Lyn #16 - Bev's Pulpit Tele

[Guvna19]

looks great Robin! with the wipe on poly, do you just wipe against grain so as to not get any on steel frets or just clean them up after?

[robin]

Hey Guvna, thanks mate.

You got it right mate. I wipe against the grain. The coats I apply are extremely thin and, as much as possible, I just wipe up to the fret. I have used this technique now on quite a few guitars without a problem. In truth it doesn't look quite as good as it appears in the photo but all my guitars get played quite regularly and maple fretboards "gunk up" fairly quickly compared to Rosewood so it really doesn't matter.

Any little wipes of Poly/Tru-Oil that get on the frets are soon scraped off when the guitar is played. If you are really particular, after the Poly/Tru-Oil has cured just use a fretboard protector and buff the frets with 0000 steel wool.

Cheers
rob

[robin]

I’ve been a bit lax with updates on this build but this post brings it up to date.

Next on the list of things to do was the stain. I used Feast Watson Golden Teak Prooftint which, to my disappointment, went too dark on the end grain. I wanted a much lighter finish to contrast against the top of the guitar. But having lived with it now for about a month I am starting to like it.

As I mentioned earlier I have used MinWax Wipe-On Poly on this guitar and in total I have applied 21 very thin coats. Because of the wet weather we have been having in Brisbane I had left the guitar about 3 weeks to cure which is about 2 weeks longer than I would usually do with Tru-Oil.

I don’t know if it was leaving it a lot longer to cure or MinWax just sets a lot harder than Tru-Oil, but the Poly needed a lot more work to get a good finish. The main problem was that wiping it on with a cloth leaves lots of tiny “cloth” ridges.

So I started sanding back with 1200 wet and dry paper until all the ridges had been sanded away and the body took on an even dull/matt finish. I then went to 1500, then 2000 grit paper to get as smooth a finish as I could. I use water with a dash of washing up liquid as a lubricant. During this stage it is very important to let the paper do the work and not to apply to much pressure.

Then finally on to my usual cutting compound, which is Brasso. All up it was about 2.5 hours of sanding and polishing. If your shoulder isn’t hurting by the time you have finished, you are not doing it right.

I will only be bringing the back and the sides to a gloss finish as I want to leave the top in its original “pulpit” condition.


Pics:

Before, with all the ridges. It looks like a semi gloss but in real life the whole surface is marred with tiny ridges from the cloth used to apply the Poly.


After sanding it back with 1200, 1500, and 2000 grit paper, and a cup of coffee. All the ridges have been sanded away and now it is a consistent matt finish.


After a really hard polish with Brasso it is finally starting to shine.







That's it for now. Hopefully more to come this week.

rob

[Simon Barden]

Looking lovely, Rob.

[wazkelly]

Awesome work Rob.

Love the colour and always impressed with how you bring up such a shiny finish using Brasso. I have started using it too but geez, it is pretty wicked smelling stuff and strips lots off. Have had a few spots where I burned through the shiny top coat. Thankfully not back to bare wood but things have gone dull rather than shiny and just slowly doing spot touch ups to build up some more layers to polish.

Has this ever happened to you with using Brasso?

Cheers, Waz

[Simon Barden]

Brasso is far from ideal as a polishing agent. It's certainly got some ammonia in it and that can react with some finishes. I know it works well on a lot of finishes, but never use too much at once or leave any obvious wet patches of it sitting on the surface as it can eat through. It is best to use a proper cutting agent if you can.

[robin]

@Wazza

Thanks Waz.

I'm so sorry mate that you have had problems with Brasso. If I knew people were having problems with it, I wouldn't have talked it up so much.

I have never had a problem using it. I use something soft like an old flannelette shirt, make up a small wad, put a bit of Brasso on it and work it vigorously into a small area (about 150mm) section of the guitar. I will rub it in until the cloth starts to feel dry. By then there is no sign of Brasso or that chalky residue left. I will then immediately buff it off with a clean rag. I think I must have stumbled on the secret of only doing small areas and wiping it off before it has a chance to burn in.

And you are right, it is evil smelling stuff!!


@ Simon

Thanks Simon.

I think you are right Simon, after all it is meant to polish metal and NOT guitars! I started using it when one day I was looking for a cutting compound and all I could find in the house was this old bottle of Brasso that had been laying around for years. It worked, and I'm a cheap sod, so it became my goto polish.

Thanks guys.

[pablopepper]

Some great progress, Robin. This is such a lovely project.

[Sonic Mountain]

Looks great. I love the seam line around the body.

[Simon Barden]

I've certainly used Brasso for polishing several guitars, but it did melt the finish in one spot on one guitar sprayed with acrylic where I'd left a pool of Brasso sitting on the top. So it can be used very successfully, but you do need to be careful.