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This will be my second build. I ordered the DJB-4 bass kit and it arrived today. I ordered less than 7 days ago and it made it to the US very quickly.
I opted to do the maple neck upgrade, the bone nut, as well as black hardware. Planning a leather dye orange and black finish on the front of the body, black on the sides and back of the body, and a stained oak color on the neck and fretboard. Going to use Wipe-On Poly for everything.
Here it is just out of the box
https://i.imgur.com/DuZLcJi.jpg
Today, did the test fit and everything looks really good. Neck is straight, action seems good, etc. Did a little sanding on the edges of the frets to get rid of some sharp spots. Going to start working on the headstock shape, made some paper templates to toss around a few ideas.
https://i.imgur.com/0G2xVh1.jpg
Got the shape drawn on the headstock and got it cut out tonight. I'm pretty happy with the results. It's the first time I have ever cut a headstock and I did it by hand with a coping saw.
https://i.imgur.com/1UUjuT5.jpg
Got the body stained today, and happy with the results.
https://i.imgur.com/h9XG8z5.jpg
Happy with how the neck turned out as well, it's a bit splotchy which gives it a bit of the vintage weathered feel.
https://i.imgur.com/aWXSxcn.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/8dqa24d.jpg
The body looks great.
Did you stain black, then sand back, then stain orange?
Yes, that is exactly what I did
Not really happy with the results using sanding sealer. I think honestly the stains themselves weren't 100% dry. They were dry to the touch and not tacky after 24 hours, but the brush was pulling up some of the dye when I applied it. I only did a very light coat of the sanding sealer, and after sanding it back..had to touch up some of the dye areas (on the back...where it was black). I'm going to let it dry for 2-3 days now and simply move forward with wipe on poly.
This topic is heavily debated on the interweb but, sanding sealer can be (should be???) applied before the stain to prevent, or at least minimise, blotchiness when staining. It can also be applied after staining (and here in lies the argument) but a lot depends on wood type, stain type and other factors. It sounds counterintuitive, but the sanding sealer is sanded back after 1 or 2 coats before staining.Quote:
Originally Posted by patrickparks1
IME, anything that will be wiped on after the stain/dye has been applied, is going shift the stain/dye no matter how long it has dried.
However there are ways to combat this. You can apply a light spray coat (rattle can) of shellac or poly to lock the colour in. If don't want to or can't spray, you can wipe down the stained/dyed surface with clean dry rags. You'll be surprised how much coloured "dust" comes off on the rag, and it will at least help minimise how much colour gets moved around when you apply whatever product you're going to be wiping on.
Another tip is not to "wipe" the first couple of coats, but "dab" it on and change or clean the applicator (rag, foam brush) frequently.
You still need to pay attention and take care, but there is significantly less chance of smearing the colour this way.
When dry, the finish may appear rough or spotty, but once there is a sufficient layer of shellac or poly etc to lock in the colour, you can lightly sand it smooth then continue on with regular wiping on of the finish.
Yeah, I'm doing the wipe on poly to the neck and headstock now. Thst was done with a wood stain and its going on well.
I'm going to allow the Angelus leather dye to dry for a couple of days. 2-3 and then will wipe on the poly. I had no problems really on the back of guitar which was stained all black, had the most drying time and least applications. The sanding sealer didn't transfer to to the brush, but upon sanding it lightly with 220 grit and my hand sander it was pulling black off the back. I touched up the back again with some black dye to fix the areas where it went to far.
On the front side, it pulled dye up into the brush. I didn't notice it at first until I went to dip the brush into the can of the sanding sealer. Didn't really hurt my finish at all, but I didn't put much sanding sealer on the front since it was pulling up some yellow/orange.
Hoping that with a few days extra to dry that my poly will wipe on without much transfer. I can just keep dipping a new rag to get that first coat on. Once it's on, I will let it dry 2 to 3 hours, then put down another coat of poly...at this point I feel confident I can lightly level sand at 320 and color will be locked under poly.
If anything the orange just brightened up a tad bit, which is fine with me as I was doing orange and black and the orange was a bit darker than I wanted originally, but I was happy with it.
https://i.imgur.com/Egs18bl.jpg
Before I did anything today, I wiped it down with a clean white rag and hadn't noticed any color transfer. I'll wipe it down really good before I go with the wipe on poly on the front. If it seems like it's going sideways in any way, i'll get a spray can of the minwax fast drying polyurethan spray to get that first coat down, it's only $10.
Spent yesterday and today putting down the wipe on poly (used Minwax Satin Wipe on Poly)on the neck of the guitar. I ended up doing 6 coats and am happy with the outcome, so going to call it quits here, and let it fully cure for the next week or so.
Yesterday i put down the first two coats (waited 3 hours between coats), then I sanded with 320 grit paper to smooth it out. Put down one more coat and let it dry for 12+ hours. Today, I did 3 more coats, sanding with 400 grit-600 grit each time. About 4 hours after the 6th coat, i used some 1500 to simply take out any dust and any slight bubbles or nibs.
https://i.imgur.com/oMVQuqZ.jpg
and
https://i.imgur.com/SVTbMyX.jpg
Probably not touching the guitar on Tuesday or Wednesday, and will begin on Thursday putting poly down on the body after giving the dyes a few more days to dry as much as possible.
Looking good.
Satin poly has become my go-to neck finish. I just love the feel.
However, I spray mine with a small gun.
I decided to just pick up a spray can of poly and am going to put the first coat down using that method and once the coat is on, I'll then switch over to the wipe on poly.
Didn't want to risk the finish to simply save $10.
So, picked up a can of spray poly to put down as first coat to help with color set of dye....
Noticed can said to apply, and to recoat within 2 hours, and if that isn't possible, wait at least 72 hours.
Do you think I can spray on a light coat of the poly, then within 2 hours put on the wipe on poly and continue on with the wipe on.
I don't really want to spray, and then wait 3+ days before I can start with the wipe on poly.
Well, just decided to go ahead and test a spot with the wipe-on poly first (under the pickguard) and the lift off from the orange was quite minimal. So, rather than doing some spray and some wipe-on, I just decided to do the wipe-on instead. I know exactly what to expect with the wipe-on poly.
I'll return the rattle can back to the store and get my $10 back.
Did my first coat of the wipe-on poly around 6:40pm, let it dry for about 3.5 hours, and put on the 2nd coat at 10:15pm. surprisingly there was still a good amount of orange/yellow coming off the front of guitar. It doesn't seem to be really impacting my overall color, so I'm not too worried. Going to let it dry now for about 12 hours before considering a third coat. I'm thinking that my first coat was just really light and didn't build up enough to seal in the color. I tried to put the second coat on a bit heavier, so hopefully it is going to start forming a surface that I can just add to. Also setup a fan blowing on the front of the guitar to help to try to speed up that drying time.
My sides and back are all black leather dye and nothing really seems to be lifting from that.
Hi Patrickparks1,
I'm a bit late on this thread but, I have been using a (cheap) paint brush to put down the first 2 coats of tru-oil so as to avoid any movement of the stain. Then I wipe on the rest of the coats.
This was suggested by other forum members and I have not had any problems.
Sadly I think you are not waiting long enough for things to cure before you go to the next step. Been a victim of that myself a few times.
I use shellac before the stain to stop the blotch....3 coats of it. I then don't put any stain etc on for at least a full day. Stain and again at least 24 hours.
Then the final finish....I use spray oil based poly in a can now.....over stains....or no stains and buffing oil and carnauba wax over raw timber.
3 days for the spray....then finer grade that last wet sand. 3 days and keep going until I get the finish I want. then 7 days at least hanging and then attack with auto finishing products....polishes and waxes.
Thanks for the helpful feedback. I've been on vacation this past week, so it's hard to not want to keep plowing ahead.
I waited 3 full days for the dyes to dry. My black on the back and sides have been perfectly fine. Its just the front where I layered the orange and black that my wipe on poly cloth turns yellow.
Since starting the poly, I waited 3.5 hours as stated above between coat 1 and 2 (this was based on my experience with my neck, which was perfectly dry in that time). Between coats 2 and 3 I waited 36 hours. Wanted to ensure poly had time to fully dry so when I did next coat I expected no orange/yellow on my rag. Still had some yellow on rag after coat 3, but again no issues on the color of the body. Waited 12 hours before coat 4 and waited 15 hours for coat 5. Going to just do an early morning and late evening coats until I am happy with results. I'm lightly sanding with 800 between coats.
Here is where we are at the 5th coat of poly
This is the amount of color getting onto my poly rag when wiping on poly to the front
https://i.imgur.com/SFYp19w.jpg
Here is the front of the body, as stated the colors here look totally fine, no discernable change between coats #1 and #5 as far as the color on the guitar goes.
https://i.imgur.com/FeZN3ma.jpg
Planning on 10 coats and determining if I am happy with the results at that point. My 10th coat would be around Monday or Tuesday since I am waiting 12 hours+ between coats of the poly.
While waiting the week for the poly to fully cure, I went ahead and shielded the cavities. Obviously not an exciting part of the process, but a part nonetheless.
https://i.imgur.com/fJxWgNa.jpg
For the shielding to be effective you will need to have continuity between the bridge p/u cavity and the neck p/u & control cavities. You'll also want to shield the back of the pickguard as well. No need to do the control plate as it's steel and already conductive.
NOTE: even if the pickguard came with silver paper shielding on it, I still apply copper tape over it because I find the silver paper inadequate (JMO).
You can achieve continuity between cavities and pickguard by running more shielding tape over the edge of the neck/control cavities* so they make contact with the pickguards shielding tape. I like to use the pickguard screw holes as contact points to assure a good solid connection.
To get connectivity between the bridge p/u cavity and the control cavity (since no pickguard) is by running a length of wire from one to the other through the p/u lead hole and soldering directly to the copper tape.
*The shielding doesn't have to extend beyond the lip of the cavity all the way around, but the more points of contact the better. Personally, I overrun the shielding as much as can unless it may be visible, like your bridge p/u cavity.
Thanks, yeah I am going to run the wire between the 2 cavities when I wire up the guitar. I haven't done the back of the pickup guard, put plan to do so.
Got it all put together and it's playing quite well. Still gotta make a few adjustments, fret level, etc....but super happy with the way it turned out.
https://i.imgur.com/EBKaLlr.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/LMN0eZI.jpg
Looking good Patrick.
How many coats did you give the body?
I went with 10 coats on the body. That provided me the finish that I was after. Didn't want it too shiny, but wanted it to be smooth.Quote:
Originally Posted by Trevor Davies