A NEW Campellone Cameo begins

[Strbender]

Mark is as awesome of a person as he is a builder. As some here know, the last couple of years have been difficult here on the home front.
After losing my Mom this past March I was considering teaching again out of my home. Then 2 days before my 65th birthday the bank informed me that I have to sell the house which I wasn't expecting. In my town a 1 bedroom apartment starts around $2k US plus utilities! So I'm now working at a local greenhouse-flowershop and seeing how my hands will do. During this time I've been contacted by Mark several times with a start date. I think theres been 5 builds that I have had to pass on. But Mark has always been awesome about it. The last email with Mark he said to take my time and when I was ready he would add me to the next build! That was the best email I had recieved in a long time.

[Bluedawg]

Am I seeing this correctly -- does MC stain and finish his instruments with the bindings already attached ? I see he masks the fb and hs's on each, but - ??
Is this more of MC's sorcery ? : )


Sorry for this dumb question - - and thanks..... : )

I can't speak for Mark C., but Gibson and most guitar makers stain and finish the guitars with the binding already attached.

They then scrape the finish off the binding. Apparently, they tried several approaches to this over the last century and determined that's the best way to do it.

[Hammertone]

Words are important. MC does not "stain and finish his instruments." After the binding is completed, and the neck attached to the body, the main steps are:
-seal the raw wood with a spray-on sealer, generally clear;
-spray on a nitro-cellulose lacquer finish in one of his colours and styles;
-the coloured/tinted finish sits on the sealer coat and does not penetrate into the wood;
-scrape the binding to remove the coloured finish;
-spray the instrument with a clear nitro-cellulose lacquer;
-polish the finish to a high gloss.
There are usually multiple coats of finish involved for these steps, sanding between the various steps, and finsh drying/curing time involved. This is the typical way to finish instruments with nitro-cellulose lacquer.

[guildx500]

That is one fantastic looking guitar.

[Rograt]

Here is a work in progress scraping of the binding to add to the excellent answers above. Only thing I would add is that binding scraping varies greatly in quality. Marks work here is flawless (as usual).

[Dennis D]

I can't speak for Mark C., but Gibson and most guitar makers stain and finish the guitars with the binding already attached.

They then scrape the finish off the binding. Apparently, they tried several approaches to this over the last century and determined that's the best way to do it.

That sure seems like a risky proposition. What tools are used, and is the body masked at any time ?

I mean, I had all I could do to glue a model airplane back in the day.... : )

[Bluedawg]

That sure seems like a risky proposition. What tools are used, and is the body masked at any time ?

I mean, I had all I could do to glue a model airplane back in the day.... : )

I have toured a few guitar factories, including Gibson in Nashville and what I saw was the fingerboards and headstocks masked when the sprayed the guitars.

Check out this video at 35:35 and you'll see a couple of Les Pauls in the spray booth at the Gibson Custom Shop. At 39:00 they are showing the scraping process in action.

Looks like the scraping process is done with very sharp small knives, like a razor or an X-ACTO knife.

Here is the process at PRS.

PRS also does a faux binding technique were what looks like binding is actually a clear coat over the edges of the maple cap. IIRC they do this by masking the edges before they apply the stains and coatings.

Spraying at PRS

[Dennis D]

Here is a work in progress scraping of the binding to add to the excellent answers above. Only thing I would add is that binding scraping varies greatly in quality. Marks work here is flawless (as usual).

........Is that tape, but only at the curves. top and bottom ? Flawless for sure !!

Thx Rograt

[Rograt]

No tape involved. What you see is the finish being progressively scraped away.

I’m sure I saw a pic somewhere of the tool. It’s a small hand tool that exposes a blade at the same depth as the binding.

As usual the tool is only part of the solution. In my hands I’m sure it would be pure destruction.

[rlrhett]

I’ve scraped the binding after color on at least a dozen guitars. It is surprisingly easier than it looks. Just about the ONLY thing about a guitar finish that is easier than it looks.


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[MCampellone]

That sure seems like a risky proposition. What tools are used, and is the body masked at any time ?

I mean, I had all I could do to glue a model airplane back in the day.... : )

I mask just the areas of binding that are difficult to scrape (pics 1, 2 and 3) - for sunburst finishes, the rims are completely masked when spraying the shading on the top and back (pic 4) - when applying the shading color to the rims, tape is used to act as a baffle to avoid having over-spray get onto the top and back (pic 5).

[vinnyv1k]

A sunburst finish is a ton more work then natural.
I often wondered why Gibson charges way more for blonde.
It should be the opposite IMO. More labor hours.

[Dennis D]

I mask just the areas of binding that are difficult to scrape (pics 1, 2 and 3) - for sunburst finishes, the rims are completely masked when spraying the shading on the top and back (pic 4) - when applying the shading color to the rims, tape is used to act as a baffle to avoid having over-spray get onto the top and back (pic 5).

Thanks Mark, as always.

Then, how did you arrive at that neck joint height dimension - meaning the height of the f/b above the guitar body ? We'd learned here recently that Gibson had increased that Gibson had increased the height of their fb's above the bodies, some time post-fifties, iirc.
Would reducing that height, while still leaving a gap for free top vibration, improve ' action ', or playability in any way ?

Thx again Mark.

Dennis

[vinnyv1k]

I do believe the tongue gap is to prevent fretboard tail rise.
There is a substantial neck joint underneath.

[MCampellone]

A sunburst finish is a ton more work then natural.
I often wondered why Gibson charges way more for blonde.
It should be the opposite IMO. More labor hours.

Yeah, funny thing about that - Gibson has gone back and forth with that policy over the years - I recall a time when they charged extra for sunburst finishes.

There are some aspects of doing a natural finish that may require extra attention - you have to start out with blemish-free woods which may cost more - you have to make sure all the wood hues match up well - and of course all the joinery and binding work have to be really clean. Still, with the extra masking, painting and scraping, I think the burst is probably more labor intensive -

[MCampellone]

Thanks Mark, as always.

Then, how did you arrive at that neck joint height dimension - meaning the height of the f/b above the guitar body ? We'd learned here recently that Gibson had increased that Gibson had increased the height of their fb's above the bodies, some time post-fifties, iirc.
Would reducing that height, while still leaving a gap for free top vibration, improve ' action ', or playability in any way ?

Thx again Mark.

Dennis

There are two basic considerations when determining the proper neck set height/angle - you need the correct angle to achieve (1) a bridge height that's within the standard range and (2) a string break angle over the bridge that creates sufficient down pressure - and you need the strings to be high enough off the body so that you can fit a floating pickup should one be installed.