DMS-1 The King's 4th Pitbull build

[king casey]

Well opened the lid and Doh!!
Expecting the advertised 'maple' neck only to see the dreaded 'engineered rosewood'.


The red pickguard was a surprise also, but it's going to be discarded just the same.


Everything seems to fit together o.k.
Neck is not overly tight, but not swimming around like the proverbial dick-in-a-shirtsleeve.



For the finish I couldn't go past the masterful example of McCreed's


So off the bat, I've got a couple of questions...

[king casey]

I've got some ebony Timbermate (I know it's no good for paint but I'll take a punt on stain)
Also a tin of F&W sanding sealer..



So do I slather on the Timbermate first...sand it back and then apply the sanding sealer followed by the Red stain? or...

Apply the sanding sealer, sand it back and then the Timbermate then Red stain? or....

None of the above?

cheers, Mark.

[king casey]

Something approaching the Mustang shape


The engineered rosewood is looking in good shape at the moment.

First thing is to carefully pull the frets and get a 7.25" radius happening.
Then perhaps a stain followed by sanding sealer.
I still have another 'ER' neck that I'm experimenting with.

cheers, Mark.

[king casey]

I was thinking about purchasing a Mustang control plate, but searches on e-bay are a bit too expensive.
Besides, it's more rewarding to roll up the sleeves and knock one up yourself.
I found this from https://www.hobbytools.com.au/alumin...-254mm-x-41mm/

I can get 2 control plates out of one sheet but got 2 just to have something up my sleeve.
I've cut one out for a Mustang Bass which will be applied to the latest 'Bronco Bass' mod.


I'll be cutting one out in the Mustang Guitar shape at some stage.

cheers, Mark.

[Sonic Mountain]

Nice one, following with interest. AFAIK you could probably just get away with the sanding sealer and stain. My next two will test this theory.

What kind of top coat are you thinking?

I like the plates too. I have a decent bit of 3mm aluminium I want to do similar things with.

[king casey]

Nice one, following with interest. AFAIK you could probably just get away with the sanding sealer and stain. My next two will test this theory.

What kind of top coat are you thinking?

I like the plates too. I have a decent bit of 3mm aluminium I want to do similar things with.

Cheers Sonic.
I'm thinking a couple of applications of Timbermate watered down, followed by Red stain.
I'm tossing up whether to use India ink like I did one time on my Epiphone.
because...

I do have a jar of Tru-oil that I haven't used and I've had issues with water-based stain.

I'm glad that I found the aluminium sheet. It's not quite 2mm thick but good enough.
The first attempt wasn't too bad, however I'll apply some packing tape to each side of the next to protect from scratches from the jig-saw.

Cheers, Mark.

[Sonic Mountain]

The first attempt wasn't too bad, however I'll apply some packing tape to each side of the next to protect from scratches from the jig-saw.

Cheers, Mark.

Fair enough, it does polish up really well too if you get some marks on it.

[Simon Barden]

Ash body, so grain filler should definitely be needed.

[king casey]

Ash body, so grain filler should definitely be needed.

Hi Simon.
What would be the order?
Timbermate then Stain then Sanding sealer?
Or Timbermate Sanding sealer and then stain?

cheers, Mark.

[Simon Barden]

I'd always grain fill, stain, then sanding sealer. Though the way I do things using nitrocellulose finishes, I probably wouldn't bother with a sanding sealer and I'd just spray a couple of coats of very thinned clear nitro lacquer on first to do the same job.