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The neck was glued on over the weekend and final sanding has begun. My plan for finishing is to use zpoxy, a coat of shellac, then ktm-9. Finishing is not my strong suit but will give it a go. My question is what to do with the spruce top? When you zpoxy, do you do the top as well?
Thanks.

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Keith Lally
http://krl-guitar-building.blogspot.com/

Looks great Keith
Best not to zpoxy top........just spray shellac to seal, then lacquer.

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Dave
Milton, ON

Thanks Dave, will approach it that way. Wish I could spray but I don't have the equipment so this finish will be brushed on.

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Keith Lally
http://krl-guitar-building.blogspot.com/

French Polish is fun. Time consuming but fun. Also, you can always "add on" to French Polish. Good luck, I strung up my first build for the first time today. It was a Prom night like experience in uncertainty and joy. Have fun.

Keith-
Nice looking guitar!
Are those maple back and sides?
You may not need epoxy unless you have a lot of 'holes' around the curls. Epoxy is usually only needed for open pored woods.
You might want to give French Polish a try - if it doesn't work out it's a good sealer base for varnish or other finishes.

Cheers
John

Before finishing my last figured maple guitar, I was in full agreement with John Abercrombie.
After levelling & drop filling, spraying a few more coats & levelling again, I wished I had put at least one coat of filler on first.
The pores showed up on the "uphill" sides of the figure & caused some frustrations.
Livin' & learnin'...
Beautiful work, by the way. Daring project for #1!

I was a bit concerned over the durability of a french polish finish based on other posts here. It gets hot and sticky here on Long Island so perspiration on the finish might be a problem. I'll find that FP tutorial video and check it out again. Not needing exhaust fans and respirators to apply it is a big plus.

The back, sides, and neck are all maple. The zpoxy idea was also for bringing out the figure in the maple. I'll look closely for pores in the figure once the back gets sanded down.

This has been one heck of a project so far. I don't want to rush it now but really do want to get strings on it and hear that first chord. I've never played a real archtop before so really don't know what to expect. Closest thing to it was an es-175 which didn't sound like anything unless plugged in. This will be interesting.

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Keith Lally
http://krl-guitar-building.blogspot.com/

So I botched the fret job and got too aggressive trying to level out the problem. Ended up doing my first refret on a guitar that hasn't ever been played. That is straightened out now and I'm back to finishing. After two coats of zpoxy on the back I just applied the first coat of KTM9 with a brush but got lots of bubbles no matter what I tried. I used a foam brush as per LMI instructions, used the side of the brush, tried different amounts of finish in the brush, was as delicate as possible trying to get the finish on smooth, but still got lots of bubbles. Don't know if these will sand out but could use any pointers or advice whether this is normal or easily fixed.
Thanks.

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Keith Lally
http://krl-guitar-building.blogspot.com/

I did the same thing on my second fret job. The refret turned out not to be as bad as I thought it would be.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Regarding brush-on KTM-9, after initial coverage, I will remove excess from brush and very lightly skim the surface......just nicking the bubbles, remove any excess bubbles from brush, maybe repeat once more for spots missed....hit with 320 or 400 sandpaper with block for ridges or bubbles and you're on your way.

Also, to help level out brushed on finish, I will jolt guitar from side to side (rap on sides with hands)...in theory should help level finish....can't hurt....

Plan to spend some quality time on level sanding and finish sanding....after the finish has cured a bit....

Thanks for the advice. I picked up the Wooster polyester brush from HD as recommended by an article on LMI and that helped quite a bit. There are still a few bubbles which I'll send out between coats. Its looking good so far

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Keith Lally
http://krl-guitar-building.blogspot.com/

So I strung up #1 today and heard it for the first time. Was really pleased with the way the body resonates but not quite ready to call it completed yet. I still have fret issues, mostly on the high E string. Either some frets worked loose or my leveling was no good. Also a lesson for number #2 is to reduce the neck angle a bit. The adjustors on the bridge are nearly all the way up to get the strings where they need to be. I'll probably make a slightly taller bridge base as I'd rather have the adjusters nearly all the way in the base instead of extended way out. Here are two pics from this afternoon.

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Keith Lally
http://krl-guitar-building.blogspot.com/

Keith, you did an awesome job!!!

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Formerly known as Adaboy.......

Looks great Keith. A Benedetto archtop was my first as well. As far as the bridge, you could glue a matching piece of ebony to the base or the saddle. If you're careful, it will be nearly invisible.

Did you use X or parallel bracing?

She looks fantastic Keith - congratulations!!

Thanks all, it feels pretty good I spent the afternoon doing some fretwork and what Darrell suggested for the bridge and she now plays much better. I used parallel bracing on this one just because it seemed easier. Now on to number #2

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Keith Lally
http://krl-guitar-building.blogspot.com/