Number 36 is happening.

I did it again, another bargain bin swoop.

https://www.pitbullguitars.com/shop/...ustom-special/

The headless kit has always interested me. This one has a Mahogany body with a very interesting Zebrawood veneer.

I ordered three mini CTS 500 k pots, a switchcraft jack socket, and some white vintage push back wire.

I may have to seek out a recessed Tele style jack socket in black.

But, other than that this one will be stock and pretty natural. The Zebrawood has a nice tone to it...so no sanding and no filling. The mahogany body will get sanded to 180 grit, then multiple timber mate mahogany treatments. The neck is maple and may just get sanded to 180 and the a timbermate mahogany to closer match the body.

Then all of it sprayed with the CABOTS clear gloss polyurethane in a can. From sonic posts, and my experience so far, then maybe no compound...just some auto cut cream, scratch x and the carnauba wax and hand buff.

This will be way different to my others. Nice.

Just in case the listing disappears before I finish it.

I am not a fan of headless designs myself, but that's an interesting veneer and your planned finish should highlight the timber and look great.

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Originally Posted by jugglindan

I am not a fan of headless designs myself, but that's an interesting veneer and your planned finish should highlight the timber and look great.

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I was also not a big fan.

But it is just so different. At least it does not have that 3 point bridge issue....oh how I hate that.

I do think that the wood itself will give enough colour/grain/character, and will look amazing all waxed up and shiny.

I found the nice flat top screw on Black metal knobs x 3, two schaller style black strap lock buttons, black tele style socket, and ordered them too.

All the mailbox circling to come now. Fully done....just have to build it. :)

Wow, that is a nice body! ;)

The guitarekit's not bad either. ;)

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Originally Posted by blinddrew

Wow, that is a nice body! ;)

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That is the main reason I jumped in and bought this one.

I intend to just seal it up and polish it a lot.

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Originally Posted by Simon Barden

The guitarekit's not bad either. ;)

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Oh...that is so very bad.

He knew the risks.

And I pretty much knew who would take the set up! ;)

I had looked over the pics from the original online posting and had a couple of concerns. The bottom left bout of the body had a slightly different shape to the right side, and a hole or gouge or something appeared on the fingerboard.

Well upon arrival I see that the difference in roundness is due to the belly cut....phew.

The fingerboard mark is a knot.

A really close inspection of the neck shows it to be to me a proper Rosewood fingerboard. I have a couple of the engineered ones and this looks nothing like it.

The neck pocket has a split and a tear. The tear is along the bottom side of the neck pocket. It appears that the broken piece has been glued back in. I shall inspect further. The split appears to have been glued back together in the bottom of the neck pocket starting at the top down to the first neck screw hole.

The veneer feels really thin and the edges of the pickup routs show no depth of wood at all. So, I am not really interested in sanding the top at all. I don't think I will even fill the timber, which it needs. But, I think I will spray a pile of the polyurethane by Cabots....then sand flat and repeat until it is sealed and level.

The neck appears flat and not really having much in the way of grain to highlight. I am going to strip the headstock metal end off and put it away safe. I think then tape up the finger board and sand, pore fill, stain, oil, then wax. That gives a nice depth to wood and a satin smooth sheen.

more nice arrival piccies....and no headstock shape to cut and fine tune. :)

Neck pocket. I think this is doable and will go well.

The infamous 'Overlord of Music' bridge... it's where the forum title came from.

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Originally Posted by WeirdBits

The infamous 'Overlord of Music' bridge... it's where the forum title came from.

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Well that explains a few things. Ha ha.

It is really heavy.

Yeah, what it lacks in precision it makes up for in mass! :)

I am really stumped with this one.

I have seen a number of other builds with veneers that did not go well. I am seriously considering just laying on heaps of spray polyurethane and sanding it level.

Now that accounts for the front, but the back is an issue.

The body is three piece Mahogany. I have been tossing up sanding up the grades to 180 grit...then pore filling with mahogany timber mate...and then I have no idea what to do or where to go.

Well, not no idea....but no clear plan.

I have not had a good result with trying a burst....hard to get the colours of water based or alcohol based stains to smoothly transition between each shade.

I have drifted of late towards the use of the Prooftint range from Feast Watson. I have a number of shades of this stuff with me.

One idea was to just run a darker colour around the edge of the body and just over onto the flat of the back. I was thinking the Japan Brown shade for that. Then to leave the middle section natural.

Then to use my go to finish of late, of Feast Watson Fine Buffing Oil...applied with steel wool for at least one coat. (I have had some issues with the steel wool stripping colour out.). Then a few more coats applied with cloth.

Then let the Body hang for about two weeks and then a number of coats of Gillies Cabinetmakers Wax buffed to a satin finish.

Another option I had thought about was to lay out a colour wheel style of pattern to use the different colours of stain I have on hand in a wagon wheel style pattern on the back of the body.

Or, to just stain the whole back of the body with the Brown colour....and then seal with a finish of choice....maybe the spray Polyurethane all over the body.

I really don’t know what to do. Any ideas will be happily received. 😎

I will do the neck tomorrow....sand to 180....timber mate for some grain grabbing...then sand to 240. Depending on rear of body finish....may follow up the neck with the back of the body colour.

But I do like the satin feel of the buffing oil and wax finish. So I think the neck will be oil and wax.

Of well time for some rest. Please drop in some ideas.

Thank you all in anticipation.

Black back & sides, pale yellow or amber or clear on the front, call it Tigga.

They do look like quite nice bits of wood on the back, feels like it would be a shame to hide them completely.

I would pick a stain that lets the grain show through on the back and sides, so not too dark. Maybe a color that picks up the dark grain color from the front. That could look pretty.

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Originally Posted by Cliff Rogers

Black back & sides, pale yellow or amber or clear on the front, call it Tigga.

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Tigga now that lines up with my No. 35 Tele bass build. Black body with golden teak neck.

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Originally Posted by blinddrew

They do look like quite nice bits of wood on the back, feels like it would be a shame to hide them completely.

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That has been my feeling...the front is its own thing. But the back has a nice grain too....maybe just try to get a tone close to the front. Hmmmm.

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Originally Posted by ThatCluelessGerman

I would pick a stain that lets the grain show through on the back and sides, so not too dark. Maybe a color that picks up the dark grain color from the front. That could look pretty.

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Thank you....and this seems to be a common thought. Maybe I should get the colours I have and do a test.

Thank you.

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Originally Posted by ozzbike

Thank you....and this seems to be a common thought. Maybe I should get the colours I have and do a test.

Thank you.

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I just learnt the hard way that the stain goes on much more evenly if you use sanding sealer first. i.e. timbermate, sand, sanding sealer, sand, stain.

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Originally Posted by jonwhitear

I just learnt the hard way that the stain goes on much more evenly if you use sanding sealer first. i.e. timbermate, sand, sanding sealer, sand, stain.

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Yes it does....I use my own mix of Shellac as a sanding sealer. Usually two coats separated by an hour....then hang overnight and then stain.

It also does help stop the soaking up of stain on end grain at a different rate to the front or back of wood. Really helps with blotchy absorption on the faces as well.

I find I get an even stain coat.

I decided to take myself at my idea this morning.

I have sanded a piece of pine from 80, 120, to 180 and then applied timbermate and then sanded after it dried to 240. I then applied just one coat of my shellac....and left for only one hour.

The NATURAL section is all the above treatment but no stain. Then it is Golden Teak, Maple, Jarrah, Brown Japan and finally Mahogany.

I am leaning towards the Maple.

I have had a good look at the body in daylight this morning....and I think this stuff, which is all over the veneer, is glue that has squirted through the pores of the veneer.

I am wondering if I am just going to spray POLY over the top if this even matters. Or, am I going to have to use some Goof Off or wax and grease remover and a sand to try and get it to go away?

Bugger.

Just going by the photos, I'd be concerned it may show up just the same through a clear poly coat.
Hard to say, having no experience with that veneer.

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Originally Posted by McCreed

Just going by the photos, I'd be concerned it may show up just the same through a clear poly coat.
Hard to say, having no experience with that veneer.

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The veneer appears seriously thin. I may just try some goof off on a rag tomorrow and see how it looks.

Then some alcohol to see how it should look under the finish.

Fingers will be crossed.

For guitar kits, the veneer is 0.6mm most of the time. This sounds like nothing, but if you are careful, it can take quite a bit of sanding.

I'd also try goof off/acetone first. But if the veneer is so porous that glue squeezed right through it, keep in mind that the acetone will also probably creep right through and may lead to lifting/bubbling. So it may be better to do several lighter treatments than trying to get it off all at once.

I have so far been quite successful with acetone in regards to removing glue stains, but it can take 4-5 treatments until it's really gone. I also prefer rubbing with cotton swabs and an old tooth brush instead of brass bristles. The brass bristles can damage the veneer surface so it stands out when staining.

Well this morning I started with Goof Off and a toothbrush style soft bristled brush. No movement at all.

Then I tried a squirt on a rag and rubbing....no movement.

The veneer has a couple of long gouges/splits and was very porous and rough.

So against my better judgement I got some 240 grit sandpaper and gave it a run over the veneer.

Well it smoothed out some ripples and marks, but no movement on the glue marks.

So I tried the brush and then the cloth again and this time with Acetone.....no movement.

Well since mid morning I have applied three dryish coats of a similar coloured Timbermate. First with the grain sanded with 240. Second across the grain and sanded with 320 grit. The third and last with the grain and sanded to 400 grit. I allowed about an hour between coats with the body hanging outside in the sun.

It looks pretty filled and feels a lot smoother. I will leave it over night.

Tomorrow a bit of tape around the edges....wipe down with wax and grease remover...tack cloth....then see how it looks with some spray poly.

See how it looks in the morning first.

Neck now has five coats of fine buffing oil applied with 0000 steel wool. Tomorrow three more with a cloth applicator only. Then hang until no longer smelly.

Okay, so it is not glue, then.

I came across some white-ish kind of filler in some of my kits, so maybe somebody in the factory thought the veneer is too uneven and tried to fill it.

It's a good thing you're not trying to stain the top, because if that white stuff is the same kind of filler that I had in my builds, it's resistant to all kinds of staining attempts.

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Originally Posted by ThatCluelessGerman

Okay, so it is not glue, then.

I came across some white-ish kind of filler in some of my kits, so maybe somebody in the factory thought the veneer is too uneven and tried to fill it.

It's a good thing you're not trying to stain the top, because if that white stuff is the same kind of filler that I had in my builds, it's resistant to all kinds of staining attempts.

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My thoughts of not normal glue too.

I have various sanding sealers here, from shellac through Behlens vinyl sanding sealer and the dreaded Feast Watson sanding sealer.

I am starting to believe it may be a half hearted attempt at a sanding sealer.

I actually found two glue spots of the bottom edge and they both went away with the goof off.

I hope tomorrow brings some clarity.

I am keen to see how this turns out, I have a kit in the cupboard with that same veneer on the top, I think it has some of that whitish filler in it too.

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Originally Posted by Cliff Rogers

I am keen to see how this turns out, I have a kit in the cupboard with that same veneer on the top, I think it has some of that whitish filler in it too.

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Sorry Cliff....not good. I really don't know what to do from here.

This is what I found this morning....

Not so sure about this....I can still see the glue/sealer/junk in the pores.

The finish is starting to shine already....but many many holes remain....lots of clear coat and lots of sanding flat to fill this I think.

But I can still see that white muck.....it is nearly lost in the pores....but still there.

I'd probably use a tinted lacquer rather than a stain. 2-3 coats of that will sit on top and colour everything.