where a guy masks all the frets with blue tape before he sprays it, looks like a laborious task...

    Brett

    Don Goguen said:
    I've had no issues with lacquer over danish oil. You just need to give the varnish in the oil a few days to set. The archtop and tele in my profile have a spray lacquer finish. Both are finished using danish oil.

    Danish oil is varnish dissolved in a finishing oil. Think stain and varnish combined together. The advantage to it is that the oil drives the varnish deeper into the grain. This is where the depth comes from with danish oil. Once the varnish has set there is no problem adding a top coat finish.

    Brett Morgan said:
    It came up nice, would there be any problems using tung oil or danish oil on a neck then using clear lacquer over the top?
    Brett
    Don Goguen said:
    For finish I typically use a danish oil for the neck and then finish it off with a combination of bees wax and boiled linseed oil that I melt together in a can on the stove (double boiler).

    On this one the box was a little beat. Also the back on this box is unfinished. I lightly sanded with 600 grit and even though the box had some kind of lacquer sealer, the oil + wax really did a great job of cleaning this one up. I used a golden oak gel stain on the back and a little on the rest for touch up. I was really pleased with the back on this but neglected to shoot any pictures of it. One trick I use to give the neck a slick hand feel is to warm up a chunk of bees wax to soften it a little (20 seconds with a head gun) and then rub it into a soft cloth and then go over the neck. Gives it a nice shine and a really great hand feel.



    Brett Morgan said:
    Looks like your mate got a nice one, what was the body finished with?

    Brett
  • William McCauley August 9, 2010 at 6:07pm
    that is a real beauty.
  • Brett Morgan August 9, 2010 at 10:46am
    I remember seeing a youtube video where a guy masks all the frets with blue tape before he sprays it, looks like a laborious task...

    Brett

    Don Goguen said:
    I've had no issues with lacquer over danish oil. You just need to give the varnish in the oil a few days to set. The archtop and tele in my profile have a spray lacquer finish. Both are finished using danish oil.

    Danish oil is varnish dissolved in a finishing oil. Think stain and varnish combined together. The advantage to it is that the oil drives the varnish deeper into the grain. This is where the depth comes from with danish oil. Once the varnish has set there is no problem adding a top coat finish.

    Brett Morgan said:
    It came up nice, would there be any problems using tung oil or danish oil on a neck then using clear lacquer over the top?
    Brett
    Don Goguen said:
    For finish I typically use a danish oil for the neck and then finish it off with a combination of bees wax and boiled linseed oil that I melt together in a can on the stove (double boiler).

    On this one the box was a little beat. Also the back on this box is unfinished. I lightly sanded with 600 grit and even though the box had some kind of lacquer sealer, the oil + wax really did a great job of cleaning this one up. I used a golden oak gel stain on the back and a little on the rest for touch up. I was really pleased with the back on this but neglected to shoot any pictures of it. One trick I use to give the neck a slick hand feel is to warm up a chunk of bees wax to soften it a little (20 seconds with a head gun) and then rub it into a soft cloth and then go over the neck. Gives it a nice shine and a really great hand feel.



    Brett Morgan said:
    Looks like your mate got a nice one, what was the body finished with?

    Brett
  • Don Goguen August 9, 2010 at 9:40am
    I've had no issues with lacquer over danish oil. You just need to give the varnish in the oil a few days to set. The archtop and tele in my profile have a spray lacquer finish. Both are finished using danish oil.

    Danish oil is varnish dissolved in a finishing oil. Think stain and varnish combined together. The advantage to it is that the oil drives the varnish deeper into the grain. This is where the depth comes from with danish oil. Once the varnish has set there is no problem adding a top coat finish.

    Brett Morgan said:
    It came up nice, would there be any problems using tung oil or danish oil on a neck then using clear lacquer over the top?
    Brett
    Don Goguen said:
    For finish I typically use a danish oil for the neck and then finish it off with a combination of bees wax and boiled linseed oil that I melt together in a can on the stove (double boiler).

    On this one the box was a little beat. Also the back on this box is unfinished. I lightly sanded with 600 grit and even though the box had some kind of lacquer sealer, the oil + wax really did a great job of cleaning this one up. I used a golden oak gel stain on the back and a little on the rest for touch up. I was really pleased with the back on this but neglected to shoot any pictures of it.One trick I use to give the neck a slick hand feel is to warm up a chunk of bees wax to soften it a little (20 seconds with a head gun) and then rub it into a soft cloth and then go over the neck. Gives it a nice shine and a really great hand feel.



    Brett Morgan said:
    Looks like your mate got a nice one, what was the body finished with?

    Brett
  • Brett Morgan August 9, 2010 at 6:01am
    It came up nice, would there be any problems using tung oil or danish oil on a neck then using clear lacquer over the top?

    Brett

    Don Goguen said:
    For finish I typically use a danish oil for the neck and then finish it off with a combination of bees wax and boiled linseed oil that I melt together in a can on the stove (double boiler).

    On this one the box was a little beat. Also the back on this box is unfinished. I lightly sanded with 600 grit and even though the box had some kind of lacquer sealer, the oil + wax really did a great job of cleaning this one up. I used a golden oak gel stain on the back and a little on the rest for touch up. I was really pleased with the back on this but neglected to shoot any pictures of it.

    One trick I use to give the neck a slick hand feel is to warm up a chunk of bees wax to soften it a little (20 seconds with a head gun) and then rub it into a soft cloth and then go over the neck. Gives it a nice shine and a really great hand feel.



    Brett Morgan said:
    Looks like your mate got a nice one, what was the body finished with?

    Brett
  • Don Goguen August 9, 2010 at 5:56am
    For finish I typically use a danish oil for the neck and then finish it off with a combination of bees wax and boiled linseed oil that I melt together in a can on the stove (double boiler).

    On this one the box was a little beat. Also the back on this box is unfinished. I lightly sanded with 600 grit and even though the box had some kind of lacquer sealer, the oil + wax really did a great job of cleaning this one up. I used a golden oak gel stain on the back and a little on the rest for touch up. I was really pleased with the back on this but neglected to shoot any pictures of it.

    One trick I use to give the neck a slick hand feel is to warm up a chunk of bees wax to soften it a little (20 seconds with a head gun) and then rub it into a soft cloth and then go over the neck. Gives it a nice shine and a really great hand feel.



    Brett Morgan said:
    Looks like your mate got a nice one, what was the body finished with?

    Brett
  • Brett Morgan August 9, 2010 at 3:31am
    Looks like your mate got a nice one, what was the body finished with?

    Brett
  • Mungo Park August 8, 2010 at 10:44pm
    WOW , what a great looking guitar, what a great friend. It calls out to be played.
    Cheers Ron.
  • Mark Lillo August 8, 2010 at 3:02pm
    He sure got a nice guitar. Great job man.
This reply was deleted.