New Build

[govtmule]

Some recent progress made on this one....

Routed for the electronics and truss rod

And the rear electronics cavity

[Muzz]

That is a great shape, do you have a colour and finish in mind at this stage?

[govtmule]

That is a great shape, do you have a colour and finish in mind at this stage?

Thanks Muzz, no solid plans for the finish yet. I'm thinking simple. Maybe some shellac to amber it up and then tru-oil.

Have a suggestion ?

[govtmule]

Neck complete...

[govtmule]

Side dots and neck with body.

[ScottR]

Awesome neck! That roswood is sweet.

SR

[govtmule]

Now the "fun" starts.

I really don't want to post these next pictures but I'm hoping that I can get some good advice from this group and learn something from this failed attempt.

My finishing idea was to amber up the cherry top and then with water based aniline dyes do a rubbed tobacco type burst. Black on the edges, fading to brown, fading to the amber as you get closer to the center. Leaving the back black.

Here's how it worked out........

Wetting the body to accept the dye better:

Dying the cherry top amber:

Now the crappy attempt at a brown burst:

At this point I sanded back the brown a bit to try and get more of a consistant edge. I also thought this would help with some of the blotchyness. It didn't unfortunately. I sanded more of it back and re-dyed it a bit but still didn't get too good of resuts.

After doing some poking around in the internet, it seems like I may have applied the stain too wet. Others reported having this blotchy issue with cherry and maple when applying too wet. But I wasn't able to find any pictures to be sure, just posts on message boards.

[govtmule]

I stared at this thing for a while trying to decide whether to sand it all back and redye or just shoot black lacquer on it to cover it all up.

I actually started to kinda like how it looks. It sorta looks like a burned finish. It sure isn't what I was shooting for and sure isn't a quality finish but I actually kinda like it. So just for the heck of it I through on some Tru-oil to see what it would look like under some finish.

[govtmule]

After I put the neck in place and really looked at the neck and body together, the whole thing looked pretty unbalanced to me. Too much body meat on the bass side of the neck. After I get it all finished up we'll see, but right now I don't see myself playing it much.

See what I mean ?

Overall, the neck turned out better than I expected and the body a lot worse than I had hoped. I'll give it some time to be sure but I'll probably come back later and strip it for parts.

Any opinions on that ? If you were pretty sure that you were likely to come back and tear a guitar apart for parts, would you finish it to see a project through to the end ?

[Johnny Foreigner]

I stared at this thing for a while trying to decide whether to sand it all back and redye or just shoot black lacquer on it to cover it all up.

I actually started to kinda like how it looks. It sorta looks like a burned finish. It sure isn't what I was shooting for and sure isn't a quality finish but I actually kinda like it. So just for the heck of it I through on some Tru-oil to see what it would look like under some finish.

FWIW, I think this looks pretty sweet.

[IPA or death]

I don't think it looks too bad, but think about it for a while and see if you can live with it. I definitely think you were on the right track with the burst color but without spraying, I don't think you'll get a satisfying burst result. If you do, please divulge your methods 'cause I would love to be able to burst without spraying. Good luck with the remainder of the build.

[sdshirtman]

I did my first burst using trans tint wood dye and water with great results. You can use alcohol also but your working time decreases. I pre-raised my grain 3 times before the application.

Using a rag and a spray bottle I applied it similar to working with watercolors starting with the amber color all over the body first. Next I used dark brown working from the outer edges of the body and spraying a light mist of water from the spray bottle before I started applying. If I got too much on the guitar I could use a dry rag and wipe off the excess dye and start over with another coat/application. The more you apply and the longer you let it soak in the stronger the colors get.

I finished up with black dye on the sides and outer edges using the same method. I did a mild burst but could have easily done one much darker and I tried it with a sample piece first.

Here is a link to the post.

Link

My main source for helping me learn this method was this link.

I just substituted water for alcohol.

Hand rubbed sunburst lesson.

Maybe it might be worth trying this method on a few scraps then sanding it down and giving it another try.

Hope this helps.