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Thread: DC Les Paul Special Build Thread

  1. #121
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    Re: DC Les Paul Special Build Thread

    I'll figure out the chrome covers if I end up getting some. In the meantime I need to figure out what the $*#@ to do about the back of this guitar. It fisheyed again. No problems with the amber. No problems with the clear. I just cannot get that brown to spray without fish eyeing for the friggin life of me.
    Got them Statesboro Blues

  2. #122
    Forum Member Offshore Angler's Avatar
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    Re: DC Les Paul Special Build Thread

    Are you using rattle cans or a gun? If the latter you can buy fisheye killer at an auto paint supply. Actually, you only nerd one or two drops, so any decent body shop will usually give you half a baby jar for next to nothing. It enough to do Lots of guitars.

    Also, you can get a pre-paint cleaner to wipe it down. Heck, bring it over to my place and we'll put candy root beer on it. Maybe some ghost skulls and flames too.

    BTW, been following this thread, as a guy who makes things for a living...very well done. You should be proud of all you've accomplished. I love it when someone takes raw materials and makes a beautiful, functional thing.

    Chuck
    "No harmonic knowledge, no sense of time, a ghastly tone, unskilled vibrato, and so on. Chuck is one of the worst guitar players I know" -Gravity Jim

  3. #123
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    Re: DC Les Paul Special Build Thread

    Chuck, thank you for the kind words! It's been a great experience so far but it's REALLY trying my patience right now. I've wiped it down with Naptha prior to each paint application. Once dried I sprayed it. Clear goes on fine. Amber goes on fine. Brown used to go on fine. Now the brown doesn't. I'm thinking about buying some tobacco brown tinted lacquer from stew Mac as I need to get this sprayed before the pine trees pollinate here. I don't know if I have enough time to wait for reranch to ship. I just don't know what else to do. Everything is pointing to my brown going bad somehow.

    Edit: I just ordered more reranch brown because I was concerned about the stew Mac not matching. Another forum helped confirm that it was my brown going bad.
    Last edited by tugboat; 02-09-2014 at 06:57 PM.
    Got them Statesboro Blues

  4. #124
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    Re: DC Les Paul Special Build Thread

    An update. Had to sand back to wood because it kept on fish eyeing and it looked crappier the more I messed with it. It's still fish eyeing so I'm changing course. Hard to swallow after buying all the reranch cans but this wood just won't stop fish eyeing. So I just bought some preval cans, a quart of Behlen's lacquer, fisheye remover, and some vintage amber and tobacco brown dyes from Stew-Mac. I'm going to sand back to the sealer and spray the entire thing with fisheye remover. If THAT doesn't work, I'll just go straight from sealer to clear.

    Hopefully the fisheye remover does the trick!
    Got them Statesboro Blues

  5. #125
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    Re: DC Les Paul Special Build Thread

    Good luck!

  6. #126
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    Re: DC Les Paul Special Build Thread

    Tug, Keep an eye on the humidity when you spay try to pick a day that is dry as possible. With lacquer the moisture in the air can cause the medley you are experiencing... Good luck with the next application..

  7. #127
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    Re: DC Les Paul Special Build Thread

    Thanks melody! I don't spray until I have a nice day and I don't spray until starting around noon or so to let the humidity settle down. Hope the fisheye flow out helps.
    Got them Statesboro Blues

  8. #128
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    Re: DC Les Paul Special Build Thread

    Finally got a bunch of preval units, a quart of Behlen's lacquer, fisheye remover, and amber and tobacco brown tints from Stew-Mac. Not to mention time to spray and some cooperative weather. Holy orange peel these Preval units are hard to use. I'm close, if not done, on the front (I may add a smidgen of "transition" on one side; the burst looks a bit lopsided to me).

    On my Tele I didn't sand at all until I was done with all cans of clear but on this one I may knock some of the orange peel down after I finish a Preval unit of clear coat. These Prevals orange peel like crazy on bursts. I can't get the guns close enough to get a decent spray pattern when spraying with the guitar horizontally so it just lumps on in clumps. I eventually lay enough clumps for it to look bursty at a distance. I have a few tips I was given to help but I'm hoping that spraying vertically, and getting the gun closer to the guitar, helps it lay on without orange peeling so dang much.

    Here's the front:









    I started the back just now. Same atrocious orange peel issues but otherwise no fisheyes. I think. It orange peeled so bad that it's hard to tell.





    Got them Statesboro Blues

  9. #129
    Forum Member Don's Avatar
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    Re: DC Les Paul Special Build Thread

    I like that sunburst pattern. It looks like there's not enough spraying pressure (though that's just a guess- I don't really know about these things).

  10. #130
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    Re: DC Les Paul Special Build Thread

    Quote Originally Posted by Don View Post
    I like that sunburst pattern. It looks like there's not enough spraying pressure (though that's just a guess- I don't really know about these things).
    Thanks Don! There really isn't enough spraying pressure. These Prevals don't have much oomph at all. I was given a couple ideas to help but it should even out once I go to clear coats and I can spray with it hanging up and can keep the gun closer to the guitar body.

    I might even lightly knock down some of the orange peel inbetween cans of clear as well if it doesn't get a lot better during clear coating.
    Last edited by tugboat; 04-22-2014 at 05:20 AM.
    Got them Statesboro Blues

  11. #131
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    Re: DC Les Paul Special Build Thread

    More progress. I doubt I'd ever attempt another sunburst with a Preval. It's not doing the burst near as well as the Reranch cans but I'm beyond caring about it. As long as it's paint I'm fine. Still working on the edge.



    The Preval kinda just blobs paint onto the guitar. Eventually you accumulate enough blobs to form a very orange peely surface...with paint drips on your amber, of course. Here's exhibit A: the back.



    On my third coat on the sides I somehow got overspray all over the amber on the front. It looks worse in person.



    Part of me is toying around with just painting it solid tobacco brown.
    the paint job definitely looks better from a distance, but as I said above, I'm beyond caring about perfection. Dang if I'm going to strip it off and start over for a 6th time.
    Got them Statesboro Blues

  12. #132
    Forum Member Don's Avatar
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    Re: DC Les Paul Special Build Thread

    That's tough! You might consider spraying the back completely like an old Junior.

  13. #133
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    Re: DC Les Paul Special Build Thread

    I might. The front I'm going to live with but the back I may make it solid like the old juniors.
    Got them Statesboro Blues

  14. #134
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    Re: DC Les Paul Special Build Thread

    Tug, a little retarder in the paint might help. There are different thinners that change the drying time. If the paint dries too fast before it can level you get the effect you have.

    That's always the balance... Longer drying means less sanding but more chances for sags or bugs landing in it.

    The newer water based lacquers are great btw. Go on nice and cleanup is a snap.
    "No harmonic knowledge, no sense of time, a ghastly tone, unskilled vibrato, and so on. Chuck is one of the worst guitar players I know" -Gravity Jim

  15. #135
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    Re: DC Les Paul Special Build Thread

    Dang man, that's frustrating! I think you've got the right idea though, cut your losses and move forward. I personally have always liked the look of a solid color back. I know it's not exactly what you want, but no one will know why you did it unless you tell them.

    Best of luck dude!
    "don't worry, i'm a professional!"

  16. #136
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    Re: DC Les Paul Special Build Thread

    Solid back. On to the clear coats!





    Got them Statesboro Blues

  17. #137
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    Re: DC Les Paul Special Build Thread

    Hardware and electronics are on and it's strung up!!!! Just needs a setup and I'll be playing tomorrow!!!!





    Got them Statesboro Blues

  18. #138
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    Re: DC Les Paul Special Build Thread

    Man, I'd love to have one of those in lefty.

    That really turned out nice, man. It looks great. Pickguard looks great with the P90s. Wow. Stunning.
    If we'd known we were going to be the Beatles, we'd have tried harder.--George Harrison

  19. #139
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    Re: DC Les Paul Special Build Thread

    That looks great!

  20. #140
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    Re: DC Les Paul Special Build Thread

    Yessir Tug looking nice!

  21. #141
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    Re: DC Les Paul Special Build Thread

    Thanks everybody! I've plugged it in to test the pickups but haven't plugged it in strung up yet. I made rookie mistake #1,469 on this guitar and cut the nut slots too deep on the wound strings so I did the baking soda and CA glue trick this morning. Need to run some errands today but once I get back I'll file the nut slots, set the bridge height, tweak the truss rod if needed, set the intonation, and then RAWK!! It's been a long time coming and it will feel so good!!
    Got them Statesboro Blues

  22. #142
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    Re: DC Les Paul Special Build Thread

    Man it sounds great! Still can't believe that I built this thing. I bought Lollar P-90's for it and they sound fantastic. Still adjusting the pickup and polepiece height. Need some more time with them before I have a good review of the guitar but needless to say I'm a happy camper so far! Still have a bit of fine tuning on the setup too.
    Got them Statesboro Blues

  23. #143
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    Re: DC Les Paul Special Build Thread

    More impressions. The guitar weighs about 7 pounds according to my bathroom scale. The body style and the neck angle makes the guitar feel very compact. When I switch to my Tele my Tele feels HUGE in comparison. Not surprisingly the fret access to the higher frets is great. I was really nervous going into building it about the neck profile but not only did that turn into one of my favorite parts about building it, the neck turned out super comfortable. I didn't copy any existing neck, I just settled on thick but not too thick dimensions at the nut and 12th fret and filed and sanded away until it felt right. I love the neck.

    I can get a lot of sounds out of this guitar. It's a totally different beast than my old PRS Soapbar SE that I sold. This guitar sounds a lot thicker and rawer (the pickups are standard output Lollars). Clean they're sweet and bluesy. They still have that single coil "snap", just a LOT thicker sounding. The middle position still has a nice "kerang" that sounds good with the Beatles and the 4 knobs lets me get some pretty different sounds, though I might prefer a better sweep in the volume pots; once you get to about 7 on the volume the middle sounds almost identical to a regular bridge or neck pickup. The neck pickup has a unique sound, I guess partly due to it being closer to the bridge than a typical neck pickup. It sounds very throaty and is VERY reactive to where you pick, more so I feel than most other guitars I've played. The coolest thing I've found so far is to pick near the middle/bridge with the neck pickup on and I get a sound I've never gotten before with a neck pickup. It sounds great with a lot of Black Keys stuff (like "Stack Shot Billy"). The guitar sounds best with that kind of stuff. Thick, greasy blues based stuff (Black Keys, White Stripes, Wood Brothers, etc...).

    I'm LOVING this guitar! It ended up being exactly what I wanted.
    Got them Statesboro Blues

  24. #144
    Forum Member melody's Avatar
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    Re: DC Les Paul Special Build Thread

    Quote Originally Posted by tugboat View Post

    I'm LOVING this guitar! It ended up being exactly what I wanted.
    That's all that matters....Good deal Tug!

  25. #145
    Forum Member Don's Avatar
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    Re: DC Les Paul Special Build Thread

    Quote Originally Posted by tugboat View Post
    I can get a lot of sounds out of this guitar. It's a totally different beast than my old PRS Soapbar SE that I sold. This guitar sounds a lot thicker and rawer (the pickups are standard output Lollars).
    I had a PRS SE Soapbar II, and although I really liked it, I found that it sounded very "polite" for a guitar with P-90s in it! Installing a set of Fralin P-90s did not help. My Gibson Les Paul was a lot "meaner" sounding.

  26. #146
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    Re: DC Les Paul Special Build Thread

    Quote Originally Posted by Don View Post
    I had a PRS SE Soapbar II, and although I really liked it, I found that it sounded very "polite" for a guitar with P-90s in it! Installing a set of Fralin P-90s did not help. My Gibson Les Paul was a lot "meaner" sounding.
    That's a good way of describing it. I was going to say it sounds meaner but depending on how you play that's not quite accurate. Clean it sounds sweet but...assertive maybe? Distorted it definitely sounds meaner. The PRS sounded like a really fat Strat. Nice and polite, nothing really aggressive or offensive. This guitar has a lot more attitude.

    Come to think of it that politeness might be the reason I don't have a Stat (yet). I prefer guitars that have an attitude. Sometimes a more restrained style is called for, and some players just sound best on a strat. Hendrix comes to mind; he plays so uniquely and aggressively that a Tele at full tilt is too much to my ears. I typically roll the tone back when I play Hendrix on my Tele. I've found so far that I can tame a Tele well enough to work in most non 2 & 4 position Strat applications but you can't add the spank and twang of a Tele to a Strat.

    A couple more observations related to my new DC Special. It sounds great through my 1x10 5F1 clone cranked. It sounds great through my Mojo Hand Mule. Don't like it through my Rat clone. It sounds too "honky" in the upper mids through my Rat clone.
    Last edited by tugboat; 12-02-2014 at 01:43 PM.
    Got them Statesboro Blues

  27. #147
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    Re: DC Les Paul Special Build Thread

    Here's a crappy iPad video of the new guitar! No effects, just straight into my 1x10 5F1 clone.

    Ignore the mistakes...I'm a bit rusty after not playing for half of the year due to moving into a new house and being inundated with renovations.

    http://youtu.be/kAdlck2bhjw
    Got them Statesboro Blues

  28. #148
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    Re: DC Les Paul Special Build Thread

    I love it. I was sold after the first four bars. I'm seriously gassing for a lefty version of that guitar. Those P90s are so warm sounding. Wow.
    If we'd known we were going to be the Beatles, we'd have tried harder.--George Harrison

  29. #149
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    Re: DC Les Paul Special Build Thread

    Sounds great!

  30. #150
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    Re: DC Les Paul Special Build Thread

    Thanks Don and ch willie! It needs some help if you want a "screaming guitar God solo". Turning it up higher than I had it helps, at the detriment of the cool rhythm guitar sounds you get, as does goosing it with a pedal. Rolling off the tone control gives you some cool stuff too. Wonder if a compressor might help as well? It's forte is rootsy music and rhythm IMO.
    Got them Statesboro Blues

  31. #151
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    Re: DC Les Paul Special Build Thread

    Here's another clip of the guitar, and some ditties that I think work better with the guitar's vibe. Intonation is improving since I pushed the bridge back a bit more, and the string buzz ended up being a bad string. This guitar continues to impress me! It's crazy resonant. Sometimes when I hit a cord just right the entire guitar shakes like crazy. I'm playing around with strings. This is some DR Pure Blues. I'm going to try a brighter set of strings at the next string change as I'm wondering if these might be a bit too warm. Sound is close mic'd with an iPad so it does sound different (and better) in real life. It does give a general idea on how it sounds though.

    Same amp, a 1X10 5F1 champ with RCA Blackplates and a Weber sit 10s speaker. Clean in the first 3. In the 4th, OD is a Mojo Hand Bule with a Fulltone '69 fuzz. 5th clip is a Rat clone.

    http://youtu.be/i8hih_0XB6E
    Last edited by tugboat; 01-10-2015 at 09:25 AM.
    Got them Statesboro Blues

  32. #152
    Forum Member Don's Avatar
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    Re: DC Les Paul Special Build Thread

    That sounds great! I like the amp and effects, too.

  33. #153
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    Re: DC Les Paul Special Build Thread

    Thanks Don! I love the amp too. I think a 10" speaker is perfect for that amp. The Mule sounds very Tweed-y (and is my go-to OD when I can't crank the amp - which is most of the time) and I just got the Fulltone for Christmas along with a Fulltone Clyde Standard wah. Of course the first song I'm learning after getting both the Fuzz and Wah is Voodoo Chile.

    On a side note, my Tele neck pickup sounds great with the Rat on. My Rat clone gooses the treble with makes up for the volume drop on the B and high E strings.
    Last edited by tugboat; 01-11-2015 at 09:28 AM.
    Got them Statesboro Blues

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