"Blue Heeler" Bondi Blue GR-SF1: Pt1 Aspirations, Procrastinations, and Consequences

[king casey]

Loved hearing your sax-work, Mark! Started reminiscing a bit, thinking in terms initially of some Ska by Madness, and some Kirk of INXS, and finally wondering if Baker Street was on your repertoire using soft sax for the vocal parts. But listening to some of the older stuff was great; specifically a little rock(-a-billy?), jazz, and the unforgettable Benny Hill theme. Hehe. Did it make the WW Moorabbin seem a little ... unseemly? Heh. "Rat-bag manager banned busking". Your passers-by appeared happy with your work though.

Keep up thr rootin' tootin'! 8)
Grant

G'day Grant-Honkenstein (great name).

Thanks for giving it a listen.
Karaoke Version finally released the best Ska tune.
I'll shoe horn this one into my rep.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdgg5iVDtfM

The galling thing about this branch of Woolies is that
busking is mentioned on their website as an attraction.
The branch in South Oakliegh recently hired me to actually perform in the store.

It's the luck of the draw.

Good luck with the guitar, Keen to see how it turns out.

cheers, Mark.

[Honkenstein]

G'day Grant-Honkenstein (great name).


The galling thing about this branch of Woolies is that ...
...
busking is mentioned on their website as an attraction.


cheers, Mark.

How apt was that link, Mark!?! Loved it for hinting at the bully-ish nature displayed, and the fact that it was their advertising theme song two winters ago! Still, I hope you get some more gig time with them, to your advantage.

History about the name, "Honkenstein": Mum and dad told me that I made it up when I was 5 or 6 yo back in the early 70's. Dad band-sawed me a "Gumby" style character out of a half-inch(?) thick sheet of polyurethane at his workplace. I named it sometime after receipt. As far as we know it was an original name, made up by mine own childish self. However, I can't help but suspect that I was influenced by names or words I'd already encountered in my few talking years. If anyone, it would've been dad himself influencing.

Innyhoo, when I first started PC gaming back around Y2K, I was reminded of the name and have used it as my gaming nickname ever since. There are a number of "fake" (hehe) Honkensteins out there now.

[Honkenstein]

A Long Wait

Well, I actually managed to wait 4 days before adding the next intensifying coat! (pats self on back)

During this time, the left-over intensifier in the ramekin evaporated a little. The result was a thicker application/coat ... and significant darkening. I gave it a light 0000 steel woolling prior.

3rd coat significantly darker and only applied to top, neck, and head


Sides will remain as-is with 2 coats for a tonal contrast


The back still looks nice and dark from its 2 coats and will not get a 3rd, but note that the back looks so much darker from this angle than it does in image #21, so it's not a fair comparison really


Head and neck get a 3rd coat, and I like it, but the photo reveals that I accidentally wiped off the wood what was close to the nut ... and it seems I've put some unsightly blackened fingerprints on the fingerboard! Let's pretend it's extra-ebonising of the ... umm ... rosewood.


Question 1.: What's going to be a nice way to get rid of most of;

• the darkening of the binding and inside the f-holes?
• the smudges of intensifier on the glueing surfaces of the set neck?

Please advise, thanks, good sirs.

First Finishings

A furphy. Need to wait days before considering the finishing coats.

At last, you say: Pt7 A Longer Wait, Cain't Wait No Mo', First Finish

[Honkenstein]

A Long Wait
... the left-over intensifier in the ramekin evaporated a little. The result was a thicker application/coat ...

Hello, gents, guides, and gifted gabberers. It's been 8 days since I applied the thick intensifier coat. A couple of days back I gave it a steel wool rub down to remove the bulk from the sticky areas. It's still quite tacky to the touch and I suspect I'll need to rub it down again. As Waz would verify, it's been very humid up Briz way due to lots of recent rain, but still warm.

It appears though as if some parts that were rubbed a little more effectively than others are less tacky. Seems like the better way (for lazy me) to go, to avoid some kind of larger scale stripping back. Might lose some blackness but gain some grain.

Q. Just how tacky does the intensifier remain prior to commencing DT clear finishing oils?
Q. Recommendations on how to proceed?

Simon, you mentioned lemon oil for cleaning the fret-board of thumb-print-applied intensifier, so;

Q. Would a wipe-down with lemon oil be of benefit cleaning off the excess intensifier from the body's top?

Many thanks, good sirs, for helping a foolish noob. Much appreciated.

Grant

[agus]

@simon - can you relate "intensifier" to USA chemicals? I THINK I know what he's needing to do, but I don't really know what that is exactly.

[Honkenstein]

@simon - can you relate "intensifier" to USA chemicals? I THINK I know what he's needing to do, but I don't really know what that is exactly.

Hi, Agus.

The intensifier is the 2nd part of the DingoTone "Bondi Blue" stain kit. DT components are meant to be non-chemical, inasmuch as natural products are technically still chemical. 8) My nose suggests to me that there's a fair proportion of linseed oil in it. https://www.pitbullguitars.com/dingotone/

My apologies if I didn't really address your query.

Regards
Grant

[Simon Barden]

@simon - can you relate "intensifier" to USA chemicals? I THINK I know what he's needing to do, but I don't really know what that is exactly.

I know nothing about Dingotone or its constituent parts apart from that it's made from all-natural ingredients with minimal environmental impact. And that some colours work a lot better than others. It probably could be exported, but the testing required to certify it as safe to do so would probably cost far more than several years' sales of the product, so it's for Australia-only.