Not sure where to put this, so into General Discussion it goes!!!
I'm a bass player but decided I want to start talking guitar lessons....so why not build a guitar to learn on!?! Finish is FAR from perfect but I had alot of fun with this, so I thought I'd share my first real (non tung oil) finish job. No-name swamp ash/quilt maple LPS body off ebay, came in with a horrible splotchy teal green stain on the quilt maple top, bright blue on the swamp ash back, all under a light amber clear coat (wish I would have snapped some before pics).
I sanded down to bare wood, used General Finish water based dye on the top - Black first then sanded back and applied Cranberry Red to bring out the light quilted maple figuring a bit. For the back, I applied some Varathane oil based stain in Espresso...mmmm looks chocolatey!!! Finished it all off by spraying with Deft clear gloss nitro, buffed super lightly with steel wool to leave a nice satin sheen.
Neck is another ebay special; walnut w/ bubinga fretboard 25.5" scale made by Korosa guitars. Nice slim profile, came finished with teak oil. Body was missing the control cavity cover, so I fashioned one out of some 1/8" ash and a coping saw. Also made a bubinga string retainer, since the headstock is not angled. Rounded out with all black hardware, rosewood truss rod cover and a pair of Rockfield SWC humbuckers with maple covers and mounting rings (same ones in the Michael Kelly Hybrid Special). Just got it wired up last night and snapped a couple pics to share, I'll need to take some when it's sunny out. It still needs a proper set up, it sounds pretty darn good.
PS. I'm posting from my phone and I can't see the pics very well...hope they aren't too poor quality.
I'm a bass player but decided I want to start talking guitar lessons....so why not build a guitar to learn on!?! Finish is FAR from perfect but I had alot of fun with this, so I thought I'd share my first real (non tung oil) finish job. No-name swamp ash/quilt maple LPS body off ebay, came in with a horrible splotchy teal green stain on the quilt maple top, bright blue on the swamp ash back, all under a light amber clear coat (wish I would have snapped some before pics).
I sanded down to bare wood, used General Finish water based dye on the top - Black first then sanded back and applied Cranberry Red to bring out the light quilted maple figuring a bit. For the back, I applied some Varathane oil based stain in Espresso...mmmm looks chocolatey!!! Finished it all off by spraying with Deft clear gloss nitro, buffed super lightly with steel wool to leave a nice satin sheen.
Neck is another ebay special; walnut w/ bubinga fretboard 25.5" scale made by Korosa guitars. Nice slim profile, came finished with teak oil. Body was missing the control cavity cover, so I fashioned one out of some 1/8" ash and a coping saw. Also made a bubinga string retainer, since the headstock is not angled. Rounded out with all black hardware, rosewood truss rod cover and a pair of Rockfield SWC humbuckers with maple covers and mounting rings (same ones in the Michael Kelly Hybrid Special). Just got it wired up last night and snapped a couple pics to share, I'll need to take some when it's sunny out. It still needs a proper set up, it sounds pretty darn good.
PS. I'm posting from my phone and I can't see the pics very well...hope they aren't too poor quality.