Shell pink JM restoration - 8: done.

[fuzzking]

Hey, if it's still rock hard after the sanding sealer (that's what I'm assuming you mean by nitro grainfiller, which is essentially what sanding sealer is), then you don't have anything to worry about.

yes, it's sealer on a nitro basis, so we're talking about the same thing  and everything seems alright

[mcjt]

years ago, i filled a couple of deep cavities on an SG rebuild with plastic wood (silly kid that i was). and as expected, it shrank after a couple of years and left lines. i ended up refinishing it, and cutting pieces of mahogany that i inserted into the cavities. NO MORE SHRINKING!
as your job required not so much depth of putty, it might not shrink as much. i hope so for your purty geetar.......

[fuzzking]

years ago, i filled a couple of deep cavities on an SG rebuild with plastic wood (silly kid that i was). and as expected, it shrank after a couple of years and left lines.

oh no... i didn't consider that! 

[jetset]

Are you sure the tummy cuts aren't original?  I would be wary of using that much filler if not completely necessary.  Even if you buy the expensive wood filler that is supposed to be shrink proof, it shrinks and should only be used for small dents and such.
-ji

[fuzzking]

Are you sure the tummy cuts aren't original?  I would be wary of using that much filler if not completely necessary.  Even if you buy the expensive wood filler that is supposed to be shrink proof, it shrinks and should only be used for small dents and such.
-ji

some folks on the forum said they've seen cuts as deep as this one, but it's hard to judge from the pics i posted, iguess. this one hasn't even got a nice radius, just a rather sharp edge on the back. from all the things i've seen on the stripped body, i guess it's not original at all, to me it looks like a homegrown thing. if i had some pics of deep tummy cuts that look close to the one on this body, i wouldn't have a problem removing the filler and to just live with it - rather than facing the shrinking filler problem.

to all:

any more deep tummy cut pics, folks? maybe i should start a new topic on the tummy cut issue?

[the older brother]

My 62 has a really deep tummy cut... I think I've mentioned that before in this thread 

I'll try take some pics - hopefully this evening. PM me a reminder if nothing happens

[fuzzking]

My 62 has a really deep tummy cut... I think I've mentioned that before in this thread 

I'll try take some pics - hopefully this evening. PM me a reminder if nothing happens

What's most interesting to me is the radius on the back (pics!!! thanks in advance), and maybe you could roughly measure the thickness of the wood at the center of the cut?

I'll carpet-bomb you with PMs in case you forget... 

[the older brother]

At last 

Here's some pics with measurements:

Red line (where the curve is furthest away from the edge): 68mm
Yellow line (the shortest straight line between start/end of tummycut): 310mm


Red line (thickness of body where the tummycut is deepest): 13mm
Yellow line is a reference of where the waist is compared to where the cut is deepest.

Hope they'll help some.

It's a quite beaten up 62 (stripped and natural refinished sometime in the good ol' 70's) so it may be a little off from a non-stripped body (it's thinner than my mij with 2 mm).

[fuzzking]

Wow thanks an awful lot! I'll compare tonight, and if mine's close to yours, I'll sand the filler off and grain fill, yay!

   

[PorkyPrimeCut]

My '59 is more or less identical to older brothers.

[fuzzking]

sorry, no pics right now... i just had to work on it in my little spare time, but pics of the next steps will come for shure.

first thing i did was to take off a lot of the woodfiller (thickness back to 13 mm) - which took a good amount of sanding... i hope it will stand the test of time when finished.
the stuff is hard as hell. i don't believe it will see much shrinking (fingers crossed).

then i dyed the body to a rancid yellowpoo brown, where of course the woodfiller didn't take the color as much as the wood itself did.

then i wetsanded the whole thing 3 times.

then i prepped the body several times with nitro grain filler, each time sanding off to a smooth surface again with 500 grit. each time it wasn't as smooth as expected,
but at some point (after 4 times, maybe) i thought it looked pretty much perfect. i used more of the stuff on the woodfiller area, so it would have an extra protective layer on it.

then i sprayed on an aged white base coat. i still like the gobstopper idea - first white, then orange, then shell pink. but damn, the nozzles on the nitro spray cans i just bought are shit.
not fine enough, but they will have to do for base coat.

as the first layers of white have dried now, i can see a lot of uneven-nesses again. bloody hell. i'll do some sanding tonight and take a pic.

[the older brother]

pew!

I just got tired of sanding only by reading the above!





Looking forward to see some results.

[fuzzking]

worst of all is...

i really start getting into the sanding, it's kind of meditative.

...

Miyagi: Hai!

[makes circular gestures with each hand]

Miyagi: Wax on, right hand. Wax off, left hand. Wax on, wax off. Breathe in through nose, out the mouth. Wax on, wax off. Don't forget to breathe, very important.

[walks away, still making circular motions with hands]

Miyagi: Wax on, wax off. Wax on, wax off.

...


it's only crap when the result is not as expected. 

[fuzzking]

okay - here some shots after taking down the woodfiller and one layer of white (3 runs):

the color representation is not at its best, i had to take the pics at night:

one layer of aged white:


tummy cut re-reshaped



sanding down the white layer (it's become really smooth at this stage) - 400 grit



some sanding through at screw holes



detail - kind of see-through lacquer



the white is supposed to be a primer coat, so i don't really have to make it that perfect, and sanding
through at some spots doesn't make me nervous - but now i can imagine how hard it is to do a blonde
finish. the first finish i did was clear on black dyed wood, but this is the opposite...

[fuzzking]

orange, anyone?

it's only the first run and the pic is not representative - in reality, it's pretty close to comp.o!