Time to try another build.
This time the LP-1S. Wood looks very good - faint rose-pink tint.
I'm thinking of perhaps going au naturel with the Dingo Tone clear finish.
Attachment 15971
Attachment 15970
Printable View
Time to try another build.
This time the LP-1S. Wood looks very good - faint rose-pink tint.
I'm thinking of perhaps going au naturel with the Dingo Tone clear finish.
Attachment 15971
Attachment 15970
nice looking kit DJP, was this a chrissy prezzy ? can't go wrong with natural or a mild tint on a spalted top !
Yep ... Christmas pressie - been waiting to open it for weeks ! Any views on grain filling the top ? I was thinking of trying some ebony timbermate to see if the grain would pop some more - but to be honest, the wood already seems pretty bloody smooth and seems quite dense, I'm not sure it will do much (and I guess the veneer is pretty thin !). I might just timbermate the body.
Mate the consensus for flamed or spalts is to tread easy in all aspects. I've a flamed top LP going at the moment and I've skim coated that in ebony timbermate. It has popped the flame but basically pooped the whiter parts of the maple.
Not sure what it would do on the spalt, but I'd recommend you steer clear of filling it.
Mine was always going to be a cliche stripped down LP done in solid black so my muddy looking flamed top is no tearjerker. The kit was a custom order that was supposed to have been solid mahogany, no veneer, but factory made a boo boo. I'll post some pics later in the build thread so you can see what I mean.
Nice looking kit DJP! From personal experience, you can't go past a natural stain on the Spalted tops, but then some of the coloured ones I've seen here look magical too.
I did not grain fill, or even use timbermate on mine, and if you wanted to get an idea of how it would look with a Dingo Tone clear coat on it, I used a damp cloth over the face, and it sealed the deal for me. Don't over do it, and perhaps someone could suggest a better product to use instead of water since it did raise the grain slightly when I did it.
Remember that these tops are extremely thin(around 0.5mm thick) so take it very easy on the sanding.
Good luck with it, and keep posting up your pics as you progress!
The go to fir grain reveal is Gum turpentine, so sayeth DingoBass. I've found that it is far less nasty on the nose than the regular stuff.Quote:
Originally Posted by Zandit75
Thanks folks. I think I will keep it simple - avoid filling and go for a nice light/clear finish (though I must say I was wowed by a recent post of a spalted top given a treatment with vinegar and steel wool - but given my inexperience ...maybe better to keep that one for another time !). The gum turpentine sounds a good idea to get a feel for what the finish will look like. Thanks
Whoops ..... after all that good advice I dug out the ebony timbermate.Attachment 16058
AND I AM ABSOLUTELY OVER THE MOON WITH THE RESULT !!!
Attachment 16059
Here is a reveal with gum turpentine.
Exactly what I was looking for. Happy.
Very nice indeed.
Attachment 16060
Turps free pic
That is wicked.
Well done mate! Look forward to seeing more photos as you apply the finish!
Very antique looking now.
Yes .. looks like an old nicely figured piece of wood. It is actually a little lighter than the photos show. I am so pleased. Will just finish with Dingotone clear.
Attachment 16062
Should look awesome once the clear top coats have been done.
DJP thats a cracker idea. what a spalt!Quote:
Originally Posted by DJP
Came up nice, will look a treat with the top coat
Sent from Android Nougat
After a lot of sanding (and then a bit more) ...its on to the finishing. First coat Dingotone colourless applied. Interesting -really brings out the mahogany nicely.
Happy with choice colourless stain and black hardware so far !
Attachment 16400
Attachment 16404
Attachment 16401
Attachment 16402
Attachment 16403
Thats looking really nice DJP, the headstock looks great too. I'm a bit confused about the use of clamps...is that just to hold it while you are doing the back (after you have one the front?) Does it sit up on the table with the clamps that way?:confused:
Yes. Really easy way to move / turn a guitar when staining etc. Its aided by taking a marker pen and wrapping loads of masking tape around it so it fits snuggly into the output jack hole as another handle.
Attachment 16419
Attachment 16420
Love the different solutions people come up with for hanging/holding/manipulating bits of their guitars while finishing. I'd seen the "stick up the bum" approach before, but the clamps in the pickup cavities is a new idea that I'll almost certainly pinch.
Damn that ebony filler turned out awesome! I may have to try a similar strategy when I get to my spalted FV project as that's very close to the look I was picturing, and wasn't too sure what to do to achieve it. Thanks for the pro-tip with the clamps too. That looks much better than the 2X4 block with screws that fit into the pickup cavities that I am currently using.
Dingotone clear stain completed. Applied one coat quite liberally followed by two thin coats. Am waiting 5 days before applying intensifier. Got to say I am really very impressed with the Dingotone clear. Already seems to have a semi-gloss look.ATTACH=CONFIG]16547[/ATTACH].
I spotted the clamp idea in a picture on the forum quite a a while back so I can't claim the credit for it. It really is an excellent solution - the forum is full of them.
That's coming up really well. Lovely bit of timber, and you're bringing it out to perfection with the timbermate and clear DT.
Final finishing coats. Will add maybe just one more. The Dingotone is giving a great finish ... I gave the cap a quick once over with 1200 wet and dry after the final stain, intensifer and first top coat and the semi gloss finish is GREAT. Kind of Semi Gloss+
Attachment 17214
Attachment 17215
Attachment 17216
Ooooh, that's nice. Well done.
Yes. I'm pretty pleased with it. Headstock and neck looks good too after same treatment.
Had to really try my best to be patient though - my electronic thermometer tells me it is currently 66% humidity here in Perth tonite. I'm trying to only do anything related to finishing when temperature is less than 30 and humidity less than 50. It seems to be resulting in a better finish than I had with Dingotone on my previous build.
Attachment 17226
Just had some nice decals delivered from Rothko and Frost. So r.e. the thin end of the guitar - I just need to decide whether I want to attempt an upgrade to a bone nut now.
I love these spalted LP bodies! Looks killer!
OMG that spalt. You lucky devil. This is going to looking killer dude.
cheers,
Gav.
I'm hoping so ! The kits from Pitbull are really great fun and seem well made.
Got my eye on one of these for my next build... the clear finish looks awesome (and I have some)... what was it you stained it with first?
Im really falling in love with these natural finishes to the guitar caps, looks fantastic mate.Quote:
Originally Posted by DJP
The spalted cap looks great. Difficult to get representative photo though. It is quite a lovely pale honey colour - in some photos though (e.g. outside in bright sunlight) it looks lighter. I'm struggling a bit with the headstock. On a previous build I used spray on poly to fix and cover the Decal. It worked a treat. This time after reading some more stuff I bit the bullet and bought a can of spray on nitronasty stuff. I started with a base layer and it's giving horrible orange peel effect, so will need a bit of sanding and flattening before Istick the decal on - but i am now reading will need to apply at least 6 - 9 coats nitro on top, and will need to sand back to get rid of any ridges around decal (plus that orange peel is a common - but treatable effect that I am likely to see again). But how far does one 13oz can nitro go !
The only prep apart from a light sanding was a carefully applied a dilute timbermate Ebonygrain fill - then really careful sanding so as not to go through the cap. The stain is simply the Dingotone clear stain / Finish applied in pretty thin coats with a very light 1200 sand in between each coat. I have found the Dingotone really nice to work with on this build.Quote:
Originally Posted by Slayer666
Awesome thanks... defo on the to do list.Quote:
Originally Posted by DJP
DJP, had you put any DT on the headstock before you used the nitro spray? If you have, you are going to have endless problems as nitro wont sit properly on an oil and wax based finish. It does need to be bare wood.
If not, then just keep on spraying. The wood will absorb the first couple of spray coats so it's bound to look rather rough to start with. You'd normally use spray highly thinned clear lacquer coats or a sanding sealer (thinned lacquer but normally with a bit of filler) on first before spraying the normal clear coat lacquer on, but do a couple of coats, let it dry for a couple of days, sand it back flat and things should be easier from then on.
If you are doing just the headstock, then one can should be fine. You'd normally expect to use a 2-3 cans to clear coat the entire guitar.
Argh. Help !
Geez one of the pieces of info I had was you could use nitro over Dingotone, but not Poly.
I have attempted to sand back - but I see I am an now starting to go through the veneer at edge-so its paper thin. Luckilly the thin edge is not visible at moment.
Really not sure what to do..
The nitro went on back of headstock just fine - looks great.
Maybe its the maple veneer. Its smooth as now though!
The Nitro definitely "stuck" ...it was just the orange peel texture on the surface.
Maybe I Should just put the Decal on now that it is smooth, and try to build up enough coats- enough to be able to sand back any surface texture without damaging the decal etc.
Really don't know what to do.
You could always give the headstock a wipe over with metho or thinners to get rid of any oil residue, then when dry a very, very thin test coat of nitro to seal it. check for any reaction. If not leave for a day then another very thin coat of nitro. let dry then sand with 600 grit very very lightly. Put about 4-5 thin coats on if no reaction, lightly sanding between coats. Then try decal when very dry, about 3-4 days, again with very thin coats. the orange peel effect is usually from a too heavy coat.Quote:
Originally Posted by DJP
Hope this helps.