hendrix2430

I've been testing some dye finishes on some scrap wood and finding some really cool combinations. I just got another bottle of Dark Mahogany tint Dye, which I applied after a red dye and sealer. I really like the color that gives. The Alder I have is suprisingly showing a lot of grain patterns, which is a big +. There are three options I'm considering at this point, regarding the order of dyes to apply. First off, I am going to use less red than orangy/brown (mahogany tint), to give an even more lustrous look to the brown. 1- Apply Red dye to bare wood, then sealer, then the mahogany dye (like I did) then sealer. 2- Mixing both dyes together beforehand, then apply the mix, then sealer. 3- Apply red dye, then mahogany dye, then sealer. What would be a better base for the final clear coats, in your opinion? And most importantly, what difference in tint do you think option 2 and 3 might bring, compared to option 1? Thanks you VERY MUCH!

By the way, would you suggest putting the stain right on there (which I did) or mixing with water (like on the Stew Mac tutorial)? Will putting several coats on drastically enhance the intensity of the tint?

Hey Doc, Like you suggested in the email, I got some Liberon Wax in mahogany tint, that I will use for my final coats. Don't know how many yet, but I think I might do that instead of bothering with Poly or Nitro. If I could, I'd buy some wipe on poly, but I don't seem to find what I need over here. Maybe use some sanding sealer at the very end for a more glossy look that the wax, no?

Hi, well not as dark as the Jr colors, but close, yes. If I can't achieve that, then I'd much rather have a brownish mahogany tint and that's all. I just applied a first coat of wax to the second sample, and it's working very nicely! We'll see how that turns out after a few more coats. Thanks for the help!

Hi Tdog, I'm from france, so you probably won't know the name brand of the product. It's called: Teinte couleur: Rouge Ancien (literally, Color Dye: Ancient Red), and it's made by Liberon. I'm a little dissapointed with the color, because I wanted something more like Candy Apple transparent red. It's more of a "weak" fiesta red, if you know what I mean. I tried out a couple different combinations so far (on scrap wood). -First I applied Wood Paste ("Mahogany" tint), then a couple coats of dye, then a couple coats of sanding sealer. The finish is very cloudy and not nice at all. -Second sample, I first applied a wet rag onto the wood and sanded it. I dismissed the wood paste and went ahead with some dye (couple coats). Then I used a couple coats of sanding sealer. I haven't applied the Wax I bought (mahogany tint) but the second sample is much nicer. The grain shows very nicely and it looks much smoother and transparent. It's amazing how raising the grain and sanding the wood as a prep can change the results. Anyway, it doesn't say whether or not the dye is water based or alcohol based but it only says you can clean it out with water...does this mean it's water based? I applied it with a rag.

Hi, I bought some red dye and tested it on some scrap alder wood. It looks okay but is too pronounced and "cloudy" looking. I was wondering if I could just mix some of it with my first coat of sanding sealer, then just use the sealer for the second and third coat (maybe a fourth coat, even)? I was originally going for more of a reddish mahogany type tint, so the red stain onto the bare wood is just too much. I'm really looking for more of a amber/reddish natural look, as opposed to a translucent color. Plus, I bought some wax for my final coats, which has a mahogany tint already in it, so I probably wouldn't need to use much of the dye anyway...just a bit with the first coat of sealer. Anyway, is it then possible to mix wood dye with sanding sealer? Thanks!

ah ok, thanks. Well, that will be for my next project then...if I have enough courage to start another one. Now I realize how much there is to building a guitar from scratch, especially when your main tools are a cheap router, a cheap jig saw, sanding paper/files, and elbow grease.

Just ordered a bunch of stuff from Stew Mac today, including 8ft of their Wide/Medium fretwire, Dunlop's equivalent of 6150 fretwire. 8ft is enough for a guitar right?

Hello, just curious where you all buy your fretwire? Is it pre radiused? If not, is it hard to radius without a special tool? IS Stew MAc fretwire pre radiused or not? Thanks!

Thanks Guitarfrenzy, I sanded the neck slightly and it should be ok. Using with straight metal ruler, there is still a tiny bit of fall off but I really doubt that's gonna make a difference. It's very small. If there's indeed a problem when I try the fretboard on it, I'll just sand it again, but in all honestly, I doubt it would make a difference. It's definitely less than the fall off on the pic you posted. Although it's hard to tell, mine looks about half that, if not a bit less even.

Hello, thanks guys I appreciate the help. Yes, I will try and get this thing straight. It's really very minor. I wish I had a pic to show. I use a straightedge and saw a very think gap where frets 18-22 will be. If I were to leave it like that, would the board's sticking to the neck suffer from it? I actually though about the action benefit. But basically right now, I worry about whether or not the fingerboard will stick to the falloff (although very minor). This is maybe paranoia on my part, but that's how I feel. If the board has a minor curve but sticks "straight" tào the neck, then I'm ok with that. It will not have tonal compromises. Anyway, I sanded straight, so the falloff is straight and everything's on the same plane, no issues regarding that.

Hi, I made a mistake today with my neck. I was sanding down the neck heel a bit and took a break. Then while I was sanding it some more, I realized I was sanding the wrong side of the heel! In other words, I was sanding the spot where the last few frets on the fretboard will be! After some extensive examination with a level file, I found out that the end of the neck was around 1/100" lower than the rest of the neck top. Ugh! I admit a few (...many) cusswords slipped out. And for good reason. What a stupid mistake. Plus, I had managed to get the neck heel fit nicely in the neck pocket, and had managed to align everything perfectly. What should I do? Should I sand the rest of the top to made it 100% flush, risking more mistakes as far as lateral AND vertical leveling or should I leave it this way? It's not much at all, but it's really bugging me. Will the fretboard, once it's one there really exhibit this slight leveling flaw? Thanks for the help!

I think David McNaught (McNaught guitars) and Juha Ruokangas (Ruokangas guitars) use Poly. There was a thread not too long ago where Juha talked about how he thought a thin finish of Poly made the guitar sound come through better than Nitro...

Doc, now it's my turn! I used to use a Boss TU12 with good results, still have that and a small Korg, but I use a Peterson Strobostomp Tuner on my pedalboard. The difference is really amazing and makes my guitars sound much more in tune. It's a great gigging tool, is more accurate, faster than any tuner I've used. Plus, it's true bypass so you can insert it into your chain and tune silently, without having to worry about it affecting your signal at all. Great buy!

I have 3 warmoths and they're all great. One is from the early 90s and the quality is as good as nowadays. Highly recommended.

thanks guys I appreciate the help. I don't have a camera so I can't take a pic, but the gap is on each side is about half to 2/3rds of this (the space between the two ls down below) : ll So it really isn't much. I can slide a straight sheet of paper (regular photocopy type paper) through half the depth then it blocks. It's too narrow to slide a business card for instance. I think i will be finishing the sides of the neck pocket, yes, that way the neck will be very tight in the pocket. It's not like its compeltely loose, you know. I could definitely not hold the guitar by the neck without screws. Even my warmoth projects or any other guitar I've owned had that "perfect" a neck joint. It's crazy how important a millimeter is in that kind of situation!

Hi, I just finished carving the neck hell of my neck so it fits perfectly in the tele body I made. It was extremely tight (you had to basically push it in with all your strenght) but I decided to sand the edges a little as a small gap was visibly at the bottom of the pocket, as if you'd put a tele neck inside a strat pocket. Once I lightly sanded the heel, the neck would go in much more easily, but too easily? I can slide it in without barely any toughness...I'm worried the neck will not be tight enough in it. To make matters worse, the gap is still there. Since I did both pieces from Scratch, I still need to level the neck pocket completely 100% flush I think. Sorry for rambling there, but I guess my question is, when you fit a neck, do you want the neck to be very hard to put into the pocket? Or is it ok if it slides in without much hassle? There is maybe 1/100" (if not less on each side of the pocket), it's barely noticeable, and the neck will NOT move if I wiggle it left to right. It isn't hard to slide it into the pocket, yet, it does not move. You I worry or not?

I was even thinking on routing humbucker cavities instead, and get humbucker sized P90s like Duncan Phat Cats for instance. I do like the "Jr" look of soapboars and "Dog Ears" P90s... For humbukers, while I would have to rout the cavities deeper than P90s, I could allow myself a bit of sloppiness on the edges of the cavities, which would be covered by the pickup rings. There's a tradeoff. With the P90s, I wouldn't have to rout nearly as deep, but the edges of the cavities would have to be very clean. Decisions, decisions...

Ahhh, thanks so much for the help Phil, I appreciate it a lot! I actually found some on the Duncan website. Here's the page. Would this size be considered standard for P90s? http://www.seymourduncan.com/website/image...nsions/sp90.gif I will not be able to get some until next month sometime, and I'd like to finish my body in the meantime. So, i'll just make my own template with the dimensions listed on the duncan page, out of a solid sheet of "bristol" paper. Would you advice me to go ahead and do that?...perhaps leaving like 1 mm on each side "just in case". (which I'd quickly sand upon reciept of the pickups, in order to allow a nice tight fit). Thanks!

Hello, I am wondering is there a standard size for P90s? Could somebody please give me the dimensions of a P90 cavity rout, or the actual pickup? Also, does someone know if "dog ear" P90 covers are the same size as the regular P90s, besides the "ears" on the side? Thanks

Ha doc, thanks so much!

Hi Maiden, yes I know what his intention was, and I can't thank him enough for the link. It's superb, and I actually plan to follow that tutorial quite closely. I really like the way the blue tint looks on alder from the stew mac page, but I don't think it's the look I'm after, in the end. these are the sort of things I'm after (somewhat): to a lesser extent, but still close: this is the type of thing I REALLY don't want to end up with: I know some of them aren't alder wood, but the tint is what I was refering too. You can see from the ones I don't want, that I want a darker tint, similar to glossy dark mahogany. My alder is kinda redish and shows a lot of grain too. Hey phil, this is for you: ... Thanks again guys!

Hahaha! You guys are too funny! Phil, you're right I got confused there for a moment, with the sanding sealer, lacquer, and so forth...too much for me to handle all at once! Garrr! Anyway, I think I will do what you said: 1-Sanding sealer 2- Tinted Lacquer 3- Clear Coats For what it's worth, I AM french indeed. I was born in Besancon, and raised there until I was 18, upon which I went to the US where I studied 4 years and got a Bachelor in Art History...should have majored in guitar finishing, that would have made things more simple for me! idch: here's the french site: http://www.lutherie-amateur.com/Forum/index.php Ah snap, I just realized that I used inches on the french site, to explain the neck width I was planning to use...my time in the US has really "dyed" on me... So, do you guys think a 2-3/8 heel and 1-11/16 nut width would make too wide of a neck? I'm used to playing vintage fender style by the way...but recently tried the PRS wide fat and loved it. Oh and by the way, I AM french...

hi, I finally got some "fond dur", shellac in english, and I will wait until I've routed all the cavities, and sanded out the final shape, for my PRS meets Tele project. I'm did a Tele shaped body (not exact shape, but 90% close, only with a wider and longer "butt" ) with 2 P90s and a hardtail. I will use a flame maple neck with Indian Rosewood fingerboard. I plan on cutting the board for a 1 11/16 nut width and a wide 2-3/8 at the heel. Also I plan to make a fatback. The result will be (I hope) similar to a PRS wide fat neck. By the way, do you guys think 2- 3/8 is really too wide at the heel? Anyway, -After I apply the shellac, I will use either some wood dye (dark walnut tint) or tinted lacquer (which apparently is poly based) to darken the tint of the wood a little: Here's the wood dye: http://www.castorama.fr/boutique/sku/sku.j...tId=CastoPV1054 Here's the tinted lacquer: http://www.castorama.fr/boutique/sku/sku.j...tId=CastoPV1031 So here are my queries: -After I apply the shellac coats, could I use shellac as the final finish coats after the wood dye? So I'd be using it in the place of a clear gloss lacquer for instance. -OR, if I buy the tinted lacquer (poly based), could I simply use this as the tint and final finish as well. So I wouldn't be using any poly or whatever at the end. I'd simply end with the final coats of the tinted lacquer. -OR, do you guys think my best bet would be to use the fond dur, then the wood dye, and then the tinted lacquer? Thanks so much, once again, you guys' advice is truly great!

phil, the stew mac link is great, but I'm not sure about blue tint like that because I don't have quilted or flame maple. With some thinking, I think a butterscotch tint or "teck" tint would go in the direction of alder and look much less weird. On the other hand, it may end up looking much better than I think... By the way, since the fond dur is liquid inside a bottle, would you advice me to rub it in, or spray it with a gun?