I was given an ash ST-1 for christmas which I'm ridiculously excited to get started on, but just wanted to ask a few questions before I bugger anything up!
I've been reading the forums quite a bit and have noticed that a lot of people are using timber mate on their kits before applying finish. I'll be using wudtone and was just wondering if this is recommended for all finishes or just some specific finishes?
Timbermate will take stain, so is a good option. Bear in mind that it does take stain differently from the surrounding wood so you can notice it if it's a large patch. Timbermate should work well with all the woods that PB supplies so it should be good from that point of view as well. Different bodies are different colours though - even using the same wood so there is no default "best" colour for ash. Best bet is to pick something close, then as you are filling, mix the Timbermate with some sawdust from sanding the body to get as close as possible and get as good a response to the Wudtone as possible.
For dings an alternative is an iron approach - I think Gavin1393 has posted a how to to remove dings that way.
Anyway, best of luck and looking forward to seeing the build diary!
Tim, Wudtone is self levelling so you don't need to use any Timbermate unless you are wanting to repair any divots in your wood. Enjoy your build. These are great kits.
Wow! Quick responses around here! Thanks for the help guys.
There is one small divot on the edge of the guitar but I haven't started sanding yet so I imagine that will decrease in size quite a bit once I've gone over it a number of times.
So just to clarify it is fine to use just the wudtone (assuming there are no dents etc) without any other preparation other than sanding?
Thanks heaps for the help. I'm a complete novice when it comes to anything wood work so it's greatly appreciated!
Oh and one more quick question. I got an orbital sander the other day and have never used it on anything let alone a nice piece of ash. Would anyone have any recommendations on where to get good quality sanding discs, I see on the forums that Bunnings is a bit of a no go zone so was wondering where is the place to go. Also should I just use the sander for the first pass over the body and then stick to hand sanding?
Cheers
Ash is so easy to sand that i would not go near it with a machine sander. You will get great results working through the grits by hand. Remember that heat and downward pressure when sanding are the enemy of a good result. Sanding can be therapeutic, enjoy the process. I wouldn't bother with filler since you are using Wudtone.
Gav's right - last thing you want to do is lose some of the beautiful character in the ash by hiding it with Timbermate. Give it a good sand and see what you can do about reducing the divot.
In terms of sanding, Gav has showed me something that's great - pop down to a $2 shop, pick yourself up 1-2 sets of 6 normal block style erasers (same as you / your kids would take to school). Wrap those with sandpaper (I write the grit # on both ends of the eraser in pencil) and use them - tiny bit of flex for corners, but not too much and are easy to hold and are a perfect size to get around things on the body.
Currently have myself set up with 80, 120, 180, 240, 320, 400, 600 with a couple spare for wetsanding and porefilling with Tru Oil.
Gavmeister
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