General Finishes - Instruments

Curly Maple Kalimba Thumb Piano

Charlie Hamilton — Fri, 28 Jul 2017 23:30:18 +0000

This was my first time trying to make an instrument. I followed an instructional video on how to make it, but altered the directions becuase I didn't have the recommended tools. I used a lathe and a bandsaw to make the whole instrument. I use the lathe to make the body of the instrument. I used a bandsaw to make the part that holds the tines. I made the tines out of and old metal rake. I finished the piece with a boiled lin seed oil. I tuned the tines with a note tuner on my phone.

Products Used

Boiled Lin Seed Oil
Curly Maple Wood
Metal Rake

Tribute - Neck Through Hollow Body Guitar

Mike Poorman — Thu, 27 Jul 2017 17:31:18 +0000

This guitar is crafted from Maple, Sapele, and Rosewood. The combination of materials and construction methods I used produced an instrument that has long lasting sustain and a wide array of tonal options. The design of this guitar was influenced by the hard geometric lines seen across many aspects of design, but my goal was to tame that aesthetic while hinting to the original inspiration for a guitar's shape.

The finishing process started by dying the top before assembling it to the body. After assembly, I sanded the edge of the top to create a faux binding effect. With everything sanding to 220, I taped off the fretboard and began spraying lacquer. The unfortunate thing about acid catalyzed lacquer is how harsh the chemicals are. I'll be switching to Enduro-Var for my next build! A week after spraying the lacquer, I buffed the guitar to a mirror finish and installed the remaining hardware.

Products Used

aniline dye
acid catalyzed lacquer

Winning Category

1st Place

Ambrosia Maple Stave Drum

chrisgoodmanjr — Tue, 25 Jul 2017 17:08:10 +0000

Ambrosia Maple solid wood stave drum. Sanded to 180 grit, then finished with 3 coats of General Finishes Arm-R-Seal. Once cured, the drum is buffed with a paste wax and 0000 steel wool.

Products Used

GF Arm-R-Seal

Elysian Guitars Espada 6 String Guitar

Adam Bath — Wed, 19 Jul 2017 18:11:24 +0000

This finish was one of my first forrays into General Finishes Endurovar Satin. I started with the body and headstock stained as black as possible, then I sanded the body back to give it a kind of weathered look.

After sanding the body to 220 grit, I started applying Endurovar with my HVLP spray gun, sanding lightly between coats. The entire finish took only 5 coats, which was amazing to me! I've never used a finish that was so easy and had such incredible results. I was thoroughly impressed by the Endurovar Satin finish, next I want to see how I do with the gloss finish.

Products Used

Endurovar Satin

General Finishes - Instruments

Curly Maple Kalimba Thumb Piano

Products Used

Tribute - Neck Through Hollow Body Guitar

Products Used

Winning Category

1st Place

Ambrosia Maple Stave Drum

Products Used

Elysian Guitars Espada 6 String Guitar

Products Used

Winning Category

2nd Place