Stupid question time

[Adamc]

Ok, I have some questions that'll have some of you slapping your foreheads wondering "just how dumb is this guy?" But I have to ask. I've got very little wood working experience and about 4 years ago I bought a cheap guitar kit off the net and I've finally gotten time to do something with it.
Now when I say cheap, I mean it. So I'm not that surprised that the neck to body fit is lousey. I really don't expect this guitar to be much to play, it's really a learning tool before I start buying and building my fave pit bull kits.
So here goes. the kit is a es335 style with a flamed maple cap.
I've started staining the body and neck and I'm noticing the colour varies a fair bit depending on how the wood soaked up the stain. If I want a consistent colour do I need to mix different shades of stain to try to even out the colour, or will it eventually even out if I do different numbers of coats. The maple top soaked it up beautifully, I'm not sure what the wood on the back is, but it's coming up a much different shade.
Your opinions and advice would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers
Adam

[wazkelly]

Hi Adam, can you post some photos please as that will greatly assist with answering most of your questions.

Also wondering what grit level you sanded the body? 240 or 320, or higher? If you went nuts with a really, really fine grade grit sandpaper that can end up polishing the timber to a point where very little stain will soak in.

An idea of how you want it to look once finished would be good too so forum members can guide you in that direction.

Cheers, Waz

[Brendan]

AdamC - also - what kind of stain are you using - how old is it? Can all have an effect. Some will need multiple coats to look any good - thinking some of the brown Wudtone stains - notorious for needing a couple of coats to settle into a consistent colour.

[Adamc]

Thanks Waz and Brendan. I’m using Keda wood dye in water. It’s a formula I got from a YouTube video. I’ve only just mixed it up about a week ago.
I definitely went too fine with the sanding Waz. I think I ended up with 600 grade. The back was super smooth out of the box and I barely touched it but I did a bit of sanding at the top and sides and especially where the neck and body joined to smooth out the massive ridge that was there.
I’m pretty happy with the colour on the top. The grain seems to be popping nicely.
The neck seemed to take a few coats before it started to take some colour, so I’m hoping another coat on the top will get a closer match between the two.
The back is just a pain in the butt. Doesn’t seem to want to take anymore stain than what’s there now and in the right light it has a kind of goldy shimmer through the stain. It’s not the end of the world to me if i can’t get a perfect match, I’m more curious as to what I’ve done wrong to get such a big variation in colour!?
It’ll get a nice glossy coat of clear poly once the dye process is finished.
Thanks again for your help guys.


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[wazkelly]

Strange that the back is not cooperating given it had next to no sanding? Maybe a light 240 or 320 dry sanding on the back might open things up a bit to allow another coat of stain to penetrate? Maybe 240 on neck if you think it needs a bit of help too.

Light sanding between coats can quite often help to get things to a level where you are happy to proceed with next stage of finish.

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[Adamc]

Strange that the back is not cooperating given it had next to no sanding? Maybe a light 240 or 320 dry sanding on the back might open things up a bit to allow another coat of stain to penetrate? Maybe 240 on neck if you think it needs a bit of help too.

Light sanding between coats can quite often help to get things to a level where you are happy to proceed with next stage of finish.

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Thanks Waz. I’ll give it a go. I’ve got nothing to lose and lots to learn !


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[wazkelly]

Every build throws up different challenges and there is a fair bit of trial and error involved.

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[DrNomis_44]

One thing to note, there is no such thing as a "stupid" question, if it gets an answer that helps you to get the result you're after, then the question is a perfectly valid one.

[Adamc]

Well I gave the back a light sand with 320 and tried another coat of stain. The difference was instantly noticeable. It’s not a great pic, but I’m much happier with the result. Cheers guys


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[dave.king1]

To add to Doc's message.

The only stupid questions are the ones you don't ask and stuff up as a result