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Hey guys! Thought I'd post some pics of the progress on my first scratch build. I am using a poplar body which has some large green streaks in it. To cover this, I stained the body yesterday with minwax red mahogany stain. I think it came out fairly good, considering my lack of experience.




Unfortunately with my camera I have to use flash when shooting indoors, so the color is darker and a little more splotchy in natural light. But I think it'll look a lot better when I get a few coats of clear over it. Even with the splotchiness I prefer this over a solid color. At least with this i can see the grain of the wood. If I ever do this again, I'll use a thinned coat of shellac or one of the wood conditioners made to help in staining soft woods. Live and learn. I can live with it on my first. Thanks for looking.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

It looks great, I love wood finish. I hate covering beautiful wood with paint!

Although you may want to read the label on the Minwax - the Red Mahogany stain doesn't mix well with some coatings, just FYI.

Looks good Mike!
Sure better than streaky green poplar!
Nice carving also, going to be a fun axe.

Joe

Thanks, guys. ecnal(lance?), thanks for the heads up. The container cautions against, quote,"water clean-up coatings". I'll be using nitro(probably Deft from Lowes or the StewMac aerosol) so I don't think there'll be a problem. That'll have to wait on warmer weather, however.
Joe, yeah, the streaky green poplar wasn't my first choice, but I built this guitar from what I had laying around(a cutting board and the center leaf of a table.), basically to see if I could. I think I'm gonna like it regardless. The next one will be from nicer looking stuff.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

How is using Nitro? I refinished my first bass (still working on it) and I went with Tru-Oil for the finish. I've got three coats on it and after some steel wool (0000) it has a nice coat on it. Unfortunately, I didn't wipe enough off when I initially applied the coats and it's streaky now So I have to re-sand down back to 220 (I hope I don't have to hit 120!) and re-apply. But it works good if you do it right.

I was curious about other finishes, but right now I don't have the space/equip for anything more complex. How's your experience with it?

I love nitro. It's time consuming, because you have to wait and let it cure. I usually wait 4-6 weeks before buffing it out. I know others who do it sooner, but I like to make absolutely sure the finish is cured all the way through. Buffing/polishing heats up the finish, and, at least in my case, if I don't wait long enough I end up with the finish gumming up and all sorts of other problems. What I do to check if it's ready is take my thumbnail and press it into the finish in the pickup cavity. If it doesn't leave a mark, the finish is hard enough to start buffing. That said, it is worth the wait. Beautiful finish. But it is quite toxic. Don't spray it in your home, or leave it in your home to cure, as it off-gasses chemicals as it cures. Do wear a good respirator, and don't spray it around open flames or in enclosed areas where you're gonna be flipping on and off electrical devices, etc. Ka-boom is not a good sound.
The other finish I've used is aerosol acrylic laquer, like you get at the auto parts store. It works very much like nitro, with similar results and similar cautions, although I think the nitro is harder. But there's a depth to the finish that a good clearcoat provides. No substitute, IMHO. I've also used polyurethane once. It worked and looked great, until I bumped into something with the guitar. The polyurethane finish seperated from the wood undeneath and left a huge bubble in finish. You could literally peel the finish off of the guitar. I believe this was my fault, as the poly was 5-6 years old and probably shouldn't have been used. But it was enough to turn me away from poly, and once I found nitro, there was no going back. Unfortunately, with the environmental regulations only getting stricter, I believe nitro's time is short. I for one will be sad to see it go.

_________________
Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.