good progress Ozz. The bevel on the headstock looks good. You could even make the bevel bigger would look cool.
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good progress Ozz. The bevel on the headstock looks good. You could even make the bevel bigger would look cool.
You could. If you are bevelling the back of the headstock as well, just keep in mind where the tuners will sit, as you don't want them overhanging any bevel.
Wok and Simon,
The bevel edge is only on the top. The tuner bushes are well clear of the bevel....and obviously the tuners will be fine.
Wok, I measured 3mm back from the edge on the face and top edge for the bevel. I was tempted to do 5mm but the amount of wood to go was a little concerning.....may have to draw a 1mm extra line on the top and the front tomorrow and see how it looks.
It was hard to keep things even and smooth though....the rasp and file just rip the wood off....the dremel sanding drum worked great.
Hi Ozzie, nice subtle shaping has made a world of difference and should look good with planned colour scheme.
Thanks. It was stressful....not a lot of margin of error.Quote:
Originally Posted by wazkelly
I am actually tempted to leave it as is. I do worry that trying to make it bigger will undo the good I have achieved.
Stuck on this choice.
As the title says...the things you can achieve when the need for labour and income is not all encompassing....time running out though.
Anyway....today I sanded at 240 grit all over the body to remove the timbermate....and cleaned up the neck as well.
Then the fluffies got a fair workout. Two times over with the damp cloth and left to dry and then lightly sanded to 320 grit.
I then made up some fresh sanding sealer...shellac...and gave the body and the neck two light coats with an hour to dry in between.
That is it for today....depending on work....oh hang on....staining tomorrow. :)
The piccies are about 3 mins after the last coat of shellac....so little colour differences.
I am liking this kit. It has some wonderful end grain and the shape gives you more figure on the leading and trailling edges.
Cover me in honey and toss me to the women in comfortable shoes. :) (Robin Williams reference.)
looking good Ozz. What stain colour will it be ?
Hey Woks, I reckon it looks like he will be doing a nudee natural finish.
Wrong all round guys.
Thunderbird orange with black headstock and dark brown edge trim on the body. 😎
(However the all natural finish was very appealing.)
Note to self....regardless of how I feel....or what I read on the net....stop sanding at 240 grit.....water based stain at 240 grit...no more.
Brain fart moment and I went to 320 grit....super smooth and the stain just slid around.
Even after two coats of sanding sealer it still made tide marks....gathered in globs....I worked it and worked it.....two coats with an hour in between.
Nah.....time to sand. I shall practice the long taught art of SAN-DING. Taught with great aplomb by Sensei D.B. of the W.A. Dojo of luthiery.
Phaark. !!!!!!!
I would have put the sanding sealer on after the stain. I can't help but feel that any sealer going on first is going to inhibit absorption. I hope the re-sanding does the trick though.
That was the idea....to ensure an even absorption of the stain....especially end grain. Two light coats of it are highly recommended when using stain/dye as opposed to paint.Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Barden
The spray sealers.....like some of the vinyl sealers are designed to go over colour finishes prior to using a clear coat.
Amazing how Basswood doesn't need much sanding.
Just wiped down my MMB4 with a damp cloth tonight and straight out of the box there super smooth shiny areas already. Nothing that some 80 & 120 can't sort out.
Colour looks, err, umm, very orange in those shots Ozzie. Is it that loud in the flesh?
Yeah is an amazing wood.Quote:
Originally Posted by wazkelly
Ha ha ha....very orange....gonna darken to something like this...I hope. 😎
My plan for the colours of this build have changed over time.
I am using mixes made from the U-Beaut range of water based timber dyes.
http://www.ubeaut.com.au/dye.html
The ORANGE...yes Wazza it is loud... :) ... is made from mixing orange and yellow.
I covered the whole body with this to provide a base colour for the rest to float over.....bad words....but I hope you guys get the image.
I have left the majority of the raised section in the middle of the front of the body with the orange colour.
Then I used a mix of the Orange and Cedar colours around the outside and basically over the wings of the body.
Then finally a stripe/wipe/burst of the pure Cedar around the outside to complete the burst.
The two photos were taken straight after I had rubbed the dyes in...still wet.
I will do some more coats to deepen the colour and to even out and feather the edges of where the colours meet.
The ORANGE will peek through the darker colours and I hope it makes a good effect. I can't wait to see what Tru Oil does to the colours and the grain. :)
P.S. Much much much easier to work with the dyes at 240 grit sanded body....just saying to myself....duh. :)
After an hour or so for the top colours to dry a little....so they don't smear as I work on the back.
The back is done. More coats to even and feather to come.
nice work on the burst Ozz, looks great !
Yes, it's looking good.
Just go gently with the staining, it's easy to overdo it and get it too dark. Remember that any clear finish is going to darken the wood as well. Do a light rub over with turps or metho to get an idea of what it will be like when finished. Try not to rub too hard with a cloth as you are likely to loosen some stain, so maybe brush it on. You only need to do a small area.
Simon, I love your interest, intent, and information.....but gee bloke you are one tough audience. Ha ha ha. 😎Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Barden
That has toned down the Ranga element a fair bit and like the sound of the end game.
Yeah, Ozz, I can be a bit OTT at times. Don't mean to be though. But I'm also my own worst critic, so I give myself a tough time as well!
You do help a lot of us novices out simon most of us could not build the first guitar with out the help of yourself and others sometime a bit of tuff love is the best medicineQuote:
Originally Posted by Simon Barden
Well it's certainly looking good so far and I just don't want you to stuff it up. I'm just as guilty as many others of 'just one more go with the spray' or 'just one extra stroke of the nut file'.
my worst habit is "I'll just quickly do that before I go out" then spend the next whole day fixing my rushed job
No offence meant Simon. Sorry if I upset you at all. I am a cheeky bugger and I do appreciate you input and advice.Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Barden
I did not actually put any more colour on today.....instead I smeared it with a soak coat of Tru Oil. 😎
No problem at all Ozz. I'm not easily upset. Been on too many forums for too long, so I know it's not always easy to write exactly the right thing in the right way. A thread is a slow multi-way conversation with no verbal clues or body language to help get the correct tone of a post.
I must get round to doing a guitar with stain and Tru-Oil. Something I should be able to do over the winter when spraying isn't possible.
Interestingly read on Musicman website today that they use 'Gun Oil' on their neck finishes? Presume this could be Tru Oil as I don't know of any other Yankee produced Gun Oil.
Got heaps done today....bit lazy on the headstock face near the nut....pabs lovely big truss rod cover will hide the two normal glue spots.
I fixed the glue marks on the side of the neck and under the nut on the side.
I faded in the Cedar stain at the bottom of the neck and up around the scarf joint into the Orange understain.
I then completely stained the back of the head stock Cedar in colour....including the bevels.
Then this afternoon I taped the edges of the headstock up and put the black stain over the orange on the face of the headstock.
Hung up to dry in a room with reverse cycle heating aircon at 24 degrees.
Tomorrow Tru-Oil all over.
Sounds great and can't wait for the photos.
Today I gave her a good soak of Tru-Oil on the body and neck....essentially kept applying it until no more would go in.
Then I wiped off the excess and had to do some more work on the neck....but the body got two more rubbed coats.
Let her hang for a couple of days now....and then see what we shall see.
Wokka....I made the bevel one millimetre wider on the side and the top....so I suppose 2 millimetres wider. :)
This audience approves and gives a round of applause. ;)
*applaudes*Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Barden
Why thank you...clappers. :)
Some more Tru Oil this morning. The body is starting to shine so much already looks great....the neck nearly a matt finish. mmmm. Maybe more is good. :)
Please sir, can I have some more?
I am happy at this point that the clear coats of Tru Oil are going on nicely. I do think that it is about time I level the coats as a couple of bumps are here and there.
My quandary is to wet-sand with what and at what grade?
I have seen Tru Oil used as the liquid with 600 to 1200 grit paper.
I have seen linseed oil used with similar grits.
I have seen the micromesh pads used with water...with a little dishsoap for slippies. (I have the 14 piece micromesh kit from sandpaperman.)
I am having my third attempt at getting an even finish with my BG-46 kit......okay...sanded through again.....PHARQ.
So this downunderbird will hang for at least three days now....and then I shall attack to de-bump...fluff....and one hair....the finish. Here is hoping I can make a choice of what to use first...and secondly I don't blast through the finish.
Wow, that is shiny! Looking good Oz!
looking great Ozz. I usually wet sand with 1200 grit and if there is still any bumps then go to 800 grit on those areas. Then over those areas with 1200 grit. I wouldn't use 600 grit, I think that may leave tiny scratches
Hi buddy, I would start with 1500 wet using water with a couple of drops of dishwashing liquid to soften the water. You might get away with 1200 but even 1500 strips off a lot. Presume you use a cork sanding block on the flat surfaces.
The shine on the round pointy bit of front lower horn is awesome as is the rest.
Just remember that micromesh grits are different sizes to normal paper, 2400 micromesh is just on the finer side of P1500, so if using micromesh, don't use anything below 2400, or you will easily break through again.
I have been trialling some differing finishing methods of late on two builds:-
This one....obviousily and this other Big Girl over here.
http://www.buildyourownguitar.com.au...t=6444&page=25
Today I did some wet sanding on this Downunder Bird build....trials and tribulations and much gnashing of teeth has ensued.
1. Wetsand with high quality 1200 grit wet and dry paper in warm water with a dribble or two of dish soap.....BLASTED straight through again. Grrr.
2. Wetsand with high quality...read expensive.....1500 grit wet and dry paper in the same water as above....BOOM straight through on the top this time.....nice.....NOT.
3. Sanding process on the BG 46 using 2400 Black coloured micromesh pad....ouch again....again....again.
4. Back to the Downunder Bird with the TAN 3200 micromesh pad in warm water with dish soap....ah huh...we have a winner. Nice smoothing....shiny parts disappearing without stripping of finish and stain. Amazingly this looks like a START point for me from now on.
Now....I have used the wet and dry paper wrapped around a cork sanding block.....wrapped around a white rubber pencil eraser....held very lightly with next to no downwards pressure under the finger tips of my hand.
The micromesh pads are foam backed so both were just used with minimal downwards pressure and moved lightly in wet circles.
I have hit the necks up on the BG-46 with some 240 grit as the stain would not even go into the wood at 2400/3200. The stain has been reapplied.
I am waiting for the body and neck of the TB-4 to dry and I will wipe it over with some stain as it is. If it does not take...then again a light sand with 240 grit and on with the stain.
My Summary:-
1. The BG-46 is being clearcoat finished with wipe on polyurethane as I did not have a good outcome using spray cans and cannot justify the cost of a spray gun etc at this point. I am using poly as I have found that Tru-Oil produces a very yellow finish....over my blue stain....GREEN. The poly...even though quite yellow itself does not interact as much with the stain as Tru Oil....still have blue colour on the body and necks.
2. The manner I wipe either finish on makes the final product so much easier to achieve. Don't slap it on.....or if it is the earlier coats...slap it on....but make sure it is wiped off...spread out....or finished with a wipe in the direction of the grain.
3. Every two or three coats on TRU OIL I am giving the surface a very light scratch with 0000 grade steel wool. Making sure I brush and blow of the surface all over after this....I even wipe it down with metho sometimes.....light hit with a clean fine bristle paint brush....compressed air would be good too.
4. Every 6 or 9 coats I will now do the progressively finer micromesh pad wet sanding.
5. The poly may just get many light coats...no steel wool as of yet.....may have to consider for future....and then start at 3200 micromesh when I get the finish I want.
6. I may have to revisit 240 grit on the BG-46 body as I have some lighter areas around the edges where the stain has not been reabsorbed into the wood.
More to come....but this seems to offer the best outcome for me....see if it works. :)