guitar build

cliffhanger · Post by **cliffhanger** » Wed Dec 20, 2006 8:20 pm

So, I recently bought a lot of guitar parts to build my own guitar. Any guitarists out there? Ive got a sweeeeet swamp ash body (kinda soft though) and a maple neck w/ an ebony fingerboard. Took me hours, hours, and hours of sanding

ive been oilin' it up with tung oil, only have two coats on the body, three on the neck. Ive been toying with "tints-all", b/c I don't just want a classic wood grain, I have been adding prussian blue tint, in varying ratios, to my tung oil on test wood. I want a blue wood grain looking body and classic neck. Any thoughts, yay or nay? Ive resanded the neck and applied the third coat tonight, resanded the body, trying to determine if I want to try the tints-all option. I s'pose I can add pics pretty easily if anyone is interested.

cliffhanger · Post by **cliffhanger** » Fri Dec 22, 2006 3:38 pm

So, out of 18 people that viewed this, no one can decide between blue grain and natural grain?

Please, I value your opinions, however horribly wrong they may be! Just looking for suggestions or alternatives... Thanks!

mbaksic · Post by **mbaksic** » Sun Dec 24, 2006 5:45 pm

Well Cliff, I have always been one to go with the natural wood look, but I don't know crap about guitars, so don't listen to me at all. Mike

cliffhanger · Post by **cliffhanger** » Mon Dec 25, 2006 7:57 am

the blue hue I want to add is merely aesthetic, it has no bearing on the sound, whether it is a guitar or a mandolin or whatever, Ive been thinking about making it blue since I bought it, boy the natural wood grain looks nice though! the grain will still show through with the blue, its not paint , just a tint additive to the oil Im using... thanks for your post though, I may be leaning back towards leaving it natural anyway!

mbaksic · Post by **mbaksic** » Mon Dec 25, 2006 9:32 am

I just like natural wood, must be a holdover from my woodworkin days in high school. I do like wood stained, but tend to leave it plain unless I have to match a color of something else. I have seen too many wood things that are so dark that it ruins the look of the wood completely. Mike

bajabob · Post by **bajabob** » Wed Dec 27, 2006 6:12 pm

well if it winds up looking anything like this - http://www.santana.com/musicianscorner/ ... /blue.html
it would be a winner.

Bob

spazchicken · Post by **spazchicken** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 2:05 pm

is it an acoustic or an electric? I like acoustics natural or black and electrics can be colors. I'm refinishing an electric in flat black & olive.

cliffhanger · Post by **cliffhanger** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 4:26 pm

no, it won't look exactly like that, i have a different kind of wood... it is an electric. here is a pic of the body thus far:

I want the darker parts of the grain to have a darker blue tint, and the lighter parts... to have a lighter tint! I think I can do it, and keep the grain looking the exact same, just blue instead of 'wood'

cliffhanger · Post by **cliffhanger** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 11:14 am

I put the blue on yesterday afternoon, she's dry now and ready for more sanding! I'll post up pics post sanding, just so I feel better about myself.

cliffhanger · Post by **cliffhanger** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 3:55 pm

this is the progress thus far, let me know what you think! I think I'm about ready to poly it!

diderich · Post by **diderich** » Tue Jan 02, 2007 3:52 pm

I like the blue starburst kind of thing you have going. Have you tried a little wood conditioner to even out the tone a little bit? It may not work with the dye, I've only used it with wood stain, but there may be some equivalent for tung oil. It looks like the grain didn't pick up any dye at all. So the conditioner might help with that...I'm not an expert by any means though, so I could be totally confused.

cliffhanger · Post by **cliffhanger** » Tue Jan 02, 2007 5:01 pm

Yeah, those aren't the best pics in the world, I don't have the best camera

the grain in the middle picked up a little bit of the dye, you can tell when you are up close, the darker parts of the grain are darker, the lighter parts have a very faint tint... but I put the dye/oil mix really, really lightly on the middle, where for the most part I sanded it out, thicker on the outer edges. I was thinking about mixing another batch of dye/oil and reapplying to get a more even coverage, and deeper grain penetration in the middle like you were saying... but then again, what if I mess it up real bad? what if, the second time around, it turns out looking worse that it does right now? I like the way it turned out this time, there are a few spots that I like to call "character spots". Lets people know that this isn't some factory dealie, you know, I put (already) about 20 hours into this project. I think I'm just going to polyvinyl tomorrow when I get home, a couple of coats and she'll be ready for the hardware! I s'pose I would like it to look more professional, but at the same time

diderich · Post by **diderich** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 8:15 am

yeah..better is the enemy of good. Building a guitar is hard stuff. It's something every guitarist should do once. I'm still waiting my turn. It does look really good. Now you just need some naked lady pearl inlay on the neck

spazchicken · Post by **spazchicken** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 11:18 am

Might I suggest that a black pickguard would better compliment the blue?

cliffhanger · Post by **cliffhanger** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 7:22 pm

oh boy, a black pickguard would look great... im sure i will change the pickguard a couple of times, just trying to get it together right now.

scoobytruck.com

guitar build

Should I tint the body blue, or leave it classic?

guitar build