Jupiter

Hey guys! If one was going to be doing tung oil on a guitar with an unstained veneer top and stained back/sides, what grit do you need to sand it to before you tung oil it? The veneer is really thin and has a feel to it that is similar to construction paper. For the back and sides, would you sand to desired grit, stain, then tung oil? Also, i've seen both high-gloss tung oil and low gloss at stores... how glossy does the high gloss get? I really wish i could make up my mind on how to finish this blasted guitar!!! I'm driving myself nuts !!! Thanks, Ben

You can buy Tung oil from pretty much anywhere that has things like wood stains. You can even find it at Wal Mart in the hardware section. There are a few things to be aware of, though... First is that it's a pretty low-sheen finish. Not too shiny. But then again, all that i have used is low-sheen tung oil, so maybe thats why ! Does anyone know how shiny high-sheen tung oil is??? Second is that it's reccomended to reapply tung oil about once every year. If you don't mind removing your strings and oiling up your guitar once every year, it's not a big deal, though. Good luck!!!

I don't think it would look bad at all. Have you ever seen the Ibanez Exotic Wood series? They put them out several years ago. Some of them had 1/4 inch thick maple tops on mahagony bodies with a natural finish, and i thought they looked wonderful. The different colours of the woods compliment each other. For some pics, go to Jemsite.com , and look in their guitar galleries. If you're thinking of doing a transparent coloured stain { blue, black, whatever }, then you should be okay, too. The Ibanez RG3120 has a flame maple top over a mahagony body, and they are stained either red or blue/green. The stain pretty well hides the colour difference between the woods. Hope this helps! Ben

They sell all kinds of exotic , er, rocks at a store in a mall near me. It's called Crystal Visions. It's actually a new age/ Wicca/ insert uncoventional spirtualitly of choice here-type-of-store. They have onyx there, and all other types of really pretty stones. If theres any stores like that near you, i'd check them out.

I presonally don't care for the look of abaolone of MOP on a maple fretboard. I prefer a darker inlay. Would it be possible to use something like onyx?

Wow!!!!!!! That looks really, really great!!!!!! Excellent job! Did you get a custom body made { i noticed it only had one volume knob }, or did you just fill the original? What exact products did you use for this project { paint, clear, etc... } ? That clear looks great! Congrats!

I'd think that for that tuning, you could buy a regular set of 10's, then seperately buy a 7 gauge string for your high e { or high g string, as the case may be }. That would be a really sweet tuning. You may possibly need to buy a new nut for it to accomodate the skinnier-than-usual strings. I wouldn't think the tension would be too tight on it... i've never tried it, but it wouldn't hurt anything to experement. Let me tell you, once you really get into playing 7-strings, you'll never, ever want to go back! Just out of curiousity, why don't you want to tune it like a normal 7-string? Hope this helped! Ben

Actually, a guy on the guitarrefinishing.com forum recently told me that with enough coats, you can get TruOil to a glass-like finish, almost exactly like lacquer. After building up a good thick layer, he sanded in between every 3 coats with 800 grit and a light touch. He may have gone all the way up to 1200, i don't remember. Anyway, he said it turned out extremely slick and glassy. I may end up doing this kind of finish on my current project. Ben

Prices please?

I used the tutorial on removing the gloss from your neck that is found on jemsite.com , then added the tung oil at the end.

Man, you're not the only one who wants the EBMM neck finish... i love it, and i've yet to find anything that feels like it. I recently took a maple neck that i had sanded the finish off of and put a couple of coats of low-gloss Tung oil on it. I rubbed the first coat in really deeply with a rag, let it sit overnight, then went over it with 0000 steel wool the next morning. Doing the same for coat number 2 right now. It leaves the neck with a silky smooth feel, very satiny. I like it pretty well. Tung oil can be almost anywhere for about $6 a bottle... Check out Wal Mart, Lowes, pretty much anywhere that they have stains and stuff, and they should have it. Hope this helps!!! Welcome to the forum ! Ben

DAMN that is looking nice!!!!! Where did you get your maple? Oh yeah, just what is the definition of a 'drop-top'? I thought it meant that it had a carved top. Ben

Yo! Well, i've slightly changed my plans, so i must ask a few more questions! I've found a neat olive green stain that i think i'm going to use instead of the black. This whole guitar is just an experement anyway, so i think i'll try something odd. I believe it's Minwax brand. I'm also thinking of doing the guitar in a satin finish after i stain it, much like some Warwick basses i've seen. How does one go about doing a satin finish over a stain? Just how does Warwick do it? Thanks for all the help you've given me, Jeremy! If this project is a success, then i think i'm going to make a replica of it out of a nicer wood { probably alder }, and do it gloss transparent black instead! Thanks! Ben

Oh, so is it like model car paint? Would that be aerosol or non?

Hehehe, looks like there's a frenzy of people wanting to stain their projects { myself included } going on right now, huh?

Thanks for the help, but i'm still a bit confused... ... Do you mean that i'd throw my stain in with my clear, and essentially spray my stain and clear at the same time? Also... What dye/stain would you use to do black, and what compatible clear would you put over it? I guess what i'm saying is, if you were doing this, how would you do it ?! I ask because your work always kicks so much ass. Oh...and one last thing that i'm still unsure of... do i spray sanding sealer at any point during the entire finishing process? If so, when? Thanks for all the help!!! Ben

Aloha! I'm wanting to do a transparent black finish on my project guitar. It has a pine body { hehe... i know } and will soon have a fiddleback mahagony { basically like flame/quilt mahagony } top. I want the finish to look just like the trans black finish Ibanez puts on their BTB basses. I think the Schecter 007 7-string also has a finish like this. One of the biggest things i'm conerned about is the very obvious difference in the natural colors of the woods i'm using { pine is very light-colored... mahagony is medium reddish brown }. Would a trans black finish cover this well? If anyone could offer me a step-by-step instructional on what to do { including the clearcot/laquer stage }, it would make me happy enough to where i just might pee myself. Oh, and if i can, i'd like to avoid using anything that i'd have to shoot out of a paintgun... i don't have one of those . Thanks a bunch! Ben

Let me get this right... You used plain spraypaint?

Oh, and if you don't mind, what would the price be for the measurments i just gave you in oak instead of maple? Thanks!

Hey there! I'd be interested in some maple. I'd like to have two pieces measuring 7.5 inches wide, 19 inches long, and 2 inches thick. What kind of deal do ya have for me ? Thanks! Ben

Oh yeah, forgot to ask... Where can i go to have the aluminum clear anodized, and how much would that cost? There's a trade school around here that does metal work and stuff, do you think they'd do it? Thanks again! Ben

Wow Jeremy, thanks for the warning ! I didn't know about all of that stuff. Well, now i have questions about clearing this thing! What exactly would you reccomend doing? Also, the paint that i'm using for the back, sides, and headstock is an aerosol paint made by Krylon that's actually used to make a chalkboard finish. By brother has a bass that he finished with this stuff, and it's really neat, it's a smooth, almost flat black. Tough as nails, and i don't think he even cleared it. I'd like for this to stay semi-flat. You can also write on it with chalk, but i don't really care about that! I guess what i need for you to do is tell me pretty much what order i should do all this stuff in. I don't have access to paint guns or anything like that, so i plan on using aerosols pretty much exclusively. So, what order should i do all of this in, what kind of clear should i get, and what is for supper? If you'd like to just IM me sometime, my screen name is Mecki213 . Please respond soon, i'm really excited about this project ! Thanks, Ben

Hey guys! I'm building a guitar with an aluminum top, as you may have already read about, so there's something i need to know about it. What is the best way to polish aluminum to a brilliant, reflective shine? I mean as shiny as possible. Please help soon! Ben

Yo! Yeah, Lowe's had the diamond plated chrome aluminum, too... it cost more than twice as much, and was probably 4/16 thick, which would be { with my limited tools and such } unworkable. Oh well. On the body style of this guitar, it would look killer, though. It's kinda... well, i described it in another thread, but it's kinda like a cross between some wierd custom bass design, some BC Rich's, and i don't know what else. It looks mean, wierd and elegant all at the same time ! I wish that they would make plain aluminum with the chrome finish that diamond plate has on it. Like diamond plate without the treads, i suppose. Then i'd be a very happy person! If anybody has answers to any of my questions, please respond! Ben PS. Yay! 100th post

Hey guys! I'm preparing to do the finish on my guitar i'm building... you know, the pine one . Cut the body out today, and i'll probably be doing the finishing touches on the sanding and contuoring tonight. Anyway, i have an idea for a pretty nifty way to top this beast off. While i was at Lowe's the other day, i saw that they sell sheets of aluminum, about 1/16 or 2/16 of an inch thick. They're only about $15. What i want to do is cut a piece to match the top of the guitar, and adhere it to the body using a combination of some kind of strong epoxy and rivets. Whatever epxoy i use will have to be really tough if i want the aluminum to fit to the forearm cut. Any suggestions? My other question was if the metal top would mess with the electronics or anything like that. Like if i cover the top with the aluminum, mount my bridge on top of that, then run my ground wire from the electronics to the underside of the bridge, that wouldn't mess anything up, would it? I'm really excited about this idea. It would be kinda like a { really } poor man's chromeboy. Oh, and i think to keep with the industrial theme of the guitar, i'll probably paint the back, sides, and headstock of the guitar flat black. Let me know if there would be any problems with this idea soon, please! Ben