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I forgot to mention something...not so much a suggestion, but something to consider. It's always good to test the finish before you commit to it on the guitar. The water based finishes I have used take a lot of technique to brush on thin enough so that they flatten well. I think part of the reason is that they tend to skin-over relatively quickly, but then take a while to dry. What the mfg suggested I try with Brite Tone was their retarder... So I got some, but then my technique improved enough so that I have not used it. Also I worried about runs on curved surfaces. The Saman dries considerably quicker so if you have trouble getting it to level you might try their retarder. Alternatively, and this has worked well for me, you might prime your brush with water before dipping in the the finish. That, a light touch, and moving relatively quickly have made the most difference for me--so far. Still working on the technique for sure!
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Wow, thanks for this advice! I will def look into the retarder. The tip on dipping the brush in water sounds like a really good one. I'll keep you posted on how it goes :)
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It seems to have made a difference. Also making a difference, learning to allow the brush to drip off, and learning not to wipe the excess off on the side of the container, but rather to let it drip off. They say say that wiping it on the edge will create bubles, but it seems totally counterintuitive to me. Also keeping a light enough touch not to "push" the finish. I have struggled with getting the coats as thin as the guy in the vid suggests. His daughter (on their facebook group) suggested the taklon brush. I had been using foam like the guy in the but was still getting bubbles and streaks. It seems to work well for him though, so it's probably technique related.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sryvmccq6xA&t=95s
This was also helpful to me...
(vid in next post)
...not so much for the volume of product on the brush, but for the speed. Fast, long strokes in one direction. What is not clear from the vids (at least to me) is that these ladies both have a VERY light touch. As one of them told me "the weight of the brush or less." At least for me, pushing and not moving fast enough seem to correspond more to streaking than the amount of product I have on the brush.
House painting just did not prepare me for this ;-)
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3 Attachment(s)
Thanks so much for these videos, I just watched them; very informative! I definitely wrestled with the water based stain. Over the past 8 days, I stained and then sanded down 4 or 5 times, because I just wasn't happy with the blotchiness or darkness of the stain.
This photo shows the Cherry stain result of about my 4th attempt, but it was too dark for my taste. I could have gone with it and been happy, but the picture in my mind was a level of darkness that would show the grain off better.
Attachment 45740
These next two are my latest, and I'm pretty happy with the result, so I'm going to go with it and move on to the Crystalac water based grain filler. The first photo is after sanding it back down and then putting on a new coat of sanding sealer. This was in the hopes of preventing blotchiness, but it didn't seem to do too much in that regard. For the stain, I watered it down substantially, at about a 1 to 4 ratio of stain to water, respectively. The camera makes it look blotchier than it looks to the naked eye. Right now, I'm fighting the urge to add one more coat of equal dilution just to make it a little bit darker. I'll have to think on it :confused:
Attachment 45741 Attachment 45742
Thanks again for the advice and for sharing the videos!
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FWIW, I think it looks great in the last couple of pics.
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Looks great! Blotchiness is the curse of staining, but you seem to have gotten it about exactly right.
I have exactly one stain job I like, and I am not even sure I can remember all the things I did to get it to where I liked it. Even so there is one big blotch that is, fortunately, covered by the pickguard.
+1 for not adding more stain. your next steps may make it slightly darker anyway. Crystalac's stains can also be used on top of other products, but to my eye it looks great already.
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