Gibson '57 Futura Build

[garyptaszek]

Looking good man!

I do like how you combine fancy wood laminations with a painted body.

I like how detailed and precise you are.

As someone who has a hard time being patient, it's very inspiring and you're work product is amazing. Lovin' it.

Thank you for your comments. Today I got the chance to find out just how precise I am. One concern I've had is whether the bridge would fit and if the string spacing would be good on the fretboard. After working on drilling the small screw holes for the tuners, I got a chance to partially install the bushings for the bridge.

Here are a couple photos of the headstock showing the tuners. First, the front.



And the back.



This photo shows the string spacing at the end of the fretboard.



I added more clear coats to the front of the body and started to wet sand.

is it me or is the stop tail off center slightly?

[Perry]

You know, I can't decide if the bridge is off-center or the tailpiece. I think the fact that I used an old bent sixth string doesn't help. Both strings flare-out a little from the tailpiece to the bridge. The sixth string does it more, but that may be because of its greater thickness. I seem to remember that I moved the bridge a little off-center to adjust for the different thicknesses of the sixth and first string and how they would appear at the end of the fretboard.

Just goes to show it's handbuilt.

[ForcedFire]

It looks great. Are you going to buff the body to a gloss?

[Perry]

It looks great. Are you going to buff the body to a gloss?

Thanks, ForcedFire. I'm somewhat limited in the buffing compound available to me. I have a wood wax that I plan to use once the clear coat is levelled. In fact, if you look around the bridge and tailpiece, you'll see that it looks a little darker. That's where I tried to level the finish enough to apply wax.

I think how it will end up is the better I level the clear coat the more shine I will get. The best i can probably hope for is a low but still apparent gloss.

[ForcedFire]

It looks great. Are you going to buff the body to a gloss?

Thanks, ForcedFire. I'm somewhat limited in the buffing compound available to me. I have a wood wax that I plan to use once the clear coat is levelled. In fact, if you look around the bridge and tailpiece, you'll see that it looks a little darker. That's where I tried to level the finish enough to apply wax.

I think how it will end up is the better I level the clear coat the more shine I will get. The best i can probably hope for is a low but still apparent gloss.

What grade of sandpaper can you get? Where are you again? Thailand?

[garyptaszek]

You know, I can't decide if the bridge is off-center or the tailpiece. I think the fact that I used an old bent sixth string doesn't help. Both strings flare-out a little from the tailpiece to the bridge. The sixth string does it more, but that may be because of its greater thickness. I seem to remember that I moved the bridge a little off-center to adjust for the different thicknesses of the sixth and first string and how they would appear at the end of the fretboard.

Just goes to show it's handbuilt.

meh, still better then alot of Gibson made Gibsons

[Perry]

It looks great. Are you going to buff the body to a gloss?

Thanks, ForcedFire. I'm somewhat limited in the buffing compound available to me. I have a wood wax that I plan to use once the clear coat is levelled. In fact, if you look around the bridge and tailpiece, you'll see that it looks a little darker. That's where I tried to level the finish enough to apply wax.

I think how it will end up is the better I level the clear coat the more shine I will get. The best i can probably hope for is a low but still apparent gloss.

What grade of sandpaper can you get? Where are you again? Thailand?

I'm in Taiwan. I can get up to 2000 grit sandpaper. I haven't seen it higher than that. Recently, I found 0000 steel wool. I used to buy steel wool in the States during my vacation and bring it back with me. Then the quality of the steel wool that I found at Home Depot (I know, not the best place to buy steel wool.) seemed to go down. My wife's brother-in-law was able to find steel wool here in Taiwan, but he found 0 and 3. Fortunately, I found the manufacturer's website while it was up and learned that they also made 0000 and other grits as well. I had to order it through a local hardware store, though.

I'm not averse to order some of the higher grit sanding pads from Stew-Mac. I was just hoping to avoid that.

Today, I rethought my use of the product I've been using and decided to apply another type of lacquer that I've used in the past with good results. I believe they are compatible. The product I'm reverting to is called Melamine Lacquer. I apply it by wipeing it on. I do need to buy a special kind of thinner before I go much further.

This is how I left the body today. I removed the bridge bushings. The top and back of the body have about three coats of the new lacquer.

[ForcedFire]

Are you just waiting for it to dry?

[Perry]

Are you just waiting for it to dry?

Thanks for your question.

I went as far as buffing the back. It had a good gloss to it, but I could see a lot of fine scratches, which I thought were in the color coat. I decided to wetsand the finish flat and shoot more color. I wetsanded the front again and shot more color there, too. Not quite as pleased with the front as I am with the back. I'm going to wetsand part of the front again and shoot more of the color coat then clear coat over the entire body.

I'm going to start working on the string tree to guide the second through fifth strings so they won't run into one another. I plan to make the tree out of ebony.

[ForcedFire]

Are you just waiting for it to dry?

Thanks for your question.

I went as far as buffing the back. It had a good gloss to it, but I could see a lot of fine scratches, which I thought were in the color coat. I decided to wetsand the finish flat and shoot more color. I wetsanded the front again and shot more color there, too. Not quite as pleased with the front as I am with the back. I'm going to wetsand part of the front again and shoot more of the color coat then clear coat over the entire body.

I'm going to start working on the string tree to guide the second through fifth strings so they won't run into one another. I plan to make the tree out of ebony.

I think the back is easier to finish since it doesn't have all the routing in it to sand around.

[serial]

Duplicate post-sorry!

[serial]

Here's my Futura 12-looks like your tailpiece isnt centered. Won't really make a difference-bridge placement is far more critical.

DO NOT use steel wool! To get rid of scratches, use a liquid auto swirl remover like Meguiars. Auto detail stuff works well like that. I also use 8000-12,000 grit wet or dry sandpaper for finish touchups-by the time you're up to 12k, it's showroom shiny.

[cmatthes]

I've been playing electric 12s for the last quarter century and have tried them all.

Serial's Futura 12 is the best playing 12 string I've ever encountered. It honestly feels almost like you're playing a 6 string - it is so easy to fret and the spacing is perfect.

Great chimey tones too.

[ForcedFire]

The tailpiece is fine. I think the Gibson 59 LP all had the tailpiece on an angle.

[Perry]

Thanks for your replies and comments. I'm still shooting color coat on the front of the body. I found a few areas mostly around the pickup cavities that aren't as level as I'd like them to be. I'm hoping I can finish without having to buy another can of paint.

I'm actually beginning to like the look of the satin black, but I believe having the clear coat will add protection to the surface. I've been looking into buying some of the micro-mesh pads so I'll be able to sand up to a finer grit as serial suggested. I also found that there is a Meguiars distributor in Taiwan, although their website is not in English so I'll need some help navigating it.

As for the tailpiece, there are several things that might influence how it eventually looks. When I took the photo above, the bushings were only installed about half-way, and also the string slots in the saddles were barely there. I think this is somewhat common for Gotoh bridges. I did have trouble keeping the strings in what slots were there before taking the photo. Anyway, I believe the amount that the tailpiece may be off is small compared to the work necessary to correct it.