Im putting together this kit mainly because i love building guitars but i don't own a bass.....Ive seen some concept guitars be hutchinson (i think ) guitars. viking themed and the wood looks like its been made from the floorboards of the great hall of valhalla ! really old looking. so thats my experiment to see if i can stain basswood to look old and gnarly.
Ive tweaked the kit in a few ways. i countersunk neck bolt bushings and ditched the neck plate. i have reshaped the headstock by shortening it giving the head a stubbier look. and also given the body subtle forearm and belly carves. i have previously built a mahogany set neck LP Jr double cut. I stained it with Feast Weston prooftint. its an analine dye that smells like whiteboard markers. but it stains quite evenly even on more open pored wood. that was green but this one i thought id go for "japan black" first to sink into the grain (even a little bit of flame). Then i sanded a lot off but tried to do a bit of a burst look by sanding mostly in the middle and leaking the edges very dark. Then i hit it with "oak" for the rich brown. incidentally i stained the neck with th same brown and the maple came up with a great tasmanian blackwood like color. Anyway i am yet to give the brown coat a sand but i will continue with the burst look but try to lighten it all up a bit. Here is the progress so far...
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