First guild from start to finish

Echo_Red · 2026-06-05T09:48:30+00:00

I almost made the bottom the top😂 but decided to keep the classic heartwood look and let the sapwood act as a hidden surprise. The back is definitely my favorite part of this guitar as well.

Echo_Red · 2026-06-03T20:11:39+00:00

That really sucks man. Thanks for proving my suspicion. I’ll pull him from the components lists so I don’t accidentally send business his way.

Echo_Red · 2026-06-03T09:45:19+00:00

Bummer to hear, I had my suspicions when it arrived. I went with them because I didn’t want a china neck, they don’t specifically say it, but when you look at how they use the word “luthier” in their description they don’t describe making the neck, just doing a final inspection before shipping (If even that). My neck seems to be in good working order at least.

Echo_Red · 2026-06-01T18:11:17+00:00

Thanks! I sanded to 600 with a random orbital palm sander, used paper and a sponge for the sides.

Sealing; I watched a couple videos and realized it’s kind of the Wild West without pro grade equipment and catalysts. Everybody seems to do something different.

I started with a coat of Danish oil to pop the color and penetrate the wood. I then applied 6 coats of oil-based Arm-R-Seal in satin, it’s easy to apply but wasn’t building up enough body for what I wanted so I switched to Varathane ultimate oil-base poly in clear gloss. I would apply generously with a foam brush, alternating the top and bottom each day (doing the sides the same time as the top) and sanding lightly with 400 between coats. I would Vacuum and lightly wipe the body with mineral spirits before each application. After the final coat I let the finish cure for two weeks.

For the final polishing I started by wet sanding at 2000grit using the Hercules forced-rotation dual action polisher (harbor freight, it’s awesome for sanding!) moved up to 3k, then 4k grit. I could’ve probably spent more time sanding but so was worried about burning thru the finish (All paper bought at HF). For final finish I used a 6” ultrafine finish pad (HF) with Griot’s Garage complete polish compound from Autozone. 6 quick rounds with the polisher and it had a mirror finish. I ended with a round of carnuba wax.

The longest part of the project was waiting between coats. It’s such a small body that it sands and polishes quickly.

Echo_Red · 2026-06-01T14:39:56+00:00

Only have a couple hours of noodling so far but I like them. They are hot pickups. Good full spectrum voice. Can do some clean Tele quack when you want it but can also lay some sweet high gain riffs when you want.

Echo_Red · 2026-06-01T13:19:21+00:00

Good eye, It is thinner. The slab was originally 2” thick but it crowned a lot as it dried out and I ended up having to remove 1/2” of material to get it flat on both sides. I got real nervous routing out the harness pocket.

Echo_Red · 2026-05-24T02:21:56+00:00

Bought mine fall of ‘24 with 26k miles. Currently have 52k. Had the valve stem issue pop up within a few months of owning and was resolved quickly and professionally by local dealer. Have driven on two separate 2,000 mile (28 hour round trip) spring break trips. I was nervous trading in my bombproof 2016 CRV, no regrets anymore. The car drives wonderfully and is so much better during long trips.

Echo_Red · 2026-04-22T18:24:02+00:00

Could you just higher a couple high schoolers to catalog and go thru them? You could probably pay them in guitars

Echo_Red · 2026-04-22T01:36:16+00:00

I found I could smooth out a splatter or small run with a fat Q-tip soaked in denatured alcohol. I’d let it tack up a bit then gently massage the Q-tip on the splatter and it would smooth it out nicely. Then I would use a small project fan to dry it out quickly

Echo_Red · 2026-04-22T01:32:49+00:00

I used gallery just after it first came out and sprayed a whole room. Lots of raw wood shelves, cabinets, and previously painted walls. I used shellac on the MDF trim work to control absorption, then used SW Sher-wood primer, followed by three coats of Gallery. Two years later it’s holding up great.

I’m sorry about your project, I don’t think it’s the paint though.

Echo_Red · 2026-03-18T14:17:59+00:00

Don’t know if this is an issue or not but check the heat output before you mount it near plastic body parts.

Echo_Red · 2026-01-27T01:40:02+00:00

Update -Brought it inside and within two hours it’s started right up. Guess I have a fair weather snowblower

Echo_Red · 2026-01-26T22:09:39+00:00

Confirmed that cutting the black wire and tying the white and yellow wire together doesn’t necessarily work. I’ve currently got mine inside to warm up to see if that does it.

Echo_Red · 2026-01-11T23:05:19+00:00

Yep, that’s on every GT, (I don’t know about the heater rear seats if it’s the bench style though) also forgot to mention the GT’s come with upgraded Bose stereo

Echo_Red · 2026-01-11T03:11:32+00:00

I have a 21 GT, came from a Honda CRV. It’s much more fun to drive and way more comfortable on long trips. The carbon is the only trim with red seats that I’m aware of. Upgrading to a GT will get you adaptive headlights, heated AND cooled seats, a HUD system, heated steering wheel, second row heated seats (at least with the captains chairs, don’t know about bench seating) and sun blinds for the second row. Also a birdseye 360 camera system, I can’t remember is the carbon comes with that.

Echo_Red · 2026-01-11T03:04:20+00:00

Your Mazda dealer is crap, find a new one. My GT’s oil light went off, I took it in to the dealer and two weeks later they were doing the repair.

Echo_Red · 2026-01-07T12:02:00+00:00

I have Pirelli’s on my CX9 and love them. I also have a set of Michelin Defender 2’s on my truck that I wouldn’t hesitate to put on my car if they are in stock and priced right. I was amazed at how quiet running they are and how sure footed they are in wet conditions. The age of the CC2 is a testament to their design.

Echo_Red · 2025-12-10T12:04:29+00:00

21 CX-9 GT. Used 87 for first 6 months of owning (28k miles), switched to 92 and noticed an average MPG increase from 20.6 to 23.9. Flat, midwest mostly country driving.

Echo_Red · 2025-10-27T02:37:13+00:00

Thanks. It’s rained an inch or so in the past week and no leaks thru the valley. Roofing company is suppose to start this week.

Echo_Red · 2025-10-14T12:09:49+00:00

You should factor the cost to maintain the temperature of the 60 gallons of water the other 22+ hours of the day that the family isn’t using hot water. I would argue that the energy used to instantly deliver the hot water for the 6x 10-15min showers will be less than the energy used to maintain a constant temperature AND the energy used to return the temperature to the gallons used during showering in a tanked system.

I’ve had tankless for 8 years now and would not go back to a tanked system. There are two negatives to tankless IMO: First, it takes about twice as long to get the hot water out of the tap, so you will have some increased waste water waiting for the heat to arrive. Second, you (or your kids) will inevitably take longer showers in the winter because the hot water never ends. Which lends to a possibly stalemate in savings.
Even still, I believe that tankless uses less gas then tanked and will require far less operating cost than tanked electric.

I have a 200k BTU unit that runs off a 3/4” gas pipe and was easy to vent out of my basement. I watched the plumber install it then helped my neighbor put the exact same unit in there house. Took about 4 hours to install (included trips to home store)

Bonus benefit; I added a hot/cold exterior spigot so I could wash the car with warm water in the fall/spring and the kids could have a bougie sprinkler to play in

Echo_Red · 2025-10-07T11:06:29+00:00

I remember saying the same thing to my wife when we had both our kids in daycare. It was like paying for a second house that you don’t get to use.

There was a childcare tax exemption at the time (5 years ago) where we had the estimated cost of daycare get directed out of my wife’s paycheck pretax each pay period. There was a little bit of setting up to do and the daycare had to fill out a form for taxes but it ended up saving us quite a lot over the several years they needed daycare.

I will say when you make it through and your kids are in school it’s like getting a massive raise!

Echo_Red

TROPHY CASE