NGD - SO... NEARLY... FINISHED.

ThePrettyDamned

I braved it.

It's turned out okay for the first coat! Obviously the dark onyx around the edges needs another coat or two, and some blending with purple along with it, but it's coming together.

Also blacked the ebony facer so all it going okay, I think.

http://m.flickr.com/#/photos/aguywitholdcameras/13058215913/sizes/l/

Blending is a lot of work, compared with the mahogany/goldenrod combo. Much more work, but it does blend.

ThePrettyDamned

So just worked it over again and it's looking pretty awesome, if I do say so myself.

Definitely don't want it any more purple, so I'll have to be careful on the next coat - I'll need to just add black and a tiny, tiny amount of purple - I may even mix the purple with some top coat and test on a scrap piece to see if it let's me blend, but doesn't add much colour.

But I'm pretty chuffed. Tomorrow afternoon, black base coats start going on back and sides, which will hopefully even the colour out after 5 or 6 coats.

ThePrettyDamned

I'll try again with that pic...

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7326/13062345264_3f9b758a1a_c.jpg

It's a newer pic, the colour is a bit deeper now.  Looks great, just needs to cure for 24 hours and I'm hoping a wire wooling will help even it all out a bit more, but other than that, I'm pretty happy with the front, leaving just the back and sides for a few base coats.  

YAY.  Then I can do the neck...

Deadman

Looking great, PD. Love that colour.

TTony

Brilliant!!

Top work - you're really doing justice to that body.

ThePrettyDamned

Cheers guys.

Wudtone is odd, in bright, natural light, it's grey and purple but as soon as that drops a bit, everything gets much darker and more like the photo. It makes capturing the look hard...

The front is done totally. Now I just need a couple of base coats on the back and I'm ready to do the neck and top coats. Glad it's finally coming together

DartmoorHedgehog

Nice one - That looks superb! 

I'm sometimes tempted to stain the top of my Hagstrom a dark blue or purple (it's natural quilt maple at the mo), but I suspect by the time I'd stripped the poly varnish off and sanded it enough to be able to be stained I'd probably be through the fancy veneer anyway.  Plus the fact that it looks nice as it is and I'd probably just make a complete mess of it!

ThePrettyDamned

It's a very deep purple, this one. I think I'd rather it was a teeny bit lighter, but I'm nit picking. As of this morning, being more cured, it looks even better.

Just going to work on the back and sides a little, then I can start top coating and doing the neck. Next update will probably be shinier and darker on the back

imalone

ThePrettyDamned said:

It's a newer pic, the colour is a bit deeper now.  Looks great, just needs to cure for 24 hours and I'm hoping a wire wooling will help even it all out a bit more, but other than that, I'm pretty happy with the front, leaving just the back and sides for a few base coats.  

YAY.  Then I can do the neck...

That's real? Nice.

andypwudtone

ThePrettyDamned said:

So just worked it over again and it's looking pretty awesome, if I do say so myself.

Definitely don't want it any more purple, so I'll have to be careful on the next coat - I'll need to just add black and a tiny, tiny amount of purple - I may even mix the purple with some top coat and test on a scrap piece to see if it let's me blend, but doesn't add much colour.

But I'm pretty chuffed. Tomorrow afternoon, black base coats start going on back and sides, which will hopefully even the colour out after 5 or 6 coats.

HI There, yes you are OK to blend another coat with top coat ( on top of the purple and dark onyx around the edges ) to keep darkening these areas, brave project , looking great so far. 

PS just bought PRS custom 24 ( nice flame top but needs the lacquer refinishing ) and will be fitting our bridge on it to see how the the dynamic, tone is changed connecting the bridge to the body. look forward to more posts on this.chrs 

usedtobe

Looking good!

ThePrettyDamned

andypwudtone said:

ThePrettyDamned said:

So just worked it over again and it's looking pretty awesome, if I do say so myself.

Definitely don't want it any more purple, so I'll have to be careful on the next coat - I'll need to just add black and a tiny, tiny amount of purple - I may even mix the purple with some top coat and test on a scrap piece to see if it let's me blend, but doesn't add much colour.

But I'm pretty chuffed. Tomorrow afternoon, black base coats start going on back and sides, which will hopefully even the colour out after 5 or 6 coats.

HI There, yes you are OK to blend another coat with top coat ( on top of the purple and dark onyx around the edges ) to keep darkening these areas, brave project , looking great so far. 

PS just bought PRS custom 24 ( nice flame top but needs the lacquer refinishing ) and will be fitting our bridge on it to see how the the dynamic, tone is changed connecting the bridge to the body. look forward to more posts on this.chrs 

Awesome, thanks for clarification.  I might add a bit of purple to the top coat then, to help give it a deeper effect without darkening the colour.  

I rubbed the front a lot with extra fine wire wool, which has really helped even out the colour.  Then, I tried something else.

Yup, it's a brave project.  

I used Dark Onyx Base Coat over the top of the whole thing.  It's helped add a nice sheen, and should darken the edges a little, but as it goes on so thin, it's not making the purple black, so much as just adding a bit of shine and darkening the grain.

It's really, really starting to come together actually.  I'm really looking forward to this, I'll let you know my thoughts on the bridge too, but I reckon it'll kick arse

ThePrettyDamned

Bumpy wumpy for this.

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2401/13166770654_7736b76950_c.jpg

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2795/13166500425_60028397e5_z.jpg

So I put a couple more black BASE coats over the whole thing, including the entire front, because it goes on so thin, it really just adds a bit of depth and a nice sheen.  

Then today, I mixed 50/50 purple deep colour and gloss top coat, used a cotton bud to mix and used that on the front (with some more dark onyx base coat around the edges and blended).  It looks pretty amazing now.  

The edge on the right side (of the pic) is lighter - more grey - and the blend is not as perfect, but it's just down to the way the wood took the colour.  It looks fine in most light, but from some angles it looks a bit abrupt.  

I'll get over it, because it's starting to look really great! 

steamabacus

That really is starting to come together. Impressive.

ThePrettyDamned

Yeah, it's a slow process but it's coming on. I'm going to keep the back up with base coats of onyx and the front with the purple mixed with top coat to help keep the colour depth going up.

I'll possibly need to get another bottle of top coat, but it'll be worth it. It's finishing much smoother than the jazzmaster did, albeit with a couple of more 'faded' looking areas. It looks cool though.

JookyChap

Looks great so far, that colour really works. Nice

ThePrettyDamned

Cheers mate! It's pretty nice now.

Just did another base coat on back and sides (not much change there, but it DOES look proper nice) and another base coat/purple-mixed-with-gloss-topcoat on the front.

As you can see, it's pretty sweet.

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3773/13215713713_527ba68e29_z.jpg

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3678/13215708883_af79e398b3_z.jpg

The right side of the pic (which is the, er, left of the body) is a bit light on the edge where it should be dark grey, it's more light grey.  Not much I can do about that, really.  I'm just keeping up with the base coats which helps get it a tiny bit darker each time, you can see what I mean in the second picture.  So not a flawless finish, but it still looks really quite nice.  

And it's starting to get proper shine, thanks to the gloss coat on the front.

I've mixed the gloss coat with black deep colour for the back and sides, just to help enhance that when I do finally get around to doing that (probably the end of the week).  So it should, fingers crossed, look nice.  

It looks nicer in person than phone pics! And the purple colour is lovely, I'm glad I rubbed it back so much after the first couple of coats, which left it a bit dark for my tastes.  The purple top coats are adding depth, but not darkness, to each coat, so it looks very nice.  

Should be able to start with the neck in a couple of weeks.  I'm doing this super slow, but I'd rather get it as right as I can.  The neck shouldn't take long anyway then it's just piecing it all together and rocking out.

ThePrettyDamned

Right, I think the front is finished now, and the masking tape has come off the neck.  All top coats were a mix of clear gloss and Amaranthine deep colour, and it seems to have worked really nicely.  

The back and sides have had gloss and onyx deep colour mixed for the top coats, and I just ran out.  I've also added some purple top coats to the back and sides, too, and it's looking really nice, but needs a couple more coats to get it up to the same shine as the front.  Here it is with the masking tape off the neck.

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3736/13443568774_d0bae9c237_c.jpg

Sadly, the frog tape was great for the most part but a couple of bits appear to have been destroyed, so I'll need to sand the edge of the fretboard a little right in the corners.  

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3796/13443307333_ddb40c775e_c.jpg

Anyway, in a few days, I'll be resanding the back of the neck and start finishing that.  Then it's just wire wooling the fingerboard, adding lemon oil and putting it together! Easy.  I think there was a thread here on wire wooling the fretboard, so I'll refer to that.  It's lovely and smooth already, but there are a few fingerprints on it that have been nicely preserved by the tape :P

I've got our man @theguitarweasel working on a neat set of pickups for it, something a bit different to the norm.  Then it'll be off to feline for a set up.  YAY. So even if it looks completely amateur, it'll play really nicely and sound great.  

steamabacus

ThePrettyDamned said:

So even if it looks completely amateur, it'll play really nicely and sound great.  

Certainly doesn't look amateur to me. Looking forward to seeing it fully assembled.

ThePrettyDamned

steamabacus said:

ThePrettyDamned said:

So even if it looks completely amateur, it'll play really nicely and sound great.  

Certainly doesn't look amateur to me. Looking forward to seeing it fully assembled.

When you look close, the devil is in the details, such as the masking not being completely flawless, and the occasional rub mark.  Nothing bad, but you'd know if you saw it in person, right up close.  

Still, it is looking pretty fine