Agile refinish project: Covering with fabric

[Norwoodz]

I bought one of those Agile LP copies a few years back. I always liked the guitar but wasn't crazy about the finish. So this one is getting a total overhaul.

I don't have a good place to spray, so this will all be non-spray techniques.

Here's where we started. Already slightly bastardized. Those are quarters glued over 2 knob holes. I'll be going back to a 4 knob config.

A heat gun and a scraper lifted the finish (polyester maybe?) and lifted the thin veneer top.

Top stripped. Then gouges patched up with some Bondo spot putty.

And the back stripped. The burn mark is the debut of my heat gun technique. I did get better.

 

[Norwoodz]

Starting with the back. I used Titebond to glue the fabric.

The fabric is very thin polyester. I did test pieces to make sure nothing would mess with the material. Fabric pressed down and evened out, then I brush a little bit of thinned out Titebond on top to penetrate the fabric.

After the glue was dry, I rough trimmed the fabric and rubbed some grain filler on top, to help fill in the textured surface. When that dried, I brushed on a few coats of water-based Deft polyurethane.

I tried the water-based poly for a few reasons: it seemed like it would be easier on the fabric, and it builds and dries quickly, leaving less dust to sand out than a slower drying finish. It can be hard to get an even coat with a brush, though. I decided to switch over to oil-based poly, since you can really brush it out and get it level. And I know it will dry nice and hard.

I let the water-based finish set for a week before lightly sanding and switching over. Here's after the first couple coats of oil-based poly.

 

[Norwoodz]

With the back mostly built up and dry, it's not done yet, but I can flip it over and work on the top, following the same steps.

I cut out a paper stencil to get the fabric shaped around the fretboard.

I wasn't quite satisfied with how the fabric laid down on the top. More sanding and I'll try again.

 

[Norwoodz]

And back to the back again. More poly.

I brushed on some black stained poly on the neck. The sides will probably get the same.

More coming very soon.

 

[Wailing]

Thanks for sharing, very interested to see the finished result, looking good !

 

[StillLearning]

Redifines "quilted top". Looking forward to the finished product!

 

[Norwoodz]

Ok. Well, the black Polyshades didn't turn out. I've since read that a number of people despise that product. I'll still take credit for user error, but I'll be switching methods there. I've successfully brushed on black enamel to other projects and it turned out very durable. Giving that a crack. In the mean time, I've picked up a little temperature/humidity meter to set on the bench so I know exactly what conditions I'm working in.

As for the Polycrylic... I had used that for the first couple coats once the fabric was glued down. No problem there. Thin coats, and I gave good drying time between. Well, I became less and less of a fan of how the fabric on the top laid down - not quite even enough and I wasn't totally happy with the placement of the pattern. I figured it wouldn't kill me to remove the fabric and do it again. Then the Polycrylic came back to say hello. All over the surface of the guitar was this rubbery film: stretchy and soft, but just hard enough to be a pain to remove. Some major chiseling and some major wood filling to get back to another good starting point. No Polycrylic this time (I like to be open minded but I can more clearly see what people don't like about the stuff).

The back is doing fine. I hit the polyurethane with some wool lube and an ultra fine (gray) Scotch Brite pad. Nice even satin sheen, pretty much what I was going for.

As far as my limited experience product takeaways: I'm not a fan of the Polycrylic. Gummy, rubbery... at least for this job. The Polyshades probably involved some user error but I'll say tentatively not a big fan. The Aqua Coat grain filler did a great job of filling up the fabric and drying into a hard, clear, workable surface for clearing. The Minwax polyurethane is very sensitive to technique, but it dries nice and durable and scratch resistant, and it works fine for what I needed it for. I'd be curious to try other polys and varnishes, but I have no reason not to be satisfied with this product.

 

[The Refugee]

This is wicked cool, can't wait to see where this goes.

 

[moreles]

I've recovered amps (like the one as my avatar to the left) in a similar manner and the results are fantastic. Like you, I have often used simple enamel for various jobs and have had excellent results. I find the off-the-shelf urethans so unpredictable that I avoid them. Some dry fast and hard, while others are just as rubbery as you say. I don't know what cloth and poly may do to your tone, if anything, but the finished cloth surface can be really attractive.

 

[Norwoodz]

I doubt the fabric would do much to the tone. I will say, I've never been a fan of those plastic-ey high gloss finishes (polyester?) that come on many factory guitars. And there often seems to be a stiffness or dullness to the unplugged tone.

Working at a music store and having plugged in lots of different guitars, I can say there is absolutely a correlation between unplugged and plugged in tone; I've just seen way too many examples of guitars sounding just like themselves and the tonal characteristics coming right through an amp (with good pickups). How much the finish affects that I can't say, but to me it's not totally far fetched to think sealing the guitar in a heavy, more stiff and rigid finish could affect vibration. Anyway, not looking to turn this into one of those hundred page debates, I'm just gonna put on my pretty little design and play the dang thing.

 

[Norwoodz]

Oh and cool amp. I can see how this technique could translate to other projects. I'm already looking around, starting to picture other things to cover with fabric once I've got a little trial and error under my belt.

 

[Norwoodz]

Did you bury the fabric to a flat surface or leave it textured?

 

[mux164]

On m tie dye explorer it took a lot to bury the fabric. I ended up having to use two thick coats or epoxy. Then sand flat then clear coat. Word of caution if you use epoxy watch using a random orbital sander.

I had some spots where it made the epoxy soft