Winter 2017 Build Off - Speak of the Devil

[mapleglo]

You might want to swap holes for the controls, give yourself a little more finger room for the knob.

The positioning of the knob and jack are deliberate, due to the limited space I have. I drilled the original jack hole in the body, and then routed the roundover to fit just the one hole before Bruce made the suggestion to counter sink the whole assembly. Perhaps next time I can allow for a bit more room and adjust accordingly. I'll just have to buy a tall, thin knob.

Can you make a secondary cover plate to cover the perimeter of the wood cutout and aluminum angle? Then you don't need to bother prettifying it up. Cool concept. You could just set volume and forget it most of the time.

Possible. It may just be easier to pretty up the cavity. We'll see.

As I mentioned, I went to the Tech Shop today.

I shortened the flame graphic to fit in the machine, so I could engrave it square as opposed to diagonal. That saved a lot of time. Each pass took only about 10 minutes, as opposed to a half hour.

I also did a couple of goat heads for the truss rod cover. I'm thinking of filling those with either black or red colored epoxy.

 

[mapleglo]

Goat head installed.

I'll have to get a couple of black screws.

At this point, I need to do a little more fret work, some final sanding, and then I can start painting. I have some brown and black colorant on order, which should arrive later this week.

 

[mapleglo]

Fretwork.

I thought I disliked wet sanding, until I started doing fretwork. It's almost enough to make me want to play fretless.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

I start crowning my frets today, first time ever. Looks like you are using Stewmac diamond files? I got a set of safe edge triangular files and the sandingsticks with the continuous little sanding belt, we'll see how it goes. My usual M.O. on first time work: go slow. Any tips or advice now that you have a few fret jobs done?

 

[mapleglo]

I start crowning my frets today, first time ever. Looks like you are using Stewmac diamond files? I got a set of safe edge triangular files and the sandingsticks with the continuous little sanding belt, we'll see how it goes. My usual M.O. on first time work: go slow. Any tips or advice now that you have a few fret jobs done?

I have the StewMac files, but they are not the diamond variety. I use those fretboard shield things to protect the fretboard while I work, and use the triangle file to make a trapezoid shape after leveling. Then I use the crowning files to put a dome on top of the trapezoid. I use a Sharpie to mark up the top of the fret after leveling, and then again after the first round of making the trapezoid. I like to leave as thin a line as I can during the trapezoid shaping. I don't know how I would do it without the metal fretboard protectors - those are invaluable. The first time I did it I used tape. That did not go well.

And yeah, a little bit at a time, especially at first, when you're kind of gauging how much force to use to file the metal off the fret.

 

[Bruce Johnson]

A quick tip about those stainless fretboard protectors:

Use two strips of black electrical tape, one down either side, half on the stainless, half overhanging. That will allow you to stick it down to the fingerboard, so you can work on that fret with both hands. When you are done with that fret, pull it up, move it over, and stick it down over the next fret. I can usually go down the whole fretboard before needing to replace the tape strips.

Also, the black electrical tape itself is much better protection against file nicks than masking tape. A single errant swipe of a file can go right through masking tape. Yes, I know this from experience!

 

[Freekmagnet]

It is done.

I was thinking about this on bike ride this morning, and I gotta say that this rates about a 10 on the Richter Scale of Rocking.

 

[mapleglo]

Ist coat of clear. Notice my hermetically sealed paint booth. Not. Anyway, I'll lay on a few coats of clear, basically as a sealer, and then move on to the brown and red - once they arrive from StewMac.

 

[cdlynch]

This is certain to please the Dark Lord. I just hope your fan is blast proof so you don't make yourself an unwitting sacrifice!

 

[Bruce Johnson]

My standard process now with the ProFinisher is:

Base coats: 5 coats of clear right in a row 30 min apart; dry overnight; dry sand with 240 Mirka Autonet; then 5 more coats; dry overnight; dry sand with 600 Autonet. The base coats should be a nearly perfect clear satin finish, before starting any color coats.

Color coats: 5-10 coats, with transparent and/or opaque pigments. No sanding during color coats, unless really necessary.

Clear top coats: 5 coats; light dry sand 600 Autonet; repeat groups of 5 coats and 600 sanding until it's all pretty smooth. Then 5 more coats; full cure for two days.

Satin finish: Dry sand 1000 Abralon, straight line with the grain; scrub with #0000 steel wool

Gloss finish: Dry sand 1000 Abralon; 2000 Abralon; buff out with 3M Super Duty Heavy Cut Rubbing Compound; then TurtlrWax white Polishing Compound.

 

[mapleglo]

My standard process now with the ProFinisher is:

Base coats: 5 coats of clear right in a row 30 min apart; dry overnight; dry sand with 240 Mirka Autonet; then 5 more coats; dry overnight; dry sand with 600 Autonet. The base coats should be a nearly perfect clear satin finish, before starting any color coats.

Color coats: 5-10 coats, with transparent and/or opaque pigments. No sanding during color coats, unless really necessary.

Clear top coats: 5 coats; light dry sand 600 Autonet; repeat groups of 5 coats and 600 sanding until it's all pretty smooth. Then 5 more coats; full cure for two days.

Satin finish: Dry sand 1000 Abralon, straight line with the grain; scrub with #0000 steel wool

Gloss finish: Dry sand 1000 Abralon; 2000 Abralon; buff out with 3M Super Duty Heavy Cut Rubbing Compound; then TurtlrWax white Polishing Compound.

Wow, so you're not wet sanding the ProFinisher. Interesting.

 

[Bruce Johnson]

Yes, I messed around with wet sanding Varathane and ProFinisher for a long time, and never got good results.

The magic solution that I've been searching for is this heavy rubbing compound: 3M 05954 Super Duty Rubbing Compound
Amazon.com: 3M 05954 Super Duty Compound - 1 Quart: Automotive

This stuff isn't cheap, about $25/quart, but it really works well. It removes 1000 grit scratches and takes the surface up to a dull gloss. It covers the whole step in place of wet sanding, in far less work, with less chance of sand-throughs. I use a cloth to wipe a small amount on the surface and go over it with a soft unsewn cotton buffing wheel. About three passes usually does it.

From there, once over with any finer rubbing/polishing compound will take it up to a high gloss. I've been using either Meguiar's Ultimate or TurtleWax white paste Polishing Compound. No problems with any of these compounds causing witness lines, even when I know I've gone through coats.

The 3M Super Duty Compound does have a warning about breathing its dust. You should wear a respirator or at least a dust mask when using it heavily.

The key rules are:

After the final group of clear top coats, and two days cure, sand only with 1000 grit Abralon, no coarser. Light hand sanding, straight line, in line with the grain. It should be a smooth even satin sheen.

If the surface isn't leveling out at 1000, then level it with 600, and spray another 5 coats.

After the 1000 Abralon, I've tried dry sanding with 2000, 3000 and 4000 Abralon, but it didn't seem to be any benefit. It didn't really reduce the amount of buffing with the 3M Super Duty.

 

[mapleglo]

Yes, I messed around with wet sanding Varathane and ProFinisher for a long time, and never got good results.

The magic solution that I've been searching for is this heavy rubbing compound: 3M 05954 Super Duty Rubbing Compound
Amazon.com: 3M 05954 Super Duty Compound - 1 Quart: Automotive

This stuff isn't cheap, about $25/quart, but it really works well. It removes 1000 grit scratches and takes the surface up to a dull gloss. It covers the whole step in place of wet sanding, in far less work, with less chance of sand-throughs. I use a cloth to wipe a small amount on the surface and go over it with a soft unsewn cotton buffing wheel. About three passes usually does it.

From there, once over with any finer rubbing/polishing compound will take it up to a high gloss. I've been using either Meguiar's Ultimate or TurtleWax white paste Polishing Compound. No problems with any of these compounds causing witness lines, even when I know I've gone through coats.

The 3M Super Duty Compound does have a warning about breathing its dust. You should wear a respirator or at least a dust mask when using it heavily.

The key rules are:

After the final group of clear top coats, and two days cure, sand only with 1000 grit Abralon, no coarser. Light hand sanding, straight line, in line with the grain. It should be a smooth even satin sheen.

If the surface isn't leveling out at 1000, then level it with 600, and spray another 5 coats.

After the 1000 Abralon, I've tried dry sanding with 2000, 3000 and 4000 Abralon, but it didn't seem to be any benefit. It didn't really reduce the amount of buffing with the 3M Super Duty.

Well I ordered some of that heavy duty compound, along with some of that Autonet and Abralon sand paper. I'll do anything to avoid wet sanding

The more I look at this delicious maple with clear coat, the more I just want to leave it natural.

Went a little heavy by the "F" hole. I'll have to sand that out before I do the next coat.

The knobs I ordered came in. This will work.

 

[MPU]

Natural looks good, besides the Devil is in the details in this case especially!

 

[Bruce Johnson]

I like the overall wooden tan/brown scheme. An unusual look for a Devil Bass. My recommendation would be to add a bit of reddish amber to the clear over the main areas of wood, and then add a gentle reddish-brown burst around the perimeter. Not much, just flowing onto the upper and lower surfaces 1/2" to 1". That will darken up the horns, which is a standard Devil Bass characteristic.

The recessed control panel looks great! You may have to play with the height of the knob on the shaft, to make it just high enough that you can turn it by the tip.

 

[mapleglo]

I'm still undecided about the color. I have medium brown and black on order, which should arrive tomorrow. I like the idea of a trans brown fading to red, though red fading to brown might work too. Of course, the traditional red fading to black is also attractive. I have so many natural instruments - do I really need another? Well, I have another day or so to decide.

I cleaned up the control panel a bit and moved the knob just proud of the panel "ears".

If that's not high enough, I'll have to trim down the ears a bit. Thinking about this, I think I can get away mounting it with one screw on the jack side.

 

[Bruce Johnson]

How about Tobacco Sunburst? Transparent golden brown in the middle and black around the edges. I painted an AMB-2 in that color scheme last fall and it came out great. Dark and mysterious, but with a western vibe.

 

[Jon Clegg]

+1 on the tobacco burst.

 

[fjadams]

Dark cherry burst. I heard that Keda has an order with your name on it ready to ship.

 

[michaelwayneharwood]

Keda dyes are the bomb.