Quick luthiery/manteinance questions not deserving a thread

[Rubbishplayer]

Currently spraying 2 guitars in nitro and wondering how long I should let it dry before sanding. The info is all over the place, with other forums saying 4-6 weeks, and sites like StewMac saying 10-14 days.

Those of you who have significant experience with nitro, what's the ideal drying time?

There are so many variables, such as ambient temperature and humidity, formulation, etc. The rule of thumb I start by is two weeks, but generally I try to adopt the attitude that there's no short cut and that the longer you leave it, the better.

It's not just curing either. Nitro gasses off for a long time and, after a month or so, you get shrinkage in coat thickness. You might notice this as the grain coming back through, especially if you skipped filler cos it was an Alder body and used nitro primer too.

If you're worried about rapid turnaround and it's your build, consider poly, 2K or even oiled finishes.

 

[Musiscience]

There are so many variables, such as ambient temperature and humidity, formulation, etc. The rule of thumb I start by is two weeks, but generally I try to adopt the attitude that there's no short cut and that the longer you leave it, the better.

It's not just curing either. Nitro gasses off for a long time and, after a month or so, you get shrinkage in coat thickness. You might notice this as the grain coming back through, especially if you skipped filler cos it was an Alder body and used nitro primer too.

If you're worried about rapid turnaround and it's your build, consider poly, 2K or even oiled finishes.

Thank you so much for the input. Not concerned at all with turnaround time, just confused by the wild variability in available information. I'll wait a month to be on the safe side.

I have layed 10 coats of clear per the common recommendation. As nitro shrinks a lot, would you say it is enough in your experience? My prior experience is only polyurethane.

 

[thebeesknees22]

hey fellas!

So I put a warmoth neck on this custom strat body and I got it to fit. But the neck has settled into the pocket more after I swapped out my quick fix ghetto shim with a more proper shim, and now the neck is just a hair too low

anyone know where I can buy some flat shims to raise it a tad? All the ones I see are angled, and I don't really have tools at home to make one.

I'm thinking of just doing another ghetto one with popsicle sticks if I can't find something. lol

 

[Rubbishplayer]

Thank you so much for the input. Not concerned at all with turnaround time, just confused by the wild variability in available information. I'll wait a month to be on the safe side.

I have layed 10 coats of clear per the common recommendation. As nitro shrinks a lot, would you say it is enough in your experience? My prior experience is only polyurethane

Sounds in the right ballpark, but cos I can't see the job, YMMV. I've done jobs where I've done as few as six coats of clear cos the wood/prep/priming/gods were all aligned. But again what's guided me is how it looks.

Ten should be enough, but if you're willing to take some time, do so. Let it cure and gas off and see how it looks. You can always add more later.

 

[nightsprinter]

Do you guys use radius gauges when doing setups on your guitar or just eyeball it?
View attachment 147520

Nope because I use a string action gauge

 

[Asdrael]

hey fellas!

So I put a warmoth neck on this custom strat body and I got it to fit. But the neck has settled into the pocket more after I swapped out my quick fix ghetto shim with a more proper shim, and now the neck is just a hair too low

anyone know where I can buy some flat shims to raise it a tad? All the ones I see are angled, and I don't really have tools at home to make one.

I'm thinking of just doing another ghetto one with popsicle sticks if I can't find something. lol

Honestly, I think Amazon has some flat ones. But you could just buy one with a bigger angle like 1+°.

 

[thebeesknees22]

Honestly, I think Amazon has some flat ones. But you could just buy one with a bigger angle like 1+°.

oh ok i'll look again. I didn't see any flats at first glance.

 

[thebeesknees22]

Honestly, I think Amazon has some flat ones. But you could just buy one with a bigger angle like 1+°.

oh there are some brass ones that just go around 2 screw holes. i think those may work. it'll leave a gap, but it'll get it high enough at least. ..i think.

 

[Asdrael]

Very specific question if anyone has experience with this:

I finished the neck of my guitar, including the side of the fretboard, with a hardwax oil (so penetrating oil with surface building wax basically). Now that I have played it a bit and it's getting worn it, I can somewhat feel a bit the side dots under my thumb. I think that since they are plastic, the finish didn't build the same way and now I am rubing it off at a different pace than the rest of the neck.

Any advice on how to counter that? It's nothing dramatic but it bugs me slightly. Should I wait for the finish to get worn in everywhere? Dab something on the dot and sand it?

 

[Rubbishplayer]

I'm assuming the side dots were put directly into the side of a wood (rosewood?) fretboard, rather than into a bound fretboard?

Normally I'd keep hard wax finishes off the side of an unlacquered fretboard and only lightly oil the fretboard with lemon oil (annually at most).

If you've used a lot of penetrating oil, or a wax finish like Tru-Oil, it is possible that is interfering with the glue used for the side dots. Any substantial oiling of wood may cause it to swell ever so slightly as well, so together, this might just be compromising the side dots, pushing them out so they are proud.

If they are plastic rod inserts, I'd just sand them down. For anything else (e.g. MOP or Abalone, which tend to be thin), I'd wait to see how they settle. Worst case, you might have to remove and reseat them.

Of course, this is theoretical as I can't see your guitar, I'm missing details of what you've done and I'm making assumptions.

 

[Asdrael]

Thanks! It's an ebony fretboard with luminlays, and I finished it with Osmo 1011 (the very thin one), 3 layers. It feels more like the dots are ever so slightly low, but only frets 3-5 and somewhat 7, which is why I think it's might have to do with wear. I guess the best bet is to let it wear off some more, see how bad it gets,and do some minor sanding to relevés everything. A few passes with some 600 or 800 might be all it needs.

I didn't initially want to avoid the fretboard sides with the finish to avoid having a line I could feel. Looks like I was right on that haha.

 

[Rubbishplayer]

Thanks! It's an ebony fretboard with luminlays, and I finished it with Osmo 1011 (the very thin one), 3 layers. It feels more like the dots are ever so slightly low, but only frets 3-5 and somewhat 7, which is why I think it's might have to do with wear. I guess the best bet is to let it wear off some more, see how bad it gets,and do some minor sanding to relevés everything. A few passes with some 600 or 800 might be all it needs.

I didn't initially want to avoid the fretboard sides with the finish to avoid having a line I could feel. Looks like I was right on that haha.

Ah, gotcha: they're low, not proud (which is what I inferred).

Yep, I agree, maybe taking a little off the sides of the fretboard is all you need. After all, a wax finish will likely never adhere to Luminlay and would wear off, creating the symptoms you describe.

 

[Asdrael]

Yep, I agree, maybe taking a little off the sides of the fretboard is all you need. After all, a wax finish will likely never adhere to Luminlay and would wear off, creating the symptoms you describe.

Luckily, it's far from bad (I just know something is off and can't even pinpoint if they are proud of low even with something "sharp"). I will wait a bit and see if anything else happens since the guitar is barely 2 weeks old and then resort to a leveling beam to the side with P800 is there is still something to correct. Cheers!