More Fun w/EM6000

The Achilles' Heel of Luthiery
Ken C

More Fun w/EM6000

Post by Ken C »

Buffed out the EIR OM body a few days ago, and last night I buffed out the LP. Both were done with EM6000. The finish turned out terrific, and I am excited to get them ready to play. Thought I'd share a few pics of the finish. I'll post completed pix in the SIO! area when I have them all buttoned up.

Ken
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kencierp

Re: More Fun w/EM6000

Post by kencierp »

Excellent!! What did you use for the pore fill on the EIR? How many applications?
naccoachbob
Posts: 477
Joined: Thu Dec 03, 2009 9:25 am
Location: Nacogdoches, Tx

Re: More Fun w/EM6000

Post by naccoachbob »

WOW!
Saga makes a LP kit supposedly with flamed maple. I was considering doing it and wondered how to finish it. You just answered the question.
That's two very stunning finishes. I'm gonna find out where you live and buy the house next door. Then TonyinNYC will move in. All you gotta do is direct traffic!
Very, very nice Ken.
deadedith

Re: More Fun w/EM6000

Post by deadedith »

Can i come over and play too??
Seriously, that is stunning work.
Dave b
Ken C

Re: More Fun w/EM6000

Post by Ken C »

Thanks Ken, So much time had passed since I pore filled, I had to go back and look at my notes. Looks like I used 3 applications of Target's HSF. I know I have told you in the past that every time I use that stuff, I swear I won't use it again. It is such a bugger to sand off, and it has to come off the surface completely or it leaves a blotchy finish. I used water based pore o pac for the mahogany neck. The LP was pore filled with pore o pac (sorry I don't have any pictures yet of the back).

Bob and Dave, if you were closer, we could have a big spraying and buffing party!! Line up a half dozen gits and blast away! Bursting was a nice change, and I really enjoyed it. I had never done a sunburst before and own only one burst, which is an American Tele in sort of tobacco burst. I bought a book with dozens of 1959 Gibson Sunbursts. I picked out one I liked and did my best to mimic it. I cracked a flamed maple side while bending for the OLF SJ I built for my Dad a couple of years ago, and I used that to practice on. The yellows, reds, and dark wine were done by hand with tints. I then shot several coats of EM6000 followed by a deeper wine and near black using tints in EM1000. I'd like to do more bursts, but I am not a big fan of bursts on acoustics, and I don't know when I'll get to another electric.

I have now done 7 guitars with Target's water-based lacquer. With each one, the process gets a little better. With these guitars, I tried sanding with 800G between daily applications, but I found I easily got witness lines if I sanded through the 3 or 4 coats I had shot earlier. Despite what some folks say, this stuff does not burn in after about a dozen hours. I changed my routine part way through and sanded with 600G if more than 12 hours passed. Sanding wasn't a casual brush to remove a few dust nibs, but sanding throughly to knock off any visible gloss. I used Klingspor's sterated paper throughout the finishing process. I would then wipe with a clean rag dipped in a 50/50 mix of denatured alcohol and water. This was a tip I got off Target's Finisher's Forum, and the DNA seems to soften the finish just enough to allow subsequent coats to 'burn in'. Still experimenting with it, but it seemed to work well.

Took the wife out to dinner then got the tuning machines and pup rings installed. I need to do a little more research on how to hook up the pots. Maybe I can get to them tomorrow.

Ken
Darryl Young
Posts: 1668
Joined: Fri Jul 30, 2010 6:44 pm
Location: Arkansas

Re: More Fun w/EM6000

Post by Darryl Young »

Those look great Ken!
Slacker......
kencierp

Re: More Fun w/EM6000

Post by kencierp »

Reply posted twice??
See post
Last edited by kencierp on Sat Sep 25, 2010 9:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
kencierp

Re: More Fun w/EM6000

Post by kencierp »

Since the Target HSF is indeed compatible with nitro lacquer I have been using the following pore filling process with pretty good results. The first thing I do is pour out a puddle of the filler and let it sit around until it starts to gel up -- I tried the silica dust thickener for a while but did not like the white residue it left behind. Pore o Pac is good but really, really messy -- so I will continue trying to perfect a 5100 clear filler process ----So here is my current pore filling method.

2 coats of sanding sealer -- I use Deft Nitro --- this is mainly to make the surface "water proof" no need to sand.

Apply the Target filler "with a wad of cheese cloth" push the stuff into the pores with a tight circular pattern.

let that dry an hour then apply a second coat

trick #2 do not sand --- use a single edge razor blade and scrape the off the excess (easy work!)

Apply a third coat let the dry at least two hours.

level with the razor blade

trick #3 "WET" sand the surface with 400 grit (also easy work)

let that completely dry

Spray or brush two or three coats of sanding sealer -- its only necessary to knock off the bump before applying top coat.
Ken C

Re: More Fun w/EM6000

Post by Ken C »

Hey Ken, Interesting approach. I never thought of scraping the pore fill off. I used the silica thickener on the previous acoustic. It seemed to work better, but not enough to counter the thought of all the powder floating around in the air when I sanded. With this one, I brushed the fill on with foam brush, really trying to work it in the pores. I then tried to squeegee off as it was starting to thicken. I found if I squeegee'd too early, I'd pull the fill back out of the pores. If I waited longer, I'd get better fill, but then had to sand a lot. I'll try the scraping trick next time. I do like Pore O Pac for the mahogany, and I have found I can get very good fill with just one application. A second app generally does the trick. I can time the squeegee'g pretty well, so the fill gets very pasty and can be further worked into the pores. Sanding is much easier as well. I have also found that pore o pac doesn't shrink as much as HSF as well.

But I do like the clear HSF when working with woods, especially rosewood. I think it adds more depth than pore o pac.

So when you put down your first seal coats, do you find that when you scrape, you remove the sealer? I have done seal coats under HSF, but tend to sand back down to wood, as I have a hard time telling when all the HSF is off the surface. Curious as to how this works out.

I did shoot a couple of coats of Targets EM1000 sander sealer prior to laying down the EM6000.

Didn't get anything further done on the LP today, but I did get the neck for the OM buffed out, and I got the bridge glued on the body. I generally don't do much staining, but I had some very light flamed lacewood that I dropped in the rosette and stained a reddish brown. I thought I would stain the neck to match. The neck is really nice, but now the guitar is all done, the neck does seem a little out of place on the guitar. I thought the reddish browns would bring out the reds in the EIR, but not so much. Prolly the last time I'll stain a neck any color other than one that matches the body. I'll get pictures up this week, and you guys can let me know if you feel the same.

Ken
deadedith

Re: More Fun w/EM6000

Post by deadedith »

I used Ken Cierp's method to fill my zebrawood 00 and it worked very well.
Dave B
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