Urumiko Posted May 21, 2019 Report Share Posted May 21, 2019 I should say I've never finished a guitar before. I'm currently building a guitar with the folowing woods: Wenge body sycamore cap (I intend to stain this with black/grey) Palm wood neck, laminated with wenge and maple. I intend to leave most of the woods their natural colour and finish in a gloss nitro. I will have a multitude of inlays including on the front and rear of the body, some made from coloured wood some made from resin or mother of pearl. Firstly, Should I be applying some kind of sanding sealer to my body? do i need a special one for use on dark woods? or is this incompatible with staining? thoild i do it before inlays? Most importantly, the palm wood neck i fear wil be really prone to chunks of wood being chipped out on the headstock wings. The "pith" of the wood is quite soft and crumbly. Its quite likely to have small holes in it also. The wood can be sanded to a quite nice flat sheen, but im wondering if there is some kind of hardener/grain filler/resin that might be worth applying to reduce the chances of chipping without spoiling the natural/gloss finish? Cheers Dave. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted May 21, 2019 Report Share Posted May 21, 2019 Grain filler will be a better option for wenge, the grain is so open that it should be filled instead of sealed to give you a nice level surface for the finish . clear or black filler would do, not sure about how open the palmwood is but at a guess I would grain fill that the same as the wenge given how dark it is, then once that's done, I'd use a sanding sealer on the cap once you've got it stained. BTW dude, on paper this guitar sounds stunning, I'm tempted to get some palmwood for a neck of my own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted May 21, 2019 Report Share Posted May 21, 2019 2 hours ago, ADFinlayson said: I'm tempted to get some palmwood for a neck of my own Based on the video series I've developed some sort of fear for it. Agreed, it looks very interesting but having seen how it behaves... The soft parts definitely seem to need something to make them as tough as the hard parts - resin with matching coloured wood dust maybe? That said, the build already is on the heavier side and any impregnated stuff will add to the weight. That's an interesting build you've got there but the neck really makes me worried. It looks like the player could easily get remarkable shards of it into his left palm unless you find a way to stabilize it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urumiko Posted May 22, 2019 Author Report Share Posted May 22, 2019 22 hours ago, ADFinlayson said: BTW dude, on paper this guitar sounds stunning, I'm tempted to get some palmwood for a neck of my own. haha thank you, yes it does but we all know what happens when people try and do everything on the first build Does that mean you will be stealing my thinder? Palmwood build off in GOTM? lol If either of you really wanted a look at the grain etc i could probably stick a small offcut sample in the post for you. Nothing big enough to use but it would give you a hands on idea of what it's like. 19 hours ago, Bizman62 said: The soft parts definitely seem to need something to make them as tough as the hard parts YES. they do, You are right about the shards sticking in your hand when its rough, although when its sanded back its actually very smooth. Its naturally very oily too so it'll need attacked with thinners before gluing. I've exmined a few threads relating to stablising spalted woods, I reackon the brush on wood hardners designed to deal with rot would do the trick but they are acetone based and would prob wreak havoc with the final finish. I did see someone suggest soaking in diluted sealer or PVA for a few hours then drying.. sounds interesting. The best thing is probably just a nice thick poly dinish but sod that lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted May 22, 2019 Report Share Posted May 22, 2019 4 hours ago, Urumiko said: haha thank you, yes it does but we all know what happens when people try and do everything on the first build Does that mean you will be stealing my thinder? Palmwood build off in GOTM? lol If either of you really wanted a look at the grain etc i could probably stick a small offcut sample in the post for you. Nothing big enough to use but it would give you a hands on idea of what it's like. Lol I doubt I will enter many more guitars in GOTM this year, I've already entered 3. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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