This one is from Paul Norman. Here is what Paul says about the project....

This is my very first guitar project. I wanted to start simple and so I started with a block of very nice mahogany....a rectangle, simple enough. With borrowed saws and router I began. I cut the body as a loose copy of the Ibanez GAX series. It was going to be blue, but after much trial and error and much time spent on the ReRanch message board, it became English Brown Mahogany. After sanding and shaping, I filled with a paste grain filler 2 times. Then I applied 4 coats of lacquer sand/sealer. It was a very nice, smooth, flat finish. After 2 coats of clear nitro, I was ready for stain. The center is left natural and the outer edges to the side are progressively darkened with aniline dye in lacquer thinner. I used an airbrush for this part and for the headstock. I then sprayed untold coats of clear nitro lacquer from aerosol cans, stopping to sand often. The neck was masked and the fretboard sprayed with ReRanch Neck Amber then coated with a satin gloss nitro. The headstock was finished very similar to the body, but without the grain filler. I had to add a little red to the die to make the maple look like the mahogany. Following the ReRanch guidelines, I reluctantly sanded with 600 up to 2000 wet paper. Then MacGuiar's #9 cleaner was used. After that, I finished off with 3M Finesse It II from ReRanch. After two months, you see the end result. All the hardware was bought from either StewMac or on Ebay. It sports 2 EMG Select humbuckers and a Nashville tune-o-matic bridge setup. The neck is a Strat copy on 25 1/2" scale. I cut the headstock similar to the old Vox style. The plastic nut had to go and was replaced with a good Tusq. It plays and sounds just great after many, many adjustments. It has that chime-like tone. After this, my first project, I know two things.....1) I will build more guitars, and 2) this ReRanch website will be my reference bible. Thanks to Bill and all who participate in the forum and help keep this art form alive and well.
Paul Norman
 

Back to Guitar ReRanch Home