The Frankencaster

[Eponymous]

So, I had hoped that soaking into the wood would tone the colour down but it is still really damned orange. Not sure whether to hit it with more of the bloodwood stain to deepen the colour or maybe add another stain on top...maybe a blue, which would maybe go some kind of dark purple kind of colour (bearing in mind my paint for the body will be a blue/purple colour shift paint).

[McCreed]

Not sure whether to hit it with more of the bloodwood stain to deepen the colour or maybe add another stain on top...

You can do that if you really want to, but I would try sanding back and re-apply diluted DT. I have not used DT so don't know if it's alcohol, water or spirit based, but I'm sure someone here can advise.

With a diluted stain/dye, you can gradually build up to the desired depth of colour you want. (How quickly it builds up will depend on the dilution ratio). FWIW Feast Watson Golden Teak is a popular stain used around here on necks and appears to be nearly the same colour as the DT Bloodwood.

[Eponymous]

Thanks. That is great advice. I might sand back and try with the DT Acacia, which seems to be lighter in shade. I think the feast Watson sounds like a good option too but I’m kinda committed to giving as much of the money I spend on this into the local guys doing this, so dingotone it will be. I might ask if I can dilute it though.

[McCreed]

I think the feast Watson sounds like a good option too but I’m kinda committed to giving as much of the money I spend on this into the local guys doing this, so dingotone it will be. I might ask if I can dilute it though.

That's a great attitude. Good onya.
I did some searches about thinning DT, but couldn't find what I was looking for. I'm sure someone here knows!
Look forward to seeing how you go.

[Eponymous]

Have now sanded the neck back to wood. There are two parts (where the heel angles down to the neck and where the neck angles back up to the headstock) where the wood is end grain and it soaked up a lot of the bloodwood stain.

See the picture below and you can see the darker areas at the heel section and headstock section.



So, sanded back, there is still a little colour at those points and a little colour in some of the grain, which you can see in the picture below.



I have a neck that wasn’t right, so I have used it to try the new colour, I got. I thought the Coolangatta Gold (aside from bad Australian move references) seems ok in the Dingobass range, so the picture below is, starting from the left is

1. A really light application of bloodwood

2. A heavier coat of bloodwood (resulting in Donald Trump face orange)

3 a single coat of Coolangatta Gold

4. A heavier coat of Coolangatta gold

5. A kind of bloodwood Coolangatta gold mix.



I’m thinking number 3 works best.

It’s raining here, so I might wait for a less humid time to do the stain.

A bit of fret levelling to go and the neck should be pretty set.

I’m measuring scale length and marking bridge position, so will upload photos for that soon.

[Trevor Davies]

Hi, 3 is good, in fact they could all be good!
I used straight CG (3 coats !) on my FVB-4 which had the maple neck, and then lots of coats of tru-oil. The heel sections did absorb a bit more of the stain.

[dozymuppet]

It’s raining here, so I might wait for a less humid time to do the stain.

But how good is this rain!





(...aside from annoyances to do with guitar finishing...)


Sent from my Pixel 4 using Tapatalk

[Eponymous]

This rain is...AWESOME!!!!!!!!!

[Eponymous]

Well, this is a ticklish issue.

Having now received bridge, pick guard and checked the frets and neck, I thought it was time to measure up for bridge placement.

I’ve checked the centreline and it matches the timber join where the 2 billets were glued originally..actually almost invisible...nice.

When I insert the neck, there is a small gap at the end.



Not huge, as you can see...maybe 1 or 2 mm.

Since the neck and body weren’t part of a matched set (as in a complete kit) but bought from the pit bull body and neck section, it isn’t that surprising. Probably not an issue.

Where it does become a bit tricky is, after measuring scale length...both from the inside of the nut, midway to the crown of the 12th fret fret marker and then from there to the body, but I also measured from the inside of the nut 25.5” and the line I drew with pencil was the same. The neck was straight and square.

I then ran into trouble with the cavities and the bridge with the pick guard fitted.

The first position for the bridge was with the saddles having roughly even travel either way...so they could go forward and back the same distance. I marked those holes and punched them. Problematically, the space for the bridge pickup went over the bridge pick up cavity. See the photo below.




Worth noting, it exceeds the gap at the end of the neck by quite a bit.so, that doesn’t seem to be an issue here.

When I move the bridge back to a position where the cavity aligns with the pick up slot, there is a gap between the pick guard and the bridge, which looks untidy.



Also, the travel of the saddles, (unsurprisingly) is somewhat less efficient. I mean, it’s only about 3 mm or so but, it looks untidy and isn’t as functional.

Being the over equipped type of person I am, I have another bridge, which is an original fender, ashtray style...which isn’t as fancy as my gotoh engraved one but it has exactly the same problem, vis a vis the pickup slot/ cavity location.




So, the bridge isn’t the problem.

The question is, would it be best to snug the bridge up to the pick guard and chisel a small amount out of the pick up cavity (my preferred option) or to chisel some out of the neck pocket to bring the neck back that 3mm?

I think the second one is bad, because I would have to make sure everything is square again and it really is only the corners of the pick up cavity.

I have punched holes for drilling but haven’t drilled as yet. The punch marks will be under the bridge, so not a huge problem.


Will wait for advice from the wise and considered counsel of the community.

[FrankenWashie]

This is an oft encountered problem. The typical fix is to expand the PUP cavity with a dremel, a palm router, chisels, files or rasps.

Playing with the neck cavity might introduce some alignment issues if you aren’t deadly accurate.

if you sand the corners of the neck heel to snug it back into the cavity, will that minimise the amount you need to take out of the PUP cavity?