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Terry, there an article on the pegasus website about using a heated chisel to remove finish for the bridge and fretboard extension.

Haven't tried it out myself yet but it sounds good. I intend to use it next time I am finishing up that part of the process.

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Dave Rector
Rector Guitars

Terry,
You can start to make this process easier by masking the areas before spraying. Obviously you want to mask a little undersized of the FB ext and bridge.
Secondly, since you already have finish on those areas, you'll need to carefully wash a little alcohol on the finish in those areas. Alcohol softens KTM-9 quite well. You can use denatured, but I recommend using grain alcohol as it is not toxic.
The caveat of this is if you splatter any on the rest of the finish, it will cause finish issues where the alcohol hits. So try to get the finish off those areas and mask them carefully before you're into your final levelling and buffing/polishing.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

This is one of those ask 2 luthiers how they do something and get 2 different answers. The trick is to find what works well for you. masking off before finishing is a good option, I just haven't been able to predict EXACTLY where the bridge and fingerboard will lie before finishing and setting the neck.
      I use pretty much Cumpiano's and others methods. Once I have located EXACTLY where the fingerboard extension and bridge will lay I VERY LIGHTLY scibe a line around the perimeter with a new exacto blade. Scribe just enough so the marks are visible, be carefull not to scribe into the top wood.
      I next use masking tape and lay it exactly on the scribed lines. Now I will scribe new lines with an exacto about 1/32" inside the masked off lines. I will score the new lines slightly deeper still being very carefull not to score into the wood. If you score into the wood you will weaken the top in those area.
      Next I take a 3/4" hardware store variety putty knife that I have turned into a scraper by grinding the end of the blade flat and polishing both sides. The advantage is that the putty knife is flexible and allows very good control. I run a medium file over the end of the blade to get a good burr. If you run your finger over the end of the blade you can feel the quality of the burr. I start by lightly scraping the finish away from all the edges around the deeper scored lines, working into the corners from both sides. Don't try to take too much finish off at first or you may risk some chip out. Next I hog away most of the rest of the finish in the middle.
      For final clean up I use a razor blade turned into a scraper (see Frank Ford's www.frets.com) to learn how to make one, it's easy.
      After you are done carefully peel off the masking tape and you're done. It takes surprisingly little time to do this. the hardest part is actually locating the bridge precisely.

Lance taught me a neat trick for this...

1. I scribe a line once I know the bridge and fingerboard position.

2. I tape off the area like Cumpiano.

3. I pull out my dremel with a precision base and set the depth just enough to take off the finish.

4. I hog out the whole area and go back over the edges with a razor blade scaper.

5. A little sanding and I'm ready for glue up..

I've done it a couple of ways and like this one best..

-Paul-

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-Paul-

Patriot Guitars

I do it with my dremel also in about 1/4 the time it used too take me to scrap it off and I don't have to worry about gouging to deep with a chisel or whatever. Ya gotta be carefull but the dremel set just deep enough to rout off the finish is pretty easy to control.John How38403.6380671296

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Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

I use tape around the bridge like Cumpiano does and then just a standard Precision base for my dremel and a 1/8" upcut spiral bit (you can get all that stuff from Stew-Mac).

There are only two tricks to doing this:

1. Take the time to set the bit depth correctly, you can make multiple passes until you touch wood, just go slow.

2. Do try to route the edges stay clear of them and use a razor blade to get those.

Other than that it's very very simple to do..

Cheers

-Paul-

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-Paul-

Patriot Guitars