MikeB

alcohol based dyes at craftsupplies.co.uk thats what i use - its Behlen dye. i have dyed ash with success. i will tell you how to dye it: 1. sand to about 320 2. get a brush to apply, a glass jar (i used a tumbler, sorry mum!) get meths (clear if poss) 3. mix yout dye about 5:1 with meths and dye (if you use alcohol based, water otherwise) apply several coats (4 or so) it will look really pale on the ash. this is to ensure even dye coverage - end grain drinks dye. 4. repeat step 3 but reducing the amount of meths each time, this will dry really fast, say 10 mins or so. keep going until you are at 1:1 or even just dye, it is at this stage where you must decide how dark you want it. NOTE: if you notice any peculiar staining happening - you could soak a cloth in meths and wipe it, if still wet may work, this also can help over saturation at end grain. also dont judge it by its "wet colour!" always wait until its dry before you make any descisions!! this stuff stains like MAD, wear gloves ffs! i didnt and had green hands for a week! before you nitro/burst i would leave the guitar to dry out for a few days, you dont want your clears bubbling! and a LIGHT sanding after dye. alcohol dye doesnt really lift the grain which is nice, but water based will. i cant offer info on water based, as i have only used alcohol based. you might want to search "bursting" or something for your darker edges, maybe black or dark purple. the grain naturally accents itself with the dye i have found *but* if you want it to go mad black or whatever use black epoxy (i cant find any in the UK yet, let me know anyone if you do!) to fill the grain. grain filling: vinyl based is great for SOLID colours, for TRANS i know people use: epoxy CA (super glue) i have had no luck with epoxy, but the stuff i used might have been dozed. i am going to try polyester resin soon. i used it before, slow drying time, but EXCELLENT result! i didnt measure anything so thats probably why it didnt dry well. sanding sealer: Rustins sanding sealer will do fine. whether you need to use this after grain filling is debatable. fill grain *after* dying or you will be left with a patchy finish. thats about it! let us know how it goes! Mike

very well done

have a brilliant one

thankyou Jeremy, close to what I would have said. My 31 fret neck is playable by fingers to 31, i dont see why 36 is soo far off that. i have been debating a 8 string guitar, but cant decide extra high or low. Mike

A rig over here would cost me about £180 i think $350 or so. I dont have that cash to spend, infact I have no cash to spend cos im going to uni and I have to pay my way - transport fares etc... i will buy one sometime, but for the meantime im looking for alternatives. the thing is i could probably get a rig for about £110, but it would be a 6Litre compressor and no pressure regs and stuff so i could risk doing a worse job than brushing or rolling. I have a waterbased vinyl grain filler, does the job for solid coats, but useless for stains, and it seems im doing alot of stained ones. i have tried waterbased natural under a stain and it looks nothing short of crap! My tinted laquer tests look good so far (3-4 coats) in 2 hours im gonna start clear coating them. The nitro has great potential so far, much better than poly imo, apart from it stinking to high hell! i have a good respirator though. how many coats of nitro for a good glassy finish? 12? more? and is wet 1200 grade paper sufficient for finishing, followed by polishing. Mike Ps algee your refin jobs impress me i liked your suggestions and i would use a blow heater but i have always decided not to because of dust issues.

whats the difference between a tinted finish and a candy coat? i thought they were both just coloured laquer. I might look into different epoxies than the ones I have tried. you mention fiberglass resin - thats what i have out there now, and hopefully within a week i will be able to try some accurately! cheers Mike

i have a few questions: in regular nitro (i bough some behlen) can you mix behlen alcohol based dye into it for a candy coat effect? i know to try these things, and so I have just done 6 or so tests with varying stain quantities, but am i missing something long term? will come a cropper somewhere? i cannot tell yet as they are drying at the moment. how effective is bushing nirto? to make it less smeary or streaky should i mix acetone in it or cellulose thinners, make for a thinner coat? should i try a roller? i cant affore a spray rig right now has anyone used polyester resin as a grain filler? i have experimented - when its dry its awesome. the problem I had was it didnt dry for a month. I phoned the guy i bought the MEKP accelerator from and he assures me if i mix it very accurtely it will be fine. i now have a measuring syringe! one more question - what do you use as grain filler? I have used epoxy to absolutely no avail. bear in mind I need a clear filler. or black. thanks Mike

no thats great thanks! I have 11-70s hope you get better soon! Mike

excuse the timing! (turning up this late i could be a drummer ) i hope you had a great birthday!

can you describe your setup there please? the tone is fantastic. Mike EDIT: sorry, by setup I mean string guage and action. I should learn to be more consice.

Beautiful bass

i would like to hear this too, as i have bought a set of lace drop n gain ones, for detuning and metal high gain stuff. they look real dapper! Mike

hey - thats a mute switch i wired in for him he is a decent player allright! Mike

yeah, its a pretty gay thing to do. thats the best quote of today for me! "You Loot & I Shoot, I'm watching you" brilliant!

Well, as the title says, the 7 string I sold can now be seen on http://www.rickygraham.net/ in the lessons section where there are videos. I believe on his downloads page, the song Dream Awake and Relinquished feature it also. Can also be heard on http://symbiotick.net/ in the media sections - the live stuff. (rock oddity) Also on http://www.myspace.com/rickygraham Im proud its there, and I believe it looks really good Mike

awesome perry, really brilliant!

yeah, its a poor solo with terrible tone - neck pup, gain at 10 treble at 10, mid at 8 bass at 3, 4" speaker. though you could play it with a proper tone, try get a petrucci or romeo tone - both rock, infact romeo he pwns petrucci. EDIT not nocking you for attempting the solo btw. but dan and i have heard a SUPREME version of that solo, lmao - glen and the other one had nothing to do with it, lmao they wish they could play! who played it dan?

welcome to scalloping! yeah its cool. you can fix most things with superglue and wood dust

on 10-52 tuned to DCGFAD i have 1.7mm low and high, but the nut is too low forcing me to raise the action to avoid buzz. new nut and ill bet it will go down. i think the lowest i have managed is about 1.1 ish - the string rubbed the 1.14 dunlop pick, and about 1.3 low on the 7 string with 10-52 tuned to BEADGBE. i like low action, but you can go too low! I think you need a certain amount of resistance. Yng apparently plays with wild high action, go figure! Mike

raining blood hands down. dead skin mask and mandatory suicide also rock. they have a lot of kickass riffular material

much nicer imo, good painting there really like the MRG thing

cos its dung!

i couldnt ever be bothered with the pipes! something to do with hearing out of tune pipe bands and such too much! not that i discourage learning them, rock on! i play guitar: 7 years, bass: 3 years, drums: on and off for ages and trumpet: 10 years the hardest by far is the trumpet! i have played a didj and i must say ok it takes more air than a trumpet, but i regularly nearly pass out practising the trumpet from pressure headaches and such - high notes nail you. recently i have just found out my method has been wrong all my life and im breathing wrong and have the wrong high note method! i have thought of playing oboe, but at the moment i wouldnt mind sax..i think... whats the difference between a baritone sax and a lawnmower? you can tune a lawnmower i have opened myself up to many jokes now ill start whats the difference between a trumpet and a chainsaw? vibrato, but if you hold the chainsaw steadier you can eliminate this! Mike

rhoades, excelent as ever keep em coming!

have you got it yet?