H's TL-1Q, first build.

G'day H. bit late on the scene as was busy with EOFY crap at work all last week.

With the Goof Off, many glue marks are quite hard to see until 1st stain coat has been applied so suggest wiping the guitar with a soft damp cloth and closely inspect to see any parts that look different to the rest as these may just be small remnants of glue lurking in the background. The stuff has a really strong smell like acetone and hoped you used gloves. It even melted through the blue nitrite ones I used. Kept well clear of any binding as the stuff is designed to dissolve glue, the exact stuff that holds your binding together so best to stay well clear.

I know I will be banished to the cupboard under the stairs in the naughty warehouse for admitting and even mentioning this but here goes... I used TO on back, sides front, & fret board for my Ash Jazz Bass as per below shots as most maple boards I have played in the past were always sealed with some sort of finish and it seemed to make sense as all the oils available suggest not good on maple but ideal for rosewood. Only put around 6-8 very light oats on the Fret Board and then used a fret finishing tool bought on eBay that has a slot cut in it for the fret to protrude and a bit of metal either side to protect things when using 0000 steel wool remove TO finish off the frets and also bring them up nice and clean & shiny. Some forum members have suggested making a similar thing from an ice cream container lid. Should mention that a little bit of light steel wool sanding was used between the frets between some of the coats just to keep things going down even. Also used the Maguires car polish all over too and took more time polishing the fret board to make sure no residue was left behind. Yes, TO does have a very light amber tint but as you can see below it came out OK and not as dark as some store bought examples made in USA. Have used the DT wax on Rosewood and whilst harder work it does a much better job on that timber than lemon oil which tends to look quite dry rather soon after application whereas the wax looks lush and almost moist and feels better once playing too. Could work OK on maple too, just preferred the traditional look and feel and lesser ongoing maintenance.
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On the forum everyone has different opinions and advice and you just need to go with what you think best suits you. Hopefully some of the feedback and comments helps you plot an easier course through the mine field of many finishing challenges that lie ahead and wish you luck on your journey.

Edit, If wanting to stain the headstock suggest at least one or 2 coats of either DT Neck Finish or TO to the rest of the neck so that the colour on headstock does not bleed or penetrate where it shouldn't go, and always mask up with a good quality painters masking tape. Once you have the colour where you want it you can then apply same top coat stuff to seal things.

Thank you everyone!

Waz, I used gloves for the Goof Off, they didn't melt but definitely weakened. Did the whole thing outside since it smelled strongly of solvent as soon as I opened the can.

Wiped the body down afterwards and I don't think I can see any spots left. I guess I'll learn what to look for if I get a stain coat down and I've missed something.

I'd be completely lost without all the advice from this forum, and I really appreciate everyone's help. I like that there's lots of different opinions, it means there's lots of different ways to get results.

That bass looks fantastic, if I manage something half as good I'll be happy! The mrs actually said "you should do a bass next" today. She's right, I should.

Way to go H and highly recommend the Ash J Bass kit. Dead simple and was the easiest of my 4 builds. The question is would you be brave enough to go fretless?

Fretless? Good question! I'd love to have one but I'm not sure how much I'd play it, and trying to pull frets and fill gaps looks terrifying. There's also that rick-ish bass kit that looks like it's based on the bass I'd buy new if I had unlimited money. I also would like to make a 6-string SG. So... hah... fretless is something I'd look at for a bass, but might not make the cut next time. I'll try not to plan anything just yet and see how I go with this one first, but I've got a long-ish list of "Stuff I'd like to do".

I've always had "I want that bass/amp/pedal/thing" moments, but never really understod the whole GAS thing. Until now.

It becomes infectious doesn't it. If there was an endless supply of money plus plenty of spare time there are many kits most of us would like to build. The hard part is narrowing that list down to fit within reality which for most folks is limited time and funds.

If I went one more build it would be something a little bit different like the double cutaway LP Jnr or a Firebird as both kits come in Mahogany and haven't worked on that timber yet. Hmmm, maybe one day and leaning more towards a Firebird.

Finished sanding, masked up the binding, went to attach a bit of scrap to the neck pocket so I can move/hang the body once it's stained... and found out the bolts I thought I'd use are slightly too big. By the time I got that sorted out, it was dark. It'll probably be Sunday before I get to make any progress.

Progress! And Problems! (separated into two posts due to image limit)

Got the stain coat down. Wasn't too hard, the DT smells great compared to every other paint, stain, etc I've ever used, and I'm pretty stoked about how the quilted veneer looks - despite my worries that it wouldn't be a very obvious without some inking or something, it looks pretty much how I wanted. Photos aren't really doing it justice, it looks a lot "flatter" in the photo than it does in person.

http://i.imgur.com/zcnYsZ7.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/7A06DWR.jpg

Edit: The mrs managed to take a photo that makes it look very close to what it looks like in real life:

http://i.imgur.com/1rnOuvS.jpg

Now... problems.

The two marks on the front. Not sure what they are, I don't think they're glue but the stain didn't seem to take on them. Unfortunately, they're not going to be covered by the pick guard or bridge. Any way to fix them? I'm not super concerned, they don't stick out that much in person, but "a problem happened, how do I fix it?" is part of the learning process I'm trying for here.

http://i.imgur.com/YNbvl7T.jpg

This mark in the center of the back. Don't know what it is, but again it didn't take the stain. Looks almost like part of the grain. Did I not sand enough? The rest of the back looks good enough that I almost regret getting a quilted veneer front.

http://i.imgur.com/7XzSzkx.jpg

Missed a glue spot! Do I use Goof Off again, or has the fact that I've tried to stain it made this impossible to remove?

http://i.imgur.com/fxlFiTT.jpg

Finally, the one I'm absolutely kicking myself over because I should have known better, I stained over newspaper and the ink rubbed off on the finish. It's me, I'm the idiot. I might just leave it there because it's where my forearm will rub on the guitar and that's where my basses seem to wear the most, and also whenever I look at it it'll remind me to think things through before proceeding.

http://i.imgur.com/AoeHly4.jpg

H,

I don't know what the marks are on the veneer. Its hard to tell on the first stain coats exactly how the DT will take in later stages. I've found that even when the stain coat doesn't take or looks a bit washed out, later stain coats take care of it or the intensifying coat goes over it.

One things for sure, i've even stuffed the DT final coat in places and had to sand back bits to bare wood. not a massive problem, just had to lay down some a bit of stain coats, and some intensifying coats over offending bits to get them back up to speed. Be really careful on that paper thin veneer with any sanding or goof off, same with that glue spot the newspaper mark can be either sanded off with a light sandpaper, then restain. just wait till it cures.

BTW I use the rubber floor mats when im applying DT, easy to keep clean, no foreign bodies to stick to guitar etc.

Did you grain fill with timbermate? or anything? I cant tell.

Thanks Andy!

I didn't do any grain filling. I decided not to on the veneer based on the whole "it's really thin!" thing people were saying, then I just... forgot on the back. It was part of the plan but it completely slipped my mind.

I'll wait for it to cure then I'll carefully sand back the ink marks and re-stain, goof-off the glue spot and re-stain, and probably not worry too much about the marks on the veneer and back and hope they disappear or at least become less prominent with further staining.

I think I went a bit too thick with the initial stain. I did rub it in really well, then when it was touch-dry I went over it again much thinner. Hope I didn't mess up too much there.

How do I tell when it's cured? When it stops smelling? It's dry to touch now (~30 hours later), I know that doesn't mean it's cured, but I'm not sure how to tell.