Back where I started.....

Well after a lot of sanding and touchup work, I now have the SJ back to the point it was a week ago. I was able to get the neck sand-through repaired to an acceptable level, and the body is now re-sanded through the micromesh levels. I still need to do the swirl remover and polishing but the guitar looks pretty good. I spent a lot of time working very carefully on it so I could get it looking good without sanding through again, and other than one really tiny spot where the first sand-through happened on the body I succeeded. Like I said, I had one very small spot, about the size of a pencil eraser that I barely sanded through. I have hit that spot with my little air-brush so I can touch up that area without bothering the rest of the guitar. I think a buffing machine is in my future. I am convinced that if I hadn't sanded so much with micromesh, I wouldn't have gone through the finish in the first place. It is very disheartening to have a beautiful looking guitar neck get damaged by sand through. No matter how hard I try, once the stain has been sanded through it is nearly impossible to repair the damage invisibly. It really is a bummer to put all that work into something only to have something as stupid as a sandthrough blemish what could have been a beautiful neck. Oh well, such is life. Lots of pictures tonight so hold on, here we go!

First things first. After I made my prototype K-sled, I went ahead and made a real version with a couple of upgrades. The moving and sliding parts are all made of Lexan.

Here is a sample of a strip I ran through it. After some fine tuning, I have it working well. Now I need to make some linings for real!

Here is the back of the SJ after final sanding. The lights are approx. 6' above the guitar.

The top. Note the shine on the tape masking the bridge location!

And the side. Again, you can see the reflection on the front of the rags and stuff. The bridge tape was sprayed and sanded over making it as polished as the top finish. lol

If you look just below and between the light reflections, you can see the small sand through spot.

The peg head with the tuners temporarily installed.

I had someone ask about the 'brass' plate I had on the back of the peghead. Here is a better picture showing that it is ebony. I still need to hit this with swirl remover as you can see some fine scratches in it. It is natural ebony wood that I didn't dye. I kind of like the natural look of ebony with some light grain marks in it. It is a personal preference thing.

The whole guitar front view.

And the back view.

This is an example of the kind of polish that is possible using waterbased finish and micromesh. I am staning about 6' away taking the picture. You can clearly see my reflection in the guitar back. It will really shine when I do the final polishing.

The heel cap and back inlay.

This is my little airbrush I used to touch up the sand through on the side.

This is the repaired sand-through on the neck. Sigh, oh well maybe next time......

Here are the necks for the twins. You might notice the amount of polish I have on them. This is using tru-oil and nothing else. I haven't even started to sand them or polish them. I think I might start using it in the future for my necks. I am very impressed with it.