This will be my second build. I ordered the DJB-4 bass kit and it arrived today. I ordered less than 7 days ago and it made it to the US very quickly.
I opted to do the maple neck upgrade, the bone nut, as well as black hardware. Planning a leather dye orange and black finish on the front of the body, black on the sides and back of the body, and a stained oak color on the neck and fretboard. Going to use Wipe-On Poly for everything.
Here it is just out of the box
Last edited by patrickparks1; 24-03-2022 at 06:20 AM.
Today, did the test fit and everything looks really good. Neck is straight, action seems good, etc. Did a little sanding on the edges of the frets to get rid of some sharp spots. Going to start working on the headstock shape, made some paper templates to toss around a few ideas.
Got the shape drawn on the headstock and got it cut out tonight. I'm pretty happy with the results. It's the first time I have ever cut a headstock and I did it by hand with a coping saw.
Got the body stained today, and happy with the results.
Happy with how the neck turned out as well, it's a bit splotchy which gives it a bit of the vintage weathered feel.
The body looks great.
Did you stain black, then sand back, then stain orange?
PitBull Builds: FVB-4, LP-1SS, FBM-1, AG-2, TB-4, SSCM-1, TLA-1, TL-1TB, STA-1HT, DSCM-1 Truckster, ST-1, STA-1, MBM-1.
Scratch Builds: Pine Explorer, Axe Bass, Mr Scary, Scratchy Tele's.
The little voices in my head keep telling me "build more guitars"
Yes, that is exactly what I did
Not really happy with the results using sanding sealer. I think honestly the stains themselves weren't 100% dry. They were dry to the touch and not tacky after 24 hours, but the brush was pulling up some of the dye when I applied it. I only did a very light coat of the sanding sealer, and after sanding it back..had to touch up some of the dye areas (on the back...where it was black). I'm going to let it dry for 2-3 days now and simply move forward with wipe on poly.
This topic is heavily debated on the interweb but, sanding sealer can be (should be???) applied before the stain to prevent, or at least minimise, blotchiness when staining. It can also be applied after staining (and here in lies the argument) but a lot depends on wood type, stain type and other factors. It sounds counterintuitive, but the sanding sealer is sanded back after 1 or 2 coats before staining.Originally Posted by patrickparks1
IME, anything that will be wiped on after the stain/dye has been applied, is going shift the stain/dye no matter how long it has dried.
However there are ways to combat this. You can apply a light spray coat (rattle can) of shellac or poly to lock the colour in. If don't want to or can't spray, you can wipe down the stained/dyed surface with clean dry rags. You'll be surprised how much coloured "dust" comes off on the rag, and it will at least help minimise how much colour gets moved around when you apply whatever product you're going to be wiping on.
Another tip is not to "wipe" the first couple of coats, but "dab" it on and change or clean the applicator (rag, foam brush) frequently.
You still need to pay attention and take care, but there is significantly less chance of smearing the colour this way.
When dry, the finish may appear rough or spotty, but once there is a sufficient layer of shellac or poly etc to lock in the colour, you can lightly sand it smooth then continue on with regular wiping on of the finish.
Making the world a better place; one guitar at a time...
Yeah, I'm doing the wipe on poly to the neck and headstock now. Thst was done with a wood stain and its going on well.
I'm going to allow the Angelus leather dye to dry for a couple of days. 2-3 and then will wipe on the poly. I had no problems really on the back of guitar which was stained all black, had the most drying time and least applications. The sanding sealer didn't transfer to to the brush, but upon sanding it lightly with 220 grit and my hand sander it was pulling black off the back. I touched up the back again with some black dye to fix the areas where it went to far.
On the front side, it pulled dye up into the brush. I didn't notice it at first until I went to dip the brush into the can of the sanding sealer. Didn't really hurt my finish at all, but I didn't put much sanding sealer on the front since it was pulling up some yellow/orange.
Hoping that with a few days extra to dry that my poly will wipe on without much transfer. I can just keep dipping a new rag to get that first coat on. Once it's on, I will let it dry 2 to 3 hours, then put down another coat of poly...at this point I feel confident I can lightly level sand at 320 and color will be locked under poly.
If anything the orange just brightened up a tad bit, which is fine with me as I was doing orange and black and the orange was a bit darker than I wanted originally, but I was happy with it.
Before I did anything today, I wiped it down with a clean white rag and hadn't noticed any color transfer. I'll wipe it down really good before I go with the wipe on poly on the front. If it seems like it's going sideways in any way, i'll get a spray can of the minwax fast drying polyurethan spray to get that first coat down, it's only $10.
Last edited by patrickparks1; 28-03-2022 at 11:16 AM.
Spent yesterday and today putting down the wipe on poly (used Minwax Satin Wipe on Poly)on the neck of the guitar. I ended up doing 6 coats and am happy with the outcome, so going to call it quits here, and let it fully cure for the next week or so.
Yesterday i put down the first two coats (waited 3 hours between coats), then I sanded with 320 grit paper to smooth it out. Put down one more coat and let it dry for 12+ hours. Today, I did 3 more coats, sanding with 400 grit-600 grit each time. About 4 hours after the 6th coat, i used some 1500 to simply take out any dust and any slight bubbles or nibs.
and
Probably not touching the guitar on Tuesday or Wednesday, and will begin on Thursday putting poly down on the body after giving the dyes a few more days to dry as much as possible.
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