H's JBA-4 Fretless

[UpperCaseH]

I think it's about time I contributed to this thread! Your neck is coming along nicely. Minor issues your having are pretty much what I experienced but your on track... For the finish I used 2x Coates of FW Jarrah thinned. Not sure if it would come up any darker unthinned but on another Tele build I used colour tone mahogany then FW Japan black over it. Is this more like the colour your after?






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Haha, now I'm conflicted about this! I thought your jazz bass looked great, but that one's probably closer to what I was originally thinking!

What did you use for finish over that? I was leaning towards trying a tru-oil this time, but I've got no idea if it'll work over those stains (or if it has any trouble with any stains - I got the impression from somewhere that it did). I don't want to use a rattlecan or similar because I've really got nowhere good to spray or dry something like that - it'd have to be outside.

It's good to hear that the neck is coming along similar to how others' did. Sometimes I look at it and feel like I'm constantly messing it up and it'll never get finished, but so far in this hobby patience and tiny steps have got things done, so I'm pushing through.

Edit: Because I'm a newbie to this, I'm going to ask if there's any particular reason you used Colortone mahogany instead of FW. As in, if I just picked up the FW mahogany and FW black, would it do the same thing, or are the brands significatly different in some way?

[andrewdosborne]

On this one I used satin poly. It gave me a nice durable finish without too much effort and I do not need to worry about kids dinging a mirror gloss finish!

Keep going with the neck it requires a lot of patience. The clouding drove me nuts!

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[UpperCaseH]

Decided to decide, picked up some FW mahogany and japan black prooftint today along with FW colour reducer. Plan is to use the mahogany diluted none or a little, then go over with a more diluted japan black. What kind of ratio of reducer : stain do you reckon I should be looking at?

Further question: I understand that I can use an oil finish on an oil based stain, but this is "spirit" stain. One site I read said that with wood stain oil = spirit, but I thought I'd check here if I can tru-oil this stuff or if spirit stain is actually different (I mean, they're labelled differently, but I don't know enough about this). If I can't tru-oil it, I might try a wipe on poly. Is minwax the go there, or something different?

I also finally got around to selling my old bass and amp, so I've got some extra cash for music stuff and am now tossing up between building another bass and buying some effects... not a bad problem to have

[wokkaboy]

Hi H, I have used FW proof tints and tru oil no problem. I would guess the mini wax should work ok but you would have to test it first on scrap.
With the reducer you really need to experiment with the ratio to achieve the colour stain you are after. The FW mahogany stain has a really deep red colour to it, more red than brown. Also the Japan black isn't as black as the straight FW black.

I'd have a play around with some scrap wood to get the colours you are after

[Dedman]

what does it say to clean up with? Turps = Oil.

[UpperCaseH]

I'd have a play around with some scrap wood to get the colours you are after

OK, will do. Sounds like fun! Don't have any ash to test on, but I guess I'll try it on pine and also on maple headstock offcuts (and if that looks good I might try doing the neck and head the same colour).

what does it say to clean up with? Turps = Oil.

Clean up says methylated spirits, so I guess it's oil. Thanks!

[andrewdosborne]

Hi H, I have used FW proof tints and tru oil no problem. I would guess the mini wax should work ok but you would have to test it first on scrap.
With the reducer you really need to experiment with the ratio to achieve the colour stain you are after. The FW mahogany stain has a really deep red colour to it, more red than brown. Also the Japan black isn't as black as the straight FW black.

I'd have a play around with some scrap wood to get the colours you are after

Woks makes a good point there. The FW mahogany is more red - the colortone mahogany is more brown.

Also the underlying wood will affect the final colour. The Tele I stained was Alder which had its own unique colour twinge.

[andrewdosborne]

If you scroll down this thread I used neat FW mahogany for the body (& TO for the finish)

http://www.buildyourownguitar.com.au...?t=4596&page=5

[UpperCaseH]

That's a great colour, I can see it working with the black over it too.

I'll have a play around tomorrow or the next day on some scrap, and then get started on the body. Like I said early int he thread, rather than plan this build out step by step I was gonna try to kind of go with the flow a bit and see where it leads. So if comes up that red over the ash I might forget about the black and let that vivid red/brown over ebony timbermate be the colour.

[UpperCaseH]

Wow... glad I tested these! The "mahogany" on pine and maple comes out in colour that I'd describe as "red wine spilled on tablecoth". Not all that attractive to me, and not what I was after at all.

I'll see how it dries overnight, and if it's the same colour in the morning I'm gonna pick up either (or both of) Walnut or Brown Japan from the same brand and see how those go.