Archtop & Solidbody. Languedoc inspired

WezV

After letting that soak in for a few minutes I buffed off the excess oil

Its getting well towards an acceptable finish now.



I think I will repeat that process tomorrow, them more forward with rubbing some osmo in for a little extra hardness.

It's a strong colour, but you can also see wood grain when you get close.  Not that Poplar has much grain to speak of.

ThePrettyDamned

It looks a lot older than it is.

In a good way I mean - almost like an aged piece of painted furniture. 

Andyjr1515

Yes - that's looking a lot better.  It's a very pleasing colour.

WezV

Necks carved, just needs final sanding and fretting.




I think its only the second or third one piece neck I have made  in the last 20 years, but I rather enjoyed it.   The afromosia carved really nicely

NPP

Hi Wez, do you think if you mixed the milk paint with oil from the beginning and used your wet sanding method it would come out glossy? 

I used your wet sanding method for a clear finish on my Strat to good effect, but for a Tele project I'm about to start I think I want some colour.

WezV

I'm not sure.

The milk paint mixed with the oil well, but obviously started to gum up in the container. Milk paint only lasts a couple of hours, so this was expected   The pigments certainly coloured the oil quite strongly, but the solids in the milk paint all sunk and went hard.

So I think buying milk paint just to colour oil would be the long way round and not very successful.   Better to build up a few coats of oil before wetsanding, just to ensure you don't sand through 

Roland

@NNP. You could other pigments. I’ve used Osmo 3032 as a carrier for oil paint pigments, and believe that Wudtone is Osmo and dye pigment.

NPP

Roland said:

@NNP. You could other pigments. I’ve used Osmo 3032 as a carrier for oil paint pigments, and believe that Wudtone is Osmo and dye pigment.

thanks Roland and Wez! I'm aware of Wudtone but following the instructions to the letter might tax my patience so I hoped for an alternative that was closer to the slurry method. 

@WezV do you mean milk paint on the untreated body, then a couple of coats of oil and then wet sanding, wax and buffing? I could manage that I think. 

WezV

I didn't ever get good colour from wudtone, but in hindsight I think I was expecting too much from it

NPP said:

@WezV do you mean milk paint on the untreated body, then a couple of coats of oil and then wet sanding, wax and buffing? I could manage that I think. 

That's essentially what i have ended up with here, and its worked.   It will also work that way by staining the wood.   Just tinting the oil doesn't work as well, you need a good solid base colour first.   

Whichever way you get colour on, you have to be careful wet sanding as its easy to alter the consistency of the colour or sand through completely, but very hard to add colour back on

If using an oil like osmo its easy to build up a thicker harder layer of oil on top of your colour coat.   Some people use tru-oil this was too, but osmo does work better if intending on building up a solid coat

I don't think I will wet sand this one with oil, but do now have enough osmo on it  to buff with fine wirewool and briwax and get to a similar end result

NPP

thanks Wez, that's very helpful and I'll now stop derailing your thread!

WezV

I don't mind a derail. I often derail my own threads. this was supposed to be about an archtop, but I'm waiting for better weather to start that one properly  

WezV

hard to capture the colours on this.   The finish is looking good, but i still need to level off and finish the oil coats.  I also need to clean finish buildup out all the routes so those wooden parts fit nicely again, but here is a mockup



different light

WezV

sadly the oil didn;t work over the milk paint. First coats seems to have soaked right in, but it became apparent it just had a layer sitting on top of the finish which would scratch pretty easily.

I'm going to sand most of it back, and re-do the milk paint.  I might try spraying it

once i have a good colour coat again I think i should just be able to buff it out with Briwax and wire wool

Test on scrap and all that.... I rarely actually do it  

WezV

not sure where i am with the finish on this.

it didn't respond well to spraying as it was hard to get a mix of paint that worked through the gun without needing it to be too wet.

But that revealed an interesting effect from using milk paint too wet.  It ended up looking like a Tyler Shmear in old copper covered in verdigris.

I'm running out of the paint now.  Part of me is tempted to spray some ocean turquoise nitro and move on from the milk paint, but I'm going to have a play first.

I do like the milk paint.  it goes on really easily, dries hard and sands really well the next day.  But it is hard to get a consistent coat on  a guitar.  Brushing seemed a bitstreaky.  Foam roller left it quite textured.  It would work great as a worn finish when nitro is not an option.  Needs more practice for a solid consistent coat

ThePrettyDamned

WezV said:

not sure where i am with the finish on this.

it didn't respond well to spraying as it was hard to get a mix of paint that worked through the gun without needing it to be too wet.

But that revealed an interesting effect from using milk paint too wet.  It ended up looking like a Tyler Shmear in old copper covered in verdigris.

I'm running out of the paint now.  Part of me is tempted to spray some ocean turquoise nitro and move on from the milk paint, but I'm going to have a play first.

I do like the milk paint.  it goes on really easily, dries hard and sands really well the next day.  But it is hard to get a consistent coat on  a guitar.  Brushing seemed a bitstreaky.  Foam roller left it quite textured.  It would work great as a worn finish when nitro is not an option.  Needs more practice for a solid consistent coat

I guess that aligns well with it's most common use - ie faux-aged furniture with deliberate wear. 

I wish I could recommend mtn water based spray to you from my thread, but it's still a touch soft - I hope because I sprayed too much too often, but I feel like it it just a bit softer than nitro in general. The clear coat is promising mind...

For what it's worth, the colour you chose was great. Apparently a lot of people use a wipe on finish in matte - I linked it earlier in the thread - but obviously doesn't help you with an oil finish or sprayed finish... 

WezV

yeah, there is more I could try with it, but that will likely be for a future build. 

I'm just having fun with this now, if the final result doesn't suit the guitar I will strip and spray nitro

I've just done another light coat and spritzed it all with a mist of water to make it run.  This is totally not what I was originally after when i chose this paint,  and not everyone will like it, but i like it enough so see where i can take it

ThePrettyDamned

That looks really cool as well, has a bit of a Van Gogh starry nights vibe to the swirls. 

WezV

I'm actually really happy with the way this has turned out for a happy accident with too much water in the milk paint

I've just been scraping out the cavities so all the wooden parts fit again.  Its had big drips scraped flat, then a good rub down with fine wire wool and briwax.  think i need to do that once more and its done




My back up option also arrived, but will be saved for something else i think

susbemol

Looking great! It looks like it's designed to have fixed pickup heights, is that right?

WezV

susbemol said:

Looking great! It looks like it's designed to have fixed pickup heights, is that right?

The whole plate can be raised , lowered and tilted as needed.... plus the pickup poles will be adjustable

How well it works remains to be seen, but it should still be adjustable enough to get a good balance from the pickups