Hi,
thanks for letting me post.
My name is Josh, im 17 and have just received my first Kit.
I went for the LP-1SS Electric Guitar Kit (set neck) with the spalted maple veneer.
I went looking for the video on sanding as i have no idea but couldnt find it.
Any advise on sanding would be great. I have ordered the Dingotone Body Finish Kit - Karijini Red.
thanks
Josh
Welcome Josh! The LP-1SS looks pretty cool, and I hope you enjoy making it. That red stain looks great on maple, I reckon you're gonna end up with an awesome axe.
Don't worry about "having no idea" about something. I didn't have a clue 3 months ago, and I'm doing OK by asking heaps of questions, double and triple checking everything before I do it, and taking everything super slowly and carefully. Seriously, just ask heaps of questions if you need to, there's so much good advice here it's amazing.
Have you done a mock build yet? If not, it'd be a good idea to do that before you start sanding to make sure everything's there, everything fits, etc.
Hi Josh, welcome to the forum.
In terms of sanding, you don't want to do too much on the veneered bodies, the veneer is really very thin. From what the others have experienced, you want to give it a light sand only at about 300-400 grit to remove any obvious imperfections, but you really don't want to go too hard at it or you may go straight through it. You don't want to go to fine with the grit either as this will create problems when you go to stain it. When you get a chance post a picture of the body, there have been some really great spalt bodies lately so folks here will be really interested to see what you have scored.
Before you start to sand, its a good idea to take a dampened cloth (with a bit of water or some Gum turpentine) and wipe the body down.
What this will do is highlight any glue spots that would repel the stain, these are the bits you want to give special attention to either with sandpaper or a small wire brush. If your luck is good you won't see any and you can go straight to sanding.
Its also a good idea to check your set neck for fit, and for straightness and twists, if you have any concerns, post some pics for advice. If it is something serious one of the guys will point you to Adam, and Adam will sort it out for you, they are really good like that if there is a serious problem with your kit.
Above all, have fun with it, ask as many questions as you need, as the guys on this forum are awesome when it comes to providing advice and helpful tips on technique and problem solving. Happy Building!
FrankenLab
Hand crafting guitars, because Death Rays are expensive.
Gonna echo this part and say really don't skip this step. Removing the glue spots from my second build before staining was very easy. On my first, I didn't spot one until after the first stain coat went on and it took a lot of work to get most of it off and it's still not, and never will be perfect.Originally Posted by FrankenWashie
Also echoing take it carefully sanding the maple veneer. Despite listening to everyone saying "it's really thin, be careful" and giving it what I thought was a careful light sand at 320 grit, I still managed to go through it in 2 small places. Just remember you can always sand it more if need be, but you can't un-sand it.
How awesome to get some replies to help me out. Im even more keen now.
so, my very first step
1) is the mock build and check it out especially for neck straightness etc
2) wipe over with water or Gum terps for any possible glue marks or stains.
3) Give the whole body and neck and head a light sand with 300-400 grit.
4) whilst waiting for my stain to arrive, should i think about a black stain to highlight the wood grain, then sand back before the red dingotone?
photo soon.
picture
MMM, Spalty goodness.....You have my envy young man. That is a very fortunate alignment of spalt lines to neck/bridge hardware, quite cool really.
picture
If you want to grain pop, you can do a wipe down with a black stain, leave it a bit and then wipe down with a heavily dampened rag to remove the excess stain. I would probably want to shy away from sanding back.
Another technique some have used is to get a hold of Ebony coloured Timbermate wood filler, take small scoop of it and pop it in a plastic container and add water then work it until its like a slurry, think thick soup consistency. you mask off the sides and the binding and then you work this slurry onto the face of the guitar. It will dry out ash grey fairly quickly. Leave it maybe a half a day or overnight and then sand back to the wood (but don't go too far, you're only trying to take off the timbermate). This should both fill the grain of the maple and highlight the spalt and any flame you have in the grain.
You can also use this to fill the grain on the back and sides.
FrankenLab
Hand crafting guitars, because Death Rays are expensive.
I don't know if you've seen this thread: http://www.buildyourownguitar.com.au...ead.php?t=5745
but its a good illustration of how plans can change once the work has started, and also of how awesome that sort of Spalted top can come up without a coloured treatment.
FrankenLab
Hand crafting guitars, because Death Rays are expensive.
Will the dingo tone Karijini Red make the black pot like this picture or should i use the timbermate ebony filler first to enhance the grain?
I don't know what the Karijini Red will do over spalt, but on my quilted top it didn't make anything as dark as in that picture.
Will the dingo tone Karijini Red make the black pot like this picture or should i use the timbermate ebony filler first to enhance the grain?
Timbermate is like magic though. I used it for the first time a couple of weeks ago, and it sands off with a very light touch, so I reckon you'd be fine if you were careful. You want to tape off everything you don't want timbermate on first, and you almost certainly want to get some kind of face mask because it sands into a super fine dust that'll get everywhere.
Hopefully someone else can let you know if there are any tricks to using it on spalted maple, but here's the progression on my ash bass from untouched > timbermate on and mostly dry > timbermate sanded off.
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