Refinish

Andyjr1515

Looking good @Adam_MD    You will probably find the neck strips easier.  I rarely find I need the heat gun for a neck although almost always use one for poly finish bodies.

Adam_MD

Thanks @Andyjr1515 I'll get time this weekend to finish it fingers crossed.  When you stain with ink do you use grain filler after staining?  I'm assuming it won't stain properly if I grain fill it first.  What do you use?  When I did the tele you can feel the grain and I'd like a properly flat finish this time but I've never used grain filler before and have no idea how to proceed :-) 

Andyjr1515

Adam_MD said:

Thanks @Andyjr1515 I'll get time this weekend to finish it fingers crossed.  When you stain with ink do you use grain filler after staining?  I'm assuming it won't stain properly if I grain fill it first.  What do you use?  When I did the tele you can feel the grain and I'd like a properly flat finish this time but I've never used grain filler before and have no idea how to proceed :-) 

Hi, @Adam_MD   Sorry for the delay - just this minute got back from a short trip overseas so only just got your post!
There are a number of ways you could do it - I'll post this evening methods I've used that have worked but I'm sure there are other ways too.

Andyjr1515

Hi again @Adam_MD ;;

I'm sure some of the others will chip in because there are many ways this can be done.  However, there are two ways I would personally consider, depending on the wood and the finished colour:

• Grain fill with a stainable filler, then sand back down to the wood, then stain, then tru-oil or varnish

Or

• Stain, seal with tru-oil, light slurry and buff (a variant on @WezV 's excellent tru-oil method) and either leave like that or subsequently varnish

For the first method, there is a description here at the bottom of the page then the next page (used as crack filling rather than grain filling but it will work the same) using stainable metolux/Timbermate decorators filler

For the second method, I used it on my recently finished GSPBasses LPJ doublecut here

Hope this helps

Adam_MD

Thanks @Andyjr1515 I'll probably have a go at option 1.  The last time I used tru oil there was no stain involved so I was able to use Wezv's slurry method for a flat thin finish.  This time I want the same kind of finish I got on my tele but flat so option 1 it is.

Cheers I'll post an update when I find some more time to work on it.  

Andyjr1515

Adam_MD said:

Thanks @Andyjr1515 I'll probably have a go at option 1.  The last time I used tru oil there was no stain involved so I was able to use Wezv's slurry method for a flat thin finish.  This time I want the same kind of finish I got on my tele but flat so option 1 it is.

Cheers I'll post an update when I find some more time to work on it.  

That makes sense.  If you use timbermate, pre-tint the filler by adding a few drops of the stain to a small scoop of the filler.  It will not only colour it, but also water it down making it a lot easier to apply and subsequently sand.  Once dry and sanded, staining the filled wood should make the fills almost invisible.

Adam_MD

Excellent thanks Andy

Andyjr1515

Final thing - the timbermate comes in two stainable shades - dark and light.  Not overly critical for grain fill, but I find the dark version is the best for most mid to dark woods.  That's the one you see the photo of on the above thread.

Jalapeno

Nice piece of wood !