ADFinlayson Posted May 3, 2023 Report Share Posted May 3, 2023 I've got another carve top in the works, well this one has been a bit of a side project I've been doing over the last few months. I think the best way to describe this top is blister maple, it has some blistering, some quilting and what looks like birdseye in it too. I tried staining the blanks a few different colours when I got it a couple of years ago but no strong colours really worked with this top. It's also got an african mahogany back and neck, indian rosewood fretboard and headstock with flame maple binding on the fretboard, small-ish stainless steel frets. A friend of mine showed me his Beauty of the burst book and I saw there are a few in it with tops a bit like this so I thought I'd try a faded les paul look, not vintage correct at all as I would be using dye on the wood instead of shaders. I used crimson water-based amber to do the bursty area, then diluted some chestnut spirit based yellow in acetone to do the rest. I really diluted the chestnut yellow (it was a pot of acetone with 10 drops of yellow in) but it still came out really bright so I left it out in the sun for a few hours and that seems to have muted it a little bit. I should have fitted all the hardware so I could see all the fading but I didn't think about that at the time. I'm experimenting with some light hardware aging, I got these pickups form ox4, he gets the covers uncoated then polishes them up and they look nice textured semi-gloss without looking too aged. I'm planning to try white vinegar to age the bridge and tuners a little and I've sanded down the pickup rings which came out nicely. Not sold on these knobs so I'll try it with the classic gold knobs without the reflectors the top has been level sanded with 1000 grit at this point so it looks quite matt. I'm thinking I will buff with the medium compound then the fine polish but leave off the last super fine polish I normally do. I'm looking for hanging on the wall for 20 years, not thrown around a tour-bus. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu. Posted May 3, 2023 Report Share Posted May 3, 2023 Great work so far! I like how the top is the star, so that’s elevated and the fingerboard and back are quite understated. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted May 3, 2023 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2023 17 minutes ago, Stu. said: Great work so far! I like how the top is the star, so that’s elevated and the fingerboard and back are quite understated. thank you and good point re the back - I haven't done much in the way of colouring, just darkened it up a bit with some brown grainfiller I made from pumice powder, linseed oil, some brown dye with a drop of lacquer. I've tried a few different off the shelf grain fillers and tbh I'm finding my own mixture is far superior - doesn't seem to shrink, cheaper and keeps longer in a jar - just add a few more ingredients to the old mix and keep it going, like an old sour dough culture Here's the headstock just after I pulled the tape so all angles are in the thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ADFinlayson Posted May 16, 2023 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted May 16, 2023 So I did some aging with some white vinegar, put all the parts in a big tub then put some white vinegar in a small container inside the big tub with the parts and shut the lid so the fumes from the vinegar did their thing. It took a couple of hours but came out pretty well. Not full on relic just enough to make the parts look a little bit grubby. I buffed the whole guitar using the medium compound. Normally I would then go on to use some Chemical Guys fine polish on the fine mop on my buffer, but instead I just buffed with that mop dry which took out the medium scratches pretty well without making it particularly shiny and just left the odd fine scratches and swirl marks in. Guitar is finished, here are a few pics and a demo. Demo 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted May 17, 2023 Report Share Posted May 17, 2023 Hah! On some of the photos that looks more golden than the Gold Top! Although there's no metallic colour on it the birdseye makes it look like slightly embossed. The essence of gold instead of the actual metal... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted May 31, 2023 Author Report Share Posted May 31, 2023 On 5/17/2023 at 7:15 AM, Bizman62 said: Hah! On some of the photos that looks more golden than the Gold Top! Although there's no metallic colour on it the birdseye makes it look like slightly embossed. The essence of gold instead of the actual metal... Yeah it's an amazing top on this one. I've been hunting around for some more maple like this and haven't been able to find any sadly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodfab Posted June 9, 2023 Report Share Posted June 9, 2023 Looks great, I do like the lemon fade. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted June 13, 2023 Report Share Posted June 13, 2023 On 5/16/2023 at 2:35 PM, ADFinlayson said: So I did some aging with some white vinegar, put all the parts in a big tub then put some white vinegar in a small container inside the big tub with the parts and shut the lid so the fumes from the vinegar did their thing. It took a couple of hours but came out pretty well. Not full on relic just enough to make the parts look a little bit grubby. I buffed the whole guitar using the medium compound. Normally I would then go on to use some Chemical Guys fine polish on the fine mop on my buffer, but instead I just buffed with that mop dry which took out the medium scratches pretty well without making it particularly shiny and just left the odd fine scratches and swirl marks in. Guitar is finished, here are a few pics and a demo. Demo quite the all out jamboree there... I enjoyed it. guitar looks great - nice work. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted June 15, 2023 Author Report Share Posted June 15, 2023 On 6/13/2023 at 1:54 AM, mistermikev said: quite the all out jamboree there... I enjoyed it. guitar looks great - nice work. I'm not a fan of jam, but I do like Brie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted June 15, 2023 Report Share Posted June 15, 2023 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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