I'm using Varathane ebony stain and wipe on poly for the finish. I sanded it to 250 (afraid of polishing it too much) then applied a layer of poly first with 400 wet/dry to give a little fill/sealer first because I noticed a difference in the test wood I did and really liked it.(just the body, skipped that on the maple neck)Then two coats of stain so far....
The plan was for a black bass because curiously I'm missing one at the moment. The initial idea was to go high gloss rattle can but I figured I wanted to work with the stain first and I can always cover it up with a spray job if it's a disaster later. So it's becoming obvious it's not really going to get black like I thought but I have to say I'm really pleased with the way it's starting to look. I stained the rosewood bridge to match the ebony fretboard and the lighter contrast of the top looks really nice together. The sides soaked up the stain super dark as expected but the back pieces are so mismatched and crooked. I started to sand back the stain on the back and got this really rustic weathered look I may just go with.
Again, if I really hate the way it comes out it would be fun to take it apart again in 6 months and do a rattle can job on it haha
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Nothing worse than watching paint dry so I'm going to make a pg from some scrap. Some "reclaimed" wood!
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Love the way that this is going!
First (proper) build: http://www.buildyourownguitar.com.au...ead.php?t=8546
Second build: http://www.buildyourownguitar.com.au...ad.php?t=10229
Hadn't really taken a good look to see if the neck and body stain were matching so I did another mock build in the sun to really get a good look and I love it. It's not perfect and I can't stop staring and fussing over the flaws but I'm gonna do the headstock decal and clear coat it.
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Hi ChefBrianNYC, what type of wood did you make your pick guard out of?
Looking good Chef! I really like the fretboard.
Poly is really making this pop in ways I didn't expect. Fooling around today making some pickup selector bling too. I tried to DIY a headstock decal with household stuff and not happy with test results so I'm going out to get some proper decal paper later.
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This looks great! The wood grain has come along nicely, great work!
You might find you don't get much success with a waterslide decal on that finish as it is so dark, generally they use vinyl decals on dark timber as the waterslides are too translucent.