RG350 rebuild

[KnightroExpress]

I'd go black in this case.

[Prostheta]

I'd go black myself.

[Norris]

Another vote for black

There again, I'd think about making the fret markers black as well 

[Prostheta]

I can see how zebras might work. Then again, so would double creams! There are enough accents around the design to tie any of them in.

[badger6]

8 hours ago, Norris said:

Another vote for black

There again, I'd think about making the fret markers black as well 

Make the Inlays black? Are you nuts, hahaha. I'm a super novice when it comes to this stuff

[Norris]

15 hours ago, badger6 said:

Make the Inlays black? Are you nuts, hahaha. I'm a super novice when it comes to this stuff

Ah - I'd forgotten it was a rebuild for a moment there

[Andyjr1515]

Black here too (although it's going to look pretty special whatever).

Difficult to judge ref how much flattening to go for.  If the original surface was pretty smooth and grain free, then, in theory you should be safe flattening down to the lowest trough.  However, as @Prostheta says, breakthrough on a stained or painted surface is a real problem so, if the wood grain was fairly evident before you started, you might well hit a peak of coloured wood before you get to the final trough of cured oil.                                But that probably hasn't helped at all ....

[Prostheta]

It's helpful when you consider that it's advocating a considered and cautious approach to flatting out the finish. Ultimately, we can't fully recommend a specific course of action since we're not there to eyeball the piece. A light flatting with say, 400-600 that only hits the crests of the uneveness rather than creating big flat areas is as good as we can recommend. Anything more and sandthroughs become a possibility.

@badger6 is taking on a lot of new skills and assessment tools here, so it's all good. You can be damn sure that he's way further down the road than he was when this thread started. When you look at it that way....

[badger6]

 

7 hours ago, Norris said:

Ah - I'd forgotten it was a rebuild for a moment there

Yeah, with me living in an apartment the best I can do at the moment is probably buy parts, finish them, and then assemble them. Or rebuild older guitars. Any heavy woodworking probably isn't too practical at the moment. Hence the tru oil finish, lol.

Also, the expense of the all the tools would probably be very expensive. I'm looking forward to finishing this soon and starting another build. Or rather, I'm looking forward to doing another parts finish and assembly, haha. Maybe in the future, the opportunity will present itself and I'll be in the right situation to actually build a body and neck from scratch. 

[Prostheta]

I understand that fully. I think most builders have been there in some form or another. Look at @psikoT's build threads; he has a small area for working and has no big problems with dust or whatever. If anything, being forced to work at a slower and more controlled pace means you give the work more thought and time instead of charging head first into it.

Tools can be expensive, but it depends on how smart you work. Most things can be done in a number of ways, and not necessarily with expensive specific tools. That's the name of the game entirely!

[badger6]

Ok, the highlighted areas is where the issues are. The 2 main ones seem to be on the glue joints. One on the front and one on the back and on opposite sides of the body. I'm not too worried about the light grain I have highlighted on the bottom of the body in the second picture. I feel that most of that will come out with the final sanding and polishing. I have one more coat to do before I get to 20 coats. All of these last 4-5 coats have been very thin. You guys think I should keep going after 20 coats or do the final coat and move on to final finishing.

[ScottR]

If it were me and I'd already gone this far, I think I'd go ahead and use it up.

SR

[Prostheta]

That's a fair number of coats. You should be good to go I think. Again, it's always difficult to tell when "you're not there".

I wonder what's caused that in the glueline area. Hmm.

 

1 minute ago, ScottR said:

If it were me and I'd already gone this far, I think I'd go ahead and use it up.

SR

Now that's true.  I would however keep a very small amount spare in case you have a last minute touchup to do.

[badger6]

34 minutes ago, ScottR said:

If it were me and I'd already gone this far, I think I'd go ahead and use it up.

SR

 

34 minutes ago, Prostheta said:

Now that's true.  I would however keep a very small amount spare in case you have a last minute touchup to do.

I have about an inch left in the tru oil bottle. However, the only Ibanez replacement logos that I could find were vinyl. I couldn't find any waterslide decals. I have a feeling that the white vinyl decal is going to be kind of thick, so I wanted to save enough tru oil  to try and build up enough coats to bury the decal the best that I could. 

Wouldn't the tru oil turn the white Ibanez logo into a off white or cream color? That's another reason that I was thinking about the zebra pickups. I kind of thought that they would contrast well with the body and match the logo. But I'm not sure what the tru oil will do to the white headstock decal as far as color. As you can see, I'm kind of OCD about details, haha

 

[badger6]

44 minutes ago, Prostheta said:

I wonder what's caused that in the glueline area. Hmm.

Ironically, my first thought was that the very thing that I was using to hide the seams, the heat gun, was the what caused it. Like maybe it shrank the wood or something. But it looks like the "ridges" go down the length of the body. Probably, just bad prep work by me or something. Sometimes, when I get OCD about the details, I miss other things more important. It's my first time though, and I'm more than pleased with how it's turning out. Even though this tru oil routine gets old after a while, haha.

 Anyhow, the pickguard is down at the office ready for pickup and I need a haircut. I'll do a mockup with the pickguard and post a picture later today.

[ScottR]

You are probably correct about the heat gun causing some of your glue lines. I used to have a habit of working in the hot Texas sun and my darker bodies would soak up the sun and get hot much quicker than you would expect. That also dried the wood even more, making it want to move, and the heat softened up the glue and allowed it to move. The end result was new glue lines where once there were none.......and a lesson learned.

And yes you are likely correct about Tru-oil adding an amber tint to your white decals.

SR

[badger6]

29 minutes ago, ScottR said:

You are probably correct about the heat gun causing some of your glue lines. I used to have a habit of working in the hot Texas sun and my darker bodies would soak up the sun and get hot much quicker than you would expect. That also dried the wood even more, making it want to move, and the heat softened up the glue and allowed it to move. The end result was new glue lines where once there were none.......and a lesson learned.

And yes you are likely correct about Tru-oil adding an amber tint to your white decals.

SR

As luck would have it, the pickguard and headstock logo arrived today. A few screws don't match up exactly and the pickguard is a little bigger in a couple spots, but I can make it work. I peeled back the cover a little and it looks pretty good!!! 

Not sure if it was the heat gun or not. Too late at this point anyhow. It think that with the worn driftwood type theme it won't matter either way. It's not like I'm going for a mirror finish because I bought my mirror finish. On the pickguard. 

I think that I'm going to do a couple tests on the tru oil over white and see what color it turns out. Maybe test it in the back trem cavity since I haven't blacked them out yet, And maybe find some white plastic and see what it does. If it turns out a cream, I may have to consider the zebras more. 

What else could I use over tru oil and the vinyl Ibanez logo on the headstock that won't react badly with either? Something actually clear that would keep the logo white. Preferably, a rattlecan that I can get at home depot or lowes since I'm an apartment dweller. I know nothing about how these different compounds react will with each other. The vinyl seems to be thicker than a waterslide decal, but it's thinner than I thought it would be. I would compare it to the thickness of a piece of standard copy paper, maybe just barely thicker.

 

 

Edited April 29, 2016 by badger6

[Prostheta]

Looks great as it stands, gluelines or not. I was kind of apprehensive when I saw the original finish, thinking it might go south. It really turned out well. Believe me, few people manage strips and refinishes in naturals with any level of success. This is out of the park on many levels. Time to clean her up and get it sharp where it counts.

[badger6]

4 hours ago, Prostheta said:

Looks great as it stands, gluelines or not. I was kind of apprehensive when I saw the original finish, thinking it might go south. It really turned out well. Believe me, few people manage strips and refinishes in naturals with any level of success. This is out of the park on many levels. Time to clean her up and get it sharp where it counts.

Thanks guys, I appreciate all the support and complements. Tomorrow I think that I'll try another light sand back @ 600 grit and do 3 more final coats. That will put the total at 22 coats.  I'll  also start testing the tru oil on different random white surfaces to get a feel on how it changes the color. If it's more cream color or more yellow. That will give me an idea on what pickups to order and whether I want to find something else to clear over the headstock.

How long would you let the body sit after the last coat before sanding and polishing?

Also, what would be the final polishing steps? Wet sand at 600, then 1000, then 1500. Then hand buff with a polishing compound of some sort, like Meguiar's scratch x or swirl x with a piece of denim. Does that sound about right for a good satin or matte finish?

 

[Prostheta]

Linseed-based oils tend to amber over time too. I think polymerised (and things like "blown") oils are darker that their raw equivalents. By all means, suck it and see. If you like the light tone it adds, cool.

[badger6]

On 5/2/2016 at 11:34 AM, Prostheta said:

Linseed-based oils tend to amber over time too. I think polymerised (and things like "blown") oils are darker that their raw equivalents. By all means, suck it and see. If you like the light tone it adds, cool.

Ok, I think that I'm done with the body. It's not perfect, but good enough. I'll let it sit for a week and figure out how do a final sand and polish on the finish. 

In the meantime, I'll start on the headstock decal and tru oil over it. I have a feeling the it's gonna take a lot of coats, haha

[Prostheta]

You're not a work shy one, are you? 

It's good, because too many people are after the quick win or immediate gratification. Earning it through graft is sweeter.

[badger6]

51 minutes ago, Prostheta said:

You're not a work shy one, are you? 

It's good, because too many people are after the quick win or immediate gratification. Earning it through graft is sweeter.

Ha ha, actually this is taking me longer than I wanted. What's it been like almost 2 months. Hell Prostheta, some weeks I only got 3 coats on the body, lol. But I guess it's better to go slow than to rush it since I'm not really experienced doing this stuff.

Anyhow, I got the decal and one thin coat of tru oil on. It looks lined up pretty close to the original. I'm wondering if I should just seal the decal with 3-4 coats of tru oil and then spray it with some type of rattlecan clear. Or just do a lot of coats of tru oil and try and make it level? 

Before Pic.

After Pics. Probably take 100 coats to level out, hahaha.

Edited May 4, 2016 by badger6

[Andyjr1515]

Looks good to me!  Great job.

[ScottR]

I'd be tempted to just get enough coats on it to seal it and call it done.

SR