Hi from Adelaide! Just received my first kit - JB4, am saving the unbox for this evening when I will have time to enjoy it :cool:
Looking forward to the adventure & asking tons of questions.
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Hi from Adelaide! Just received my first kit - JB4, am saving the unbox for this evening when I will have time to enjoy it :cool:
Looking forward to the adventure & asking tons of questions.
Welcome low ender!
Good choice. Everyone needs a JB. Welcome aboard.
Welcome emuflats
Thanks for the welcome. Been busy cleaning out the garage to make a workspace & sucking it up through a heatwave here in Adelaide. Mock build looks good, & I am going to try dye & tru oil for my finish - after the mega sanding of course.
During the heat I've been reading, reading & reading some more of the help & ideas in this awesome forum.
Have found an aussie site that sells some pretty nice graphic vinyl decals/stickers for laptops - which are perfect size for the scratchplate - the plain white ones don't grab me.
https://www.skinwraps.com.au/collect...-laptop?page=1
First coat of dye is on! Am using Jacquard Basic Dyes - powdered aniline type dye mixed with metho. It looks a bit red, but is actually a burnt orange.Attachment 30355Attachment 30356
Attachment 30353 having issues with uploading
last one for nowAttachment 30357
Have now added 3 more coats of stain & am happy with the deep burnt orange colour. 3 full coats of Tru oil & the micro mesh pads have arrived. When I start to wet sand - what do I use for the "wet" & which grit to kick things off?
First wet sand is after about 8 to 10 coats of Tru Oil. Here is a quote from Wazkelly helping me with the same question. The ‘wet’ is about 1L of water with a couple of drops of detergent to act as a surfactant. I soaked my paper in it for about 1 minute before using wrapped around a small firm but flexible piece of rubber. I got my sand paper from auto shops. Hope this helps.Quote:
Originally Posted by emuflats
Hi mate, looks about right however it is more how smooth it feels whilst wet that matters most. If you felt any slightly rough bits you may need to delicately go back over them again. Be careful as 1200 strips lots of finish off very quickly and you can easily end up stripping stain coats too.
You now have a good base to apply next 3 or 4 full strength coats before doing same with 1500 grit.
On my latest ES1 build i have done 1 x 1200 & 2 x 1500 wet sandings and will probably do the first of a few at 2000 tonight.
The aim is to smooth things off and not strip too much off. Obvious blemishes such as runs need to be sanded out otherwise they will be visible later on.
Cheers,Waz
Thanks a ton Dark, was worried about using water / getting into the bridge holes etc but I will be very careful. If you & Waz are using this method - I am on board with that!
I have seen some using TO as the "wet" & thought I would be wasting a lot.
Hi mate, you can use TO as the lube for a wet sanding application, best with 1200 or 1500 grit but I have gone full circle and reckon that method should only be done probably once after 8 - 12 full strength coats. Wet sanding the TO slurry back in on itself can produce an uneven layering effect that shows up later when doing the finer grit sandings as you get nearer to final polish.
These days i would suggest adding a couple of drops of turps to TO about to be applied from coats 10 or 12 and above as the full strength thick ones should have already done their grain filling job by now and you are then concentrating on adding more smooth layers which end up being sacrificed in the final polish session.
The reason you need 20 or more coats is that you may lose half of them through the various wet sanding stages.
If you are worried about too much water on finished surface i usually have an old hand towel that is used to wipe off excess. Also best to check everything after a few passes of the sanding block and before it dries out as that can then start dragging crud all over the surface and introduce scratches.
Sounds complicated but quite easy. Just remember to check the paper after a few passes to see if build up needs to be washed off by dipping in the water and detergent solution.
Cheers, Waz
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Mate, thankyou so much - that helps a lot. Great advice that I will give a good crack!
Ok, headstock done & so far 5 coats of TO.
https://imgur.com/hpX1g0u
After removing the yellow "Frog tape" that I used to cover the fretboard, I am left with some stains... they are not tacky to the touch, or have left visible residue - it looks more like a type of grease stain. Will the lemon oil hide this?
https://imgur.com/5oh7EdR
Any suggestions to clean this up are much appreciated.
The lemon oil should lift that off. Dab some onto a lint free cloth and give the stains a good rub, then treat the board with it. I think it should come good from there.
Cheers FW, will give it a go on the weekend
That orange color is pretty sweet! That's going to be a sharp looking instrument!
Well gang, she is finally finished. For my first build I am pretty damn proud of myself. I only started learning bass at the start of the year on my acoustic Taylor Mini Bass, & am totally hooked.
This whole process was a massive learning curve for me, sanding wood, staining, oiling & soldering was completely new to me. I have all your awesome brains/forum posts & youtube to thank for all things related to assembly & setup.
Thoroughly enjoyed everything involved, & feel the satisfaction of job completion. Now I just have to practice....Oh, & get started on my new kit....
Will take some better photos when the sun shines.
https://i.imgur.com/Dtjch34.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/wznlraV.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/OBzpur4.jpg
Nice looking bass Emu. You can be proud of that.
Looks nice, emuflats. I like a red guitar. Well done.
Even in that light, the colour really pops. Love it!
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That looks awesome.
That does look really good, agree with the others the red really pops out.
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Welcome emu, nice job, the bass looks great