Official Luthiers Forum!

The newest Luthier Tips du Jour instructional video is on Youtube. The topic is the Sunburst Finish. Subtitles are available in both English and Portuguese and you can translate them into any other language by using the CC option on Youtube.
As always, comments and discussion are welcome.
Enjoy!

Excellent Gentlemen! You have to appreciate a good burst. Just curious. Why do you use tinted shellac and not just tint the lacquer?

Thanks for the effort and I'll look forward to the DVD. Did you say it was the whole build or just finishing?

Thanks!
Danny

You could also use tinted lacquer. However, the first coat of dye needed to penetrate the wood so it was placed directly on the wood with no binder such as as shellac or lacquer. The DVD I mention is a complete build and it shows the finish done on the guitar used in the Youtube video.

The video sounds interesting. How did you guys carve the top?

Hey James. We show a variety of methods, including finger planes, carving tools, scrapers, and an angle grinder. I usually rough out the carve with the angle grinder, then use finger planes and a goose neck/french curve-y (whatever you want to call it) scraper.

_________________
Mike

"The Dude abides. I don't know about you but I take comfort in that. It's good knowin' he's out there. The Dude. Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners. Shoosh." The Stranger

whens the dvd coming out? i would love to give electric building a try sometime in the future. any idea on a price of the dvd if i may ask?

keep up the good work.

We already have one out. It is available at http://www.lmii.com or http://www.apprenticepublishing.com It is 40 bucks.
The one we are doing now is considered an advanced electric guitar building DVD. It should have been done by now but we are way late on this one. It also will be 40 bucks.

Very cool! Thanks!

That sounds great!

silly question but do you leave the bindings a little bit proud of the top so that you can scrape them down to be flush when scrapping with a blade?

Matt

Here's a couple of shots from the DVD showing how it is done

thanks for the quick response , I appologize I wasn't exactly clear. I mean after you have sprayed the burst and you are scrapping the bindings to remove the dye, have you left the bindings slightly proud so that when you scrap them down they are level with the top?

Hopefully thats a little clearer, but yah I know its probably a silly question, I just have not done a sunburst yet and hope to try one if I am daring enough!

Matt

They are level. The only thing geting scraped off is the color coat.

I like the fact of using shellac. Less nitro fumes is always good in my opinion. Nice job on the Youtube Too!