Infxualbydesign's YB-4 build. Basswood Staining Experiment

Im putting together this kit mainly because i love building guitars but i don't own a bass.....Ive seen some concept guitars be hutchinson (i think ) guitars. viking themed and the wood looks like its been made from the floorboards of the great hall of valhalla ! really old looking. so thats my experiment to see if i can stain basswood to look old and gnarly.
Ive tweaked the kit in a few ways. i countersunk neck bolt bushings and ditched the neck plate. i have reshaped the headstock by shortening it giving the head a stubbier look. and also given the body subtle forearm and belly carves. i have previously built a mahogany set neck LP Jr double cut. I stained it with Feast Weston prooftint. its an analine dye that smells like whiteboard markers. but it stains quite evenly even on more open pored wood. that was green but this one i thought id go for "japan black" first to sink into the grain (even a little bit of flame). Then i sanded a lot off but tried to do a bit of a burst look by sanding mostly in the middle and leaking the edges very dark. Then i hit it with "oak" for the rich brown. incidentally i stained the neck with th same brown and the maple came up with a great tasmanian blackwood like color. Anyway i am yet to give the brown coat a sand but i will continue with the burst look but try to lighten it all up a bit. Here is the progress so far...
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It's looking good so far.

An update to the stain experiment.
so far the the colour has gone really well, on with black, which i sanded back, then coats of oak brown, and more selective sanding.
i have now started top coating with Feast Weston Scandinavian Oil. The finish is coming up nicely, i want a satin lustre to the finish however i don't think the scandinavian oil offers much in the way of dent protection. Ill just have to be careful with this one.
I have also printed a logo onto waterslide decal and applied that to the front face of the headstock, needs a few more coats before it will be fully covered without seeing the edge lines of the decal. of well I'm off to do another ten or so coats of finish....Attachment 5504

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Thats looking great

That's coming up real nice.

well the finish on the body is along nicely as is the headstock. not totally happy with the logo design but hey its just for me so who cares.

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i got carried away with the clear coat so she's a gloss finish now. Note to self...do not use power buffer to buff hand sprayed enamel, it melts it horribly. Also shielded the cavities with copper tape. i fear the pickups may need the extra shielding. Just gotta repair the botched clear that i over buffed on th headstock and ill be bolting it together . i am trying to let the clear really harden and cure properly before i put on the pots, and tuners etc. I've made that mistake before and it results with the clear coat sort of oozing out from under the hardware. really crap.

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You really should have let the clear cure for a few weeks before you buffed it. It is looking good but it will still move when it cures.

I've bitten the bullet and started attaching bits whilst i wait for the clear coat to harden properly. pickups are in and strap buttons (which act a s a great point to rest the guitar on while Im working on it) too. i just need to fit the tuners so i can finalise the bridge position and then i think I'm ready to wire this baby up!! whilst not prefect by any means I'm happy with the finish. color is exactly what i was after but the clear is still to be decided, it has buffed up ok but i really wanted it to be a bit "harder" to stop dings etc. i just want to play it so I'm loosing patience with the slow build time. but as they say patience is a virtue. :)

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looking great. You should be waiting for the clear coat to fully cure.
Is that a cigar box guitar you built next to the YB ?

Yep that's a diy cigar box guitar ( actually a biscuit tin. I stole the p90 out of it for another guitar project ( made from an old skateboard ) actually sounded pretty crunchy through a decent amp using a slide.