Super Strat, figured Swamp Ash..

[DirtySteve]

Hey guys, finishing my Super Strat. Started out with a Black Tea stain to pop the grain...

Here it is raw like I received it..

Tea wash is done. Here are some pics of each coat. The first 2 pics are after it dried, then I thought I should be taking the pictures while it's still wet because that's more like what it'll look like after it's oiled so the rest are wet. Oh well, I screwed that up..

1st wash..dry

2nd wash..dry

3rd wash..wet

4th and final wash..wet..

 

[bagman67]

That looks mighty nice.  Warm, golden goodness.  Nice work.

 

[DirtySteve]

Well I don't think it's going to lighten up anymore over night than it is right now, it's pretty dry. Here's a shot of the back so you con see how much it colored the wood because I didn't stain inside the control cavity.

And here's the top dry...I really like the way it colored the wood. It colored it more than I expected, but I really like what it did.

 

[Cagey]

That's a very attractive piece.

 

[rgand]

That really brings the grain out. Beautiful work.

 

[stratamania]

Nice work. Tea can work well on ash. Just curious did you get the idea from the Tele I did or from somewhere else?

 

[DirtySteve]

No I got it from a friend on another forum. Got a link to your Tele? I'd like to see it.

 

[stratamania]

No I got it from a friend on another forum. Got a link to your Tele? I'd like to see it.

Glad someone else had the idea too. The Tele build thread is in my signature.

Or if you want to look at the final results you can see them here.

http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=23725.msg347932#msg347932

 

[DirtySteve]

Well, I expected a little more but the first oil coat always looks dull.

 

[DirtySteve]

That Tele came out really nice!

 

[stratamania]

That Tele came out really nice!

Thanks, I am toying with the idea of making some changes, but nothing decided yet.

The oil finish on your strat is going to look good once you build up a number of coats.

 

[DirtySteve]

I've done several Tru-oil finishes. This was the first guitar I built. Black Korina.

I had the single humbucker in it for a couple of years and then I reshaped the HB route to fit a p-90, unless you know  it there no one ever seed the gap between the pickup and the bridge because it kind of disappears in the grain.

Then most recently I added a pick guard and routed a P90 slot for a neck pickup. In the end I like this mini hb in the neck position. It also went thru several neck swaps along the way.  This is how it looks now, it's my favorite guitar.

 

[stratamania]

That is a nice looking Tele.

 

[DirtySteve]

Ok, it took me a while to figure out my next step because I found out thru some research that what I was planning to do wasn't going to work and I had to come up with a plan B.

My goal was to get the grain to pop more without coloring out the tea wash. So today I thinned some brown oil paint (raw umber) with a little tru oil and applied it with a cloth, then while it was still wet I added a coat tru oil on top and worked it until the color was all even, then wiped off the excess. It was way too easy and worked so much better than I expected.

I wish you guys could see it in person, I have a really crappy camera so these pics don't do it justice at all.

 

[DirtySteve]

 

[rgand]

Not only did you get one with a special grain but you made it show to the best possible degree. Spectacular!

 

[DirtySteve]

Thanks! I just hope I don't screw it up before I'm finished, lol.

 

[DirtySteve]

Just for shits & grins... This is not the floyd or the neck and the finish is nowhere near done (it's going to be a lot shinier), but you get the idea.

I think the pickup needs a black metal mounting ring.

 

[Cagey]

She's gorgeous!
I agree about mtg ring.

 

[DirtySteve]

Thanks!

I'm finally satisfied with the top. I still have a lot to do on the back and sides, but the top is right where I want it before I wet sand a few oil coats on to get some gloss on it. There are a couple of things I learned along the way that I would do different early on, but being my first time doing a finish this way (and on this special top) I'm very happy with how it came out.