Galah's first build - TLA-1F

[Galah]

Thanks Brendan.

Funnily enough, Pippio was a W.A. bird rescue. Over a decade ago now, I was living with a geologist who collected a juvenile galah on the front of his landy a few hours north of Kal. Fauna rescue told us to look after him for a week, then come back. It was an ordeal (many bloody fingers), but I earned his trust, nursed him back to health and at the end of the week we took him back. They told us he was too tame to release!
Victorian Galahs have a very slightly deeper pink plumage and colouration around the eyes.

As to the glue issues, and Simon's point, I've looked into it, and I will try and apply a small amount of orange-peel based solvent.
If it doesn't work, I'm considering an inlay over the most obvious spot.
McCreed's joke is actually a really interesting idea - and bird poop would be greatly humorous to me, even if others won't get/like it.

Cheers.

[McCreed]

As to the glue issues, and Simon's point, I've looked into it, and I will try and apply a small amount of orange-peel based solvent.

DON'T DO IT!
That orange based stuff is citrus OIL based. If you get that into the timber, you will have great difficulty getting it to take stain again.

I have more to add, but wanted to get the above message out before you followed through.

[McCreed]

I can't find any product called "selleys stain remover #1" even on their website, so I don't know what that is, but if it's a chemical stripper, I wouldn't use it on this project.

Two reasons:
It's caustic as hell and could potentially (and probably) melt the plastic binding.
It's water clean-up, and water & unsealed veneer is just asking for trouble. (the stripper could possibly affect the veneer adhesive as well)

"Goof Off" has a high concentration of acetone (higher than standard nail polish remover). It's made for dissolving adhesives and has a very high flash point so it doesn't soak into the timber and you use it as a "spot" cleaner not applied as a whole surface cleaner, IYKWIM.

If you're going take on removal of that spot, you will likely need to remove as much of the pink stain as possible from the whole top to avoid having an obvious blotch where the glue spot is/was.

My advice is don't use sandpaper. It's too easy to sand through that .6 mm veneer.
Use synthetic sanding pads to rub back the pink stain they're less aggressive than sandpaper. Even if you only get to about 80% removal, you should be ok with re-applying the stain without much unevenness in the finished colour.


Also - great story about Pippio! You get extra Karma points for that!

[Galah]

Hmm.
Taking a step back and giving myself time.

I did put a drop of Selleys on. Doesn't seem to have done anything, but after reading your post, I've diligently removed any trace I can.

I guess my options are now:
i) Order some "Goof Off" and hope it will do the trick, (with caveats as noted above as to 'blotch')
ii) Some sort of inlay (it kinda looks like poop already... and I love the idea, but I have other options)
iii) The gentlest of sanding.

Remember I still have a grey 'burst' to apply. The grey stain is combined with varnish though. I would be willing to try and sand the glue out, and hope the grey takes, but that sounds like a hasty solution; and many of my projects have been marred by hastiness in the past.

Looking among the 'junk in the back shed' (not actually a euphemism this time) for some mother of pearl and acetone I thought I saw.

Plenty of time to offer advice!

Cheers.

[McCreed]

Don't know where you're located, but The Big Green Shed hardware chain sells Goof Off.

I'm sure Pippio could assist with the, ahhh, inlay...

Maybe you could clear coat one of his "deposits" and stick it on the body like an ornament.

[Galah]

O.k.,
I'm in Maryborough, they don't have a big green shed but they do have a blue one. "Goof off" was only available as a spray can. I got acetone instead. Hasn't really done much. Pretty much set on the inlay idea now anyway.

Sadly, Pippio's "deposits" aren't good for posterity, even protected by resin or poly.

I've spent quite a bit of time doing what I probably should have earlier, and read other's build diaries. Great information there I could've used.

I filled the body with timbermate, and gave it a good sanding. Had a nice relic looking thing going for a bit, but I'm not really a relic guy. Then again, I'm not a pink guitar guy either, so who knows?

Gave it a quick stain to even things out.

For the neck;
I cleaned up the fret ends and rolled the edges a bit. I gave it a stain, although I figure it will be mostly greys.
(The headstock is another big job, and I hope to get to that soonish.) More sanding.

Took the plunge, and opened the grey can. No pictures here, as the process went very fast. They grey has a varnish in it, so I knew I needed a decent first coat. However, it was just a burst not the whole back, so only part would have varnish applied to it. I had cloths, a foam applicator brush and paint brushes. I was going to try using the paint brushes for a more "feathery" look.







It went badly is all I can say. The can was well mixed, but still quite viscous, and the stain was weak. My 'feathered look' ruined the application, I was left with a lumpy, unsightly mess. After drying and sanding, it wasn't looking any better.
(Should have taken a pic at this time.)



So, undaunted, I've sanded it all back to pretty much bare wood. I've chalked one up on the invisible board only I know about, and started again. I've painted the back pink again, and now I'm slowly going to add white around the outside until I'm happy, and put some greys on top of the white.

Pippio Overseeing, and performing a colour check.

As for the rest of the hardware, while I was waiting for the Pitbull package to arrive, I went to the guitar store (chalk up another). I was looking for a halfway decent pickguard that might work on the guitar.

I walked out with new pots, CS Texas Special pups and a nice bridge. Noodles for a few weeks, but it'll be worth it.
They did have a great piece of pickguard material, a kind of grey pearloid. The dimensions, though, are VERY tight.

There's less than a millimetre excess, so no mistakes there.

Cheers.

[Simon Barden]

Sorry to hear about the trials and tribulations, but it's happened to us all.

The new bridge. Has it got a rear stringing capability? if not, it will be a string-through-body bridge, so you'll have to drill some holes and fit rear ferrules. Do that before any more finishing!

[Galah]

No rear-stringing. I was planning on going through the body. Another reason I was wary of the grey stain/varnish. Happy with the decision to continue just staining, and clear varnish later.

Yeah, I've still got a lot of cutting left to do, and most of it has to be done next. Pickguard, bridge mounting, ferrules and headstock.

The headstock design is tricky. I'll be trying for a vague wing shape, but I'm not sure if feathers will come out of your typical TL style, or from minimal tuner space. Ideas?

Cheers.

[Simon Barden]

Maybe try some engraving in the wood? Use a Dremel with an engraving bit and follow some pencil lines? Obviously practice on scrap wood first.

[Galah]

Fortunately, I have a hobby CNC machine, as well as a Dremel. Still all too easy to mess up, and a lot of work to do it right.