And partly because we have our own spraybooth, so we can control our finish process much more completely.

I’ve drawn a rough diagram of how it’s laid out –

This photo, taken just outside the spraybooth door, shows a detail of the Incoming Air Filters (on right hand side of the diagram above). These filters keep sawdust and fine dust particles out, while allowing clean air to flow easily into the spraybooth. This incoming soft airflow makes controlling the fine spray of finish easier.

Inside the spraybooth, a powerful exhaust fan draws the air *out* of the spraybooth. There is a second set of air filters in front of the exhaust fan, to prevent a build up of finish particles from accruing to the fan. So, we filter the air coming in, to keep out dust, and we filter the air going out, to keep the fan clean.

The finishes we use are quite beautiful, and they protect the instrument. Protection of the instrument is the *number one job* of a finish. However, our finishes are also eco-friendly. They don’t pollute the air, they don’t create dreadful fumes for us to breathe, and they don’t contain volatile solvents that suddenly explode in a great ball of fire. We think that’s important.

Below is a batch of four Megatars. They’ve come off the computer cutting machinery, and Patrick (the shop foreman) has already smoothed and sanded them, so the contours are pleasing to the eye and the touch.

The two blondies on the left and right will probably become TrueTappers — Eclipse, Dragon, or Storm — and the two dark wood instruments in the middle have parallel frets, so they will become either MaxTappers, or perhaps Dark Dragons, or Dark Storms.

The black paint inside the pickups cavity in the body is a conductive paint. This shielded paint, attached to a layer of copper foil on the underside of the pickups array (when we later install it), makes a Faraday cage around the electronics, to shield them from radio-frequency interference (noise or humming). The green protective tape covers the fretboards of the dark-wood instruments, because the dark-wood fretbooards feel (and look) better with a polymerized oil finish, which we’ll rub into the fretboard in a later step.

The next step of hand-finishing: Below you see Patrick sanding (again) at the prep table, after applying a wood-filler that seals the pores in the wood. This first step helps the finish to protect the instrument.

You want to create a strong barrier against the wood either gaining or losing water vapor from the air.  Wood filler of the correct type, sanding, and then multiple thin coats of finish with sanding between coats still makes the most beautiful, and the most protective finishes.

Below is the batch of four Megatars, each awaiting their turn for the next coat of finish to be applied.

While we are spraying one of them, these hooks keep the others out of the airflow. We want them to have just enough finish, and not too much! That makes for the greatest beauty, and the best protection.

Below is Patrick, our finishing expert, with Mr. Spraygun.

We use an air-turbine driven high volume, low pressure system, as this technology applies thin even coats, is easier to apply very smoothly, and less finish is wasted in overspray during the process.

Below we can peek over the shoulder of the artist at work. The entire trick is a smooth even motion that applies an even thin coat of finish to the entire instrument. It also helps to have lots and lots and lots of light! (Our booth has two natural-light windows, plus three fluorescent arrays, and some incandescent lighting as well.)

Behind the Megatar you can see the outgoing air filters that keep any overspray finish off the exhaust fan, which is mounted in the box-like shape behind the filters. On the wall just below the lamp in upper left, is a thermo-hygrometer so we can keep track of temperature and relative humidity, extremes of which can affect finishes to a surprising degree.

We experimented with several different ways of suspending the Megatar while applying the finish. The simple solution shown here is the one that gave the best results. A thick electrical wire of moderate stiffness is affixed to the ceiling, and simply by threading it through one of the tuner holes, the Megatar is suspended safely and securely.

We’re really blessed to have our nice shop, and we’re lucky to have our own spraybooth. It’s a simple technology, but it’s enabled us to get a more consistent (and more beautiful) finish on all of the Megatars that ship out the door. Protects them, and keeps them beautiful.

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