I found a body in the loft, sacked it!

paulnb57

Guitar body, not human..
I was in the loft yesterday looking for something and found a Thinline Stratele HH body I forgot I had….it was from GSPBasses, years ago and was finished in green permanent ink and Tru Oiled, it was ok and it sat around a while, it faded, I tried a refinish, cocked it up, sanded it back and cocked it up again. It was resigned to the loft, while I got on with life and other partscasters, where it sat for years as I genuinely forgot I had it. I had an hour to spare today, so I just sanded the top back to bare wood, reasonably confident Id make a mess of it again. I found some black ink, that I think I got the first time I dyed this body, it was pretty solid, but there was a bit that was usable after stirring, so that got applied, it dried and I sanded it back. Rummaging around the manor I found a bottle of spirit based mid brown leather dye, so applied that in a sort of burst, well blow me, it turned out pretty well.
I had the Tru Oil out for the challenge build, so gave it a couple of coats too. I think it has potential….it needs several more coats of Tru Oil, then I need to sand the rest of it. Sods Law it turned out nice. I think I probably have enough parts kicking around to complete it

matt_sefton

That looks awesome - would really pop with gloss lacquer?

Strangefan

That's a lovely body you have there, great find 

paulnb57

matt_sefton said:

That looks awesome - would really pop with gloss lacquer?

Pretty sure it will pop with more Tru Oil

matt_sefton

paulnb57 said:

matt_sefton said:

That looks awesome - would really pop with gloss lacquer?

Pretty sure it will pop with more Tru Oil

I’ve never used tru-oil so don’t know much about it. Look forward to seeing how it turns out

paulnb57

Aplloed a couple more coats of oil and all was progessing nicely, too nicely..
Before I got too excited I started preparing the rest of the body, that was pretty rough and had runs in the finish, when I noticed that the top has been sanded so many times, that I have almost sanded through to the mahogany on the top horn…..Im a bit miffed, but shit happens, so Im sacking it for now
In the future Im sure Ill go back to it and perhaps make a router sled and rout the top off and replace it, but then, it might go on the log burner. Time to quit and focus on my challenge stuff.
Not everything turns out right…

Strangefan

Pah dont worry about! It still looks awesome 

Andyjr1515

Lovely job.  I think I remember this when it was green?  If I am remembering rightly, that was pretty good too - but this is totally tip top! 

axisus

Looks great. I could happily rock that guitar!

TTony

paulnb57 said:

In the future Im sure Ill go back to it and perhaps make a router sled and rout the top off and replace it, but then, it might go on the log burner. 

Do NOT put it on the log burner!

I'll swap you for some logs that you're welcome to put on the burner instead.


Yup, slide the top off, and put a new top on it would be my suggestion too.  I've done that a few times with builds that have gone slightly awry.

paulnb57

It wont go on the log burner

It will go on the back burner

Sometime n the past I routed a small  roundover round the top edge, this morning I scraped back the round over to created a faux binding, thats when I noticed the thin top and the binding doesnt look right and that would bother me greatly…I might have a solution, but I need to concentrate on my challenge entries really, typical me, got distracted by something else….

Funkfingers

Is that sacked, as in Rome or as in Mourinho? 

ICBM

paulnb57 said:

It wont go on the log burner

It will go on the back burner

Sometime n the past I routed a small  roundover round the top edge, this morning I scraped back the round over to created a faux binding, thats when I noticed the thin top and the binding doesnt look right and that would bother me greatly…I might have a solution, but I need to concentrate on my challenge entries really, typical me, got distracted by something else….

Sunburst finish.

And I don't mean like Be-Bop Deluxe .

roberty

Looks amazing

paulnb57

I have few options in order of possible ease

Finish prep the sides and back then stain the same dark brown to hide the thin edge of the figure as above from ICBM create a sunburst, however the top has had several coats of Tru Oil and I cant really sand it off…

Ditto, mask the top and paint the back and sides

Replace the top

I need to do thinking….I tend to be quite spontaneous, but it will go onto the back burner until Im inspired….

Its particularly galling as it looks pretty good so far..sods law….

ICBM

Or - albeit this is far harder, and there's a risk of more serious damage if you get it wrong - properly bind the top, probably with maple or some other pale wood binding. If done right it would look fantastic.

paulnb57

ICBM said:

Or - albeit this is far harder, and there's a risk of more serious damage if you get it wrong - properly bind the top, probably with maple or some other pale wood binding. If done right it would look fantastic.

Agreed, and something that occurred to me too, but I dont have the kit or the expertise, but on saying that I have a router, so it would just require a router bit and loads of bottle….and the risk isnt really a risk as Ive almost written it off…the top is at least flat. Dammit, more bloody thinking!

paulnb57

@ICBM is there a specific bit for routing a binding channel?

ICBM

paulnb57 said:

@ICBM is there a specific bit for routing a binding channel?

Yes, just Google ‘binding router bit’ . They have a bearing below the cutter which runs on the side of the body and produces a consistent channel depth - in theory .

victorludorum

You could just stain it black and then the sand through won't show (I would think). I used Osmo with oil paints as per @Roland 's advice. It worked a treat for me with a dark red/brown colour (not unlike what you've done here), so I would imagine black would work fine and give good coverage.

Roland

ICBM said:

paulnb57 said:

@ICBM is there a specific bit for routing a binding channel?

Yes, just Google ‘binding router bit’ . They have a bearing below the cutter which runs on the side of the body and produces a consistent channel depth - in theory .

Buy one from Wealden