Barnseys ES1TL

Just received my ES1TL kit. I've been comparing it to my epiphone 333 and you would swear they came out of the same factory. Icant believe how good the body and neck are, the Dave grohl diamond cut outs look awsome i hope i can get the finish right and do it justice. Hoping to do dingotone bondi blue on the top with a racing strip in natural and the back sides and neck all natural,it is my first go at building a kit so it should be interesting, super stoked about how good the kit is. Any tips on how to get the blue stain right would be greatly appreciated
Thanks
Adam Barnes

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Welcome mate, cool project.
The trick with stain will be getting it to not bleed over where you want it , unlike paint which you could just mask off...
DB might have some advice about the dingotone

Thamks stan
I thought that might be the case, might be able to do a thin pin stripe to cover it with some kind of permanent marker if thers is one compatible with the dingotone

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Drawing of the planed head stock, ive got the machine heads at 25.4mm centres and 127mm ovee all. I lined up the sides of the neck so that the strings are straight through the nut. Wanted to make sure im on the right page before i go cutting and drilling holes.
Cheers

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Machine heads in place

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Sanded at 240,400,600 grits its as smooth as a babies bum, ready for the dingotone tomorrow if it bleeds to much it will have to rethink the stripes

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2 stain coats of bondi blue, not sure weather to do another coat. It is looking good so far

It doesn't look like the stain is taking very well. It's looking quite 'washed-out' at the moment to me, certainly compared to your original artist's impression. I've never used DT (and am unlikely to get the chance to) but the general feedback I've seen is that the surface needs to be rougher to absorb it. Normally 240 or 320 grit maximum. You may have over-smoothed it by going to 600. It's actually a nice finish as it stands, though the stripes aren't going to stand out as much as I think you intended.

It all depends on whether you want to improvise as you go along - or stick to your original plan. I'd be tempted to certainly give it another coat of the DT blue. I have no idea how much the intensifier coats will deepen the colour, though they certainly will to some extent.

Have you checked the bleed at all under the tape? Would be interesting to see. Personally I would go for more colour, but as Simon said the 600 grit might mean that the dye doesn't take as well. Love the concept though dude - It is reminiscent of Tom Delonge signature 335.

cheers,
Gav.