I've seen some great spalt finished in really diluted walnut stains just to give it a bit of depth. Great looking kit
I've seen some great spalt finished in really diluted walnut stains just to give it a bit of depth. Great looking kit
I think I have decided to leave the top natural and stain the back and sides blue or red. Finish it with a gloss lacquer.
A good choice. Personally I think you get the best from spalted tops if natural or only very lightly tinted, otherwise you loose a lot of the fine detail in the spalt.
With end grain, it's best to follow the grain lines, looking at your photo, you'll have some challenges ahead of you, but it will be worth it in the end.
As for the binding, don't be too worries about that. You can scrape it later to smooth out the finish.
Acoustics:
1995 Maton EM725C - Solid 'A' Spruce Top, QLD Walnut B&S, AP5 Pickup
2015 Ibanez AEL108MD-NT - Laminated Spruce top, Laminated Mahogany B&S, Fishman Sonicore Pickup
Electrics:
Pitbull LP-1S - http://www.buildyourownguitar.com.au...ead.php?t=5745
Carsen Superstrat Rebuild - http://www.buildyourownguitar.com.au...ead.php?t=6284
Builds in Progress:
Silent Guitar Semi-Scratch Build - http://www.buildyourownguitar.com.au...ead.php?t=6809
End grain is tricky. If the machine marks are not coming out, then you are almost certainly not actually sanding with the grain. I have also found that the end grain of the different pieces can be at 90 degrees to each other. Try sanding the end grain at 90 degrees to how you have been sanding so far and see if the machine marks start to sand out.
Current:
GTH-1
Completed:
AST-1FB
First Act ME276 (resurrected curb-side find)
ES-5V
Scratchie lapsteel
Custom ST-1 12 String
JBA-4
TL-1TB
Scratch Lapsteel
Meinl DIY Cajon
Cigar Box lap steel
Wishing:
Baritone
Open D/Standard Double 6 twin neck
Looks great.
Sounds like you may need to do a lot of sanding on the sides and back otherwise imperfections will show though the finish. Very tempting to dive in and get on with finishing it off but that may require double, or maybe even triple the number of top coats to flatten and smooth out a not so good prep, not to mention risk damaging the gorgeous top.
# 1 - EX-5 https://goo.gl/fQJMqh
# 2 - EX-1 https://goo.gl/KSY9W9
# 3 - Non PBG Tele https://goo.gl/W14G5g
# 4 - Non PBG J Bass https://goo.gl/FbBaFy
# 5 - TL-1AR GOTM Aug 2017 https://goo.gl/sUh14s
# 6 - MMB-4 Runner-up GOTM Oct 2018https://goo.gl/gvrPkp
# 7 - ES-1 Runner-up GOTM Aug 2018https://goo.gl/T9BEY8
For the back and sides, the first coats on untreated wood are going to sink in without adding much depth, so I'd wait until maybe 4 coats before doing some sanding. I'd also try and spray some extra coats on the end grain as it is very absorbent. You don't want to break back through to the wood otherwise you'll get more sinkage on the bare patches.