Need help with headstock cracks?

[SamBooka]

This is a new Allparts neck I bought a month ago. Completely unfinished. I never noticed anything wrong with it. I have Shellaced it .. done 3-4 wet coats of lacquer.. wet sanded with 320 and then another 3 coats of lacquer. Didnt notice anything odd (and I have been looking)

After the second set of lacquer coats I wet sanded with 320.. 600.. 1500.. again.. didnt notice anyting amiss. Went to rubbing compoung and noticed these lines from most of the tuner holes.. On 3 of them you can see them and on the fourth you can feel it with your finger. I really feel (and could be wrong) these just appeared in the last 30 minutes or so..

Has anyone ever seen this ? This is my first headstock finishing and am trying to figure it the headstock boned from the get go or did I bone it or is this a sucks but non-structural issue.

Thanks...

 

[walterw]

huh; my guess would be some kind of slight tear-out of the top layer of wood, maybe from the drill press being pushed through too energetically from the back?

that or maybe the water from the wet-sanding is swelling the wood if it got up under there through the tuner holes?

probably in the "sucks but non-structural issue" category, especially if it's never had tuners installed.

the bad thing is when you see a split that bridges the holes, after pressing in the tuner bushings. that would mean you got the holes too tight for the bushings.

 

[SamBooka]

I just looked again from a different angle.. it almost looks like it is swollen up and split so I am thinking maybe the water from the wet sanding.. (didnt think I used that much.. )

If that is it I am going to walk away from this for a few days and reevalutate..

 

[Torren61]

Darla tay my dictate dood.

 

[Laurent Brondel]

Water got into the tuners holes and under the finish with wet sanding.
If you're going to wet sand, you must seal the tuner holes, otherwise stick with dry sanding… Or wet sand with mineral spirits.

 

[SamBooka]

Water got into the tuners holes and under the finish with wet sanding.
If you're going to wet sand, you must seal the tuner holes, otherwise stick with dry sanding… Or wet sand with mineral spirits.

TIL LOL .. thanks..

Do you know what the best course of action is now? I guess strip it down.. sand it flush and start from scratch?

 

[great-case.com]

Unless you can be absolutely certain that moisture will NOT get under your lacq, do not wet sand.

OP: Strip it and start again... and this time, bring the bare wood up to at least 800 grit before your first coat. If you MUST wet sand, lacquer the holes first. Wet Sanding is great but in some circumstances it is overkill and as you've seen it can ruin the work. If you keep your abrasives clean, dry sanding gets just as glossy as wet.

 

[Laurent Brondel]

Do you know what the best course of action is now? I guess strip it down.. sand it flush and start from scratch?

No… Wait a few days and see how the finish looks when the water recedes. You may only need to sand it flat again, or just spray a few more coats. Stripping is extreme…

 

[poolshark]

^ +1

 

[Jack Daniels]

wait a few days. The swelling usually goes down and is almost non existent. Worse case, you respray just the face.

 

[SamBooka]

Well this morning I see it is a little bit better.. not much.. but a bit.

I will wait.. try and fix.. but if it gets messy I will cry.. drink.. and start from scratch.. character building lol

At least I didnt ruin the 25$ logo I was putting on there..

 

[John Coloccia]

Are you using nitro? After it's had a chance to dry out, you can try spraying some blush remover on the area before continuing. It's basically just lacquer thinner with a lot of retarder in it. It will reflow some of the finish...maybe enough that a quick sanding will get rid of the rest of the problem, and you can continue on without having to strip and start over.

 

[SamBooka]

update .. they went down considerably but there are gaps now..
I will throw on another couple of coats of lacquer (their website says it is nitrocellulose) and then try sanding down.

silly me tried to lacquer the insides of the tuner pegs (which need to be reamed out when I am done anyway) lol

That said.. how do you dry sand with 1500 grit sandpaper.. it clogs up in the first 15-20 seconds .. ???

 

[202dy]

How long did the lacquer cure between final shoot and rub out?

 

[SamBooka]

How long did the lacquer cure between final shoot and rub out?

20 hors. Maybe 22

 

[202dy]

Assuming that "hors" = "hours", it would probably be wise to substitute "days" for a good hard nitro cure. A couple of weeks at minimum. Some folks recommend a month or longer.

Once the nitro is hard, dry sanding is not so difficult. Still, using naphtha in a well ventilated area (outdoors if the weather permits) is a better plan. The naphtha floats the particles away. Don't forget to use a squeegee every minute or two so you can observe the progress.