I have levelled the frets, crowned, and polished them. Sanded the bodies to 240 g and gave them a routed 1/4" round edge. Coated with a slurry of pine timbermate, dried and resanded to 240 g.
The knotty body has also been stained with diluted (25%) FW Old Baltic stain. I'm hoping this is going to end up similar in colour to the Dusty Hill bass, but it is going to be finished with Cabot's w/b poly (not tru-oil).
PitBull Builds: FVB-4, LP-1SS, FBM-1, AG-2, TB-4, SSCM-1, TLA-1,TL-1TB, STA-1HT, DSCM-1 Truckster, ST-1, STA-1, MBM-1, MBM custom, GHR-1 (Resonator).
Scratch Builds: Pine Explorer, Axe Bass, Mr Scary, Scratchy Tele's.
The little voices in my head keep telling me "build more guitars"
I guess you'll be spraying the poly???Originally Posted by Trevor Davies
Also, nice stand!
Making the world a better place; one guitar at a time...
Yes - spray time! Got some poly today for next weekend. Just need some good weather!I guess you'll be spraying the poly???
Also, nice stand!
And thanks, yes, my new stand. The lolly-pop stick can allow the guitar to sit a lot further away from the stand, so that there is more room to spray around the sides. It worked well for staining today.
Here is another pic. The blue tele has not been done on the stand - but it has had a couple of sprayed coats of w/b poly with the Star gun. Quite a few more coats are needed!
I'm also going to make a drying stand to hold 4 (or 6) lolly-pop sticks (with bodies and necks) between coats. Hopefully then I can be spraying 2 guitars in succession.
Last edited by Trevor Davies; 28-05-2023 at 07:13 PM.
PitBull Builds: FVB-4, LP-1SS, FBM-1, AG-2, TB-4, SSCM-1, TLA-1,TL-1TB, STA-1HT, DSCM-1 Truckster, ST-1, STA-1, MBM-1, MBM custom, GHR-1 (Resonator).
Scratch Builds: Pine Explorer, Axe Bass, Mr Scary, Scratchy Tele's.
The little voices in my head keep telling me "build more guitars"
I finished my lolly-pop stick stand for drying the bodies and necks between coats. My thoughts about using a saw-horse as a base is that if I did not like the setup, at least I still had a saw-horse!
Also gave the body and the neck 5 sprayed coats of water-based poly, with about 15/20 minutes between coats. This is my first real attempt at spraying - but I think it went well.
Unfortunately, the stain on the body (25% FW old baltic) did not darken as much as I had hoped. I should have experimented more with the stain and the w/b poly combination!! I'm thinking I might try tinting the next couple of coats of poly to try to darken it.
Last edited by Trevor Davies; 03-06-2023 at 07:42 AM.
PitBull Builds: FVB-4, LP-1SS, FBM-1, AG-2, TB-4, SSCM-1, TLA-1,TL-1TB, STA-1HT, DSCM-1 Truckster, ST-1, STA-1, MBM-1, MBM custom, GHR-1 (Resonator).
Scratch Builds: Pine Explorer, Axe Bass, Mr Scary, Scratchy Tele's.
The little voices in my head keep telling me "build more guitars"
I Like it!
Making the world a better place; one guitar at a time...
Thanks McCreed.
I was not very happy with the colour of the body, so today I have sprayed 2 coats of Cabot's maple water based stain and varnish. It says it is compatible with their w/b poly! Also gave the neck one coat. Much happier with the result.
More poly to follow - when the weather is better!
PitBull Builds: FVB-4, LP-1SS, FBM-1, AG-2, TB-4, SSCM-1, TLA-1,TL-1TB, STA-1HT, DSCM-1 Truckster, ST-1, STA-1, MBM-1, MBM custom, GHR-1 (Resonator).
Scratch Builds: Pine Explorer, Axe Bass, Mr Scary, Scratchy Tele's.
The little voices in my head keep telling me "build more guitars"
That does look better.
I haven't tried a stain/varnish in one product before. Something to think about.
But I'm not building any new guitars... no... really... I'm not...
Making the world a better place; one guitar at a time...
Are you having withdrawal symptoms? Surely you need to practice spraying w/b PU on some guitars!
PitBull Builds: FVB-4, LP-1SS, FBM-1, AG-2, TB-4, SSCM-1, TLA-1,TL-1TB, STA-1HT, DSCM-1 Truckster, ST-1, STA-1, MBM-1, MBM custom, GHR-1 (Resonator).
Scratch Builds: Pine Explorer, Axe Bass, Mr Scary, Scratchy Tele's.
The little voices in my head keep telling me "build more guitars"
No withdrawal. I've been doing some mods and touch-ups on a few things so that keeps me going.
Just not much of anything I feel is "post-worthy".
And I seriously don't need any more guitars. I've actually parted-out a couple in the last few months to reduce the number.
That's the problem with BYO instruments, I can sell off the parts for more than I can sell the whole guitar. No matter how good the guitar plays, if don't Fender or Gibson on it, no one will buy it. Of course they're all happy to offer you 100 bucks! Nuh, FO...
Making the world a better place; one guitar at a time...
The guitar and bass world has gone insane. Prices have gone crazy. An old instrument is far too pricey for most musicians and can only be acquired by a collector. Fender will sell anything to anyone...including pretend "road worn" guitars. We have big-box stores for guitars where you can find 15 price levels for exactly the same model guitar. I could go into Sam Ash, the closest of these and find 100 Telecasters and not one will have a forearm contour, like McCreed puts in his.
The beauty of the DIY guitar is that you can experiment and get progressively closer to exactly what you want, get it set up the way want and have it sound the way you want. There is more creativity on the forum each month than you ever see in most of the giant guitar stores. It may be that nothing I build will sell for what I think it's worth. Got knows they're not perfect. That's OK. Hopefully one day I'll give them to someone who will appreciate them for the unique instruments that they are.
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