Ibanez 7-string Mod Project Part 4: Applying Veneer 

Your mistake was that you applied a veneer as if it was a wood cap. The proper method is to use contact cement or veneer epoxy on the body and very carefully align and place the veneer. Then you get a plastic squeegee with a rounded edge and you level the veneer pushing along the grain. When you’re done you let it set overnight (preferably in a warm room) and you’re done. Trimming and cleaning up the edges should be left for last.

Honestly I am incredibly glad you posted this. Most of the time on RU-vid we see these perfect, polished, everything-is-exactly-right the first time projects and it makes it seem like everything should just work every time. In this case we can see where it didn't work, we learned a lot of valuable lessons, and honesty i bet it's gonna turn out looking interesting and cool in one way or another, even if it isn't exactly what you wanted. This is great.

You used waaay too much glue, thats why you ended up with a "wobbly" top. Great video as always though, looking forward to the next one :p

Thanks for all the constructive critique and tips guys. I really felt ashamed of this since I always try my best to get mint results and this just didn't go well at all. I'm sure you'll dig the final result anyway!

You soaked the veneer because use too much glue.

A great way to clamp irregular/round shapes together is with rubber bands. Ideally you want something rather wide and long, cutting strips from bicycle tire tubes is easy and pretty cheap. Also you can bend veneer sheets to shape with a clothes iron, and try to use, like, a third of the glue you were using.

Hello! I just applied a veneer to an Ibanez after watching your video. I used less glue, but still had the issue of the veneer not being completely flat on the arm contour. I found a method of using a clothing iron to iron out the bubbles and it worked really well. Thank you for making this video!

If you only glue the flat section first, after it's dry, it's a simple matter to fold and glue the veneer over the arm bevel. The excess glue doesn't squeeze out. It soak into the veneer.

Dude it looks awesome as it is. You have a truly unique guitar. Who can say that they applied their own veneer? Don't worry about the mistakes, no-one became an expert on the first try. I think the cuts give it a cool look, very metal!

It´s funny because watching your video is just one half of learning. Reading all these comments here really helps! Thank you all, guys :)

Don't worry about mistakes done too much, you have learned so much from them. You can never really learn from mistakes of others, this is way more authentic and enlightening when it comes to knowing how materials react and so on. I did a project that took me a long time since I had many breaks, I had been working on a restoration of a flamenco vintage guitar - a very expensive master instrument of a famous Granada based master luthier.. It was in a sad sad condition, but I have given it a new life. over 30 small and large cracks, removing fingerboard and placing a new ebony one which I carefully hand-crafted, making a new saddle from a rosewood plank, some sanding, filling in the whole left after some of the former owners diletante job - I also did many mistakes, neck needed readjustment of the angle and even the action of strings up, so part was done with a bit thicker fingerboard, but the biggest concern was to stay within the proper geometry and evenness. As a matter of fact, I didn't screw that part up, but nefore I got there, I had to disattach the old fingerboard I had p[laced a piece of wood under to elevate the fingerboard, but it didn't work, sound was terrible and it looked realle bad. I hope to make a video about it and mention all fundamental truths I have learned. But all I'm left with is approx 300 photos, partially covering the steps. It was an interesting project for sure and the guitar plays really well - sounds so much better than her beaten up and nearly destroyed former self. I have learned so much about restorations and partially about construction of flamenco guitars that I'm sure I wouldn't by just theorizing about it or beaing afraid to even start. Surely, I have spent years of theoretical studies and learning about flamenco guitars, I play the guitar myself and back in the day, that purchase was crucial to me, since I desperately wanted to own the ''real deal'' (even if damaged). Frankly, I hadn't got spare 8 grand to afford a new one. ;) It was really interesting to watch your learning process. Be well, and rock on.

Yay ! Finally a new episode ! I love these videos, ahah !

in my land they say - that ain't no metter the way You start but it's metter the way You finish! Greets!

Well played mate. It takes a big man to admit their mistakes and a bigger one to film them for RU-vid. This vid is MUCH more valuable than so many on RU-vid, where, as someone mentioned below, everything always turns out perfect 🤔

There is a best way which is a vacuum bag attached to a pump under a certain pressure and way is adding a foam block which can Ben at certain areas looking to hear from you soon thank you mate

Brilliant video mate :) . Looks great don't be harsh on yourself. I'm in the same position and when I RU-vidd what I was stuck on, a few of your videos popped up :) . I've never done any form of woodwork before so I'm wondering if I've made a mistake! 🤣🤣 I'm making a plywood body and I'm torn between a veneer,wood effect vinyl or just a stain straight onto the wood. Probably edging towards a veneer,as it means I don't have to bevel much 😅. Also I know how much of a nightmare vinyl is to fit when you have curves. I know you were pissed off about it but it's actually nice to watch a video that shows your mistakes. Firstly it's a great reference point for you to know how far you've come. Secondly for me it's nice to see someone making the same mistakes as yourself,it's really really inspired me and made me believe I can finish my build. So I just want to say thank you for the motivation and great job on your guitar :)

This must have been the hardest video you've ever made, good luck with the next parts 👍🏻

I do not think I have ever used that much glue even on my art projects. Brave man.

It looks very complicated and precise! You should be proud of yourself! You did a great job!

You're the man for that. Greetings from the Lamb of God in Colombia in South America.

I could be wrong, but I've seen somewhere a video from guitar manufacture where a guy used an iron to get a proper shape of body top. Keep going, don't give up, this content is pure gold! Cheers Man!

cool stuff. never be afraid to make mistakes. the only way to learn is to get it wrong and correct it! you can flatten veneer and make it more plyable by dampening it with a mix of water and vegitable glycerin. I put them in a spray bottle together mixed 50/50 and dampen (not soak) the veneer with it, then I let it soak in for an hour and then clamp it between some plywood for a day to flatten it. The plywood will absorb a lot of moisture, but it takes DAYS to go completely dry. While its still damp, you can glue it onto the body and use a vacuum bag to make it adhere to the body shape more closely. I wouldn't try to veneer the back of a guitar myself but its an interesting idea, but its far easier to just route out a binding channel around the top once the veneer is glued on and then use binding to tidy up the edge, that way you dont have to remove the paint off the rear of the guitar. cool series tho! im enjoying it a lot

My 1st guitar build I used the same Veneer you did! And your right! That shi* was a “NIGHTMARE” to work with.. for that type of veneer you need a vacuum press and of course like “you” I didn’t have one so I did the same thing you did, just piled up a bunch of heavy stuff to press it down it did work a little better then Yours did but it’s because that arm rest , mine was completely flat.. but your guitar still turned out bada** bro so be proud of it lol.

Keep your head up, you will never learn anything if you don't make mistakes. And there's always a way to turn those mistakes into a good outcome ! Good luck man

Here's an idea for the arm bevel - make a wooden jig/spacer block with the shape of the bevel so you can use clamps to clamp it so the back side of the body.

For future reference, vacuum packing the body when you apply the veneer removes the bubbles and helps deal with the curves. Still add weight to help with the curves, overall it's faster and cleaner. For your first time doing this though I reckon it turned out really well in the end, it's unique.

using vacuum clamping though, you have to repeatedly vacuum the air out for good results, so only use this method if you have a lot of time on your hands.

Love your videos.. can't wait for the next one🤘

You really need to use cold press glue, a vac bag setup (which is available with a hand pump for about 60.00 US) and prep the veneer with a glycerin mix which makes it flat and very flexible.

Don't beat yourself up over it you did the best you could with the tools you had we have to make mistakes to learn things your doing a grand job am sure it will turn out fine and play brilliantly

Always less glue than you might think, and if you end up needing more before placing the top on, then go from there, but it should really just a be a pretty thin layer of the glue that will do the trick, and it will slide the veneer around less. Also if you intend to do more of this in the future, look into using a vacuum sealer for clamping, it gives a much more uniform result even around curved edges. What you do there is pre cut the veneer in roughly the shape of the guitar, but a little oversized, place in the bag, and just make sure it holds strong suction.

I'm building my first ever guitar kit in a week or two and I am picking out a beautiful piece of burled camphor from south east asia (75 dollars) and I'm doing that on a les paul kit from the fretwire which will have some seymour duncan mayems and stuff like that. The thing I am terrified about doing is putting the top on. It's an actual thick top, so I will have to scale it down to size and cut it thin enough so it could be maybe a quarter inch thick of this top. However, it already has a decent flamed veneer, but I want to step outside the box and have a classy looking metal machine that I built myself! I'm going to do the same thing he's doing with the veneering of the control cavities and headstock.

It's great to see guitarists do the modifications themselves. I know some people can't even change the strings or doing basic maintenance of their guitars. I did some mods to my own gutiar too but not this much hardcore. Great job man! And i must say we have the same taste of guitar cosmetics. I would do the same mods if i had skills to do it.

Super inspiring to see the mistakes. I still think you did really well dude. Cant wait to try this myself!

You can tape the arm cut down to act as clamp while gluing. And also use large tape to put half on the body and half on the veneer, this will prevent the veneer to move around whileclamping and also, get you a tighter joint in the center

Hot tip for you who are about to try this, find a shop with a decent vacuum bag system, use less glue, and work quickly. the vacuum will suck out all the excess glue and you will have a happy feeling.

I'm no expert, but a roller would help in the glue application to get a more even coat, and a vacuum bag to apply your lam.

You can remove the fail veneer with a heating Iron. The one you use for clothes. And then when you want to reaplay the veneer again on the top use taitbond and a heating iron on a low heat than get a huge bag of sand to put on top of it.

Did something similar to this..I guess.. Essentially I used veneer to make an oversized pick guard on my bass.. Ended up looking sweet.. Made the thing look way more expensive than it actually was lol.. Not bad for your first try though.. That was a ton of glue..I made the same mistake but you have to screw up to learn right? Good video

Hey man, don't give up ! It's best to fail now and not repeat your mistakes in the future ! It's a cool project anyway, thanks for sharing :)

Next one you build try using contact adhesive instead of PVA glue. It grabs better and you don't get the problem of the veneer getting damp. Looking forward to seeing how it turns out.

I've seen the final result of this beast. Keep it up brother ! :)

You should wait until the glue is like 50 - 75% dry on both pieces (on the body and veneer too), before putting it together. At least I would´ve done it this way. Excited how this will turn out in the end, so far like your effort and videos. Keep it up!

Nice going dude. I used vacuum bag for clamping veneer on to my guitar 3 years ago. Much better from your method, but you need to use special glue for veneers. Water content of the normal products warp the veneer and you need to clamp harder for it to flatten out veneer.

If you wish to replace of the top get a heat gun to heat it up which will melt the glue and you can scrape it off

Main tip would be get a router bit with a bearing at the bottom with the dremel and a router base for the dremel. It'll make those cutouts and trimming ALOT FASTER amd ALOT CLEANER.

Can’t wait for the next one!

You used a bit too much glue, and that made the veneer bubbly. Next time use a hot clothes iron to press the veneer. Keep the iron moving slowly and with firm pressure. It dries the glue very quickly. I recently used that method to put a walnut veneer on my Ibanez 5 string bass. It worked beautifully.

I'm laughing so hard, the way you say, sheet! 😆

Super thumbs up for this episode. The important thing is that you learn. More over, posting this "failed" video is really brave. +1 sub, younger man !

On that belly cut all you had to do was spray some warm water on that veneer And they will lay right on that belly and then u could glue it

Use a vacuum bag, and a small roller for even glue application

The 2 places I used to work with we did a few guitars for people when they wanted to do veneer you would be surprised by how little glue you need and how much moisture should really be in that veneer to keep it more pliable

Don't be too hard on yourself, man. It's a process of learning. Every mistake you make is a step towards doing it better next time. As others have mentioned, the amount of glue you're using is causing the bubbles and the "wobbly" top. If you use less, it'll even out as pressure is applied to it and everything will be glued down flush. Use too much and the pressure starts concentrating in areas where the glue was applied thicker. It should really be a film of glue on the top, not so much a layer of glue.

another luxembourg guitar builder ...nice

i think you should heat the veneer first to make it softer and maleable then apply with wood glue under it too not just the body.

Hide glue for guitars, you can heat up and re-attach if necessary.

Goethe's Faust - awesome :)

I'm gonna try this out with a regular vacuum storage bag instead.

Im looking forward to the next video part 5!! from japan

You should have rented a vacuum machine to suck it to the body. Nice job! 🤟

You could of used spray adhesive instead of wood glue and spray the adhesive on the veneer + body and just put it on like a sticker.

Brother I feel your pain. Everytime I think I'm getting near done with a step I jack something up and have to start over.

Just a tip. Next time use a cornered file, to cut the edges of the wood sheet, instead of a scorpel. Place in on the edge of the wood and push it foreward while moving it across. The wood should curl out a lot more easier and you should not have to use sand paper on the edges. ;)

Big thumb up for Porsche legends and Franz Kafka :)

Can't watch till later so leaving a like

Can you link the veneer you used? Im on a similar project and I liked it.

You have so much patience it's unbelievable 😅

Just use "vacuum bags veneering" method instead of clamps next time. One can use even IKEA vacuum bags for that.

Id use a thick sturdy piece of foam for some of the contours like the arm cutaway. You can use a piece of wood for the level,parts then just stick the foam under the wood where the arm cut away is. You will have to use parchment paparr or wax paper though between the foam and veener to make sure the foam doesnt get glued. Not TERRIBLE results but you'll know everything better for next time. Too,much glue was the main problem though. Been there, done that. Its alright though. And I'd use sandpaper for every edge. Cut/chisel just until you get to the edge with a tiny bit of veneer overhang. Then sand. Files and dremel are too "rough" for final shaping. If you're going to use a dremel, get a flush cut bit with a bearing at the bottom to follow the existing lines of the guitar almost perfevtly wothout putting any defects into the body

I like this because it shows how things go in real life, not some perfect dreamy video where all the crap has been edited out (can you tell similar things happened to me too ?). Anyways, you sir have just won my subscription

I have been wanting to do a similar project i was thinking about using sand bags to apply the veneer since it will mold to the body

Have you done an in depth review of the guitarmory pickups yet? Coz there are WAY too few on RU-vid and your levels of tone wouln give us all a great idea as to how they sound. Can’t wait to hear them in the final product!

Takes guts to admit your mistakes. Awesome video!

Doesnt look too bad. and yes, way too much glue on the top/ and you can steam off the veneers if you want to take them off

Speaking of Bea, you can do something similiar to his relic looking ml3 bea signature guitar..keep doing this, you are very cool.and brave and I am sure you are learning a lot. Cheers

was vacuum forming out of the question for this build? I thought that's the way people put on veneers. Was thinking of trying it out myself.

I was waiting for this since so long 😍

you need a vacuum bag idea

Cool video as always and may I give you some contrive tips: You used way to much glue and that is why it is "soaked". Veneer is really really thin. I have never done anything that involves building guitar but I remember my hard tech teacher in school telling me that using too much glue to glue on thin wood is DEADLY. On guitar hardware part, I strongly suggest you to swap the tuner knobs to the barrel tuners, like the ones on the Schecter km7 mk3. They looks awesome! For bridge, I would suggest you to use the Hipshot string thru bridge, the one that is on many Maynes Duvell!

You should have used a hair dryer to shape the wood, so that thin layer should be attached to the guitar body. Nice video.

I dont know if this would work but have you thought about using the heat gun to bend the veneer?

I think you did a really great job dude. It was your first atempt, dont be so hard on yourself. The purpose of making mistakes is so that you can learn from them. Next time possibly use less glue I think that's what made it bubble like that. Also Im not sure but maybe if you took the paint finish off the guitar first it might have bonded better. Im thinking wood to wood ummm would adhere nicer 😆. Liked and subbed. Keep moving forward brother I cant wait to see some more videos ! ✌ 😆 🎸

Duuuuuude!! I've been waiting for this!! Hey man, what bridge did you get from hipshot and do you have to do any drilling??

Das Furnier hat sich gewellt weil es zu trocken war. Beim nächsten Mal probier mal die Leimaufgabe mit einer Rolle. So hast du genug Leimauftrag und verhinderst den Durchschlag des Leims durch das Furnier. Desweiteren wird es sich dann auch nicht so stark wellen. Normalerweise verbindet man auch die beiden Furnierblätter mit Furnierband, das macht das verarbeiten einfacher. Könnte auch mit Klebeband funktionieren, hab ich aber selber nicht getestet.

Hi, awesome videos from you. Where did you got that flamed maple veneer?

Veneering mistakes are so easy to make, I know lol. Many good comments about what to fix. You can always try again if it really upsets you...or maybe sand the body down further and do a full maple cap.

Waiting...

When OCD and being perfectionist bites you in the arse... 😂

15:47 Bro don't be so hard on yourself. People just aren't ready for your jelly.

Don't be too hard on yourself man. Veneer is a lot harder than it seems!

Damn, that's a lot of glue! Also, if you wanted to glue it all at once you should use A LOT heavier bags of sand on that arm rest. Rip it off and start again :D

Where did you get that flame maple veneer? I ordered some and it came and looks not nearly as flamed and patterned as that

Can adding the veneer on top of the body affect the tone/sound? Or is it purely cosmetic?

How to instal veneer on guitar prs? Bcause top body isn't flat

"Its not a bug, its a feature."

What's the advantage of doing the top veneer in two parts ? Wouldn't it be simpler to make it with one bigger piece like the back ?

Cheers for pushing through anyway ;)

I like your videos :) waiting for next part

Next time you do this allow the glue to sit for a moment to get tacky on the body and headstock. This way the veneer won't absorb much glue.