Raven's first build - JMA-1

[Raven]

I am only in the initial sanding stage so nothing really to show yet. Love the Ash and will be going with some form of natural finish - perhaps something akin to what the body looks like when wiped down with a wet rag (i.e. "If you've got it, flaunt it"). I do have some questions:

1. Seem to have the remnants of what looks like an orange fluro pen mark on the back of the body that goes a long way into the timber. Sanding hasn't removed it. What can I use that won't have any permanent side effects - would methylated spirits work and not leave a residue that might impact a subsequent DingoTone finish ?

2. There are some deep pock marks on the body horns from the cutter/router. I have sanded a long way removing most marks but some go quite deep and I don't really want to take that much timber off. Is there any effective way to fill these without creating something that will either fall out or absorb stain to a noticeably different degree ?

3. I was originally going with Nullarbor Ochre DT but from the few pics I've seen on the forum I was beginning to wonder if Colourless DT would be the better option to get something akin to the wetted timber look, not mask the tonal variation of the grain, and to go better with the red scratch plate. Any comments on this ?

[wokkaboy]

Hi Raven,
no idea why a fluro marker is on the back of the body. Being ash you need to use a grain filler - Timbermate is a good one. For maximum popping of the ash grain I use the darkest grain filler - ebony.
I think nullarbor ochre will look good will give you a darker look than natural. Or you could ask DB to mix you a weaker version maybe. Clear DT may not give you a dark enough look.
I would fill the pock marks in the horns. See if filling the fluro marker helps. Can you please post a pic of both these concerns you have ?

[Sonic Mountain]

Great to see another JM build happening. Metho might be worth a shot, it evaporates quickly so I doubt it would affect the wood. Keep water well away from it, I learnt that the hard way

Pics would be great, don't worry about them being boring, its all interesting to us and you never know what will be picked up by the hive mind here.

FWIW I had a lot of marks and dings on mine and there was a lot of filing to refine the guitar body and get rid of the machining marks. Well worth the effort, just keep an eye on the curves and radius's so that the lines all flow into each other and it will look great.

[Raven]

Hi Wokkaboy,
Can you please outline what the story is with the ebony grain filler (i.e where applied, how applied etc.) or point me to something that will reveal this pearl of wisdom.

[Raven]

Hi Sonic Mountain,
I tried metho - gave me a strange buzz :-) but had no impact on the orange mark on the guitar body. Not sure about your comment about water.

Attached are some pics taken after "final" sanding. The orange stripe is half way between spring cavity and the body waist. I applied the wet finger test to get an idea of how apparent the stripe would be under a natural finish.

[wazkelly]

Hi Raven, Timber Mate seems to be rather stiff in the container and may need a small amount of water added to create a slurry, thicker is better than thin and runny as this stuff can be really, really messy. Best to dig a bit out into a plastic container and then get to work on getting the correct consistency. To apply, an old credit card works best as a scraping tool to spread the slurry all over. Once done leave at least overnight and then take the whole job outside to sand off the excess. Best to wear a dust mask as the residue is quite small and goes everywhere. It also has a plasticky smell too.

Check out my Red J Bass in the signature below as that may give a few more clues.

Cheers, Waz

[WeirdBits]

Pure acetone may help with the orange, but wear gloves and appropriate safety gear. I've used it to remove Dingotone and other stains before. Can we get some more photos of the stain, and any before shots? It's odd.

[Raven]

Okay, tried Acetone and that did not remove the orange tinge but did make it look more like it was due to excess glue than marker pen because it was right next to a join and there was some slightly sticky residue left. Think this means the DT Nullarbor Ochre will be the primary finishing option since it seems to hide most underlying colours. (I did an experiment on a piece of American White Ash where I put various light washes based on Feast Watson stains down first to highlight grain then over-coated with DT N Ochre and it seemed to mask all of the lighter washes.)

Have a new problem now !
I used a little air blow gun hooked up to a compressor to blow away all sanding dust as a prelude to applying the DingoTone only to find that some of the grain now looked much rougher because it had been previously filled with sanding dust (I had sanded up to 400 grade). Wondering if I have to go down the filler path (Timbermate etc), or whether the DT 3 coat system will fill the grain either as-is or after another light sand to replace the previous filling.

[wazkelly]

Okay, tried Acetone and that did not remove the orange tinge but did make it look more like it was due to excess glue than marker pen because it was right next to a join and there was some slightly sticky residue left. Think this means the DT Nullarbor Ochre will be the primary finishing option since it seems to hide most underlying colours. (I did an experiment on a piece of American White Ash where I put various light washes based on Feast Watson stains down first to highlight grain then over-coated with DT N Ochre and it seemed to mask all of the lighter washes.)

Have a new problem now !
I used a little air blow gun hooked up to a compressor to blow away all sanding dust as a prelude to applying the DingoTone only to find that some of the grain now looked much rougher because it had been previously filled with sanding dust (I had sanded up to 400 grade). Wondering if I have to go down the filler path (Timbermate etc), or whether the DT 3 coat system will fill the grain either as-is or after another light sand to replace the previous filling.

Hi Raven, Ash tends to work best with some grain filler otherwise you may end up with grain contour lines in the top coats. Still a good looking effect but if chasing a dipped in glass look better to do some grain filling first.

Sent from my SM-A520F using Tapatalk

[Raven]

Hi Wazkelly,
Any suggestions on best TimberMate colour to match the natural Ash grain colouring ?
(Further to your earlier/previous suggestion I tried some Ebony Timber Mate on a sample piece of Ash timber and found it yielded a blue-black tinge. This might have been okay under a tinted finish but I'm now looking to use DT Nullarbor Ochre - pale red-brown with satin finish.)