Hi Marze, running the drill in reverse might have prevented the splintering as that is best method used for enlarging pot holes to accommodate US made upgraded parts.
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Hi Marze, running the drill in reverse might have prevented the splintering as that is best method used for enlarging pot holes to accommodate US made upgraded parts.
I did actually try that! The drill bit was very vicious. Just tore into the wood, even after trying to start with a 'guided' hole. Next time, different drill bit. I will keep that one for non-woodworking tasks.Quote:
Originally Posted by wazkelly
Wow, is that Ash or Alder? The drill bits tent not to tear the Ash on mine. but then again i was super paranoid and revered drilled a pilot hole about .5 mm in depth before forward drilling down to the tape.
Your ferrules should cover those gouges (I hope)
Good job on using the router.
Nice work with the router/drill
Speed of the drill has a bearing on the outcome too as cranking it as slow as possible is always best on delicate surfaces. As Andy said the ferrules should probably cover things up and it's on the back anyways so not exactly the side on show most of the time.
OK, time for a long overdue update ... This may take several posts :^)
After sanding the body and neck back to 600 grit, I made a slurry of neutral grain filler and rubbed it into the body. I wanted it to pick up the blue and be a kind of opposite effect to popping the grain with black filler.
Attachment 14605
This dried for a few days then got sanded back with 600 grit. First coats of Dingotone were applied - Bondi Blue with a Black Stump burst with the result here:
The DT seems to take a very long time to dry/cure in my work area. It has taken about two weeks between coats and still I don't seem to get a nice hard and dry finish. It always seems to remain tacky. I have tried running a dehumidifier in the the room while the DT was drying and it doesn't seem to make much difference. Yes, I followed DBs instructions to the letter.
Anyway, MANY weeks later, 3 coats of base stain, 4 coats of Intensifying stain and 3 coats of finish stain, I have arrived here.
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I had lots of trouble between coats as when I tried to cut back the DT with 0000 steel wool it would ball up and I ended up having to use 600 grit or 400 grit wet and dry to get the bits off. Thus so many coats.
The finish coat on the body always seems to leave streaky gaps between coats, I will keep going and see if I can get a nice even finish. Again, it is not seeming to dry and remains tacky, like a gel finish even after three weeks of drying. I am calling the resulting colour stonewash denim :-)
The neck however is a bit of a basket case. I not sure what I have done wrong, but the finish coat just doesn't seem to want to, well, finish. It looks like it doesn't want to stick. The surface is very blotchy. Not sure if the Dingotone likes the maple neck. The Bondi Blue on the face of the head stock, would just not sink in. So it is very pale compared to the body.
I am looking for advice as I am about to sand it right back and, as I have run out of stain, will order some new and try again.
Ouch... that's a shame...
How fine was the neck sanded, up to what grit?
I think you are right in your thinking weirdy, it looks like you sanded after the timber mate up to 600 grit? unfortunately the DT stain coats will not soak in enough as there is not enough "tooth" in the timber especially the maple neck. I would sand it no more than 320 grit on the body and 240 on the neck.
You should be able to get the maple neck darker than that creating a bit of tooth by sanding with 240 and then re-staining. I'd probably do more like 4 stain coats and 4 intensifying coats.
I never use steel wool on DT anymore. I think there is petroleum substance in it to prevent rusting which reacts badly with DT. plus its messy. a bit of 1200 grit & 2000 grit wet & dry on the intensifying coats and final coats (no sanding required in between stain coats) will work wonders lightly sanding with the grain in one direction once cured and before applying the next coat.
Let me know if you have't read my previous posts (somewhere in this forum) about applying ultra thin coats of intensifying coats and finals which aid with curing faster and non streaking.
BTW are you using DT neck finish coats on the neck or just general finish coats?
400 initially, then 600 for later coats of the intensifying coat. Mostly 0000 inbetween coats.
I have just tried the general finish. I do have a bottle of the neck finish which I was going to use for the last two coats. Haven't cracked the bottle yet.Quote:
Originally Posted by Andy40
And thanks for the advice on the staining. Looks like a start again job. :-*
I have not read your previous posts Andy. I will go hunt for them.Quote:
Originally Posted by Andy40
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Haven't yet seen a Bondi Blue axe where there has been much colour absorbed into the timber.
Headstock faces are hard to colour up as they already come very smooth and shiny. In my personal opinion if you want to colour necks and headstocks all they need is just a very light 180 or 240 to knock down any obvious lumpy bits but never bring the timber up to a sheen as that just then repels all attempts to get stain into the grain.
Share your pain with the DT blues after using steel wool, know it all too well. Andy is on the money with finer grade wet sands after a few intensifiers however I never had any luck with the top coat and reverted to a naughty product that cannot be mentioned. Tend to think the DT Neck finish may work better all round as it is supposed to cure into a harder finish.
If you are happy with the neck colour just lightly wet sand it back to take the streakiness out and proceed with DT Neck finish or another product. Both my explorers were done with DT which coloured both necks and headstocks quite well too and proves that it can be done.
Next update since the, well, staining failure with the DT. There will be multiple posts so I can upload the photos of each step.
It was sand back to bare wood and start again time.
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I decided to put a 45 deg bevel on the edge of the body (hey, what's the point of building your own guitar if you can do some mods). With the help of #FredA and his trusty router the bevel was on without any dramas.
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Back to sanding down from 240 to 400 grit and we are ready for staining.
Here we are all ready for the wood sealer.
Attachment 16482
Before that I checked the pickguard to make sure fit was OK after the bevel edge was put on. It needed some reshaping so out with the 240 grit to cut it back and then 400 grit to shape it to the body nice and neatly.
Attachment 16486
This time I went with artist dyes, a black and blue ocean. I needed to seal the timber so I mixed up some of the colour into the neutral timbermate for the blue faces and black sides as a thin slurry and applied liberally.
Attachment 16483
While the timer mate was drying I masked up the fretboard on the neck as prep for staining.
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First coat of the dye on the neck was watered down about as 1 part dye to 2 parts water. Results were a bit thin.
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Re-adjustment of the dye mix required ....
For the next 2 stain coats I doubled the amount of dye and the result was much better
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Now back to the body and sand back the timebermate. After a lot of sanding (again) we are back to 400 grit and wiped down ready to do with the stain.
Attachment 16491
Unfortunately my eye sight must be worse than I thought. When it looked all nice and smooth before the timbermate application, once sanded back it appears I missed the router marks around the edges.
Attachment 16492Attachment 16493
So back to more sanding to clean them up, more timebermate and NOW we are ready for staining.
Attachment 16494
First stain coat came out nicely, need to work on the black burst a bit more to blend it out.
Attachment 16495
A couple more layers of stain and we are now ready for the clear top coats.
Attachment 16496Attachment 16497
These look a little dark as they were taken at night. It is actually close to the previous post colour is just a little deeper.
For the top coat I have opted for a wipe on polyurethane finish. I do some some DT neck top coat, but not feeling brave enough to try that after the previous dilemmas.
Nice work Marze, I like where this is going.
Looking good mate.
Looking great. A good reward for all your efforts.
Now that's progress! Ready for clear gloss now!
Clear gloss coats are done and I turned my attention to finishing.
First up was the plastic nut had to go and be replaced with a bone nut.
Unfortunately, there was a bit of an accident when loosening the plastic nut with very light tapping ...
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Now I am hoping that this is recoverable with some trusty superglue.
Any other suggestions? Would strong wood glue be strong enough?
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oh loud bad words. Unlucky, looks like clean breaks so maybe superglue is the best bet?
Yep, I bet my loud bad words were worse.Quote:
Originally Posted by FrankenWashie
Breaks are clean and the pieces fit back together nicely with no missing chips.
So it is just a matter of picking the right glue!?
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It's a no load area but I would use PVA there rather than super glue
Ouch , titebond will fix it
Bummer... I've got some titebond if you need some.
But the blue looks amazing now!
Alternatively you might be able to level the area and fit a Gibson style nut. Have a go at gluing it first, but if the cracks are too obvious, then a different style nut may be the better solution.
Bugger Marze! never seen this happen. I'd be titebonding that back on
Bummer.
I'm with Simon in that if gluing doesn't work reverting to a Gibbo nut may be the only way to go.
Makes me feel a bit nervous about the couple of nut jobs I will need to do shortly on a Tele & J Bass. Thankfully they are both maple fret boards which should mean a stronger timber than rosewood otherwise I reckon people as far away as Perth will be able to hear some of my strong words.
Love the colour!
Similar to the vibe I want to do with a thinline. I really like the stained headstock.
Kickstarted ...
Well, after a really long pause and a couple of house moves, including interstate, I have pulled the guitar out to finish it.
Thank you to my daughters who needed their Squire and Aria guitars setup for the inspiration.
So some progress photos ...https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...3536d7acfb.jpg
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Clear coat done, dried (6 coats of wipe on poly), sanded an polished. Now ready to assemble.
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Neck on, copper shielding done, bridge in place.
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Tuners done, bone nut in place, pick guard and neck pickup in place, time to get the soldering iron out.
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I love the blueburst finish. Headstock is a nice variant on the telecaster. It says "Tele but different" to me.
It’s done!
Frets leveled, crowned, polished. Some Dingo wax in the fretboard to make it all smooth.
It ended up looking a little vintage rather than shiny new. But that’s OK. Adds to the character.
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Lessons learned.
Don’t use wipe on poly. More work and effort than benefit. It’s also hard to get an even application which results in over sanding to smooth it out and having to restart the process or trying to patch colour.
Don’t leave the project too long. Bumps and scrapes make you end up with a vintage finish [emoji6]
I need to get better at electronics. Checked and rechecked and it still won’t make a sound.
Now I have the bug again … not the next one to apply lessons learned.
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Better late than never! Looks great. I also like the blue-burst.
Have you got the sound problem resolved?
Really nice work! The blue is great, esp. the headstock, nice job on the through strings - that burst looks great too! Nice fix of the nut slot.