Day one - Kit arrives
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Day one - Kit arrives
Beautiful kit dude. Very jealous here in Holgate. I'm still waiting to get my hands on one of these. Interested to see what you do with it!
cheers,
Gav.
nice looking kit Moose, what are your plans for stain colour ?
Kit looks great, flame cap looks symmetrical and some nice grain pattern along the fretboard.
love these kits.
Quote:
Originally Posted by wokkaboy
I'm leaning toward a 2 stage stain, dark brown to draw out the maple figure, then a very slight reddish stain overall. The final finish I think will be Tru-Oil, brought to a reasonable gloss if possible.
sounds like a great plan Moose, can't wait to see the progress
Looking very closely at the quilted maple veneer top last night, I am concerned by the thinness of the veneer immediately adjacent the f-holes. I think applying a 2 stage stain, and the resulting sanding required to pull back the initial darker coat, will cause a problem. I may therefore just elect to pick one color and stick with it.
At the moment I am leaning toward a natural/amber stain on top, with a darker mahogany sides and back, where there is no maple quilting.
Hi Moose, the kit veneers are very thin, no matter what kit you get. You can get away with the grain popping easily, just be careful of how much sanding you do and what grits you use.
Hi Moose, I've got away with popping the grain with a darker colour on thin veneer, don't do any pre-sanding. I applied the dark stain out of the box then sanded it back.
But if you are worried about how thin the veneer is around the F holes may pay to choose the one colour.
Amber top and mahogany back and sides will work well
Good advice Woks. On veneer I usually stain, no sanding. Then the sanding back process also sorts out any glue spots, killing two birds with one stone.
thats it Andrew, plus my favourite motto is less sanding = win ! hahahQuote:
Originally Posted by andrewdosborne
Does that make you the "Anti-DB" then Wokka?Quote:
Originally Posted by wokkaboy
haha something like that Fretty. I don't mind sanding but always a fan of minimising it !Quote:
Originally Posted by Fretworn
that's a sweet looking kit Moose, I like the idea for a stained front and a darker back and sides, keen to see this one being done, they are just such an awesome looking guitar hope my collection will stretch far enough to include one.
Sanding and more sanding, preparing to dry fit the hardware and set the neck.Attachment 3382
Very happy with the maple pattern on the top.
looking sweet as Moose, so what stain you going with again ?
I really dig the tops on these kits.
looking good Moose, this will look amazing finished
I'm still trying to decide on color, likely a natural/amber top and neck with darker back and sides. Finish will be Tru Oil on dye, or shellac.
Update
I've sanded gently for 2 weeks, and I've made a decision on finish. I am beginning by finishing the sides of the guitar with a gloss black enamel. The quality of the grain in this area is not good, and I want a visual division between the front and back, both of which will be finished naturally.
I begin by taping the binding carefully, then applying 2 coats of primer, and the first coat of gloss black. Each coat taking a day, with significant sanding between coats. I imagine 4-5 coats of black will be required. I am using an artist's brush to apply. It is very much down to thinning, and sanding to get a flawless finish.
Attachment 3448
Attachment 3449
Attachment 3450
Attachment 3451
Cool. Should look nice with the contrasting colours
the black sides are a great idea, this will look very nice
Sides are painted, wet-sanding and polishing to be done later. I have installed the neck, after much measuring and adjustment. It was close.
Attachment 3568
Attachment 3569
As I expected, it looks really good!
Super clean work!
Very nice work on the sides!
I'm French polishing with an amber shellac. The sides are dusty.
Attachment 3591
Attachment 3592
*thumbs up* Very simple, natural look to the front, I still like!
I reckon with all the gold hardware and trapeze bridge the finish could be sedate, let maple be maple.
very nice result, Moose.
The colour combo is very classy
Looks great with the shellac natural finish and coloured sides. Very smart
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love the shellac cap and black sides Moose, should look a treat with gold hardware
Really loving this build. Shellac finishes are one of my favourites
I was very hesitant after the first round of shellac, despite using mineral oil it was difficult to get an even coat. After some steel wool though the next day, the 3rd and 4th coats went on wonderfully, and the finish is really starting to build. With 4 coats of amber, I've achieved the colour tone that I want, so I'm switching to clear shellac. I think another 20 coats will give me something that can be wet-sanded and polished to a very high gloss.
I'm applying the shellac as per the standard French polish technique, and I like the way it's a very clean operation, no dribbles down the sound holes, very little scraping of the binding to do. The smell is wonderful, the process is sort of hypnotic.
I've got something special in mind for the headstock, reminiscent of the original Starcasters.
Set back!
I was applying the 3rd coat of blonde shellac to the neck when I carelessly let a drop of pure meth-spirits fall onto the back of the body. By the time I removed it, the spirits had liquefied and removed all the previous layers in one tiny patch back to bare wood. I now have to match the colour shellac in that area, and re-build the 8+ layers in that one area....sigh....shellac is very very sensitive to it's nemesis...alcohol.
Nevertheless, I have 20 coats on the front of the body, and once I have a similar quantity on the back and neck I will let it all sit for a week before wet-sanding with mineral oil and then polish it with various compounds.
Whenever I regret not just spraying the guitar with lacquer I look at the shellac/polished surface, it is quite a distinctive gloss, very deep, but with an 'aged'/traditional look.
Shopping for pickups now, I'd love to splash out on the best money could buy, but I'm brought back to reality when I consider the pickups could easily exceed the cost of the entire kit. Perhaps the "Toneriders" that I see on the market instead of the Seymour Duncans that I want.
I never started this project aiming for perfection, I like the little 'maker-marks' that come with something you've built yourself, but I'm hopelessly-competitive, and discovering that the group votes for 'build-of-the-month" has caused me many sleepless nights. :)
Hey Moose, sucks to hear of the setback.... All you can do here is patch it up and you can even look at any mismatched colour as more "character" in the finish, with playing it will change anyway, so in my mind, no biggie!
For the pickups, Toneriders are dead cheap but pack a whole lotta pickup. I'd pick either the Rebel 90's or the AC series, but if you really want more output and something more of a Seymour Duncan SH-4, my personal favourite so far is the Rocksong set!
If you're looking for a "deep", "traditional" look from lacquer I'd have to put my vote in for Nitro Cellulose. It gets a bit of a hard time round here from certain luthiers (who shall remain nameless), but there's a good reason why it's been used pretty much since the birth of the electric guitar. It's hard wearing, doesn't have to go on super thick, it expands and contracts with the instrument and best of all can be bought to a beautiful high gloss finish (see pic).
I've never used Toneriders but all indications point to a really solid pup and hey, great thing about electronics is you can swap em' out for SD's further down the track without any noticeable alterations to the instrument. The one that always gets me is tuners, as if you decide to go with the stock ones if you ever want to swap out later on you're gonna be left with spare drill holes....yuck. Just something to contemplate if you're building a keeper that you want to use as a daily instrument.
You can get as picky or as relaxed as you want to with your builds but as the quality of the guitars on the forum become increasingly higher, if you want to seriously be in the running for GOTM consideration you really have to get a little bit OCD.
If you are as you say "hopelessly competitive" you'll find it hard to settle for anything less than perfect and as a consequence end up with an instrument to be truly proud of.
GASP!!! Gorgeous LP!!!
Getting there, nearly done with the shellac. Will let it cure for a week before sanding and polishing.
Attachment 3732
Attachment 3733