"Blue Heeler" Bondi Blue GR-SF1: Pt1 Aspirations, Procrastinations, and Consequences

[Honkenstein]

Hey @honkenstein Simon helped me a lot a year ago and I am deeply grateful. My best advice would be DO IT. GO FOR IT. and then after it is done, and everybody looks at it and says "wow - that is AMAZING!"

I don't care **HOW** good it is, you'll still look at the ONE blemish somewhere that you didn't expect.

Something that was beat into me as a young musician when somebody said to me "wow great solo" after a show in college. I said "Eh, thanks, but I screwed up a lot, wasn't that good" and walked away.

The head of the music college overheard that, pinned me against the wall. He was smaller than me, furious, and my drill sergeant in a manner of speaking.

"GRIEBEL, I'll tell you this once, and you get it good. NEVER F***ING FADE A COMPLIMENT. It demeans the person that gave it to you and makes *them* feel stupid. Ask yourself, were they better or worse for you pointing out you were out of tune on bar 33? THEY DID NOT KNOW. Get better, sure, but never ever fade a compliment. EVER."

Since that day, decades ago, I have lived a life of NEVER FADE A COMPLIMENT about anything. Bread. Bacon. Cakes. Whatever. NEVER fade a compliment. You are gonna have a fine guitar I am sure.


My mistakes in git building are visible at www.amarkinstruments.com ... I try to get better every build. I guess it is like golf, just trying to beat the last game.

Thank you so much, Agus, for the correction. It is a kindness. Good on your music teacher! 8) ... though "pinned against the wall" seems a little heavy.

Yeah, being critical of one's own work can lead to self-deprecation, and, though I'd prefer that to being cocky, it's still not too healthy. True about demeaning the compliment giver.

Ta, mate. Much appreciated.
Grant "Honkenstein" H

[DarkMark]

[QUOTE=Honkenstein;190061]Thank you so much, Agus, for the correction. It is a kindness. Good on your music teacher! 8) ... though "pinned against the wall" seems a little heavy.

Isn’t that how music is supposed to be taught? I’ve seen the movie, “Whiplash”.

[agus]

@darkmark ... "Isn't that how..."

You did *not* mess with Mr. Evanson. We were all terrified of him. One year they recruited this great guitar player, but all the scholarships were tied to marching band <blech> so they put him on bass drum.

First day on the field, Evanson loses it and stops everything and gets in this guy's face. "That is a bass drum outside, you have to play ahead of the beat not behind it..." screaming, red face, he continued for several minutes. Those of us that knew the guy were "oh crap!" He wrapped up "You got it you understand me? DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?!!!"

Les the guitar player calmly replied "Ok, homes...."


ROFL.

[king casey]

He must have been tutored by Buddy Rich.

cheers, Mark.

[Honkenstein]

A Long Wait
... the left-over intensifier in the ramekin evaporated a little. The result was a thicker application/coat ...

Hello, gents, guides, and gifted gabberers. It's been 8 days since I applied the thick intensifier coat. A couple of days back I gave it a steel wool rub down to remove the bulk from the sticky areas. It's still quite tacky to the touch and I suspect I'll need to rub it down again. As Waz would verify, it's been very humid up Briz way due to lots of recent rain, but still warm.

It appears though as if some parts that were rubbed a little more effectively than others are less tacky. Seems like the better way (for lazy me) to go, to avoid some kind of larger scale stripping back. Might lose some blackness but gain some grain.

Q. Just how tacky does the intensifier remain prior to commencing DT clear finishing oils?
Q. Recommendations on how to proceed?

Simon, you mentioned lemon oil for cleaning the fret-board of thumb-print-applied intensifier, so;

Q. Would a wipe-down with lemon oil be of benefit cleaning off the excess intensifier from the body's top?

Many thanks, good sirs, for helping a foolish noob. Much appreciated.

Grant

[agus]

@simon - can you relate "intensifier" to USA chemicals? I THINK I know what he's needing to do, but I don't really know what that is exactly.

[Honkenstein]

@simon - can you relate "intensifier" to USA chemicals? I THINK I know what he's needing to do, but I don't really know what that is exactly.

Hi, Agus.

The intensifier is the 2nd part of the DingoTone "Bondi Blue" stain kit. DT components are meant to be non-chemical, inasmuch as natural products are technically still chemical. 8) My nose suggests to me that there's a fair proportion of linseed oil in it. https://www.pitbullguitars.com/dingotone/

My apologies if I didn't really address your query.

Regards
Grant

[Simon Barden]

@simon - can you relate "intensifier" to USA chemicals? I THINK I know what he's needing to do, but I don't really know what that is exactly.

I know nothing about Dingotone or its constituent parts apart from that it's made from all-natural ingredients with minimal environmental impact. And that some colours work a lot better than others. It probably could be exported, but the testing required to certify it as safe to do so would probably cost far more than several years' sales of the product, so it's for Australia-only.

[Andy40]

Hi Grant,

Well I've had a ball reading over your build diary.

Dingotone can be a bit finnicky. It was developed in WA which is considerably less humid than Qld especially with all of this rain we've been getting. (not that i'm complaining).

Look when it comes to DT, I usually wait at least 7 days between coats. If its been raining I wait longer sometimes 14 days, with the intensifying coats you have to apply less and wait longer. I don't like the final coats and prefer tru oil for my finishes.

[Honkenstein]

Hi Grant,

Well I've had a ball reading over your build diary.

Dingotone can be a bit finnicky. It was developed in WA which is considerably less humid than Qld especially with all of this rain we've been getting. (not that i'm complaining).

Look when it comes to DT, I usually wait at least 7 days between coats. If its been raining I wait longer sometimes 14 days, with the intensifying coats you have to apply less and wait longer. I don't like the final coats and prefer tru oil for my finishes.

Thanks, Andy!

Yeah. I was hoping my open confessions of betwittishness might elicit a knowing -- and preferably sympathetic -- smile from readers. I'd like to emigrate to WA someday, btw, and eat crayfish 3 or 4 days a week. Not sure I could dive for them myself and wrangle with the sharks though.

On the subject of cray and WA sharks: A workmate regaled me with a tale of how he and some friends were on a reef spearing cray, his twitchy cray impaled upon trident, his being "brushed"(?) by a passing, interested Great White and somehow found his own body involuntarily propelled him wholly and dolphin-like out of the water and onto the shallow part of the reef he was beside at the time! I wasn't there so can't vouch for the veracity of the tale, but he was not known to me as a liar. Still, I've probably embellished it myself.

Looks like a number of days yet (even now!) to wait for the coats to dry, comparing WA to SE QLD. Can't regret the rain though. However, as wet as it's been, it's still only added 0.5% capacity to SEQ's stored water supply.

So ... I resolve to "scrape" back even more of that dark, heavy coat to speed up the drying process. Hopefully I'll be content to thinly apply a few layers DT's finishing oil.

It may be noteworthy to read that I'm not overly concerned about the apparent beauty of the finished product. The important stuff has been done by the factory already. The rest is decorative, ignoring the soldering. Even the hardware is pretty enough in itself. Can't help but look half-decent. I want to set the guitar up *very* well ... but, frankly, will settle for half-decent in that department too. "What a 'slack-bum'!", you decry, and you'd be right. I can't justify it but will say it likely comes down to psychology.

What I won't abide though, is a "sticky" guitar finish. Yuck! Not looking flash on that point at this stage ...

Peer into my build posts now and then to learn of more dumb-ass decisions and actions and potential stuff-ups. I am, apparently, not too proud to reveal them!

Meanwhile, I hope the WA weather treats you well, and that an adequate water supply is enjoyed by all.

Best regards
Grant

PS - It took a brave heart to make and use that cool avatar of yours! 8)