OctoberBass RCA-4 First Build

[OctoberBassRCA-4]

I like your optimism, can you match up walnut and maple and make it work?

[king casey]

Depends what you mean by 'match up'.
Obviously they are different colours but once again it's up to experimenting to see how it pans out.
(Personally I'd just try for one piece to cover the whole thing).

cheers, Mark.

[OctoberBassRCA-4]

Yeah, I then would want to continue walnut... yeah. Keep it as simple for what it is.

Thanks!

[wazkelly]

Waz, no, stayed with the grain, not across. Not necessarily going for full on Rick. I do want a nice fretboard, but not any darker than what it is. Can this be stained, say towards a Rick? A tad bit red?

You could stain but that risks also colouring the fret marker inlays. Sounds like fretboard wax is what you need.

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[OctoberBassRCA-4]

Was, OK! Overthinking things. Too much downtime.

[OctoberBassRCA-4]

I guess with down time I need to address these marks, are these the machine marks? I have sanded these with 120 grit, but it doesn't seems to remove them much. I been sanding from binding to bottom direction.

[Sonic Mountain]

Yeah, that's machine marks from a linisher or something. You just need to keep working away at it - being end grain the direction you are sanding isn't as critical (just watch you don't mark up the binding too much) so you can sand with those marks rather than across them if that's easier. Getting the end grains looking nice is a common issue, all I can suggest is patience and gradually working your way up the grits of sandpaper. If you are going a solid colour you don't need them to be completely gone as paint/primer will fill them up pretty well. If you want to stain and clear you just need to keep going at it.

[wazkelly]

Totally agree with Sonic.
Those are more horizontal than vertical and come out easier when sanding in the same direction as the machine marks. In this case that is horizontal or parallel to the binding which is good as that is the direction of how you will end up sanding the sides anyway. 120 grit done slow and steady should do the trick and once gone try 180 or maybe 240 but no higher if planning to stain.

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[OctoberBassRCA-4]

Thanks Sonic and Waz. My MM Humbucker came in the mail. Down time just got busy. I'll post a photo of the pup sitting on top.

[Fretworn]

I find that the end grain direction of the seperate pieces don’t always align. Sometimes you need to sand one piece one direction, and then the next piece Change the sanding direction 90 degrees. If you are sanding with the grain the machine marks will sand out. If you sand against the grain you can make them worse.