Mike.Mara

Looking very nice indeed! Can't wait for more pics...

Lol. Well I'm sure it will pay off in the end! Looking forward to watching them .

Whatever works! If something sounds good, it sounds good. Doesn't matter how it gets there. I like tube amps, but if there's something modelled or SS that sounds good, I'll use it. Does that mean there will be videos soon? .

If you can get it "fresh" I'd say give it a go. It goes a long way, so long I ended up throwing most of it out after using it on many products. I have some of their "black polish" and for some reason that seems to have lasted a lot longer than regular shellac for whatever reason. Lol, seasoned shellac... Maybe use any left over as a crunchy glaze haha. The Peavey Vypyr isn't a terrible sounding modelling amp. Although if you have access to an audio interface, I'd suggest BIAS Amp/FX into a KEMO M032N to a cab. It's what I'm currently using since I'm too cheap to get another 6505... Well, I say cheap, I mean poor. . It's a very reasonable alternative to tube amps and I doubt most people could tell the difference. BIAS is a bit lacking on the gain though, as a previous 5150 owner, you'll know the shear amount of gain available even on 3 on the preamp... With BIAS you'll need it on 7 to get the same amount. Of course it does require you be near a computer/laptop.

Pestle and mortar? On the other hand, there are plenty of coffee grinders on Ebay here for under £15. Hmmm... I may have to get one. Yeah, I've had pre bottled stuff from Liberon, although it works, it stays tacky much longer than it should. Probably because it's been sitting around for the best part of a year before I buy it, then sits here for months. Still works, but not as it should.

Well, I certainly agree that canned stuff isn't the way to go unless you're just going with shellac. It usually has additives to stop it from going bad in the can so they can keep it on the shelf longer. That may be one of the causes. Maybe it's impatience on the part of most people so they buy a can rather than wait for it to dissolve in alcohol. I know that I've been impatient with a lot of finishes in the past and they've either turned out so-so or terrible. You spend more time trying to fix your rushing than it would have taken to do it right in the first place . (I know this all too well.)

Do you think maybe they just washed on the shellac and then before it had dried properly shoved a coat of poly on? I'm still not too keen on the idea... I might ask at the college if they have a room suitable to spray stuff in. I mean they do auto repair and painting and decorating, so maybe. Auto colours are a great idea to look at for finishes, you can pretty much just walk into an auto paint store and tell them the car and get that colour. Speaking of paint, if I were to paint this guitar black, can you recommend any type of paint? I know that most acrylics never truly dry and I don't want to have to re-finish this one too.

Never heard of compatibility issues with shellac and poly so I'll have to ring the manufacturer and ask their opinion just in case! I love the idea of 2K, but anything that recommends you dress like you're about to clean a crime scene I try to avoid lol. And unfortunately I'm not safely set-up for spraying anything flammable or hazardous. If I could afford to I'd outsource the finishing and go with a 2K or something along those lines. But for now at least I'm either french polish or water-based. At least with those it's just respirator, goggles and throw away coveralls if you're being over-cautious. (Respirator and goggles excluded of course.) That's a pretty damn nice bass by the way! Love the sparkle.

I always have shellac on hand... I love the stuff for popping the grain in wood. Makes everything look beautiful. I'll probably be using an acrylic urethane for this build so I'd imagine no problems with compatibility. I'll of course do a test piece though. . 2K scares the hell out of me, wish I could bring myself to use it though. Got a link for the P-Bass?

A wealth of knowledge as always! Cheers!

As a side-note... How would you guys go about finishing poplar? It's extremely fine and close grained, so is a filler still a good idea, or is just a sanding sealer enough?

Progress! Well, some at least... Turns out my less-than-organised workshop has finally bitten me in the ass. I lost my bottom guided bearing bit, so the body is only half-routed. Ohh well, I'll just have to wait for another to arrive, and then clean and organise. Anyways, on to the progress. Template CNC'd, came out just about perfect! And choosing to engrave a centre line this time was the right choice, no faffing around with calipers and a steel rule for an hour trying to line everything up. Body outline on the blank. Rough-cut on the bandsaw: That little dimple? near the neck pocket was a pain to get into with a 1/2" blade. And finally, the top routed to size! Almost got a bit of tear-out near the bottom hip... There's a slight mark where I can see that it wanted to, but fortunately the wood gods were smiling down upon me today and with a tiny bit of sanding it's all going to be OK. Phew! . Poplar is unlike any other wood I've worked, it has a strange way of being extremely smooth in one direction and rough in the other. I'll have to take that into account when sanding to avoid tearing the grain up. Surprisingly heavy too at around 4-5Lbs. Much heavier than I was expecting. Well... Here is where it ended: Due to the lack of the aforementioned bottom guided bit. Or is that a top guided bit when it's in a router table? Anyway, I'm struggling with the decision of whether or not to round over the body... Thoughts? Also, I'm not too sure if I still want the transparent finish on this one as the back really isn't the prettiest and has a few imperfections, but not enough to be a feature. I'm thinking maybe straight black with a purple pearl... But I don't know if that will make it look cheap? Well, there it is for today. Thanks for looking!

Aluminium flat bar is exactly what I was thinking so good to know I'm on the same track.

Looks fantastic! Your original did too though, so great job both times!

Workholding is a very important safety factor with CNC. Nothing worse than scrambling for your E-stop when things are shaking loose because you thought, "that'll hold". Not to mention if something shifts the time and material wasted.