New build - The Verdict

[henrim]

Now this is kinda interesting effect. I made a new ebonizing treatment and I got nice black. I proceeded to gently wipe the body with steel wool and in few spots wood grain started to become clean. I applied more pressure and pretty much all the black came out from the grain. I believe it is because there is Danish oil in the grain.

Now I can either go on with paint and get the look I was going for or proceed with this exposed grain look. I’ll do some test pieces and see.

[Prostheta]

It's an interesting look, and it seems consistent. Testing on your workpiece is a bit crazy though!

[henrim]

50 minutes ago, Prostheta said:

Testing on your workpiece is a bit crazy though!

The whole piece is a test piece. If the current is good you have to go with the flow.

Well, sometimes at least.

I usually do tests on smaller pieces. And so far what I have done on this body has been tested to some degree. Now, before painting the body I saw an opportunity to try ebonizing again. That was a non-destructive test in a sense that I can still paint the body without stripping it again. I was aware that there is oil in the grain and didn't know how that would behave.

[henrim]

This build has been sitting on the shelf for a while. Because I made a stupid mistake. I wanted to go for the look I originally had in my mind. So I went back and did the ebonizer treatment once again. Then I realized it may not work as well as I had visioned, and I should’ve left the funky look I got accidentally. The good thing is I can do that light striped treatment to some other piece of ash sometime, but the look cannot be done again on this one without sanding rather deep. Anyway yesterday evening I finally started to spray top coat on the body. It’ll be what it’ll be.

On a side note I stumbled upon this offcut piece of birch I have had for a long time. I couldn’t use the lumber back then because it had so many knots but I put it aside to wait for an other day. Yesterday evening after spraying top coat to the black body I took the blank and sawed it in half. My bandsaw saw is so small that I had to do it by hand. Took a moment. Now that I planed the bookmatched pair I think it can possibly make a nice guitar top. 

[Prostheta]

Nice find in Birch! I often find it bland.

[henrim]

3x2 layers sprayed and ash grain is almost level. Not the quickest way to do grain fill and the effect I was trying to achieve is likely coming out somewhat subtle. Which may be a good thing. But as far as I can tell without polishing the whole body there is more than just solid black. Couple of low spots still. I just need to order more clear coat.

With 3x2 I mean I spray two coats wet on wet. With about 10 minutes evaporation time in between. Let it dry, level and repeat.

[Prostheta]

Ugh, this reminds me that I need to get to painting my two M-IIs. The black one is less of a priority than Pearly, maybe because I dread painting black.

[henrim]

On 4/23/2023 at 3:55 PM, Prostheta said:

maybe because I dread painting black

Black can be brutal. But the good thing about paint is that you can go back if you have to. Clear coat on black stain is horror, I can tell. As it appears I have a few white specks inside the clear. Although fairly small specks, on black base they stand out really nice . Sanding has to be done very carefully so that I don’t scratch the wood surface if I go too deep. Would be horror to fix the ebonized wood. I managed to spot repair the biggest ones but there will some tiny spots left on the surface. 

[avengers63]

On 4/22/2023 at 6:41 AM, henrim said:

 

I can see a nightmarish hellscape where the little birdseye things are the faces of condemned souls. Seeing this immediately might explain a few things about me.

[henrim]

1 hour ago, avengers63 said:

 

I can see a nightmarish hellscape where the little birdseye things are the faces of condemned souls. Seeing this immediately might explain a few things about me.

Now that you say! I was thinking about about building a jazzmasterish guitar but I guess this would have to go into a more spiky one

[Professor Woozle]

6 hours ago, avengers63 said:

 

I can see a nightmarish hellscape where the little birdseye things are the faces of condemned souls. Seeing this immediately might explain a few things about me.

Imprisoned for all enternity in the front of a classy guitar? That makes me think of an old AC/DC classic...
 

 

[Prostheta]

The highway to hell should be less congested than a stairway. You'd have thought an escalator and better wheelchair accessibility would be reasonable. I bet the truckstop bars on the highway will be full of stories and good times, if such a thing were reasonable outside of fever dreams. 

[henrim]

I have to polish this properly but for the first time I can see how it’s going to be.

It’s glossy black. But in certain light conditions the grain texture pops out.

Not what though when I started this project but fine experiment nonetheless.

[avengers63]

I dig it.  I'm hoping for something similar with the Aelita. 

[Prostheta]

I've been needing to buy in a bunch of polishing compounds for a while @henrim - which ones have you got there? Tokmanni do 250ml of 3/5/10 for about €15 a pop.

I really like that finish. Ones that appear black when off-axis or in the light, but have depth. Really cool.

[henrim]

27 minutes ago, Prostheta said:

which ones have you got there? Tokmanni do 250ml of 3/5/10 for about €15 a pop.

There’s 35 and 10 on the table. I used 35 on an ugly spot to see if can get away with it. Guess I do. Otherwise I start with 10. The body is wet sanded to 2000. I have a bottle of 5 from Polarshine range. And then I have some finer compounds from other brands. I can’t recall what I paid for those Mirka bottles but I got them from a local car parts store. Quite possibly Tokmanni is cheaper. 

[Prostheta]

I think that I'd stay with wet sanding and skip 35 to the next grade like 20. Four bottles seems like quite an investment though. I'm thinking of how to sort the clearcoat over the white pearl and black of my two M-IIs. Shame I don't have ready access to compounds from when I fabricated Corian fittings for the cruise ships; even 250ml goes a long way.

[Bizman62]

I've used 3M Trizact P3000 and P6000 for final wet sanding. They don't seem to wear much, I've used the same pads for three guitars and all of my fretboards. The finest swirl remover seems to be sufficient for finalizing.

[henrim]

36 minutes ago, Prostheta said:

I think that I'd stay with wet sanding and skip 35 to the next grade like 20. 

You don’t need 35. I had it, so I used it on a spot. 10 is likely the only one that is needed after wet sanding. That and some finer polish. A “12 black” could be a good choice for the black one. Probably, haven’t used it myself.

[Prostheta]

That's what I thought. Paper is good to maybe 1200-1500 beyond which it can have diminishing returns, at least for me. I probably don't have the best technique for paint. 3/5/10 using separate pads for each sounds like a reasonable medium without going crazy with every grade. I saw the 12 Black, but it seems odd in that it isn't a final polish....it's right up in the medium-fine end, so I fail to see what it adds in that range that deeper polishes don't. Hologramming is a thing though.

[henrim]

Some people do paraskiing or freediving. My extreme sport is carving finished guitar bodies. I seem to get in to this more often than not. I made a last minute change to use 16mm potentiometers instead of 9mm ones and they require a bit more space inside the body.

[Stu.]

That finish is super cool! It kind of reminds me of the intro sequence to His Dark Materials, showing the universes stacked together like threads. 

[henrim]

Knobs. Ash and Blackwood TEK. Quite many work stages for such small things. Not to mention that I had to do extra steps because one of the bushings is 6mm ant the others 1/4”

[Bizman62]

Delicious little chocolate top cookies!

[henrim]

This on is put together. Like always there are things to tweak. But it plays.

- Nut is unfinished. Need to shave a little off of the height (likely bit too much as per usual) and round it a bit.
- On the upper horn there is a 3-position switch but I only wired neck or bridge. The middle position does nothing, except hums. I guess I'll wire the both-pickups option there although I left it out because I never use it. Still better than the hum option I guess. Or change the switch.
- Neck is quite solid. But too complicated for negligible benefits. 

Next I’ll continue with the overall idea of “bolt-on neck through” but the construction will be different. Not necessarily simpler, but different. I’ll take care of some issues this one has And likely introduce a few completely new ones.