Norris

I wouldn't go much thinner than 4mm - you'll need a bit for finish sanding. I think I left about 6mm on my Tele. Take it steady when you get to it. You'll probably want to apply some sort of finish to the chamber. Dye/paint/clear lacquer - up to you. You won't be able to do it once the top is on - at least not very easily.

I've knocked the dye back very slightly with 0000 grade wire wool. That's mainly to bring back some of the end grain definition and to even out a couple of slight streaks in the dye. I then got it nice & clean and slapped a reasonable coat of sanding sealer on it. Of course I managed to get the obligatory little midge land on it, so now have a tiny insect wing stuck to the back - which should come out easy enough. Now to flip it over and do the final prep sanding on the front. I also need to drill the tuner screw holes & do a final sanding on the neck before I dye the veneered headstock No pictures today as it looks pretty much like last time - but slightly shinier Thanks for the kind comments

Glad you got over that hurdle. Onwards & upwards!

Clamp heaven @MiKro !

Very nice job. The gold top looks luscious

Another fabulous build to add to your impressive portfolio!

It's blue In dim light it looks almost black. In the light it's vibrant. It's the sort of colour that is not easy to capture on camera, quite similar to Rickenbacker Azureglo in places, but with the natural variation of dyed wood. It looks lighter in the photo than in real life. I've got it sitting on a sheet of white paper to try to give my phone camera a clue to the white balance, and has the unfinished maple cover in place too. I must admit (now) that I was tempted for a few minutes to keep the back natural. However there are so many guitars with a natural ash back - and mine definitely isn't "so many guitars" . Even my wife is coming round after several days of "you've ruined it" comments. I will be knocking it back slightly with some 0000 grade wire wool. That's more to even out the slight streaks and to lighten up the end grain slightly where the dye took more easily. The silk of the unfinished dye looks great, but I will be applying a clear lacquer and going "shiny" with it. Anyway, I'm very pleased with that. It's pretty close to my original vision. When I get to the top I'll try to burst it slightly, but still keep the colour saturated.

Sanded down, masked up and ready to dye the back tonight

Ooh - did I make a sensible suggestion?! I must make a note in my diary - my suggestions are usually naive rubbish

Fretboard binding?

It depends a lot on what type of bridge you intend to use, and the relative "height off the deck" of the bridge and fretboard

Yes - you've hit a nice balance there. Understated bling

Have a look at the build thread by @Andyjr1515 ... where he uses a pull shave to put a concave curve in the back (see page 2). I assume that's what you mean

Ha - I was thinking of black bushes with gold elsewhere, just to balance up the black 'n' gold theme. It would also look good with black buttons too as Curtisa suggests. Black outer & gold inner at the headstock end to match the bridge. You certainly need some black at the tuner end

Thanks for the replies. A friend of mine recently lost her grandad and this was one of the many tools in his shed. I'll try to find out where it may have come from and what he used to do for a living. Maybe that might shed some light on what the compressor was originally used for. As there were also three spray guns in his shed I assume they went together. There were no air hoses, so I assume it must have sat in his shed for some time waiting to be set up There is definitely some oil in there, as the "Hydrovane" system used it as part of the compression process from what I have read. I don't think that anything but air was in the small tank, as it all feeds through the handle tube and would be a nightmare to flush out after use If I can't work it out I'll probably just get a new small compressor - they are not that expensive compared to a lot of machine tools. However I think it looks pretty cool and would love to use it if I can

That's nice - understated. Some rectangular blocks the width of your centre line would have been cool too - kind of a "tear along the dotted line" effect

It looks cool as it is

Funnily enough I used that technique to give myself an extra bit of wriggle room on my rear access cover. Because I was binding the recess I didn't want it to be too tight, especially after I have lacquered

Next time I'll try the buffing technique as suggested by @Prostheta . A couple of hours was not nearly enough - and I used 240 grit as the 400 clogged too quickly. It's now back down to the wood in most places and I can now drop back down to 400 grit. I'm not going to post any photos as it's not looking it's best right now . Plus I managed to put a couple of scratches in the top while applying the filler. It's going to take a few more hours of careful sanding but should look pretty darned good when I've done. It's one of the few times when I've tried to do something in a hurry. I think the next time I do it I'll work a bit more slowly and try to work on smaller areas and get them much neater. I did kind of slap it on a bit, but was trying to avoid any of the filler going off too quickly, which means I'd have probably dragged it out of the grain again going over it..More time spent in careful application will mean a lot less time spent cleaning up afterwards! Having said that, I did need to get a bit of a shimmy on if I'm going to complete it by the end of April (target for final polished completion is the East Mids bass bash @Andyjr1515)

Call me shallow, but I'd go for the bling gloss finish

Seeing as I've bumped this thread to the top again, I'll make a little appeal for some help with a compressor I've acquired. I'm sure a few people have experience with spray guns and the like, so I'll "advertise" in a slightly more popular area (11 views, no replies in a week )

Wow @avengers63 - I'm going to have to check out some of your build threads. That's amazing work!

I've never done it before. That could be a better way It was difficult enough to handle it without getting everything covered. I just plonked it down as soon as I'd got it covered. I'm happy enough to spend a couple of hours to sand it carefully with 400 grit, so hopefully I won't get too much unwanted modification to the shape

Ooh that's nice! I want one

Yay! I've done some colouring in! Boy does that black grain filler stink. And it will get everywhere given half a chance! Luckily having done some test samples a few months ago I was prepared for the messy job and managed to keep the grain filler confined to the guitar in the main. It's now going to have to sit there looking ugly for a few days until I have time to sand it back