Something a little Different
Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 6:37 pm
I Love a Challenge, so when Tony asked me to make him something that felt the same as his National resonator in terms of neck feel , scale length and Body size/shape, I said sure why not , granted it looks a little different, But after a long play this arvo , he smiled and said "I love it" so mission accomplished , he left me his resonator for a week so I could take some measurements, his only real criteria was make it feel the same , and keep it simple . he doesn't like MOP or anything to fancy , I hate inlaying so that worked for me . I made it pretty stiff because he wanted to Run 13 - 56 strings , and I made it with a dead back because he sometimes lays it on his lap , he also requested a longer fretboard to slide up high on but still wanted a 12th fret join , hence the sound hole being a little lower than usual , it has Falcate bracing and was brought into spec using side weight. I started with some Backwood that I had from Steve Gibson , matched it with a NG rosewood neck , some nice Sitka from Brent Cole , a bridge from Tim and a Fretboard of Ringed Gidgee and has some K&k's Fitted . Combined that with all the good stuff I had learned at Trevors Cousre and away I went , it went toghether really well , with a few Hickups at the Final Stage ( Jeff Highland knows my pain) but with a bit of help from Jeff it all came together in the end .
I decided to try the Target Coatings System , and I was happy with the Final result and most of the problems I had were my own fault , But I'll share my lessons with you in case any of you want to try it .
1. two sessions of grain filling with the target grain filler are enough , and only dry sand it !
2. seal with the end grain really well with Shelac before grain filling ( on NGR at least) cause I hade a bit of an opaque thing going on around the end grain , just slightly but
noticeable.
3 . leave a Minimum of two hours between coats . ( don't be tempted to empty the gun with just one more quick coat ) it will blush!.
4. lots of thin coats are the go , and don't lay it on till it's wet and glossy like nitro, cause that's too thick!
5. if it looks a little orange peelish , that's OK it self levels.
6. It dries just fine in cool weather , in fact it does better.
7. dry sand only.
8. it really does 100% burn in .
9. leave it a week or two to harden up before final sand and polish.
10. it was really easy to use , very forgiving , and much more pleasant to use .
11. in certain lights it looks a little opaque at certain angles.
12. shelite its the best cleaner to use , Metho not so much !
Would I use the target coating Again ? well yes, cause I'm pretty sure most of it's shortcomings were more to do with incorrect application than the Product , so I will give it another few goes.
Cheers,
I decided to try the Target Coatings System , and I was happy with the Final result and most of the problems I had were my own fault , But I'll share my lessons with you in case any of you want to try it .
1. two sessions of grain filling with the target grain filler are enough , and only dry sand it !
2. seal with the end grain really well with Shelac before grain filling ( on NGR at least) cause I hade a bit of an opaque thing going on around the end grain , just slightly but
noticeable.
3 . leave a Minimum of two hours between coats . ( don't be tempted to empty the gun with just one more quick coat ) it will blush!.
4. lots of thin coats are the go , and don't lay it on till it's wet and glossy like nitro, cause that's too thick!
5. if it looks a little orange peelish , that's OK it self levels.
6. It dries just fine in cool weather , in fact it does better.
7. dry sand only.
8. it really does 100% burn in .
9. leave it a week or two to harden up before final sand and polish.
10. it was really easy to use , very forgiving , and much more pleasant to use .
11. in certain lights it looks a little opaque at certain angles.
12. shelite its the best cleaner to use , Metho not so much !
Would I use the target coating Again ? well yes, cause I'm pretty sure most of it's shortcomings were more to do with incorrect application than the Product , so I will give it another few goes.
Cheers,
