The Clueless German got herself a GR-1SF kit

[ThatCluelessGerman]

Aaaah, noes. First coat of stain went.. not very well. Not only that it is pretty blotchy in a few spots (why the heck did I use the pre-stain then?!), but a dozen glue stains popped up, big and small. So out with the acetone!



Luckily, these went off:



I was able to remove a few of the glue spots, but not all. There are two small spots on the bottom that appear to be white filler. They don't take any stain at all.



Another thing is that a huge amount of scratches also started to pop up. I haven't seen those before and I have sanded the body very throughly! With 400 grids, though, because I thought it is already very smooth. Obviously not.



There is also a glue stain in the neck which appears to be molten plastic from the binding. Haven't had any luck with acetone.

Now... undecided if I should sand it ALL back, or do a second coat, or both

At least I like the color.

[Simon Barden]

Oh dear. Not good. They shoudn't really have glue stains on as they are plywood bodies and don't have the veneer added on later, but as part of the whole plywood making process. Note that the outer layer is basically a thin veneer, so you can't sand back very much without going through to the next layer and exposing the glue between the layers.

[ThatCluelessGerman]

I don't know what kind of glue stains they are, maybe from glueing the binding? There are many glue stains on the sides and around the f-holes, too.

I have first hand experience with sanding through plywood (to my defense: It was 60 years old and already worn thiiiin), so I'm hesitant with sanding...

Was able to get the glue spot off the neck with some scraping and a fine blade, but I don't know what to do with the deeper scratches on the front, back and sides. I don't want to sand through, but I also don't want to use filler, as it never looks really good.

Maybe just live with the worn look?

[ThatCluelessGerman]

Tried my best evening out the glue spots with a combination of acetone, rubbing pads and wash coats of stain/turps. It looks pretty rough right now but fingers crossed it's looking better tomorrow when it's dry.

As for the scratches, they appear pretty deep. I don't know where they came from or if I'm ever able to remove them. I guess I'll now just roll with it.

So, happy relicing I guess?!

[McCreed]

I know this won't help you now, but for the next one (there's always a next one ) wipe the timber down with methylated spirits (you may call it denatured alcohol there) before applying any stain or dye.

The metho (alcohol) will show glue spots and scrtaches that may otherwise be invisible to the naked eye. You want to wet the surface with the alcohol, and hold the parts on an angle in good light and sight across the plane to see spots/scratches. The alcohol evaporates really quickly so you need to work accordingly. It doesn't raise the grain (much) and will also give you a better idea of what the grain will look like when stained.
The time it takes to do this will save you heaps of work (and frustration) compared to finding the defects after the colour has gone on.

[ThatCluelessGerman]

I actually did! I used isopropyl alcohol, but I didn’t see these spots. But I also admit I didn’t think there would be any on the back so I most probably didn’t pay good attention. As for the scratches, I saw some light scuff marks but I just didn’t expect them to be this deep or the color pronouncing them to this extent. But lesson learnt! Thank you

[ThatCluelessGerman]

After my husband mentioned yesterday evening that it looks like something that Johnny Depp would play in "Pirates of the Caribbean", I decided to sand it down again. Not that I don't like Johnny Depp (he's actually a very talented musician), but it just wasn't what I had in mind :-)

So I hit it with a power sander. I couldn't remove all of the scratches as some are unfortunately pretty deep. I think these were probably already in the wood before it even became a guitar, because the way they run through the wood, I have no idea how these could even get in there, in all the curves and such.

I used grid 240 and 320 in the power sander, as well as a soft pad in between, so I could sand the curved top and bottom. For the sides, I hand sanded and went as low as 120 grid. Everything that didn't disappear with 120 grid, is meant to stay. I just didn't want to sand through, so I'll just accept the scratches that remain.

As for the neck, I used a fine blade to scrape away the glue spot, this worked so much better than sanding.

Now, this is after the first coat of stain and it's currently out to dry. Will do the front some time later today.

[Simon Barden]

That's a lot better!

[ThatCluelessGerman]

The front is giving me hell, tho. If the guitar still looks crappy after 2 coats, I can still paint it ;-)

[ThatCluelessGerman]

Was able to get a more even stain now and I think I didn't sand through the top layer, yay. There is still a spot on the front with some scratches I couldn't remove, but not as bad as before.

It's now drying and enjoying some sun (while I need to work inside -.-)







I started to scrape the binding, but quickly noticed it's going to be quite a task :-)
Just a huge guitar with a lot of binding. So I'll spent my evening with it :-)

Still looks a bit like it came from a pirate ship, but not as bad as before. I'm just glad I didn't get the gold hardware, now that would have looked weird

Edit: Oh, I forgot to ask dumb questions! So here we go:
I'm a bit scared using a sanding sealer would move the stain around. It's oil based stain and it's sanding sealer from birchwood casey that goes well with tru oil, so it SHOULD be ok? Not sure if I want to risk it.