EX -4 ZZ TOP homage

[Hardcoretroubadour]

Here's another

[wazkelly]

Probably needs just a little bit more sanding all over to remove the dirty look. End grain on its own can look quite spectacular and that might be better than trying to keep a spotty dirty appearance.

[Hardcoretroubadour]

I'll hit again with some fresh paper tomorrow and it see how it looks, another session and it should be good to start staining. Cheers
Waz

[Hardcoretroubadour]

Well the first stain coat went on today, happy with how it looks, now the wait begins

[Hardcoretroubadour]

And some pics

[Sonic Mountain]

Just catching up on this, looking good! I wouldn't worry too much about the end grain. It looks fine to me. You will be amazed at how much clear lifts everything.

[Hardcoretroubadour]

Cheers Sonic, I did some more sanding prior to the stain and the greyness cleared up a lot. A question for the Brain's trust - how long do I leave it before putting the next stain coat on if required?

[wazkelly]

A question for the Brain's trust - how long do I leave it before putting the next stain coat on if required?

As we are heading into cooler weather and there has also been a fair bit of rain about in the Brisbane region I would suggest giving each coat at least 3-4 or maybe 5 days to cure before applying another one.

After a couple have been done and allowed to cure have a bit of an inspection to see if you think it needs a very light sanding. If so, go for 1200 W & D grit sanded wet. Just a couple of light passes, rinse the paper, wipe the body, inspect how things are progressing. Doing it this way will allow you to gauge when to stop sanding.

The sanding between coats is to take a bit of edge off the shine to provide tooth for the next coat. Also helps to keep things flat and even all over. Total of 3 maybe 4 base stain coats is maximum I would suggest before moving on to the intensifier however if you like the shade you have already got, go for gold so to speak and make a start on the intensifiers. Too many base & intensifier coats can lead to dramas if they have not had enough time between coats to fully cure and also the overall thickness level can become more than what you realise and still be quite green and soft just beneath the surface. All of this makes subsequent sanding a risky business as it may want to dig in rather than perform the desired smoothing and polishing.

Looking good so far.

[Hardcoretroubadour]

Thanks Waz, I am sure without your sage advise it wouldn't be looking this good so far. Now to go find another guitar to build while I wait......

[Hardcoretroubadour]

Small issue discovered today, I had used blue painters tape to cover the fret board whilst applying stain, I left in on overnight and come removal of the tape it had pulled up some of the rosewood fret board fibres. I assume that I left the tape on too long and the glue on the tape bonded a bit too well to the fret board? Will fret wax fill in these small voids? They are quite small and barely be seen, but you can feel them. Oh well, you learn as you go I guess.