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First time posting, and first time doing a semi-hollow body kit. Quick question for you all about the ES-1S. I know I'm not supposed to sand the top since it is Spalted, and a very thin veneer, but what about the back and sides of the body? Should I sand them? Thanks for the help!
Yeah you will need to do some sanding on the body, there will be machine marks that will show up once you start finishing. What are your finishing plans overall?
I'd start with some 120 grit and work up to 320/400 ish, depending on what your plans are. Once you start you'll see some of the marks that have been made by the factory tooling. Sand with the grain wherever possible, the end grains will be the trickiest, it just takes patience.
I'd say that you only sand if you need to sand. The back and sides are fair-faced plywood and shouldn't have any machine marks (maybe Sonic was thinking of veneer top solid bodies which often do have machining marks), so you don't want to sand unnecessarily as it is possible to sand through the outer veneer ply, which will look pretty bad.
You may want to do a very light rub over with 400 grit if you can feel any rough patches, but nothing too vigorous or with any pressure. Unless there are any serious marks (if so, post a photo as there shouldn't be), then if you are going to stain, then stain and lightly sand afterwards, to remove any bits of grain raised in the staining process.
Oh whoops, my bad, yes I was referring to solid bodies.. listen to this guy ^
What he said ^^^^^ :cool:
Thank you very much!! I don't see any serious marks. I'm planning on doing a Tru Oil finish, and no stain on this one.
All the best!
Fantastic top on that one, best of luck with the build!
Hey all jumping on board this -
I'm jumping into my first kit build with an ES-1F - Flamed Maple Veneer
am I reading correctly that I shouldn't be sanding this at all before staining?
there is so much content on youtube/internet can someone point me in the right direction of something to watch/read prior to staining?
Cheers
Probably only a very light run over with some P800 or P1000 to remove any loose fibres on the body, and that's very light 'drag' indeed, almost no downward pressure. You can sand the neck if it needs it, but really no more than P240 is recommended as the final sand otherwise you can stop the wood taking the stain evenly if you use too fine a grit.
But:
1) Have you checked for any glue marks yet on the top, and if so, have you removed the marks? You won't get the stain taken up by areas with any glue on them.
2) Have you thought about masking the binding? Water-based stains may leave some marks which can be scraped off, but spirit-based stains have less surface tension and get into all the hairline cracks in the binding, and they generally can't be removed.
Cheers Simon
Will check those things when I get home.
P800-1000 for removing glue from the top?
I've seen a heap of great finishes where a layer of stain goes down, then sanded, then stain on top of that - looks phenomenomal
P800-1000 for sanding between stains as well?
And similarly for the Back and sides - P800-1000 for that as well?
Thanks in advance
You'll need a proprietary glue removal product for glue spots if you have any. Goof off is the product most mentioned here, though it does depend on your location as to how easy it is to get hold of. Soft wire brush (brass bristles) helps work it in to the wood.
If you want to try and 'pop' the flame, then yes, a dark stain, rub back, and then your main colour stain. Here, you'll need to be rougher and maybe use something like P240, but gently. Ideally you'd want to use a finer grit, but as I've said before, experience has shown that anything much finer than P240 tends to polish the surface and make stain uptake patchy.
But you've only got 0.5mm-0.6mm of veneer depth to play with, and if you take too much off you'll start to see the wood beneath, so be very gentle with the sanding.
The back and sides are a basswood laminate, but with a figured basswood veneer on the outside. So whilst you wont want to pop those, you still need to be careful with the surface, so always best to be as gentle with it as you can. It's smooth enough for finishing, so a once-over with P800 (or higher) just to remove loose surface fibres, but you could even wait to do that until after staining.
gee whiz great advice thanks
going to do a whole lot of practice runs on some scrap pine to get the desired result before applying to the es1
turns out goof off is available readily here in Western Aus so thats good
appreciated thanks
Is Goof off the same as Goo gone? They do look similar: https://googone.com/
I have a bottle of Goo gone but it looks much like some kind of oil? Not sure if this would work for raw wood too?
It's not the same product. I don't know how similar it is, as Goof Off comes in a variety of bottles for different purposes. I've never used it myself, and don't know what type people normally use.
I have a can of Goof-off in front of me. Website printed on the can says www.goof-off.com. Looking at the two websites, they look pretty similar. That said, I'd go with the one people talk about to get the results people talk about. Goo Gone may do the same thing...or it may not.
Two different manufacturers though, both American. I could understand having a different brand name on the label in a different country, but not in the same country.
Use a 240g aluminium oxide paper (the White stuff) finish with a 360-400g don't sand the maple veneer unless needed always use a block when sandingQuote:
Originally Posted by Woutizmoo