Poplar soloist.

rapfohl09

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Hey everyone, I started finishing my soloist so I figured I would start up my W.I.P page. Im using Min-Wax red mahogany to stain my body. So far ive done one coat and am waiting for another hour or so till I do my second. So far it looks great to me! There isnt much red to the finish, basically a dark brown but still. It looks a little strange in some spots where the grain does backflips (just doing wierd things) but other than that its very even and nice. Pictures as soon as I take it down off the rack to do the second coat.
 
Ok here we go. 1st is the just out of the box pick. 2nd is the first coat of stain. I just put on the second and im thinking for the third im going to the leave it on a little longer than I have for the first two. Also I just ordered all of the electronics, should be in soon.
 
Yeah they were taken with my cell phone and I forgot to touch them up haha. Anyways, the finish is, im not going to lie, reallllly blotchy. It sucks but that is how you learn. Its still really light though, and im going to make it darker, maybe that will bring the blotchy level down a bit. Anyways thanks.
 
Blotchy: What kind of stain did you use, and did you touch it before staining, leaving oil on the wood? If there is a bunch of oil in places, you'll probably want to just sand it back, clean it up with mineral spirits (paint thinner) and start over. Better now that later...
If you just didn't mix the stain sufficiently, maybe further staining will solve the problem. Looking forward to seeing this, I have my first poplar body waiting for me to start on it and I'm doing a stain / dye for sure.
 
If I got a poplar body I'd get one with all the "nasty" green mineral streaks and knots you could fit on a strat body and finish it in clear satin, because I think raw poplar is cool.

But that's me.  I'm crazy.
 
The blotchiness I actually decided was just grain, it looks pretty good now. I havent really looked at the 3rd coat so I dont know if im doing a 4th. But anyways, I too also like the bare poplar grain, but mine was kind of boring. I LOVE the screaming deals strat body, the very first one, and would have bought it in a heart beat if it was a hardtail. I was still going to buy it and experiment with tremolos, but then I saw the soloist haha.
 
Just an update. As far as I can tell I like the 3rd coat, a good color however I am relying a little bit on the tung oil to darken it a bit. Not alot just some, can I expect that? Also what should i use to pick up the debris on the body, like little hairs, cloth particles. I have a tack cloth, but it doesnt really seem to be doing anything, and I dont want to oil with those on the body. thanks alot.
 
You need to use sandpaper to get that crap off, yes it will also remove some of the stain. You need to keep the body really clean throughout the process. Keep it hanging up throughout the process, in a clean place, and don't touch it with anything besides a clean brush or whatever you're using to apply the stain. You can apply oil finishes with clean fingers, in fact that's the best method.
 
I have some 0000 steel wool, how does that sound? I ended up going with Helmsman SPAR Urethane. Some spray can stuff, I dont want to mess it all up with tung, spraying should be easy as long as it doesnt run.
 
Steel wool leaves its own junk in the wood, as much as I like using it. they sell 320 paper at any hardware store. No idea about the urethane finish - you can buy deft nitro in spray cans at home depot or walmart. Cheap and classic nitro.
 
Yeah I've been using the wool on mine, we're keeping the canned air at hand, it does make a mess.
 
Hey everyone, i just finished staining the body last night with its 4th coat. It looks incredible. But anyways, im spraying it with urethane, and was wondering if I should cover up the routs? I know to cover the neck pocket, im also going to sand out the little bit of stain I got in it. 4th coat pictures soon.
 
Don't worry about it, and who cares about some finish in the neck pocket. We just want more pictures!
 
SDbass said:
If I got a poplar body I'd get one with all the "nasty" green mineral streaks and knots you could fit on a strat body and finish it in clear satin, because I think raw poplar is cool.

But that's me.  I'm crazy.

+1.  I love the looks of the really figured poplar.  Just some vintage amber clear and that pup would look great.  I actually thought about pulling the trigger in several of the poplar bodies in the Screaming deals section.  I am a little afraid becuase poplar is so soft...guess it is just me.
 
All right! Exciting day! My first set of parts came in from GFS, all of the electronics the pickups, pots, switch and the knobs to boot. I also like the 4th coat so here you go! Sorry about the bad quality pictures, they are all on my cell phone and ill take good ones soon.
 
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