TTony’s Q1’20 challenge ... *ALL 3* done

TTony

PeteC said:

I really like that RW and Korina combination.     3 control pots ??  

The *original* plan was for 2 p'ups and so 1 vol, 1 tone and a p'up selector switch.

The *current* plan is to think about whether 2 p'ups or 1, and then what to do  with the already-drilled holes if I decide on 1. 

Could use it for a mini-toggle blower, or the "spare" one should be covered by a scratchplate ...

SteveRobinson

Volume, treble, bass like a G&L?

paulnb57

Worst case a dummy pot and knob? 
Or a rotary switch emulating Esquire wiring?
All sorts of possibilities.....

TTony

SteveRobinson said:

Volume, treble, bass like a G&L?

Hadn't thought of that option @SteveRobinson!

Had thought of the dummy pot option @paulnb57 .

Easiest option is still just to hide it under the scratchplate - which  I think this will need given the contrast between the RW neck and Korina body.

lysander

The G&L PTB circuit with low and high pass is great but the high pass is not much use if you only have a bridge pickup, IMO.
Another option could be putting a humbucking P90 and a ‘dial a split’ circuit like on the fret king guitars.

TTony

No progress to share today.

Been sanding, and experimenting with different Osmo oil tints.

None of the tints were hugely "wow" though, so I think I'll stick with the Crimson stains instead, though a 90/10 (ish) red/black mix - gives a black cherry sort of colour.

I think the Osmo tints might work better with something like Ash (or Korina!), where there's more grain for them to penetrate.  The maple cap on this build (#1) didn't seem to take the tint particularly well.

Andyjr1515

This is coming along really nicely, @TTony ;     

And that walnut-topped one - wow.  And no, I don't know why you didn't finish that off either!!!!


Osmo tints...hmmmm…reminds me of something.  Tinted finishes have their place, but it's a darned sight easier to stain a wood to the colour you want and then clear coat afterwards - even with Osmo if you like (and I love most of them as clear finishes).  The trouble with tinted finishes is that after the first coat, that's pretty much the depth and tone of colour you're going to get.  With stains you can overlay and deepen and sand and try again to your heart's content
 

TTony

Thanks @Andyjr1515 ;

All I can think of is that I went off the colour of the top!

TTony

TTony said:

All I can think of is that I went off the colour of the top!

I thought I'd try to dig out the history of the lost one (the Walnut topped LPish).  Using the theFB archives, and a frustrating few minutes with the search function, I've succeeded in some archeology.

It started here.  A long time ago.  Actually, about the same time that we started theFB, but comments in the posts suggest that it pre-dated the forum.

And then had a second coming (which explains the neck that looked like mine, but I didn't remember making!).  Can't remember what happened to interrupt the second coming though ...

TTony

Back to the "main" one - the guitar that I stripped the cap off and recapped ...

When the new maple cap went on, it left a small gap around the end of the fretboard.


A bit "gappy".

In the spirit of good enough not being good enough, this time around, I thought I'd try the old wood glue & sawdust filling trick ...

...better!


And now, after a couple of coats of Crimson stain


I'm aiming for a Black Cherry sort of colour.  So it seemed logical to mix a bit of Black into their Cherry Red stain.  It's about 5-10% black - I didn't measure it exactly, and just added a tiny bit more black and then a tiny bit more black until I'd got the colour that I wanted.

Sanded back with 240 & 320 after the first coat just to smooth out a couple of areas where the stain raised the grain slightly.

Will see how that dries overnight, and then tomorrow is either another coat of stain, or on to the oiling.

Andyjr1515

Nah....you win @TTony  

This is going to look fabuloso

TTony

@Andyjr1515 ; and anyone else who would care to voice (type) an opinion ...

My good lady - and, independently,  a good friend - have just seen the before & after staining pics and asked "why did you do that, it looked beautiful before you stained it".

Whilst the stain and couple of coats of oil that are now on the guitar (ie after the pic above was taken) enhance the quilt in the maple, the stain also hides the grain pattern.

I'm now wondering whether to strip it back to bare maple and do something else to preserve the appearance of the grain pattern,  ie this sort of thing;





And yes, this discussion would have made hugely more sense if I'd raised it about 24 hours ago ...

Thoughts, oh wise tFB M&Mers??

PeteC

I like the Cherry look but was also thinking a faded violin type finish would look amazing on that top - but that’s maybe a bit traditional and boring ? Either way fabulous work and a great guitar in the making no doubt.    

paulnb57

Im a fan of natural unstained finish.....so plain gets my vote

DrBob

Honestly ? I preferred it plain

Andyjr1515

How does it look if you wipe it with a damp cloth?  That will be more like the tones and figuring clarity once it has been fully finished.

To be honest, nowadays I rarely show folks the stages between the stain first applied and the finish going on - because dry stain is the 'wrong' colour, hides the figuring and exaggerates the flaws.  And everybody - and I used to until I understood below - goes a (disappointed) 'Oh....'  

What I would recommend, though, is that you gloss finish rather than oil.  For bringing out the full figuring and also the chatoyance of stained wood, gloss does it a lot better than oil (and that's from someone who loves using oil!).

If it was my own, I'd fully finish it stained and glossed...knowing that I can always sand it off if it doesn't have the WOW that I'm pretty sure it would... 


I'll see if I've got any 'never before published' shots of some of mine before and after the finish goes on...    

Andyjr1515

Andyjr1515 said:

How does it look if you wipe it with a damp cloth?  That will be more like the tones and figuring clarity once it has been fully finished.

Just re-read the bit where you have given it a couple of oil coats after staining - so scrub the wipe with a damp cloth bit.  But I stick with the rest.

Oh - and yes - you can gloss (or satin) over an oiled finish.  I do that as a matter of course nowadays.  

Andyjr1515

I'm sure I have a better example somewhere, but this sort of shows the difference:


I didn't show the owner this.

I did show him this:

lysander

I would vote for plain too.

TTony

Thanks for the thoughts  @PeteC @paulnb57 ; @DrBob @Lysander and thanks for the thoughts & pics @Andyjr1515 .


The plan ...


I'm going to finish what I've started and see what happens with this as a Black Cherry finish.  And by "finish", I mean that I'm going to get it to as glossy a finish as  I can, assemble it, play it and see what it's like as a guitar.

*If* I don't then like the Black Cherry finish, but the guitar is otherwise a good guitar, then I'll disassemble it and take the stain off (even if that means using my big surfacing bit again and taking 1mm off the surface of the guitar to completely remove the stain), and then try to re-do it as a plain finish.

*But*, I'll only start a re-finish once (a) I've finished these three guitars that are my Q1 challenge and (b) I've experimented with plain finishing options on some offcuts to make sure that I can create something better than however the Black Cherry turns out.

I think that's logical.