#2 - EXM-1 Guitar Kit...

[rjmc]

Hello everyone,

Hope you're all safe on these trobled times...

Well, I'm still waiting for my friend's feedback regarding all the sugestions from all of you.

Before I bought the kits from Pitbull, my wife offered me a LP kit from Crimson Guitars for my birthday. That one doesn't come with drilled holes for the bridge, and as it is an expensive but gorgeous kit, I put it aside for now... and in that period I bought Crimson Guitars Stunning Stains.

I've been playing around with the stains during the weekend trying to achieve a different color that my friend likes with some wood samples




Steps:

- Sanded from 80 grit up to 120 grit
- Applied 2 coats of grain filler and sanded
- Stained the color
- Applied two coats of Crimson Guitars Penetrating Oil...


I think the color is too faded, and should be more darker....







Also, I think that I'm not appliyng the grain filler the right way. The grain filler I'm using is https://tinyurl.com/tfl8yso. In another test piece, I've followed the same steps, but the grain was filled with white material in some spots, and I suppose it is the grain filler. The first one that I show you doesn't have it. So, my conclusion is that I'm also applying the grain filler incorrectly....

I think that I'm doing something wrong... What do you guys think?

[wazkelly]

Good to see you have moved on from mission impossible.....Korina finish as that requires a light coloured timber where mahogany has too much pink and brown hues to contend with. Cherry should work a lot easier.

The filler looks like it could be similar to Timbermate that we find in hardware stores over here. The one in that picture is natural which would come out looking almost white, which is.....natural afterall as you want it to soak up the colour of stain being applied.

Suggest re-applying the grain filler and leave it to dry and harden up for 48 hours and then lightly sand off with 180 or 240 grit. You could maybe add some stain to the filler to colour it which assists in blending in when stain coats are added.

To get better depth of colour you may need to add a few stain coats until it arrives at desired colour.

[rjmc]

Hi,

It's been a total mess with this Corona Virus....

Managed to progress with this build...

So far.. Sanded, and two light coats of grain filler...



Final result..



The kit has been sitting around for a few weeks. And today, the point of no return. Glued the neck. It is harder than it looks...

But first, checked string spacing this time with real strings...



And the neck was glued....

[Simon Barden]

Hard to get the glue off that squeezes out when it's all clamped up like that. I've had a similar problem. I used some flat artist paintbrushes with water to remove as much as I could before it dried. You can always mask the wood around the join so the glue squeezes on to the tape and not the wood. It's not really an issue if you are doing a solid colour finish, but if you want to stain the wood afterwards, then you want to get rid of all the glue from the surface.

But looking good.

[rjmc]

Hard to get the glue off that squeezes out when it's all clamped up like that. I've had a similar problem. I used some flat artist paintbrushes with water to remove as much as I could before it dried. You can always mask the wood around the join so the glue squeezes on to the tape and not the wood. It's not really an issue if you are doing a solid colour finish, but if you want to stain the wood afterwards, then you want to get rid of all the glue from the surface.

But looking good.

Hi Simon,

Thank you for your kind words. I used Titebond Original. According to it's advertising the excess can be cleaned with water, however I'm planning on score little bits of glue at time, and remove the rest with a damp cloth, slowly. Do you think it a good strategy?

Kind Regards,

[Simon Barden]

It can be cleaned off with water easily when wet. Once it's dry, it will dissolve in water, but it takes time and really needs a good soak to do so, which is not what you want to do with the wood. That is also likely to weaken the neck glue bond at the same time.

But you can use a sharp knife to remove as much as you can, and then sand back the rest. Rub the wood with white spirit or meths and that will show you if there are any patches still needing some sanding to get rid of the glue, as they won't absorb the liquid and will look lighter.

[rjmc]

Hi Simon,

As always, great tips. How long do you think I shoud wait until I remove the clamps?

[Simon Barden]

24 hours as it's a stressed joint, in line with Titebond's recommendations. No benefit going longer.

[rjmc]

Hi,

So, I think now I'm almost reaching the point of no return....

After granifilled the best I could/know, sanded it to 320 grit. Started to stain it in black, three coats, sanding in between..
Some pictures






Forgot to take on the back.... my bad

[rjmc]

After the three black coats, time to play with crimson red and cherry red. I'm using Crimson Guitars Stunning Stains and Stain Shots for this atempt to make it at least ok comparing to it's initial state.... And the last picture is that ugly joint (there're pictures on page 2)