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If you do end up going back to natural, you will find that hand sanding is pretty straightforward. Home-applied finishes are significantly easier to remove that many commercial ones and the stain actually doesn't penetrate very much depth-wise - particularly with maple.
An hour's sanding with plenty of refreshing of the paper (the finish will quickly clog it) should pretty much do it.
The first time I had to do a refinish, I was gutted. The second time, slightly less so. The third time .....
As Andy says, it’s not a major effort, and it’s all part of the learning opportunity!
Of course Si @guitargeek62
Unless you'd rather have this one ...
Remember that??
*edit* You did wonders with that, really happy at how it worked out
A couple of days ago, it looked like this;
Today it looks like this;
So far it's had 4-5 coats of oil.
I'm putting the oil on really thinly, waiting about 30secs, and then wiping a clean cloth over the body to remove any excess oil. No rubbing down between coats but it's still feeling pretty smooth.
I'm aiming to build up a glossy finish with the oil (which is one of Crimson's) which they say can take up to 9 coats. I'll then putta coat of wax on and buff that to a shinier shine.
But, learning from the last time I tried finishing this guitar, I am doing *nothing* else in the workshop whilst waiting for each coat of oil to dry, to minimise the risk of bits of sawdust landing on it. And because the miserable weather means that I’m lucky to get 2 coats on and dried in a day, all other work has come to a stop until this one completes the oiling stage.
Frustrating!
I might try bringing it indoors tomorrow, and hiding it in an unused room ... which’ll be OK as long as Mrs TT doesn’t spot it!
Perfectly normal downstairs loo-cum-wetroom. Nothing to see here.
No need to look round the corner ...
Nothing to see there at all
Now progress should accelerate with this one as the oil is going to dry a bit more quickly (handy rad on the wall just there), plus I can do other stuff in the workshop again.
(The very oily bit of rag that I use to wipe the oil on is in the airtight plastic pot to avoid the risk of it bursting into flames. Never sure whether that's a *real* risk or not, but being careful ... don't want smoke coming out of the room to give the game away )
Back to this one;
Next job is cutting the neck angle.
I've sort of bodged this job in the past with some crude packing of bits of hardboard/mdf/whatever under the body, to create the angle, and then cut the angle into the neck pocket.
But, inspired by the far more professional approach of Mr @PeteC, I'm now jiggy
Rough marked the neck angles on the board so I know where to move the little wedge to - roughly - to cut that degree of angle into the heel.
As I was making the jig, I thought to add the little blocking piece at the front that the heel fits into. Makes the position of the neck in the jig a little more secure.
Now I just need to measure, measure and measure again to make sure that I use the jig to remove the correct amount of heel, and at the right angle, to fit in the pocket correctly! That's a job for after-lunch.
Terminilia superba and Terminilia ivorensis IIRC
Black limba/korina always comes from the first one. You don't get those dark streaks or orange bug holes in the second tree. Although white limba can come from either tree, but given the price difference it's worth being aware of it.
Idigbo comes from the second one and a good bit can be identical to the first one. Some of it can be a bit coaster to work, more interlocked grain and often has some small knots.
The DC above looks to be a nice bit of idigbo to my eyes.
I have used both. Prefer the first one when the wood is visible as I just don't find most bits of idigbo to be as pretty.
Instagram
I'm pretty sure that I bought the original body blank as Korina - but that might be my memory playing tricks, and it may equally have been "Idigbo, similar to Korina"!
I should have an 8' plank of Idigbo arriving next week direct from the timber yard. If it's good, then I've got a couple of body blanks for £not-much. If it's no good, then worst-case I've got next year's supply of kindling!
But, no longer ...
I forgot that I had these handy little clamp things - probably the first time that I've used them!
And after a couple of careful passes, time for a test fit;
The piece of hardboard under the bridge is there to simulate the little rings that you get on the bridge posts, that sit proud of the body. With that in place - ie the bridge at the height that it'll actually be at - I've got about 2mm clearance. Which I think is just about perfect.
I've also got a nice little pot of rosewood shavings to add to my growing collection.
Tony's top tip for the occasional builder - if you can save clean shavings/cuttings in a pot, then do so. Comes in really handy for filling gaps/cracks/etc.
So this one is looking good now.
Next jobs;
This is coming along nicely