Slappin' together da IB-5 mon!

[FrankenWashie]

Build update...

I spent quite a few hours yesterday morning sanding away through the grits on the body and neck to get it ready for finishing. I've always found the hardest part of the build is deciding how to finish it! I've always preferred the natural look of wood vs staining/painting but a few things turned me off going with a straight clear on this body; the inconsistency of the wood grain type between the pieces along with some glaringly obvious glue in the joins - it seems the facing pieces weren't perfectly smooth so the glue has acted like a filler in the gaps. On wetting the wood with metho the glue joins became very obvious, especially at the end grain.

So I got the black dye out and proceeded to apply a few thinned out coats - I didn't want straight black, but enough to try and mask up some of the imperfections. After it dried I gave it a sand to knock back some of the raised grain. The end result wasn't a perfectly smooth stain with some darker areas and lighter areas were the stain didn't penetrate as much in the open grains. I'm a little undecided if I like it or not - if it wasn't as blotchy I think I'd be happy with it. It has a nice antique road-worn vibe going on I guess (Bit like this one: https://i.imgur.com/28JjZ9S.jpg).

For the clear coat I've gone with Feast Watson Wipe on Poly - satin. The neck has had 3 coats so far and looking good, nice stuff to use so will be interesting to see how durable it is with long term use.

I gave the body it's first coat of poly this evening just to seal it all in. Debating whether to airbrush a burst on it to help mask some of the uneven blotchiness... see how I feel about it in the morning!

Mate, that looks epic, it is absolute wood porn with all that highlighted grain structure, especially the way it sweeps up and down through the horns. I’d be letting that cure and clearing it. It’s a fantastic look.

[michnet76]

Mate, that looks epic, it is absolute wood porn with all that highlighted grain structure, especially the way it sweeps up and down through the horns. I’d be letting that cure and clearing it. It’s a fantastic look.

Thanks FrankenWashie... Yeah that's pretty much the finished product - few more coats of clear then a final rub down and I'll call it done I think.

The plug cutters I ordered rocked up today so I've been out in the shed cutting out some inlay dots from an old rosewood pickguard I had laying around.

inlays glued in:



And sanded back:



I'm pretty happy with how it turned out - just enough contrast so they're there if you're looking for them but not to the point they stand out. There's a few gaps here and there so tomorrow I'll give it another sand and put a small drop of thin CA in the gaps to set the saw dust in there.