Mike Perez Guitar

Name:
Location: Los Angeles, California, United States

I have been a Los Angeles City firefighter for 20 years. I work in the Glassell Park section of Los Angeles. In 1985-1986 I worked for Charvel/Jackson in Glendora, California. It was a great experience, regardless of it being just a $5.00 an hour job. I worked in the wood shop and did the inlaying and fretting. I did get to see Neal Schon, from Journey, in one of his videos use a guitar I worked on and fretted. That was over 23 years ago. I was watching MTV with my cousin when I saw the guitar. I said, "Jim, look, I made that guitar." "And how much did they pay you...?" he asked. "Five dollar an hour" I told him. "Five dollars?...that's it?" Then he changed the channel. Making only $5.00 per hour puts things into perspective. But it still was fun. Now, it's just simple tools and equipment. It ain't perfect, but it is fun.

Friday, July 27, 2007

Finishing continues


I have brushed on five coats of KTM-9. It is looking good. I used the fine foam brushes as they leave less bubbles on the finish. It seems hard to have a continual whole day to apply the finish, so I have to apply two to three coats per day. I sand in between the days as recommended. The stuff dries fast. One hour between coats. This is an amber stained neck. The maple is simple hard rock maple, but with the amber stain, I managed to get some figure out of it. I like the amber. It's Stew Mac stain mixed with denatured alcohol, applied right on the raw wood.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Finishing has begun.


I'm finally laying on the finish. Sanded the first coat of KTM-9 and brushed on the second today. I was going to use McFadden's, but since I bought a whole can of the KTM-9 stuff, I thought I'd use it on this guitar. It is epoxy filled, so it'll go good with it. The only problem was the amber stain bleeding over onto the binding. Once that was sealed, all went well. I am seeing lots of small areas where there are some flaws, but if I burst some edges, most will be covered. It's just a simple project, so perfection is not on the agenda. It's not finished. Final clean up after it's dried properly.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

I sanded the epoxy and neck with 400. I touched up some of the neck area close to the body.
I opted for KTM-9 for the finish. It works well over epoxy and I can layer the stuff on heavy as it is a solid body. I am going to try to burts some edges with the airbrush I have. It'll have to be thin. I thought I'd use the nitro on the Tele hollow-body I am making. The KTM-9 was three years old and Luthier's Mercantile recommended a new batch, so I must wait for the arrival. Next week I should begin the finishing phases.