t1r12003 Posted September 30, 2012 Report Share Posted September 30, 2012 (edited) I haven't posted a build in a while. I've also never worked with Buckeye Burl, so this should be interesting. 1 1/2" african mahogany 2 piece body rough cut with skill saw shaped with my router gluing up the 1/4" buckeye burl top all glued to the body and about 10 minutes palm sanding. wet with naptha for a pic The larger voids and bark inclusions will get filled with black epoxy. The rest filled with CA glue. I haven't decided to leave the top natural or stain it. For some reason I'm thinking red would look good. Edited September 30, 2012 by t1r12003 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted September 30, 2012 Report Share Posted September 30, 2012 If you try to stain that it will be splotchy and never look right.Even I would never put any color on such a piece,but if you absolutely feel you just have to do it,the proper way to color such a piece is with translucent tints mixed into your finish.You apply the sealer coat(clear) and level that completely,then after the sealer coat is perfectly level you apply your tinted color coats...after you have those you apply clear as a topcoat. You really have to know what you are doing.You need to save the scraps and practice on them with your finishing options until you are sure of what you need to do to get what you want Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FireFly Posted September 30, 2012 Report Share Posted September 30, 2012 Burls have a lot of end grain showing in a lot of different directions. The end grain absorbs more dye than the rest of the wood, making it appear darker. When performed properly, you can get a sort of "dancing dark color" effect. Like Wes said, I would definitely try it out on some of the scrap pieces to make sure you like how it's going to turn out before you go ahead and dye the big piece. I usually save dye for woods with a pattern on it, like flamed and quilted stuff. Burls are so random that in my eyes, it would look a little splotchy... But I wouldn't know with that piece, as all pieces are different. I'd be interested in seeing some of the scrap dyed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Levi79 Posted September 30, 2012 Report Share Posted September 30, 2012 I'll be upset if you stain that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t1r12003 Posted September 30, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 30, 2012 Thanks for the tips. I do have a couple good scrap pieces left over. I saved them for color testing and to practice with the epoxy as well. Also trying to decide between a rounded edge top or a black binding. The black binding might just frame this piece nicely if I leave it natural. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted September 30, 2012 Report Share Posted September 30, 2012 A black border on a natural light top always looks good.TSL did a spalted strat years ago with black binding and it was sharp as hell.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t1r12003 Posted September 30, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 30, 2012 Test scrap piece. Natural with naptha then red stain to get a quick idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbinst Posted September 30, 2012 Report Share Posted September 30, 2012 Wow I love that wood. The red really makes it look like something you just ripped out of a person though lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 30, 2012 Report Share Posted September 30, 2012 That is positively horrorworthy! Usually red comes out pink unless the wood underneath is warm. Subscribed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Levi79 Posted September 30, 2012 Report Share Posted September 30, 2012 The red looks pretty cool, but it loses so much of the figure and personality. The natural looks 100x better man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t1r12003 Posted September 30, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 30, 2012 It's going to stay natural with a black binding. There's so much cool swirling figure going on the red would end up hiding a lot of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob123 Posted October 1, 2012 Report Share Posted October 1, 2012 Dude... I LOVE the red..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazygtr Posted October 1, 2012 Report Share Posted October 1, 2012 +1 on natural, I think the red takes more than it gives. IMHO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted October 1, 2012 Report Share Posted October 1, 2012 Quite a polarised opinion here :-D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted October 1, 2012 Report Share Posted October 1, 2012 Well,think of it this way..if you dye it, when you take it out and people see it,a ton of people are going to be asking "Why did you stain that top?You don't color burl!" But nobody will ever say "Why didn't you color the guitar red?Everyone knows you should dye burl because the natural color variations always suck!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdshirtman Posted October 1, 2012 Report Share Posted October 1, 2012 That red is sick. Have you thought about experimenting with a sand back of the red and adding some yellow/amber to it afterwards? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t1r12003 Posted October 10, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 10, 2012 No progress to report. I did score a pretty decent Wolfgang copy neck off an auction though. Ebony fretboard on maple. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t1r12003 Posted October 20, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2012 A little bit of progress today... Routed the neck pocket and fit the neck. Nice and tight. Rounded out the backside edges Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t1r12003 Posted October 30, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 30, 2012 Routed the pickup cavities. I'm waiting on a black/cream Bill Lawrence for the bridge, but for the pic I threw in this black one. Filled the large voids with black epoxy and used super glue on a lot of the top so far. It looks splotchy now because I didn't wet the top for the pic and I'm still in between passes with more superglue. And next to the original for reference Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob123 Posted October 31, 2012 Report Share Posted October 31, 2012 Man I wish you'd have stained it Oh well, your guitar Looks cool though, you gonna scoop the horn too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Levi79 Posted November 1, 2012 Report Share Posted November 1, 2012 Awesome looking body dude! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t1r12003 Posted November 1, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 1, 2012 Man I wish you'd have stained it Oh well, your guitar Looks cool though, you gonna scoop the horn too? If you mean like a PRS has that scoop on the lower horn for access to upper frets, no. I'm doing a black binding all the way around, so I'm keeping the top flat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t1r12003 Posted November 1, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 1, 2012 One more quick rout this morning for the trem cavity. I actually got an "In Progress" pic this time. I set up a couple 1x2's and a follower bit on my router to keep straight lines. Just one little burn spot I'll need to sand out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted November 1, 2012 Report Share Posted November 1, 2012 Thing is, since most burls require some kind of filling it is unlikely that the top will be in any state to be stained. Superglue will prevent stain penetrating so unless other stain-friendly fillers are used then staining is right out. Looking good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t1r12003 Posted November 1, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 1, 2012 Here's a quick mock up with the proper bridge pickup and wet the top a little with naptha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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