That one is from British Paints. Just their interior black stain with clear varnish over the top. I used Clear DT for the front. I would have used Black Stump DT but I already had this product from another project.
I've gone and grabbed some ebony timbermate and some black interior stain in the meantime, replicating or at least something similar to how yours looks is exactly what I'm hoping for, so I'll give it a go down the track.
Enjoyed all that....I am currently at the exciting stage of my first build, tomorrow I plan to glue the neck to the body All I will say a few things to someone who has recently unpacked that wonderful package that came through the mail. Patience....even though it all seems somewhat obvious...patience....just because you did this today doesn't mean you can do X tomorrow....particularly with the sanding/finish... another day of thinks will be better...seriously think of it as a six month project....it was only when I came to understand this that it went from a frustration exercise to exciting....that said, the gluing of the neck tomorrow...how exciting is that.
Steve: Very exciting, each bit of progress is one step closer to my own hard work being complete... It's hard not to get excited over finishing the project though, when you want it a lot you just get excited and waiting just gets in the way!
Thanks for the advice though, mate, I'm looking forward to the next step every time I complete one.
I'm very close to getting the body how I want it, then I'll work on grain filling and staining the back and sides black.
The headstock is not what I'm after. The mahogany takes the stain really differently to the maple veneer, it's turning a much darker green than the body. I figured there'd be a difference but it's far more than I'm comfortable with.
What I'm probably going to do is make the headstock black because of this.
That's fine by me!
Progress doesn't look like much, but I'm inching ever closer to it.
What do you all think regarding clearcoat after all the colour's done?
What do you use?
Do you use the same thing on the neck and body?
The mahogany is much darker wood than the maple, so I'm not surprised that the stain came out a different colour. I'd certainly go with a nice traditional black for the headstock face.
I'd always do a clearcoat over the body finish to protect it. With just a stain, the wood's more liable to be affected by temperature and humidity changes. Also that thin maple cap needs some protection from wear. Plus a clearcoat will bring out the colour even more.
I'm all set up for nitro spraying, so I'd do a clearcoat in clear lacquer. But there's a wide choice of alternatives. A lot of people Tru-Oil their guitars, some Tung Oil, some use wipe-on poly, some use the clear DT, some an acrylic or poly spray lacquer from a can. No way is intrinsically 'better', though the lacquer sprays will probably give the best protection (and will give the shiniest gloss finish if done well), followed by a wipe-on poly (again glossy if really well flattened and polished) and then Tru-Oil. But not everyone wants a a very shiny finish. It's easy to to get a nice semi-gloss finish with Tru-Oil, which can help the guitar look like a more vintage instrument.
Have a look at some of the instruments in the GOTM section (as you'll just see the finished product) and you'll get a good idea of what different types of finish look like.
Headstock looks good now. Gave it a bit of a sand back first, but Black really fixing the issues I previously had. I'm back to pleased with this.
Body's up to DT final coat stage, will use the next two days to give it two or three more coats then leave it for a few weeks, then work on the back, neck and sides.
And no, probably not. I wouldn't know where to begin on that.
Less is more sometimes, eh?
Edit: Nevermind on that, I'm gonna just go for it. Live and learn!
Regarding grain filler for the back, sides and neck:
Once the top's done should I glue the neck before starting the grain filling, or should I do them both separately?
I've seen a video (namely this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSNi-6ytO5A) where he uses the grain filler to 'join' the two, is this what I should be doing?
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