This project has been on hold for a while while I worked on the Tele build...also incredibly slow. As I have stated elsewhere, I have been having trouble with General Finishes High Performance top coat on necks... I thought the Tele neck was done, until I noticed some problems in a couple of other maple necks and decided to refinish the back and sides of the Tele neck. While it is curing, I decided to start work on the Jazz Bass neck.
I taped off the rosewood fingerboard, and put blonde shellac on the rest of the neck to give it a little color. This will be the first neck that I have finished completely with Crystalac Brite Tone Instrument finish. No finish on the fingerboard, except some block oil when I am completely done with the rest of the finish. The back will be Brite Tone satin. I am using Brite Tone gloss on the front of the headstock.
So far I have just started with the front of the headstock. Four coats under the decal, and four coats over. Not sure how many coats I'll have total. I use at least 6-10 over the decal with GF top coat, but with the BT, I may need more since it goes on thinner.
It takes some practice and patience to get the Brite Tone on well with the brush, but my technique is improving. I am having less drips and runs, and a LOT less brush marks than I got with the GF. It may require a few more coats, but hopefully it will sand out easier.
In the last post I had applied a wood hardener, and attempted to use it as a sealer and filler as well. I would consider it well sealed and harder, but it's not perfectly filled... So next step after the neck will be doing some filling with a new product that is supposed to rival Timbermate, but with less odor (which is important to my wife). More as the project progresses...
A little progress to report, though nothing much to look at. While the neck from my Tele project is curing, I put finish on the Jazz Bass neck. My application technique is getting better. I switched to a 1" (25mm) brush taclon bristle brush, and have found that if I charge it with a bit of water before dipping it in the top coat it goes on thinner and I haven't had much problem with dripping. Also quick strokes seem to work best. Both necks are hanging on the wall curing, so I turned to the JB body.
I used a new wood pore filler with this. I have primarily been using AquaCoat Clear. I can get a very smooth finish with the AquaCoat but it takes a lot of iterations, and it is pricey. It's principle advantage is that it dries clear. It's great over stain or fix small problems over color, so I imagine I'll continue using it. But on this build I have decided to go with a solid color, after trying three different stain colors, an disliking all of them. I don't need the poor filler to be clear, so why not try something new?
I ended up getting Famowood Latex wood filler. I have have been hearing that it works more or less like Timbermate, but has less of an odor. I haven't used Timbermate so I can't do a direct comparison, but I have heard that they are comparable. In any case the Famowood product is the best I have tried. Goes on easy. Dries quickly (about 14 minutes and it was ready to sand). It's hard, but not crazy hard, so it sanded well. Very light, but pleasant odor. I looked up it's SDS sheet and was pleased to learn that the filler is actually wood, and that it's abut as non-toxic as you get. It has that in common with the Timbermate (I looked up the SDS on it too). It's funny that reports are that they work quite similarly. I am not a chemist, but they don't seem that closely related composition-wise.
I had previously coated with wood hardener/sealer. There were some small spots were I sanded through when sanding back the filler. After filling, I put three quick coats of shellac over it to seal for the paint. Will be using MTN94 "Ipanema Yellow"...once I get another can at the Art Store...