mikhailgtrski

It's not black, but maybe these process pics will give you an idea... initial dye: sandback then some passes of diluted brown, red, and yellow... finished product My experience has been that you have to sand it back much lighter than you'd expect. The dye in the figure darkens up quite a bit once you get the top coats and lacquer on it. No idea about an oil finish, but my gut says that it won't look nearly as good on a dyed figured top compared to a glossy clearcoat. Hope that helps. Mike

Exactly... plus your f/x can be placed post-power tube. I actually have two power amps in my rack: the Lexicon (tube) for the crunch and a Marshall 8008 (Valvestate) to power the speaker cab. A new tube head would replace the Lex (unless I decided to run them A/B for some reason). A Metroamp plexi is anything but modern. Over-the-top preamp gain isn't my cup of tea.

That would be the logical thing to do. I've been running a preamp into the power section of a Lexicon Signature 284, cranked to 10. Thing is, when the MP-1 went down I had to go with the Lex by itself, and I was surprised to find that I got a much bigger, punchier, gutsier sound. (Not sure, but I think a regular head runs the preamp tubes at a higher plate voltage than most rackmount preamps.) Anyway, that got me thinking seriously about dumping the separate preamp scenario for a straight-up head. Either way, I'll still run it like this: amp----> load box ----> f/x ----> clean power amp ----> speaker cab.

I normally don't like a clear finished maple body... but it works for this one. Nice work!

My ADA preamp went belly-up on me last weekend , so that got me thinking about reworking my rig with a new amp head. I'm partial to Marshall plexis, so a Metroamp kit is on the radar. My holy grail tone, though, is Hemispheres-era Alex Lifeson, which is probably Hiwatt DR103... although I read an interview a few years ago in which he seemed to say that much of his recorded work around that time was done with his Marshalls... so who knows? Anyone here ever play/own a Hiwatt? I found some Hiwatt DIY schematic info the other day... hmmm... intriguing. I've also thought about one of the THD heads (Univalve/Bivalve) but I think I'd like to go back to the Class AB punch vs. Class A chime. Perhaps the Flexi-50 would do it. Any suggestions? Mike

I really like that rosette. Excellent work, Rich! Mike

This one's looking good! Nice job on the bookmatch.

Ahhh... like minds.

If it's soft maple (acer macrophyllum), yes. Hard maple (acer saccharum) commonly used for necks, does not accept dye well at all. From warmoth.com: "We offer two types of Maple: Eastern Hard Maple (hard rock maple) and Western Soft Maple (big leaf maple). (Acer saccharum-Hard Maple): Hard Maple is a very hard, heavy and dense wood. This is the same wood that we use on our necks. The grain is closed and very easy to finish. The tone is very bright with long sustain and a lot of bite. This wood cannot be dyed. It looks great with clear or transparent color finishes. (Acer macrophyllum): Western Maple grows all around us here in Washington state. It is usually much lighter weight than Hard Maple but it features the same white color. It has bright tone with good bite and attack, but is not brittle like the harder woods can be. Our flame (fiddle-back) and quilted bodies are Western Maple. This type of maple works great with dye finishes." Mike

And that's really all that matters. Either way it's still a nice looking piece.

Nice work! A faux binding might have been nice, but there's always the next one. Hard to tell for sure, but am I seeing a slightly greenish tinge? I'd be concerned about using black under the "pine" which I assume has some yellow/amber in it. I experimented with it and didn't like the results. Black dye usually has some blue in the base, so if you apply a yellow-based dye over it, you get blue+yellow=green. Dark brown for your sandback will avoid that problem. Mike

What, no trumpets blaring?

OK, I'll be the lone dissenter here. I can appreciate the natural finish sentiment. I played a natural finished PRS the other day that I thought looked nice, but I think the novelty would wear off quickly. Clear finished maple to me looks "unfinished", like you skipped a step. Great for kitchen cabinets and cutting boards. I'd go with your vintage amber notion. Perhaps a darker amber sandback to enhance the figure, then a light yellow or amber topcoat, or no topcoat depending on how it looks after the sandback. I'm not sure how it would look with the neck-through laminates, though, especially if you decide to do a sunburst. Not a fan of neck-throughs, but to each his own. But that's just me... let the thrashing begin. Mike

I'm not 100% sure, but I seem to recall some threads here that suggest that Duplicolor (enamel or lacquer) and nitrocellulose lacquer don't play nice together. Test it on scrap first unless you're absolutely certain that they're compatible.

Someday !!MATT!! will be featured on Ripley's... I just know it. :D

I had an hour to kill after work yesterday, so I stopped by the local Guitar Center. Played a Gibson ES-137 and a Lucille. Neither one really did it for me. Surprisingly (never seen one in a store) they also had a PRS Hollowbody II, so I plugged that in... talk about a nice sounding guitar. I inspected the inside and found that they don't have a solid center block, just a block underneath the bridge. The only thing "wrong" with it was the headstock - it didn't have a veneer, so you could clearly see the different grain orientation of the glued-on wings on the non-scarf jointed headstock. Seems odd for a $4,000 + guitar. But it was a natural finish, so I guess they were just maintaining the theme... Anyway, one of the next two builds will be a hollowbody for sure now.

For a traditional burst, do your dye first. Seal it with a couple of coats of clear, then spray the edges. It is possible to do a burst entirely with wipe-on dyes (check out Myka Guitars) but it probably wouldn't work as well with an all-black scheme. You could sand it back lighter in the middle and less toward the edges. Like I said, experiment on scrap to see what works for you. I'd really urge you to read up on finishing before you start. It will probably save you some headaches, and lessen your chance of messing up that 5A top. Stewmac's "Guitar Finishing Step-By-Step" is a good place to start.

Pretty much what thegarehanman outlined for you: apply a strong black dye and either sand it back or wipe it off with a damp rag (water or alcohol, depending on the dye). You might need to do this a couple of times, depending on how dark you want the grain. Then a diluted black over that until it looks right. I'm not a fan of the black dye look, because it tends to either be too light - gray instead of black - or so dark that much of the figure is obscured. Russ' turned out pretty nice, but it takes some practice. Experiment on scrap until you get the look you want, before having a go at the real thing. Keep in mind that it will look dull and not as "deep" until you clearcoat it. This tutorial might explain the process a little better.

Yes. That's how the old Gibson sunbursts were done.

Are you talking about applying the stain/dye with a gun or spraying tinted clear lacquer? I haven't tried spraying the dye, I just wipe it on. If you're talking about tinted lacquer vs. aniline dye, the advantage of dye is that it will penetrate the wood and enhance or "pop" the grain, whereas lacquer just sits on top. You can do brown or black, but the figure will not show as well if you get it too dark. A common technique is to apply a very strong dark brown (or black, depending on the final color) and sand it back so that it only remains in the grain. Then lighter color(s) over that. This one was done that way: and I think the Jeff Miller one used a similar method. Mike

If at all possible, practice buffing on scrap (an old beater guitar works) before you start on the real thing. It takes a little time to get comfortable with the foam pads on a drill, and you can buff through on the edges very easily if you aren't careful. I used some Meguiar's foam pads with a hook/loop backing on my random-orbit sander. The RO sander is easier to control than a drill and you can get a nice gloss. You can also buff by hand, but it takes a ton of time and elbow grease.

You will start seeing a dull "sheen" with the finer graded sandpapers, but not a "gloss". You have to use buffing compounds to get the final gloss. You should be able to stop at 1500 and go to the medium buffing compound, followed by fine, then swirl remover. But first make sure you have removed the sanding scratches from all the previous grits. Take your time sanding (but be careful not to sand through) because any sanding scratches you leave behind will be visible after buffing. Stewmac's guitar finishing videos (there are others, but that's the one I have) will be helpful if you are unfamiliar with final sanding and buffing out a finish. Mike

Simple answer - it depends. In the example I posted, you are changing modes with each chord, but it's the same G major (Ionian) scale throughout. If you are just soloing over a single static chord, I suppose you could pick whatever modal "flavor" you want. But most songs have more than one chord so the chord progression dictates what scale/mode "works".

Well said!

Check out the asymmetric back shapes here. I wouldn't want to play a right-handed SRV carve left-handed.