#2 - EXM-1 Guitar Kit...

[fender3x]

Wow! Talk about making lemonaid!

[Trevor Davies]

Looks great. Out of curiosity, was the black stain sanded back before adding the crimson stain?

[wazkelly]

Looks good......bit of a slight distressed timber appearance under red stain did a great job of disguising all the imperfections.
Well done.
Cheers, Waz

Sent from my SM-A520F using Tapatalk

[Rodc]

Talk about turning around the mission impossible. Nice work. Came out great!

[rjmc]

Nice job.
Hey, how different are the Crimson cherry and crimson stains? I'm mulling over a project and wondering about using the cherry to accentuate the grain under the crimson, but on my monitor the crimson examples don't look very different, so I wonder how much effect I'd get and whether I'd be better using a small admixture of brown instead.

Hi,

Thank you for your feedback.

I have been messing around with Crimson Guitars range of products (see notes below). Explaining the process, well, after applying the grainfiller, I've used three coats of *SS black, sanding in between the coats. I left the kit for curing for 3 days (my work schedule wasn't making things easier as well).

Then, I've switched between *SS cherry red and *SS crimson red. I've applied 6 coats, and sanded in between the first 3 coats. The red achieved was very light, and my friend wanted something darker. Also I wanted to hide the flaws as best as humanly possible.

So, I've applied **SSS cherry red, let cure, then balanced with a slightly diluted **SSS crimson red. Repeated the process two more times... and at that point I've achieved the result on the pictures on 19-06-2020, 01:55 AM post. Proceeded then to apply the ***PO, 5 coats (first coat I soaked the wood, *****let cure for 5 mintes, removed the excess).

Same process when moving to ****HBO. After applying the second coat, 11-08-2020, 12:14 AM post, on the third I saw a technique used by Ben from Crimson Guitars where he applied the oil with wet and dry sandpaper, and it's purpose is to pop up the grain / colour applied. Well... I did that with 2000 grit... big mistake... the layer of finish I had wasn't "big" enough to support that technique and ended up with front and back completely scratched....

In desperation, I've mixed a tiny bit of slightly diluted *SSS crimson red and a bit of **SSS cherry red. Then I soaked the paper on that "solution" and applied on the opposite direction of the scratches. Let it dry a bit, and applied more until the scratches faded. Left it to dry, then started to apply thin layers of oil and on the fourth coat I've noticed another mistake, but, I think that mistake ended up not only fade away the scratches, but making the kit flaws almost a thing of the past. If you zoom in the pictures on 29-08-2020, 09:48 AM and 29-08-2020, 09:45 AM post, you can see some spots of heavy red dots that look like spilled blood. These oils (***PO and ****HBO) are fantastic because accept stains over it. I left it as it is, and continued to apply the ****HBO. At the moment I'm on the fifth coat.

My wife decided to publish all my work on Instagram and Facebook. I've said no, but, when I found out, was too late...

I leave here a link, where you can see on video how the guitar really looks....

Instagram

Facebook

Sorry for this long text. I hope this answers many questions.

**************
Notes:

*Crimson Guitars Stunning Stains -> SS
**Crimson Guitars Stunning Stains -> SSS
***Crimson Guitars Penetrating Oil -> PO
****Crimson Guitars High Build Oil -> HBO
***** This applies to both oils, after applying leave to cure/absorve for 5 minutes (dependeds on your weather conditions) and remove the excess

[rjmc]

Looks great. Out of curiosity, was the black stain sanded back before adding the crimson stain?

Hi,

Thank you for your feedback.

First I applied *SS black, then * SS cherry red and *SS crimson red. And finally ** SSS cherry red and **SSS crimson red.

**************
Notes:

*Crimson Guitars Stunning Stains -> SS
**Crimson Guitars Stunning Stains -> SSS
***Crimson Guitars Penetrating Oil -> PO
****Crimson Guitars High Build Oil -> HBO
***** This applies to both oils, after applying leave to cure/absorve for 5 minutes (dependeds on your weather conditions) and remove the excess

[rjmc]

I like that look. It’s both interesting and involving. And it’s obviously hidden the flaws pretty well. Great work.

Hi,

Thank you for your kind words. This has been a huge battle. I've learned a lot. I've taken note of your and all other members previous solutions, and I will experiment them all in future buildings. I think that this will help a lot not only on learning new techniques, but materials as well.

Thank you so much

[rjmc]

Yes, looks really good. You've managed the mismatched timber really well. Good on ya!

Your mate should be very pleased with that!

Hi,

Thank you for your kind words,

It's been a hell of a battle. I think that the best way to know that someone is pleased with your work (my friend only has seen pictures and videos) is when the future owner speaks about your work to a friend, and that friend wants you to build one as well.
I've recieved that new yesterday... It is going to be a Firebird...

Once again, thank you so much!

[rjmc]

Wow! Talk about making lemonaid!

Hi,

Thank you so much. That wow make my day.

[rjmc]

Looks good......bit of a slight distressed timber appearance under red stain did a great job of disguising all the imperfections.
Well done.
Cheers, Waz

Sent from my SM-A520F using Tapatalk

Hi,

Thank you so much for your words. It's been a hell of a battle... I've described the whole process not only to let you know in detail what I did, but also to have the community feedback / suggestions / improvements.

Thank you so much!!!