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Neat and professional

Posted by Joshua Amy on January 22, 2019 at 10:35pm in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion

My question is this- how do some of yalls final guitars look so neat and professional? I’m still trying to figure out the correct order so I don’t get everything messy. Inevitably, no matter how long I have let stain set or paint dry it always gets somewhere it’s not supposed to on the guitar- fretboard to neck or vice versa. Any advice to get your neck to have that factory polish or overall look compared to subpar stain and raggedy look?

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Tags: Paint, finishing, stain
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Replies

  • Uncle John January 24, 2019 at 1:20pm

    The neat an professional thing takes care, time, good materials and finishes and some know how.  Youtube and CBN can provide a lot of know how.  I have tried to do a couple of those neat and professional woodworker looking builds.  And if you stay back ten feet, I kind of succeeded. 

    But I like the look of a CBG built by a poor guy with found and salvaged material built on a Saturday to play Saturday night.

  • Uncle John January 24, 2019 at 8:53am

    I certainly do not know.

  • Jerry Jordan January 23, 2019 at 10:20am
    When I started building CBG's in multiples I had a build partner.,.,I supplied the tools and work space.,the other guy paid for half the parts.,.,usually.,we would build instruments at the same time, but his always came out looking more "professional", or "factory made".,.,the main difference between our builds?.,., he would build out the body as a separate part, and then the neck as a separate part, combining the 2 at the end.,.,his necks always were sanded with 3 different grits, ending with 1000 grit.,.,his necks had a mirror like sheen.,.and people bought them up and consistently paid more for them on Ebay than my builds..,in the end he gave up though, as he could not handle the jerks that would leave him negative feedback because they thought they should receives a $500 instrument for $50 .,.,The bottom line is" sand, sand ,sand".,.,
  • Tom T January 23, 2019 at 8:57am

    I guess it's in the eyes of the builder.

    Slick, shiny CBGs can be built by anyone who works at it. It's a matter of perfecting your various techniques. That comes with build volume and changing your threshold of "acceptable". There is some point in your build that you say "That's not going to cut it" and you re-do whatever you were working on. What's acceptable when you first start out will likely not be acceptable on your 20th build. As you learn more technique, builds will look better.

    Now, on the other hand, there are a lot of successful builders who specifically go for a rough, primitive look and it works. Looking rough doesn't mean it's a bad guitar. It all the important stuff is correct, then it will sound good and that's what is most important. 

    So, keep building and your finish quality should naturally go up.

  • Timothy Hunter January 23, 2019 at 8:53am

    sanding.. lots of sanding.. then more sanding with finer sandpaper.....  did i mention that sanding is important??

  • Cause the Blue rat January 23, 2019 at 1:08am

    Photo shop. :) just kidding. Like anything else worth doing it takes time and practice. Besides you shouldn't judge a CBG on how it looks. How it sounds is so much more important. 

    • Taffy Evans > Cause the Blue rat January 23, 2019 at 2:21am

      Sorry it's me again.

      Im a firm believer in that first impressions count. So the first thing a customer experiences in an instrument is the visual attraction. The next thing they want to do is try it, that's when the sound will sell the guitar, I think. 

      How many times have I, or my wife, walked into a store and picked out the item we like only to find out it's the dearest of the range. So good looks attract, sound sells. Ha ha I just made that up.

      Taff

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