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komodo

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LMI analine black and amber. Tonight I'll sand back and apply the amber on black and black on amber. I found a build online that has a very similar finish where he did it dye on wood only and no tinted lacquer.

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I know, right? That amber will look fantastic over the right grade of sandback. That's where the work will be best spent I think. Dialling in that balance between subtle and too heavy. It's surprising where the "sweet spot" is sometimes, and easy to leave too much black dye in.

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Here is the build I found that has a very similar finish. His has a bit of reddish purple instead of the brownish amber, but it looks like a similar process. Scroll down for the finish process pics. Similar finish

My ivoroid binding came and I'm not really thrilled with it, it just looks like cream binding with lines on it. Today I'm refining the carve and making a final decision on binding or no binding. If I go no binding, I don't see any reason why I shouldn't sand the sides in (to get rid of the binding ledge) and make it the guitar .5% smaller. I have considered cutting some quilt maple for natural binding. It wouldn't match the top quilt, BUT, since the top would be bursted dark at the edges, you may not even see that. 

If I go no binding and mostly opaque black sides, binding is no issue, and I could do the belly cut and pull that black into that. I'd also probably want to break the edges on top and bottom? Just thinking out loud here. So many things affect each other. 

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Right now, it looks tiger eye. While that is probably one of my favorite finishes, that's not what we're going for. In that finish example link I posted, he dyed his color first, sanded back, then the black, sanded back, then the color again. I think he did color and black again. What I'm going to have to do, is dilute these dyes back quite a ways to be able to get a lighter wash on because the black is dead black with only one coat.  

I will say, if I ended up with this I certainly wouldn't cry. :rolleyes:

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This is the all amber > sandback 50% > all black > sandback 50% > light amber coat. The difference between this one and the more traditional black > sandback > amber is quite striking.

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Then, I tried a few wipes of black on the edge to see if I could "fake" a sunburst using just dye.

The other black piece is still wet in patches. After it dried it kind of looked like what I was going for with a warm charcoal black with amber hues. Buuuut, did you see that other one?! B-) I need to sleep on this and it's homebrew Tripel time.

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Back binding channel cut. I'll skip the belly cut since my gut is holding even after recently brewing 15g pale, 11g robust porter and 11g tripel. Now you know why I have been slackin on this build.

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A neck is born. Easily my favorite part of building and I don't know why. I know I'm not alone on this one. Usually, I'll work both sides at the same time and work the whole length (that's what she said), but this time I did one side, then flipped and did the other. For whatever reason it was even more enjoyable. I've also decided I will glue this in and finish it with the body. The grain is very open and needs filled. I can always sand back some for a satin finish, or whatever.

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Yeah, although, I could be very wrong on that. The wood was acquired a long time ago and I don't remember where. It's extremely light and non-oily for a rosewood, also very light and resonant. Madagascar rosewood / Palisander is said to have a roselike scent when worked, which this does not. I'd say it's peppery if anything.

After looking at specs on a bunch of rosewoods - I'm gonna say this is more likely Panama (Yucatan) Rosewood, which would put it in the range of mahogany as far as density, weight, etc. It feels more like a dense Honduran mahogany when you work it.

Besides the best tap tone of any board I've ever had, the neck has two square carbon strips epoxied in it so it should make a good one.

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I'm giving her all she's got captain! Really trying to get it spray ready soon without rushing or cutting corners. Couple hours in the evening after work, getting tired but making headway.

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I can try. BTW, if you haven't tried that brown binding tape in my pic - you can get it at StewMac - you HAVE to. It;s the bomb. I use it in my shop for everything under the sun, it's the greatest tape in the whole world. Super sticky, you can write on it, tears just like masking tape, lasts forever, etc.

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I have never done a binding before, and I thought Weld On 16 had more of a model glue working time (cause duh, the tube is the same, so) when it actually flashes off like super glue. So, the combo of doing too long of sections with too little glue resulted in poor adhesion. I tore it all off, scraped it and the channel and reapplied this evening. 

Meanwhile, my robust porter is definitely over-carbed as I've had two bottle explode so far, A first for me.

Question for anyone - I had some black binding from who knows where, and then some brand new binding from StewMac. The StewMac is softer plasticy, and my other binding is harder, almost fiberglassy with crisper edges. Does anyone know if StewMacs changed or LMIs is more like that? 

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This is the all amber > sandback 50% > all black > sandback 50% > light amber coat. The difference between this one and the more traditional black > sandback > amber is quite striking.

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This is playing tricks with my head. The top looks amazing with the 3D effect...then I see the flat edge. Very cool. I can't wait to see this finished.

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Hella sanding, blisters on blisters.

Neck is final sanded, grain filled, then dyed black and sandback cause the filler wasn't dark enough. Then some shellac seal coats,

Body binding done, scraped, sanded and ready for a final 320 sand before D-day. Rubbed some naptha for a D-day teaser.

 

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I found my hard drive that had way more build pics from earlier stages of this build, many of these were from the inlay process. I'll drop those in here, just before we do the dye. 

1. Cut everything from a pattern. 2. tack it onto the board and scribe around it. Rub chalk on that to fill, wipe it off and you have your routing lines.  3. Route those sections out, you can go outside the lines some. 4. Fit all the pieces, and pack ebony dust in the gaps 5. flood with thin CA. 6. Block sand to get everything flush to the board again, and presto. Easy. LOL

The ebony dust trick is so cool it's not even funny. You would be hard pressed to see a line with the smallest loupe.

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