Fred's 1st Build - STA1M

[FredA]

Hey guys,
So after more sanding the body was ready to stain: blue and black burst.
I used colour tone blue and black and applied it 6x times so far (twice on Sat, and 4x times today).
Here are the pics after the first application:

and


An intermediary pic taken in the sun:


And now after 6x applications:

and


I found that there was glue marks that I couldn't stain where the bottom bit of wood was glued (they attached a 5cms bit of wood down the bottom to finish the shape...). So I've tried to cover them with black acrylic paint. We'll see tomorrow how it looks.
But even that's okay even if they don't completely disappear. I'm pretty happy wit the result for a first try!

I'm hoping that the weather will be drier next week so I can start spraying the gloss!
After consultation with the forumites earlier (thanks DB), I'm planning to mix some gold mica powder in the first coat to try and give it gold highlights.
We'll see how it works!

[FredA]

Coming along nicely Fred. I'm interested to see how you go with the second application of Timbermate to fill remaining gaps - it maybe my technique but I cannot seem to get a satisfactory grain fill.

Hey Andrew,
The second application got it a bit better but I was still unhappy with the undulation in the thinner parts at top front and bottom back. So after sanding I applied it another time and I went a lot lighter on the sanding. Not perfect, but a bit better than after the first one. Anyway, it's stained now so that's how it's going to stay! :-)

[gavinturner]

Interestingly, when I grain filled my ash strat body I thought I had it dead smooth. That was until I started with the dye. I'm pretty sure that the water in the dye re-hydrates the Timbermate and I was basically pulling it all back out of the grain again (since the grain valleys are so wide) with each wipe of the dye cloth. This may be your issue given how many coats of colour you have added. Personally I had to end up filling the remaining undulations with clear coat to get a uniform final finish.

cheers,
Gav.

[FredA]

@gavinturner: Yes I saw that in your build diary! I've spent some time checking how you went as I'm pretty much going for the same finish
So to try to avoid that I've gone with very thin coats of dye (hence the 6x applications), and I've tried to leave at least 4 hrs between applications to try and let the timbermate dry again between coats. But you can feel the wide grain valleys you mention...
Did you manage to get it perfectly flat with the clear coats at the end or do you still have these?
Cheers!
Fred

[gavinturner]

Hey Fred,

I was able to get it flat. I used spray gloss acrylic and needed to sand it back a few times between multiple coats to finally achieve a flat finish.

cheers,
Gav.

[FredA]

Thanks Gavin.
I'll see how it looks once I've put the first coat of gloss. I guess that's when the issues will show...

[andrewdosborne]

Nice colour on this Fred, complemented with the meaty ash grain. With the finish any open grain will eventually fill with enough top coats. It will look stunning once finished.

[wokkaboy]

love the depth of the blue you have Fred, keep up the good work. Should look stunning with clear coats

[FredA]

Thanks guys!
I've added one last coat tonight. I've finished my blue dye now so that's the end of the staining!
Hopefully the weather is dry enough to start spraying next week...

[FredA]

Hey guys,
More progress this weekend.

I got the logo printed on decal paper for the headstock.

I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out so tried several variations. It was a pretty good idea as they came out a bit different to what I had printed at home.
Anyway, I found one I liked and applied it:


Pretty happy with the result: