Experimenting with Setting the Inlay

To set the inlay into the headstock I was going to use a Dremel motortool and a 1/8 inch router bit. I copied the process described in this article. 

I decided to heed my wife's advice and do some tests on scrap wood. She figured that since I had so may logos I could spare one for the tests. I argued that if I used up one of the logos, I would only be able to build 14 guitars rather than 15. She was correct, of course. 

I lightly tacked the logo to a test board using Elmer's wood glue. The wood glue was water soluble but dried quickly. Once I was sure the logo would not move,  I traced the outline in pencil and removed the logo. 

I used a Dremel routing platform Dremel 335-01 Plunge Router with a Dremel 650 1/8 Straight Routing Bit, to make my cut.

The Dremel plunge router with the 1/8 bit.

Getting the proper cut depth turned out to be difficult. The inset was only 1.54 mm think and I wanted to make sure that the cut was slightly shallow. The adjustments on the plunge router were too coarse to easily get this kind of precision. After several attempts that ended up in cuts that were too shallow and too deep, I found the easiest way to adjust the depth was to leave the router locked in the down position and then loosen the chuck and move the bit. I could measure the depth by laying the logo next to the bit to see how it compared. After several tweaks, I found a depth that worked. The cut was more shallow than I wanted but it was close enough.

The first cut was a bit loose.

During the experiments I found that the pencil marking was too faint. I switched to a felt tip marker that left an obvious black line. I moved slowly to stay just inside the line. I would then test the logo for fit and widen the shape where needed.

A cut that was not too deep and only a little shallow.

In the reference article, the author used a 3/32 inch bit allowing for a more precise shape. Since I used a 1/8 inch bit, my shape was a little rough but my logo had a much more simple shape.

While test fitting the logo, the inlay broke at the weak spot in the U. This was not a concern as it was just a test, and since the inlay was going to be set in epoxy, the two pieces would only need careful placement.

Stewart-McDonald's black epoxy.

I mixed the black two-part epoxy from Stewart-McDonald and used a toothpick to apply it. The epoxy was very thick and took some coaxing to get into the spaces around the logo. After I thought I had all spaces filled I set it aside to cure. The instructions on the side of the bottle said the epoxy could be sanded in 72 hours. What? That's like three days!

The epoxy covered logo.

Repaint!

While applying the copper foil I noticed that even though the guitar body had a nice shine, there were deep scratches covering the surface. They seemed to only be visible in high-contrast light. After some deliberation I decided that even though the scratches might not be visible in average lighting, I would not be happy with the finish until I did something about them.

My first attempt to resolve this was to resand the existing lacquer. I stared with 400 grit and sanded in only one direction, thinking it would eliminate the random scratches I was seeing. I switched to 600 grit and worked my way up to my 12000 grit polishing cloths. I then used the Meguiar's and the shine was back.

The middle of the re-sanding process.

It didn't work. I could still see scratches but at least they were all in the same direction!

Later, I brought this up with my father and he recommend using only rubbing compound to polish the lacquer. It looked like I was going the have do my own version of Ralph Macchio's Daniel. In any case, the guitar was going to need some fresh lacquer. I had removed so much with my previous efforts that I wanted to make sure I filled the scratches and had enough paint that I would not rub though when I re-polished.

Having just lined the pickup cavities with copper tape, I covered it with 3M blue tape to try to preserve it. I also masked off the sides and back as I was really only concerned about the front.

Masked and ready for clear coat.

I sprayed the Rust-Oleum as I had before. This time I could lay it on a bit thicker as I could have the guitar dry while lying flat on my bench. This would prevent any runs. After several coats applied over two days I hung the body to cure for a few weeks.

Several heavy coats of lacquer were applied and then the 

guitar body was hung up to dry. 

Copper Shielding - Part 1

The body was in good shape and I was too lazy to start on the neck. It would have been fun to start adding all the shiny chrome parts to the body but I thought that might backfire. It might be best to keep the body as it was until the neck ready to go. I decided to add the copper shielding to all the control cavities.

Copper shielding tape added to both pickup cavities.

I bought a ten-foot roll of copper tape from a seller on eBay. I cut strips of tape and began applying them to the inside of the pickup cavities. I used the eraser end of a pencil to burnish the tape into tight corners and around curves. The tape went on easily and conformed well to all the complex shapes.

Applied in strips, the tape conformed easily to the cavity shape.

I was applying the tape on my kitchen table and something about the lighting in the room really made imperfections in the finish stand out. There were a lot of scratches in the clear coat. The more I looked the more I saw. They were on all sides of the guitar. I assumed that this was an artifact of grit getting lodged in the sandpaper which cut gouges in the paint as I sanded. I tried to ignore the scratches as I continued applying the copper tape.

It was no use, I realized I would never really be happy with the finish even if the scratches were only visible in just the right light. I decided to re-polish the guitar. I stopped applying the copper tape since it would now need to be masked while I tried to fix the finish.

Inlays Arrive

The Slouchtone inlays arrived today. It seemed I had my work cut out for me. Adrian had managed to fit 15 on the sheet and it would be wrong of me to not use them all. They arrived reinserted into the holes in the plastic sheet from where they came. They were then held in place by a piece of tape. This was a smart way to secure them for shipping.

Fifteen inlays stored safely in the plastic sheet

The laser left yellow staining

The logos were much more dainty than I had imagined when looking at the printed artwork. Some of the out-strokes connecting the letters were dangerously thin. They would require careful handling. In the future when I started my sixteenth guitar I would have to design a more sturdy logo before sending it off to Adrian and the Guitarlogo-Inator.

Some careful brushing cleaned off much of the staining.
Note the fragile joints between the letters

The inlays had a smokey yellow tint around the edges, as if they had been scorched by some sort of electromagnetic radiation. I carefully cleaned an inlay with a toothbrush (don't tell my wife), and much of the yellow staining came off. I figured that since the logo would be buried in black epoxy and then sanded flat on its face the discoloration would not be a problem.