wood grain after first coat of stain... normal?

[SurferJesus]

hey dudes,

first pit bull build and first post in this or any forum on the internet ever! so bear with me haha

I'm not very familiar with wood grains, so I'm just wondering if I can get your opinions on how my es-1g has turned out after the first coat of hot auburn deep colour stain coat.

I attempted to follow DB's mantra of sand the bejeezus out of it but having not really sanded anything before I wasn't too sure when to be done with it... There are certain spots I'm not too sure about like those light horizontal strips near the volume/tone pots and input jack where the wudtone hasn't really sunk in, which I took a close up of. and also the dark line going between the bridge hardware holes. are these natural features of the wood? or something I should have worked on more before I started staining?

I'm hoping to add another layer of deep colour and then get onto base coats, but if you guys think it could be vastly improved with more work, I could consider sanding it all back...

thoughts are much appreciated!

ps I included a pic of the back just because I'm really stoked on how it came out!
http://pitbullguitars.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/5i229-photo-5.JPG
http://pitbullguitars.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/cjbt7-photo-4.JPG
http://pitbullguitars.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/04f14-photo-2.JPG

[wokkaboy]

Hi Surferjesus, this looks like a typical cap after the first coat, some areas take the wudtone more than others. The close up pic near the pot holes have some scratches so I'd try and sand them back but overall looks good. I'd give the whole body a light sand with 0000 fine steel wool then concentrate on sanding the scratches out, but be carefull these caps are quite thin, especially close to the binding edges. When you apply the 2nd deep coat I'd concentrate on applying a heavier coat to the areas you had to sand scratches out. Use up all the deep coat before going to base coats - will look better if you can get 3 deep coats on the body.
Yes the back of these ES-1G kits are amazing. Tough kit to start on but if you can build this kit and keep sane after the wiring you can build any PBG kit - good luck and start a build diary !

[Fretworn]

Personally I'd be going straight to the top coat right now. That is freaking gorgeous. I wouldn't be worrying about any of those lighter patches, that just looks like wood variation.

[Tim]

don't stress all is looking good another 1 2 maybe 3 deep coats then your base coats ..it will look sweet
Nice job so far

[lawry]

Man, the grain on the back of that thing looks fantastic. I'd be stoked to have that.

[SurferJesus]

cool thanks a bunch you guys! gonna get stuck into it this week...

[Tim]

Oh and take your time and enjoy the build you will end up witha fantastic guitar and a awesum build experience.

[Tim]

Oh and take your time and enjoy the build you will end up witha fantastic guitar and a awesum build experience.