Chuck's TL1...

[Chuck]

Thanks Nickosaurus!

Not too much progress in the past few days, although I have got all my paint/primer/gloss, shielding and decal paper sorted and ready to go.

One question though: I want to keep the neck very clean and simple. My plan is to sand it to 400, then give the neck and headstock a couple of very light coats of gloss acrylic – not really to create any shine, more to just seal it. For the neck I’ll then sand this back with 1200/2000 to just get a very smooth raw feel. My question is whether the acrylic really will do anything?

For the headstock I’ll then apply the decal after the couple of light coats (simple to give it something to adhere to) and give the headstock face another light coat or two – again, I’m not after any real shine.

Does that sound okay?

[wokkaboy]

Hi Chuck,
not sure how acrylic will go on the neck, you will probably need a few coats as I'm not sure how hard wearing it will be.
I'd say if you apply at least 3-4 coats it should be okay

[Chuck]

I guess the question is really whether I need to seal a maple neck at all? I've got a couple of old P-basses that I've sanded the necks back on so often they are basically bare wood. I know I could always go Tru-Oil - which I do quite like, but I'm assuming I can't use that on the face of the headstock and then apply a decal over it? Especially if I then wanted to do a couple of thin coats of gloss over it...?

[wokkaboy]

Hi Chuck,
your neck will age alot better with some kind of finish on it. There will be no protection if the neck hits any object or the guitar falls over. I have used tru oil over necks, headstocks and waterslide logo's it works fine

[stan]

its a great shape Chuck

[Chuck]

Hi Chuck,
your neck will age alot better with some kind of finish on it. There will be no protection if the neck hits any object or the guitar falls over. I have used tru oil over necks, headstocks and waterslide logo's it works fine

Okay, tru-oil it is ... see how easily influenced I am?!

[wazkelly]

On my J Bass I even used TO on the maple fret board too to give it that traditional sealed look and also reduce the ongoing fret board maintenance required with either waxing or oiling.

[Chuck]

A good build day so far! With the neck sanded to 1200 I decided on a whim that I wanted to stain the maple a little. I had some FeastWatson Old Baltic prooftint and tried it on a maple scrap - I didn't want much colour at all, just a little warmth, and the Old Baltic stain worked well as long as I applied it very lightly with a rag. I did the neck, liked the result and figured the fretboard could use a little warmth too. I used the same technique and it seems to have worked okay. After letting it sit for an hour I gave it a couple of coats of Tru Oil which is where it's at now. Hopefully tomorrow my decal paper will arrive and I'll be able to get that bit done and then a few more Tru Oil coats to finish it off.


Next step was to make a body holder for painting...so I did! I had a piece of 70mm wide pine so just cut it back to 50mm for the pocket, and maybe 25mm of so for the handle part. Drilled a big hole in the top as I've got no idea where I'll be hanging it during the painting/curing phase but figuired a big hole wouldn't hurt. One thing I saw on a video was the addition of the little groove to avoid paint cracking away where the holder sits in the pocket. A clever idea so duly incorporated.


Okay, time to Timbermate the body - another new experience, and surprisingly straightforward (I wiped/rubbed it all over the body rather than rollers or "scrapers" as I've seen mentioned), then sand back with 400, wipe with a damp cloth, wait to dry, then final crack with 400.


Then attached my neck holder thinga and started priming (using Rust Proof All Purpose White Primer). I did use painters tape to mask the neck pocket, but left the other cavities open to at least get some paint in them - still not sure if I'll fill them with the colour coat, although not sure why I'm even thinking about not doing so.


One light coat and now I sit and wait for an hour or so before doing another. With any luck that will have me able to lightly level it off with 600 in the morning, and then perhaps a first colour coat after work tomorrow!

[UpperCaseH]

That reshaped body is great.

[wazkelly]

Hope you have a drop sheet otherwise the deck might get a bit of light overspray.

Love the aged tint look on the neck.