New videos?

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Sully, more videos coming soon????


Good question! I’ve tried to write a brief answer for you, but clearly you already know my penchant for yammering on. So with that in mind…..

The videos have been a lot of fun to do, but while I’ve been filming these things and sharing over the years, my main purpose has been to get a guitar company established. I noticed when I did those two fretting videos that it killed an entire weekend. That was kind of an eye opener. Shooting all of it, trying to sound relatively coherent, trying to make it somewhat entertaining, and editing it all later takes a lot of time; time that quite frankly, needs to be spent on completing customer orders. Since I don’t build guitars full time, I have very limited time available, and I need to spend it more wisely.

I’ve been meaning to do a brief update of what I’ve been doing, and will probably get around to it, but I don’t foresee more than a couple of quick hits here and there over the next few months, and possibly going forward. I hate saying that, because let’s face it, those videos have helped me a lot and I’m super aware of that. I’m happy that anyone finds them useful or at least mildly entertaining, and I’m incredibly grateful for that. On the other hand, I’ve stopped accepting any new guitar builds at least until October of this year so that I can finish the orders that I have now, and complete a couple more prototypes. Thankfully. I’ve got some things in place to add some automation, so hopefully I won’t need to stop taking orders for long periods of time in the future.

Runs in the clear

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Hey Sully. I need to ask you some advice. I bought an old Washburn electric guitar about a month ago and sanded it down, sprayed the wood primer, two cans of color and now I'm busy spraying the clear coat. I placed the first can in a bit of warm water like on your one video and then started to spray. There are 3 places on the guitar where the paint started to run. Also the finish feels a bit rough like 1200 grit sand paper which I think is because I'm holding the spray can too far away.

Would I be able to sand out the 3 paint runs? I've finished the first can of clear paint and I have another can.

 

If you’re shooting lacquer from a spray can, don’t worry about the clear coat runs just yet; keep shooting the clear. The lacquer will melt into each other, and you can level sand it out when you’ve got all your clear on there. If it’s rough in certain areas, yes, you’re most likely too far away and the clear is drying in the air before it hits the body. Also, when it comes to using spray cans, use about 2/3 of them; the last bit is mostly solvent, and they’ll tend to spit and sputter when you’re running low. 

Uh oh...I needed grain filler?!?!

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Dude! I need your advice! I made a stupid amateur mistake when I was painting my guitar ( the wood is mahogany) and I started finishing it without knowing that it needed grain filler. The black wood stain and the clear coats have sunk into the grain and I don't know what to do! Is it ruined? Is it salvageable? or what? I've searched all over the internet and I couldn't find any advice on this problem...please give me advice on what to do! :/

 The way I see it, you have two options; redo it or live with it. If it’s any consolation (and I’m guessing that it isn’t), Gibson has done plenty of guitars with no grain filler, so while the result that you got may not be ideal, you can always tell others that you enjoy seeing the pores of the wood; gives you that earthy, natural feel.

In all seriousness, check out www.reranch.com and read their refinishing 101. Lots of great info there about painting your own guitar. Finally, don’t beat yourself up about it; you completed a project (painting your guitar) and learned something from it! That, to me, is a success of some kind. Granted, it’s always better to have someone around to catch you before you’re about to make a mistake, but it’s a process, man. We’re always learning. 

Making some necks

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The one on the right is 3 piece maple, 25.5 scale ebony board, MOP dots. The one on the left is scarf jointed, has a 25 scale, and I routed the headstock for binding. Not sure what fretboard wood I’ll put on it, but will most likely be rosewood. They’ll both get SS frets. I’ve got two more 3 piece maple necks that have been routed for truss rods; they're getting their ears glued on.

 

Transparent finish over Z-Poxy?

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I am currently making a guitar, and I am just starting body work, I want to map everything out first though. I know you must have been asked this a million times, but I will sand the finished body, put on z-poxy, sand that (repeat), then for a reddish finish (similar to that of a cherry SG) I will mix that in with the clear as it won't stick to the z-poxy? What would I use to tint the clear!? I'm completely in the dark when it comes to this and suggestions from anyone would be appreciated! Tanks 

Shoot a thin layer of intercoat clear over the zpoxy (or just use clear if you’re shooing lacquer) so that you have a barrier between that and your finish (in case you have to sand back your color coats) Get your hands on some trans tint (stewmac, lmi, woodcraft, etc) and mix that into your clear. When you get the desired shade, shoot it. Then finish it off with your clear topcoats.