La Cabronita Hueca Precision Build

[MadJack]

I used Tru Oil on my last build for an unfinished neck. Really pleased with how it came out, though I wish I had known I could apply coats every few hours. Definitely waited 24 hours between each coat...

You can do them every few hours, but they have to be really thin, especially the first coat. Having lower humidity (for Florida) helps too.

IIRC, I did four coats in one day on the Peeler P. It turned out great. I can only imagine how three and three are going to come out.

 

[MadJack]

Last night I applied the last coat of Tru-Oil and let it dry overnight. This morning it look gorgeous with a wonderful shine on it. Unfortunately that goosy finish would stick to my hands, but not to cloth or paper towels.. It was not tacky, but sticky. I let it sit for a few more hours.

This afternoon I scuffed the neck down with 0000 steel wool, giving it a smooth matte finish. The appearance of the grain did dull a bit, as expected. I then applied two coats of Gun Stock Wax with a paper towel. This gave it a beautiful satin sheen, with the grain popping again. It's silky smooth with no stickiness. Just like m Peeler P neck, but with more visible grain and without the grey-ish tinge (, which is suppose to go with the flooded instrument theme of the vinyl wrap).


Not the nicest grain and figuring, but much better than the plain, almost white that the Peeler P had before I refinished it. You can kind-a see the sheen, instead of a glossy reflection on the light reflections.

The headstock front is still unfinished, as I'll be paining it with the body for a color matched headstock.

 

[MadJack]

Not a whole lot of action with her today, other than I ordered the set of four HipShot HB7 tuners. They are the only ones of good quality that come with the 18mm bushings, to fit the (highly modified) Mighty Mite Precision neck that I'm using.




There probably won't be much done until next week, when the tuners arrive and when the body is supposed to ship.

 

[MadJack]

I was finally able to order the TV Jones Super'Tron Bridge pickup. For those who didn't catch it above, this pickup is identical to the Thunder'Blade pickup, except it has the full Tron style pickup cover. Also, the rails are radiused and the output is slightly hotter than the neck version(s) of these pickups.

Now I'm just waiting on the body to be made and ship.

 

[MadJack]

I just got notice that the body is finishing up this afternoon and should ship out tomorrow!

 

[MadJack]

Whelp, I've has great results from USPS this week. Of the four packages I was supposed to receive this week, I got one a day late (not a needed item/part), one two days late (the cable below), one that was supposed to b here today (TV Jones Super'Tron), but is still sitting in Jacksonville and one five days late. The last one, the HipShot Tuners were last seen at the Jacksonville FL Regional Distribution Center and is now listed as "In Transit To Next Destination, Arriving Late," in other words, waiting in purgatory! The common denominator here, everything going through the Jax RDC sits for extended time or is pushed to the side.

Good news is I should be getting the body today. FedEx in my area usually comes around this time or a little later. USPS delivered the cable earlier (two days late).

The cable is from Rattlesnake Cable Company, which I though would look cool with this build. It's a pretty close match with the pickguard, so It should go well with the build. I was really amazed with their service, packaging, the quality, the weave and the assembly of the cable. The owner, Hank even sent a personalized video as a thank-you!


The bag on which I used as the background is a light cream color, so the colors are pretty close (no quite exact) to the real colors.

There was an actual rattlesnake skin strap on Reverb that recently sold, but the color were the reverse of the pattern used on my pickguard, which came from a photo of an actual tanned rattlesnake skin. I found another on Amazon, that is synthetic leather that looks decent (lighter and more amber in color) and is cheap. I would expect it the slip and slide easily. I might see what the acquaintance from another forum, who made some straps for me in the past, can whip up.

 

[MadJack]

YEAH! The body just arrived. Thank-you FedEx!

Looks good on the initial once-over.


It does have some decent grain for Alder. The top and bottom are both single pieces.


The black piece is the control cavity cover. I'll likely make a copy on the sheet of cream colored material I have. I think the color would be more appropriate with the Shoreline Gold I'm going to finish the body in.


Here you can see the parting line between the upper bout/center block and the lower bout. You can also see the parting line between the top piece and the lower side.

Here you can see the upper and lower pieces parting line right up by the neck pocket. The top piece is readily visible all around in this view.

The upper and lower bouts and the horns are hollow. The upper bout sides and center block are one piece of wood and the lower bout sides are another piece.

I can't tell you how much it weighs, as it's too light to register on my bathroom scale.

I can now get started on the body work.

 

[2saddleslab]

Whelp, I've has great results from USPS this week. Of the four packages I was supposed to receive this week, I got one a day late (not a needed item/part), one two days late (the cable below), one that was supposed to b here today (TV Jones Super'Tron), but is still sitting in Jacksonville and one five days late. The last one, the HipShot Tuners were last seen at the Jacksonville FL Regional Distribution Center and is now listed as "In Transit To Next Destination, Arriving Late," in other words, waiting in purgatory! The common denominator here, everything going through the Jax RDC sits for extended time or is pushed to the side.

Good news is I should be getting the body today. FedEx in my area usually comes around this time or a little later. USPS delivered the cable earlier (two days late).

The cable is from Rattlesnake Cable Company, which I though would look cool with this build. It's a pretty close match with the pickguard, so It should go well with the build. I was really amazed with their service, packaging, the quality, the weave and the assembly of the cable. The owner, Hank even sent a personalized video as a thank-you!

View attachment 7182840
The bag on which I used as the background is a light cream color, so the colors are pretty close (no quite exact) to the real colors.

There was an actual rattlesnake skin strap on Reverb that recently sold, but the color were the reverse of the pattern used on my pickguard, which came from a photo of an actual tanned rattlesnake skin. I found another on Amazon, that is synthetic leather that looks decent (lighter and more amber in color) and is cheap. I would expect it the slip and slide easily. I might see what the acquaintance from another forum, who made some straps for me in the past, can whip up.

Yeah, I heard the INDY USPS distribution center is notoriously bad and where mail goes to die. Just had a delivery w/ a package that went thru JAX and it proceeded without delay. I must have gotten lucky.

That body is a beauty. The F hole is appropriately sized and perfectly placed. Not all are and when they look off it ruins the entire build.

 

[JRA]

wow, jack, impressive work!

i'm really enjoying this --- it's coming together nicely --- love the snakeskin!

 

[MadJack]

wow, jack, impressive work!

i'm really enjoying this --- it's coming together nicely --- love the snakeskin!

Thank-you! Coming from someone who does some great work, that's a great compliment.

 

[MadJack]

No pictures of today's work.

I sanded the body today. It came sanded to 150 grit. I sanded it completely twice today. Once with 220 and once with 320. I used a palm sander on the front and back flats and sanded the edges and radiuses by hand. I lightly smoothed the pickup rout, control cavity and f-hole edges and corners.

I will likely try my paint booth setup tomorrow and shoot the first can of sanding sealer on the body and first couple coats on the headstock.

 

[MadJack]

One picture for todays work.

After completing the sanding yesterday, I planned on sealing up the body.

But first I had to put the handling stick on. It was cut square and fit tight to the back of the neck pocket of the Peeler P. On this project, it didn't have the fifth hole used at the factory for handling during painting, so I had to drill one. It goes under the neck plate, so it won't be visible. The neck is ever so slightly loose, so I want to paint the sides of the pocket to tighten the fit, so I put a round-over on the handle stick and left ample clearance around the handle.

When I finally got around to spraying, the sky was starting to cloud over. I was planning to put about four coats of sanding sealer on (approximately one can), but I was only able to put three on. It was getting too humid and the sealer was starting to go on cloudy, so I stopped there. Good thing I did, as about five minutes later we got a 3 minute sprinkle. Really?!

Tomorrow it's supposed to rain off and on all day and I have worship practice, so I'll be short for time and the weather won't be good for spraying.


The handle bolted in place and three coats of sealer. I did put pieces of craft/popsicle sticks between the neck pocket and the handle, to prevent the sealer (and later, the paint) from sticking them together.

 

[MadJack]

Again, no pictures.

Yesterday, I finished shooting the first can of sanding sealer on the body and put a few coats on the headstock.

Today I hand sanded the body with 400 grit and the headstock with 400 then 600grit. The headstock started out a bit more finely prepped, from the factory thin satin poly, which I sanded off and sanded the same as the rest of the neck, to 800 grit finish.

Weather permitting I should be able to get a few more coats of sealer shot, then maybe get it sanded Sunday.

 

[MadJack]

The weather Saturday wasn't quite right to paint. The temperature was in the low 80's (nice!) and the humidity was low (for Florida), but it was breezy. Too much dust and debris floating/blowing around. Normally wouldn't be a big deal, but I have no paint booth, so the risk of getting debris in the paint was just too great.

Sunday it just rained most of the day.

Monday looks like mostly cloudy and rain off and on throughout the day. Tuesday, thunderstorms. Wednesday, looks promising.

 

[MadJack]

I haven't been able to work on anything, my laptop crashed.

I got a new one and in the process of recovering files and transferring them.

 

[MadJack]

I finally got to put the final few coats of sanding sealer on the body. I have to give it a couple of days before I can sand it, then I can spray the primer, sand and repeat.

 

[MadJack]

I know, it's the end of the month and I'm finally getting around to doing some work on it. I have barely had time to get on TB, for more than a short time here and there. Oh well, life happens.

Anyways, I got to sanding the final coats of sealer. Getting it ready for primer, sanding, more primer and more sanding, then I can get to the color coat and clear coats.

I did one round of sanding with 400 grit, then finished with 600. I was worried when I started with the 400, as I still had some low spots from the orange peel on the body. I kept working going to the 600 and viola! Smooth as a baby's back side and all the spots disappeared!

I wiped it down and took some pictures.







Now to find some a day to shoot the primer.

It's almost a shame to cover up that grain. That's some of the nicest Alder I've seen in a while.

 

[PaperbackRyder]

Love the way the F hole hits that giant knot!

 

[definenredefine]

It's almost a shame to cover up that grain. That's some of the nicest Alder I've seen in a while.

The body I got from Rosser has a nice grain to it as well. I think Michael must be at least a little picky about which blanks he chooses.

 

[MadJack]

I got to prime the body and headstock today.







Yes, everyone's grass is brown right now. We are in our Springtime drought. This happens most every year at this time. In a few weeks we'll start in on the daily 4pm downpours.

The weather was questionable, but it turned out well. It's been partly cloudy and temp of 87º (F) and modest humidity (55%). It's gone from the minimum side of good painting range, when I started painting, to the upper end. That's Florida weather for you. Only one little mistake, my button finger drooped over the spray nozzle and cause one drop/bubble. It'll sand out no problem.

I'll give it a couple days to cure and then sand it at 600 grit. Then I will give it a couple more coats of primer, let it cure, then sand it to 800. After that I can add the color coat and clear coats.