Thanks for the encouragement Stan - I think I need to sand the top and start again...Quote:
Originally Posted by stan
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Thanks for the encouragement Stan - I think I need to sand the top and start again...Quote:
Originally Posted by stan
Looks like your making great progress here. Grain on the headstock face has popped nicely. The marks on the body look like glue stains to me. I know some forumites have had success in using a product called 'Goof Off' to help in removing excess glue stains. Looks like some more light and careful sanding required. I've managed to remove glue in the past through very light wire brushing.
For Wudtone, the wood will have some bearing on the final outcome of the color. I've used azure sky blue over basswood and it turned out more surf green due to the underlying green tint in the wood.
Sanding is great for getting out of your head, and letting your mind wander...
The first guitar I ever saw or touched or played belonged to my father, and now belongs to me - it is a 1940’s Gibson L-50 archtop acoustic with a beautiful worn and cracked sunburst finish. This was not a fancy instrument when he bought it, but a working musician’s guitar. It has been well loved, even if it has not been remotely pampered. As a young man he almost lost it in a house fire - he dashed in, grabbed it and a pair of shoes, and ran out as the house came down behind him. He played it in USO shows when he was in the army, around campfires when he was a Boy Scout leader, and he used it to teach me a few chords.
It is wonderfully intact - only the pickguard is missing (it self-destructed - some kind of time-bomb cellulose). It's not easy to play , but it plays well. Thanks Pop.
Attachment 9227
Neck and headstock of Wonderboy got a second coat of the Wudtone Antique Yellow - I like it a lot. The body got a good sanding to get rid of mystery marks, and a fresh coat of Lady Teal (sounds like a stripper name). Back on it tomorrow.
What a beautiful old bird that guitar is, and has family history, also from right around the same era as the 1st electric, Charlie Christian and the ES150 another classic archtop except it had a pickup.
Thanks. As for the color, the blue I'd hoped for does look rather green. What do you think my options are? I've got three coats on so far. Someone, Swanny maybe, mentioned using blue stamp pad ink...I wonder if that's an option, to mix it with the stain to make it a deeper blue?Quote:
Originally Posted by andrewdosborne
Dave, If the Wudtone is a waterbased stain, I imagine a waterbased ink like what I used could be used to deepen the colour.
I found if I diluted the ink in water, it had a lesser staining effect, until you built it up with more coats. If you used less water, you got a more intense colour stained into the timber.
Thanks Swanny, I appreciate the guidance. I'll experiment on some scrap...Quote:
Originally Posted by Swanny
No worries, Dave. I first tried on a piece of pine, while I was waiting for my kit to arrive... I mixed up some ink with water to make the stain, then sectioned off the piece of pine, and applied one, two, three, four and five applications of the stain to the different sections...
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/e...psndnpjpzf.jpg
Thanks Swanny - very interesting. I think my problem may be that I had already started with the Lady Teal (2 coats) - just now I experimented with adding a dark blue ink to a mixture of white base coat and some of the LT - I added a little, then a little more, finally the whole bottle. At each point I did a small test on some scrap that was close to the basswood.
Small difference.
The guitar clearly wants to be green.
Here's the latest:
Attachment 9326
The color in the pickup holes will be the sides and back.
Happily, the neck and headstock are looking good.
Attachment 9381
So - here's the latest: 2 coats of Antique Yellow, 2 coats of top coat, 2 coats of lacquer, decal, 1 coat of lacquer, and I think it's done. I oiled the fretboard, and it looks and feels pretty good. I'm going to use a retainer bar instead of string trees.
As far as the body? I added a whole bottle of blue ink, and the difference is minimal. I think the wood has absorbed about as much color as its going to. In short, karmic payback for being a difficult child; it's time to accept it for what it is, rather than what I hoped it would be. Rather than the color of the sky, it's the color of the ocean - I can live with that.
Next, Antique Yellow on the sides and back.
Good night my friends.
coming along very nicely Dave, I like the greeny ocean colour. Headstock looks very cool with tuners and your logo on.
I like where this build is going
Thanks Wokka. I put the first coat of color on the sides and back - so far so good. It's Wudtone Antique Yellow, which is, in fact, a neck finish, but I liked it so much on the neck that I'm using it for the body. Didn't take long for the rules to go out the window...
Attachment 9388
Looks great Dave.. That's a lovely natural looking colour. Your making me want to build a Tele (even though I already have one)..
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Hey Pals,
A few notes:
I didn't understand how far the finish goes. Because Pit Bull can't ship Dingotone to the States, Adam recommended a product called Wudtone, made in the UK and available to me through a company called BYOGuitar in New Hampshire. I ordered a Lady Teal kit for the body, and the Antique Yellow kit for the neck. The bottles of finish are tiny - maybe an ounce? I put two coats of the AY on the neck and head stock and was satisfied with the color, so much so that I wanted to use it for the sides and back of the body, so I ordered a second AY kit.
As it turns out, the tiny bottle held enough to do the neck, plus two coats on the sides and back, with a little left over. The good folks at BYOGuitar were kind enough to let me return the un-opened second kit of AY.
So, I now have the following: on the neck 2 coats of AY and 2 top coats - on the headstock 2 coats of lacquer, decal, and a finish coat of lacquer (the spray lacquer, made by Behlen, made the whole house smell like a paint factory - good stuff!), on the fretboard one coat of oil (also Behlen). On the body there is 6 coats of color (including the late addition of a bottle of blue ink that didn't really make a dent, other than add some highlights) and one top coat on the top, and 2 coats of Antique Yellow on the sides and back, which is enough, I think.
Today I'm going to work on cleaning up the binding...
I don't have any good pictures of my progress with Wonderboy, so here's a photo of me at the beach, enjoying Spring in Maine:
Attachment 9421
Attachment 9427
Attachment 9428
Next is several top coats for both the top, and sides and back, then it hangs for 2 weeks (you know, like curing a ham) before I can start assembling. It's not quite how I pictured it, but that's part of the adventure, right?
Wow she's purty Wonerboy. I like the two tone its interesting.
Wow, that blue really has come on hasn't it? Looking fantastic, its like the blue Pacific meets the Californian coastal sands with the binding as a little band of white water surf in between (though I realise you are on the atlantic coast), very fetching. Are you doing Chrome hardware or Gold?
I think it looks really good Dave, very surf -tastic
Thanks for the kind words, guys. Hardware will be chrome (including faux-Bigsby). The jury is out on the white pickguard.
I think you've done well with that shade of blue, Dave! It suits the sides really well, probably better than the darker blue you were looking for.
Oh, and I think you need wider tyres for your bike on the beach!
You've got to be happy with that! Gorgeous blue colour and contrasts nicely with the binding and side/back colour
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Man that blue is amazing. Love the contrast with the body as well. She's gonna look amazing all assembled.
cheers,
Gav.
that lady teal is looking unreal Dave, nice work
New tires? I blow all my money on guitars, otherwise I wouldn't have to wear my grandfather's foul weather gear.Quote:
Originally Posted by Swanny
Thanks Swanny!
And thanks for the encouragement everyone.
I'm loving this colour combo you've got going here Dave. Well done!
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If pickguard holes aren't drilled yet think about direct mount pups and just control plate. Looks great
If using humbuckers I would go without as that top looks too good to hide.Quote:
Originally Posted by DMorrison
Dave, I was flicking through Facebook on the phone tonight, and the pic of your guitar came up on Pitbull Guitar's page, it stopped the aptly-named-better half mid-sentence, "Oh, that is beautiful!", she said. Now, to stop her mid sentence, well done!
Ha! Thanks Swanny. Thanks Mrs. Swanny.Quote:
Originally Posted by Swanny
Sanding.
Staining.
Waiting.
Sanding.
Staining.
Waiting.
Attachment 9508
All sand and no assembly make homer something something
Hey Friends,
Here's the latest: I let the body hang for a week so the stain/finish could set.
Here's the beginning:
Attachment 9786
...and here's 2 hours later:
Attachment 9787
Attachment 9788
So far, so good; everything fit pretty well, even if positioning the whammy was a bit of a Hail Mary. What you see is everything from the kit - no upgrades. The neck needs to bow a bit more - I tweaked it and will let it sit with tension for a while and see what happens. Miraculously (and I hope this is some kind of sign) the intonation is fairly spot on. I need to do the usual set-up tweaks to get it right (and possibly a smaller spring for the whammy), but my quick test tells me that it has a nice sort of hybrid sound - fairly bright, but with some warmth from the humbuckers.
I'll keep you posted and get better pics...
Wow, she really looks the business! Great result man. Would love to hear a sound demo.
cheers,
Gav.
Veeeery nice, looks very chunky.
I love the look of the Bigsby trem on a tele, but i cant stand playing with Trems so i block or hardtail haha
fan...bloody..tastic. (still love the guitar bed, guitar water and guitar heater)
Andy, that's the nicest thing anyone has said to me all week! The guitar heater wasn't enough - I could barely get the little string balls over the damn tiny pegs on the faux-Bigsby with my cold stiff fingers (weren't they an Irish punk band?). Happily, I can now move out of the basement.Quote:
Originally Posted by Andy40
(Now you mention it, it does look like a mattress - it's actually a mover's blanket on a folding table).
Guitar looks great, might have to add one to my GAS list
Still left to do: neck adjustment, nut work, neck bow, intonation tweaks...
Attachment 9951
Looks fantastic, you cannot beat a semi hollow Tele
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Hey Everyone,
I've gotten a bit bogged down in the set-up, and any advice is welcome.
First, the nut slots were all too high off the fretboard, so I thought I could lower them all uniformly by taking the nut out and sanding the back. Clearly I was leaning too hard on one end, as when I put it back to check the B and E were buzzing like a sitar - I had sanded off too much on the high side. I tried to put a very thin shim in, but that raised it too much. I ordered a bone nut from Pit Bull, and I'm going to try again. If I have to lower the nut slots, what's the best way to do that - get a set of nut files?
Also, the neck was absolutely flat, and I wanted to introduce a slight bow. I have cranked the truss rod a number of times(counter-clockwise, please tell me I'm doing it right!) and the result is incredibly slight.
Once I get the nut in I will adjust string height and intonation - my fingers are crossed as there is not much travel in the bridge saddles.
Right now it plays fine in the middle of the neck, but not in open chord positions. The B and E strings sound great if you're into that Coral Electric Sitar thing...but I'm not.
Fingers crossed! If all of this fails I may have to learn slide.
Attachment 10145