4/17/2005

I began the finishing stage by sanding the body to 150 grit with a sanding block. I made the block by running some scrap wood across the jointer to insure it was flat. Sanding it to 150 grit was simply to prepare it for a wash coat of black water based dye. The black wash would be sanded back to the base wood while leaving the grain filled with black dye. This would enhance any figure in the wood once the color coats and clear coats are applied. Water based dyes can look very blotchy when first going on. The night before the wash coat, I wiped the body with a damp rag to raise the grain. The wash coat, then raised the grain again. The idea is to repeatedly raise the grain and sand it down so that ultimately, the grain won't rise anymore.

4/19/2005

Today I sanded back the wash coat and the body to 220 grit. The pictures don't really show how the flame is highlighted. It's more pronounced in person. However, the highlight is not black but more of a silver gray. I'll either re-wash with a stronger concentrate of dye or wait for my Homestead Transfast Turquoise Blue dye to arrive and use that as another wash coat as well as the color.

4/23/2005

Here's the body sanded back to 320 grit with the second application of a wash coat. This time in the turquoise blue that will be it's final color. Notice how it looks greener on the mahogany.

4/30/2005

After sanding back the second wash coat to base with 320 grit paper, I added another cup of hot water to the original mix of dye. The original mix was 2 cups of water and 2 teaspoons of dye. I then wiped on two wet coats to everything. Here's what it looks like now. With the extra water, it seems the color is more blue than green now. It's also beginning to play with the light. The figure seems to move a bit when the body is held at different angles to the a light source. Here, the dye is dry.

5/6/2005

Here are a couple of shots of the application of the 2nd coat of grain filler. It's an oil based product from ReRanch.com. I only applied it to the mahogany, including the covers. I wiped it on with some scrap wood and then smoothed it into the grain with an old credit card. After it set up for a few minutes, I wiped across the grain dampened with Naptha. When it's dried a couple of days, I'll sand with 400 grit all over the body and apply one more coat of dye.

5/15/2005

So after sanding back the body just slightly with 400 grit paper, I applied another coat of the blue dye. Then, I brought the body outside and sprayed two light coats of ReRanch Sanding Sealer right from the can. The first coat immediately added depth to the color as you can see in the following pictures. Tomorrow, I'll spray another coat and then let it sit another 24 hours before level-sanding.

5/30/2005

I realized that to this point, I'd never test fitted the bridge with the neck at the same time so I wasn't really sure if my string alignment from nut to saddle was right!!! Well I did that today knowing that if there was a problem, it'd be way too late to fix now. These pics show the simulated placement of the strings at the nut through the bridge and where the "run" down the neck. Wow, do I feel relieved now. The pics show the sealed body sanded to 400. The color is deeper in person than the pics show.

6/5/2005

Waiting for a suitable time to spray clear coats, I decided to sand the neck to 600, 1200 and then oil and wax the neck. These two pictures show a coat of oil on the neck.

6/8/2005

After applying a 2nd coat of Tru-Oil, I rubbed the neck with 0000 steel wool and then gave it two coats of Birchwood-Casey Wax. What a beautiful smooth it gives. I put the Sperzel tuners on with the replacement Sperzel Pearloid buttons on and now, 9 months after project started, the neck is finished. I need only install and file the nut. But that will happen when the body is done and I finally assemble the guitar.

06/20/2005

Today I began spraying clear coats of nitrocellulose laquer. Here are some pics of my spray gear and the knock-down spray-booth I made. Nothing high-tech here.

Here are some shots of the body after one coat of nitro.

And then with 3 coats.

7/11/2005

To this point, I had sprayed 10 coats of clear. It dried for about 2-3 weeks and now I set down to level it. Here are some pics of the supplies and what it looks like when you sand nitro with 400 grit and mineral spirits. Pretty messy but it works great. You end up with a smooth, dull surface. If you look closely you can see that the edges have already been leveled in as much as a rounded surface can be.

7/11/2005

I cleaned up the body by wiping it down with Naptha and then blowing it clear of dust with compressed air. Then I sprayed 6 more coats of clear. The first two pics are after 2-3 wet coats. The flash really washes out the color of the body. The last pics taken outside were after the 16th coat (6th since levelling) dried. You can make out some orange peel but the color is deep and looking good. I'll wait a week to level it one more time before shooting the last 3-4 gloss coats. Check out the gloss on the edges of the body. Almost no orange peel.

8/14/2005

It was time to polish the body today. I believed that the final coats had dried long enough so I final sanded started with 1000 grit, then 1200, 1500 and 2000. I used odoress mineral spirits as a lubricant wiping often to remove the slurry that was created and to gauge my progress. The following pictures were taken after the first polish step with 3M Finesse It II.

The following pics show the body and cavity covers after subsequent applications of 3M Protect It II Rubbing Compound and 3M Imperial Hand Glaze.

8/17/2005

I wasn't entirely happy with the quality of the shine since I was unable to remove several scratches in the finish. I decided to re-wet-sand the top with 2000 grit paper and then polish it again. The 2000 grit paper was just the thing I needed to remove the scratches. Then, I used a bit more pressure and RPM with the buffer heads on my cordless drill and the result is breath-taking. Definitely a notch above my first attempt. When I saw how much better it looked, I applied another coat of the 3M Imperial Hand Glaze to the back and size as well. For me, it worked better to take an old white cotton under-shirt, cut it into squares and then fold them up so that I had a cotton ball tucked into my palm. This allowed me to put some leverage into the rubbing action and also, the ball shape has no folds or creases, if it's tight enough. The folds and creases can actually mar the finish if you're pressing hard. Anyway, here's some new pics of the body outside.