Little Offset

[Charlie H 72]

Hi everyone 

I’m doing a run of four offsets - they are a little smaller than a mustang, with some Ricky and hi-flier inspired details 

mine is gonna look like this

and the others will look something like these. I’m not totally set on the German carve but we’ll see.

[Charlie H 72]

Now for question 1

I started in on mine yesterday - The sapele was free (thanks to my own mistake at work ) and I’m not into the ribbon figure. How would you go about finishing it to reduce the figure as much as possible? I still want a clear finish. Maybe stewmac’s mahogany tinted lacquer? Or a dark amber lacquer? Or should I just go and buy a different species of mahogany? 

[Bizman62]

I understand, mahogany has never been my favourite in guitars. It just looks like a piece of "better" furniture! And on a cabinet or such it really looks classy...

That said, since mahogany cabinets and such usually have flat faces, carving the body might break the stripes just enough - forearm bevel, belly carve, roundover, sloped cutaway... Even a bell carve. The  Cort M200  or Suhr Standard Mahogany Carve Top are perfect examples of what some carving can do to a less interesting piece of wood:

 

[Charlie H 72]

17 minutes ago, Bizman62 said:

I understand, mahogany has never been my favourite in guitars. It just looks like a piece of "better" furniture! And on a cabinet or such it really looks classy...

That said, since mahogany cabinets and such usually have flat faces, carving the body might break the stripes just enough - forearm bevel, belly carve, roundover, sloped cutaway... Even a bell carve. The  Cort M200  or Suhr Standard Mahogany Carve Top are perfect examples of what some carving can do to a less interesting piece of wood:

 

Good thought, and nice examples! I should carve some offcuts and see how the grain behaves. I like “toyish” and cheap-looking guitars so the plain mahogany appeals to me in that sense, calling back to gibson melody makers and lp jrs — but they generally had such plain grain that it was more “keep moving, nothing to see here” than “oh wow mahogany!”

[Bizman62]

Speaking about Suhr, their Reb Beach Standard really "looks like a coffee table" as Dee Snyder said (quoted from the link). It also shows how the grain changes with just a subtle forearm slope:

[Charlie H 72]

5 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

Speaking about Suhr, their Reb Beach Standard really "looks like a coffee table" as Dee Snyder said (quoted from the link). It also shows how the grain changes with just a subtle forearm slope:

Yup-definitely trying to avoid the coffee table look! Maybe a tinted lacquer would help me out. Dark amber or even some of the sunburst colors stewmac sells (tobacco or mahogany color could be good)

I tried a Mohawk “dark walnut” aerosol toner on some scrap today and it simply was not up to the task. Didn’t seem to make much of a difference. What’s a toner anyway?

Id be really happy with something like this: 

 

Edited March 26, 2023 by Charlie H 72

[Bizman62]

1 hour ago, Charlie H 72 said:

Id be really happy with something like this:

That should be doable with some brown dye. Something that would darken the lighter stripes to match the darker ones. I guess the Cort is made that way, the colour is called Walnut Satin which in my understanding means a walnut coloured dye with a satin clearcoat.

[avengers63]

If the finish itself holds the color, it can start to become semi-opaque, becoming a little bit of a see-through colored barrier. This will help obscure the grail while still letting it show through. If you just dye/stain the wood and put clear over it, you won't obscure anything.

If you go to the paint department of your local hardware store, they can tint a can of water based poly to literally any color they have the codes for. I've done this before. As it's water based, you can thin it down for spraying without issue. This will also dilute the pigmentation, allowing more of the grain to show through. Just remember that the rich brown of the sapele will be a strong undertone to whatever color you might choose. EG: green will become an earthy pine/olive/sage.

Also - I really dig the vibe of these things. Were it me, I'd go with at least 3 different pup combinations: 2 HB, 2 P90, and 2 singles. The 4th maybe something odd, like some of the oddball reproductions from this guy - https://www.mojopickups.co.uk/product-category/pickups/

 

[mistermikev]

On 3/26/2023 at 5:19 AM, Charlie H 72 said:

Now for question 1

I started in on mine yesterday - The sapele was free (thanks to my own mistake at work ) and I’m not into the ribbon figure. How would you go about finishing it to reduce the figure as much as possible? I still want a clear finish. Maybe stewmac’s mahogany tinted lacquer? Or a dark amber lacquer? Or should I just go and buy a different species of mahogany? 

if you want to reduce the grain... one thing you might try is a grainfiller that is as close a match to the wood color as possible.  You say you want a clear finish... but you might consider mohawk color tone.  It's typically an opaque finish.  You'll def still see the grain but it will mute it a lot - think "mary k finish".  The more layers you do with it the more muted the grain becomes, so you could essentially just start spraying and decide where you want to stop.  It comes in cans and sprays very easy.  It IS nitro so you will want to do it outside (fire hazzard) and use a respirator (toxic).  They have hundreds of colors, you could def find something close to what gibson would have used on their 'tv yellow' finishes as those are just nitro lacquer with some opaque white and yellow mixed in... or you can look for a darker mahog match for the mahog.  just a thought.  

https://www.mohawkproducts.com/MohawkTone-Finish-Toner-Trend-Colors-p/m115.htm?psafe_param=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwoIqhBhAGEiwArXT7K2etgHN7onQvMVTjBa90RQrJgk3lwWABAa_eqHsycX7b6mx4t8WfeBoCaZMQAvD_BwE

tele below was their butterscoth over ash (relic'd after)

and the strat here was their 'frost' which is very similar to mary k... over flamed maple.  I put it on fairly thick and had used a dark brown dye and sand back on the flame.