joining the ranks of the recent L5S bodies *updates/pics*

[doctor-dave]

hello everyone i am making an L5s ...it just came in the mail and i am so happy with it...i was nervous about making a custom order and not having a picture to go by...but i think it's better than if i had chosen one from the showcase...the mahogany one piece back is the nicest i've seen
it is a koa top / one piece mahogany body to go with my previous (failed) project's all koa neck (which i didn't fail on)
i plan on putting a SD jazz in the neck and a lace drop and gain in bridge...all gold hardware or possibly if i can find someone who will make kingwood knobs and plates etc then i will do that
so...i plan on staining the top a dark foresty green with a bit of burst ...(i know i know im colouring koa and thats a no no- but i always wanted a nice green guitar)
im going to mask for a natural binding, and stain the back a dark red mahogany...again with a little bursting after that im going to do a few coats of tung oil and then 1 coat of wipe on poly for durability -IS THIS NECESSARY OR WOULD ANYONE ADVISE AGAINST IT????
now...i have another stupid question.....before i start is it necessary to fill the wood with grain filler? i'm asking because i did the neck without grain filler in minwax tung oil and it filled the pores nicely - they even stand out in a nice dark colour

one last silly question...is the hole on the top of the neck pocket for anything other than drilling the neck pickup hole to the control cavity? my last body didn't have this hole
thanks for looking!! i'll keep this updated as i go!
(i'll also work on my image uploading skills )

 

[Nando Vallart]

Don't know if the grey is a good idea... will look darker than it, as Koa is darker than Black Korina:

 

[ildar]

Oh dear god, please don't dye that koa, especially green. Get a nice flame or quilt maple top, even swamp ash looks nice dyed. Step away from the koa and put down the dye.

 

[tfarny]

You are NOT allowed to paint that beautiful bookmatched Koa and one-piece mahogany body in Christmas colors!!!!!!!
Half of the closeout showcase is filled with green 'dragon burst' VIPs that noone wants, and cheap too. Couldn't you just pick one of those up to satisfy your green desire?

I don't care if you're freakin Santa Claus dude!  (ok, if you are actually Santa Claus OR Jesus you can do it I guess).

 

[jackthehack]

Red and green on THAT body? What the hell are you smoking? That body really doesn't need anything but some WATCO Danish Oil and a rosewood neck....

 

[dbw]

I got to say I'm not a fan of red+green either.  But it's your guitar, you can do what you want.  Seems a shame to hide that colorful koa though.  I agree with ildar, just grab a body with a quilt maple top, it'll look nice with a dye and it's way cheaper than your koa!

 

[stubhead]

A) It's your guitar, and you have my permission to color it... :laughing3:

B) Mahogany does need grain filler, and I've never heard of tung oil on top of a grain-filled wood? Doesn't mean it can't be done though... Tung oil work great on koa, but if you want to use a single finish that works on both the top and back, I personally would use poly over everything. That top is going to go really, really dark fast when you start dyeing it... (oh wait i wasn't going to tell you what to do) :binkybaby:

Can you possibly find some scrap koa to experiment on? :sign13:

 

[jackthehack]

"Mahogany does need grain filler, and I've never heard of tung oil on top of a grain-filled wood?"

Tung oil or Tru-oil can be applied over wood that's been grain filled; have used both over both clear and colored StewMac water-based filler; would recommend clear filler on that koa...

 

[doctor-dave]

so i take it its a no no to dye a piece of koa green...i can understand because its a protected, beautiful, rare wood...but what if i pulled it off? i doubt it's even been tried yet? everyone always just does it natural
i'm currently working on the grain filler...which i'm using minwax wood filler
it seems like it's good stuff....but impossible to sand down....ive used every type of grit possible but it still leaves a dusty film on there...i guess it just needs a few days more of sanding (very tedious work!!)
it really sits in the koa grain nicely...but there are some spots on the mahogany which came out when i sanded with heavier grit paper
anyways ill keep you posted pics soon hopefully

 

[Orpheo]

I still think its a fuckin waste to dye koa green. WHY did you buy the body in the first place? its a shame, but ok, if you really want it:

dye the body first, then fill it up with clear epoxy, whipe excess off as much as possible, then sand it down. if it leaves a white film, no problem. just take a bit of naphta, and see how it looks. I bet it will look as you want it to be. then take the tung oil, and just give it coats

 

[jackthehack]

"t seems like it's good stuff....but impossible to sand down....ive used every type of grit possible but it still leaves a dusty film on there...i guess it just needs a few days more of sanding Tongue (very tedious work!!)"

Couple of notes; never used the Minwax, I always use StewMac water based filler, but "using every grit possible" is REAL counterproductive when filling. You shouldn't use anything  courser than #220 paper or sponges/pads, as if you do you will wind up sanding filler back out of the grain, making the tedious process even longer. It's nice to have a compressor around to blow all the dust off, if you don't have one you can go to the gas station and use their's. If that's an oil based filler, between coats wipe it down with mineral spirits on a clean rag to clean up the "film".

 

[chuck7]

Hate to go against the grain here, but I feel that you have the right do dye the body you purchased what ever color you want.  I personally think the green and red may clash, but its your project. 

And Orpheo, your favorite guitar is a purple died quilt LP with a tremolo and stripper inlays!  Can you really comment on people building guitars that don't match up to classic expectations? 

 

[GoDrex]

And Orpheo, your favorite guitar is a purple died quilt LP with a tremolo and stripper inlays! 

hahahahaha that makes it sound tacky

I think the green top can be OK - but the back should be a trans brown I think. Or just clear.

 

[tfarny]

Allow me to cast my second "no" vote on a Santa-Claus theme Koa guitar.

 

[GoDrex]

Allow me to cast my second "no" vote on a Santa-Claus theme Koa guitar.

nah santa never wears Green - just red white and a black belt

but with some LED's it would make a nice xmas tree

 

[Alfang]

I think it would look awesome dyed green, There are some great examples in the showcase of exactly what the OP wants to do, I say go for it.

Green with gold hardware looks totally bitchen. 

I didn't see where the OP mentioned adding red color, dark red mohogany is not gonna be red, is it?  if so don't do that.....

you really dont want a red and green guitar

 

[doctor-dave]

okay...ive reached a plateau in the process....every time i add another coat of minwax grain filler and leave for 3 or 4 days (it doesn't shrink anyways) ....when i sand it with 400 grit sandpaper (which takes about 1 or 2 full days of rubbing) back to smooth and shiny and then dust it off half the filler comes with it. what is going on??? i wish i never started the grain filler because now ive got half filled half not filled. i will soldier on, and ive bought some better quality sandpaper in hopes that it wont rub out the filler....but is there something else i should look out for? i think if i keep doing this i'm going to rub off the laminate completely

 

[jackthehack]

Don't know; have never used the Minwax grain filler and for some reason I'm getting an error trying to access the www.minwax.com webpage. Are you having more issues with the mahogany or koa, or both?

 

[doctor-dave]

okay....time for some updates!
i've been very busy with work so its been hard to find the time to work on this and its taken about a 4000 hours to sand and fill (which i wouldn't have done had i known = useless, because i just sanded most of it out anyways with 600 grit sandpaper lol...then i superglued it and sanded all that out)...so here goes
here we have the back...in red oak with a little tad bit of bursting (you can't really see it in the picture)
 
here we have me failing at natural masked binding...it all leaked through the crappy "precision" tape...should have used the cheap blue stuff

so the binding is fixed

here i put a coat of minwax wood conditioner for oil based stain on the front (ironically the green stain is water based so i'm an idiot)....looks pretty nice i should have kept it natural like that hahahahaha oh well...

and now...i went crazy and puked all over my guitar...ruining the binding and the top which i took so long to carefully prepare


this green looks alot better in real life than in that picture i swear
now i know theres alot of you folks here who are wanting to hunt me down and such but it is my guitar and my money and my time so you can't really blame me...sure i'm ruining a splendid piece of rare koa wood...but i think it's a first of it's kind....there hasn't been anyone else with the stupidity to do what i'm doing...and i think i can pull it off if i use an artists touch on that green top.
now a question:

i'm going to fix the binding so theres no more green on it....what would be the best way to do such?  mask the top and sand the sh#t out of it? or soak it with water and wipe like hell?
and any tips for getting a nice dark even border on the edges of the green top? in a way so it doesn't leak out onto the natural binding?

 

[doctor-dave]

oh and why the heck is this stewmac colortone stuff like watercolor paint...i mean i could take of the entire thing by just putting a couple of drops of water on it and wiping with a cloth