First Commission Build - Is A Super-Tele A Thing?

#361
Just a quick update, in case anyone actually cares:
I'm on hold over here because of @Reedt2000 's comment about getting brown leather dye. So yeah, I'm totally blaming him for this. 🤣
Shipping says it should arrive some time between this Thursday and next Thursday. I mentioned the brown leather dye to my wife, who is STRONGLY against altering the natural color of fancy wood grains, and she immediately placed the order. 🤣 Apparently she completely agrees with Reed. So yeah, that's the route we're taking here, but we're waiting for arrival.

In the mean time, I can focus on making Christmas ornaments for the gifts this year. 😎
 
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#362
I did this whacky Peavey headless thing:

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And you can see the difference between the (almost) black stain I used where I routed for the bridge(s), and the warm brown Peavey used for the figure accenting. I put transtint vintage maple dye over it all, but even in the un-dyed pic you can see how much nicer and more natural the brown is.

So I think it will be worth the wait 😁
 
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#364
Okay, so again, big thanks to @Reedt2000 for the tip here with the brown dye. Yuge difference, very bigly! :cool:

So the dye finally arrived, here's a shot after just sanding to 240 and then applying the dye -
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And a couple more close up shots -
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Then I sanded that back with the little mouse hand sander, again with just 240 grit, because we're just sampling here. Then applied the Osmo to it -
20241124_103837_HDR.jpg
Here's a couple more up close shots -
20241124_103841_HDR.jpg 20241124_103845.jpg

So there's definitely a funky spot there at the darker area. It looks like it has scratches in it, but that's the wood grain being wood grain. I don't hate it, but I'm not super fond of it either. Aside from that one funky spot, I think this is spot on what I'm looking for out of this top. I really like it. In fact, I'd venture to say I love it, it's possibly the nicest top I've ever worked with. I mean, this is only my third build, but still, we're hitting all the marks here with this $25 rejected piece of wood. :cool:
 
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#365
Time to get to work on this guitar stain! :nailbiting:
Masked off and stained with the Angelus brown -
20241125_111316_HDR.jpg 20241125_111322_HDR.jpg

Yup, looks pretty dark right now. But most of this will get sanded back, "trust the process" as Jonny Builds says. 😁
Need to let this dry for a while and I'll come back to it later for the sanding. I noticed some really bad scratches on the headstock that need delt with, so I'll need to go back in on that and do some more hand sanding, very carefully, I'm tired of re-veneering that. I'm also hopeful that the brown stain will help the headstock blend better with the body top too, which it looks like it is helping. So yeah, step #1 is done. Off to do other chores while this dries. 😎
 
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#367
I forgot to take a picture after I sanded it back. But here's couple shots after the first coat of Osmo Poly-X -
20241125_184915_HDR.jpg 20241125_184905.jpg

I'm not super impressed with the headstock grain, butevz, it'll have to do. But man, that body looks great! :cool:
I have to say, I think it's exactly what I wanted out of this one. We'll let that dry a while and then apply a second coat later. It is clear satin, so it's not gonna bump up to a high shine, which is fine, I didn't want it super glossy. But I think I want it more glossy than that. No pic of the back, because it's drying and I didn't wanna flip it over right now. More to come later I guess. 😉
 
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#370
In my experience with Osmo, the gloss version doesn't get too much more glossy than the satin does, it just has more sheen. Probably somewhere in between satin and semi-gloss IMHO. I'm able to buff it up to more of a shine, but only on the surfaces that I've also done copious grain filling, otherwise it looks kind of like tru-oil on a grainy surface... it has it's place, but shiny glossy it is not. :smug:
 
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#372
For those of you who have used Osmo, I guess specifically you @Beej as well as anyone else with experience;
How many coats are you doing? I know it's supposed to be a similar product to Rubio Monocoat, which literally everyone I see use says "Add a second coat to bump up the sheen". So how many coats do you guys do? Can I just keep going until I'm happy?

The directions say "allow 8-10 hours between coats to dry, allow 2-3 weeks for full cure", so I'm waiting that 8-10 hours between the first two coats. I'm just curious how far others are going with this tuff. Is there nay benefit to going beyond that second coat?

Also, are you guys level sanding after applying? Do you buff it at all? Or just let it be?
 
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#373
TerribleTim68 said:
For those of you who have used Osmo, I guess specifically you @Beej as well as anyone else with experience;
How many coats are you doing? I know it's supposed to be a similar product to Rubio Monocoat, which literally everyone I see use says "Add a second coat to bump up the sheen". So how many coats do you guys do? Can I just keep going until I'm happy?

The directions say "allow 8-10 hours between coats to dry, allow 2-3 weeks for full cure", so I'm waiting that 8-10 hours between the first two coats. I'm just curious how far others are going with this tuff. Is there nay benefit to going beyond that second coat?

Also, are you guys level sanding after applying? Do you buff it at all? Or just let it be?
Click to expand...
I like to follow the directions exactly... so that I know how it's supposed to work before I start experimenting. :smug:

I've used it straight on closed grained woods like birch and maple and also on more open grained woods like walnut, padauk, mahogany, etc. When I used it on a *fine* instrument, I also grain filled with epoxy, so in that case, a couple of thin applications did the job. Same with the closed grains like maple. I think I may have done it three times? I used a green scotchbrite lightly in between to ensure an even surface for the next application. I did a cheese board out of african mahogany last weekend (yay me getting strong enough to do some light woodworking) and I put on two applications with scotchbrite in between. As far as time between coats, I use a hair dryer on hot to help solvents dissolve and then reapply after around 2 hours. At that point, it's cured on there enough that you're not loosening/picking up the finish while applying the next layer.

I've buffed it by hand with terry cloth or felt, and also with my drill mounted foam wheel on low with no compound, both resulted in a low sheen that works for me.
 
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#375
TerribleTim68 said:
Thanks @Beej . That's kind of what I expected, so very much like all the YouTube heroes I see using Rubio. The white scotchbrite seems to be a key step.
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Yes-ish. I've also used rubio and it's fussier and takes a lot longer to dry. I find Osmo is similar in product results, but easier and more forgiving with application and dry time. :thumbsup:
 
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#377
TerribleTim68 said:
Yeah, so far I've been very impressed with the Osmo product. It's much easier than my previous attempts with Tru-Oil and the Minwax wipe-on poly. 😎
Looks better too.
Click to expand...
Before my bike crash, I was starting to experiment with UV cured resins as finish and finding them to be great. Certainly as grain fillers anyway. I was about to order some Vesting LED/UV cured hardwax oil, but now I'll probably be waiting until spring to try some. VESTING LED-Hardwax Oil | LED Coating Solutions
 
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