Archtop & Solidbody. Languedoc inspired

WezV · January 2022

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 · January 2022

It looks a lot older than it is.

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

Andyjr1515 · January 2022

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

WezV · January 2022

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 · January 2022

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 · January 2022

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 · January 2022

@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 · January 2022

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 · January 2022

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 · January 2022

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

WezV · January 2022

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 · January 2022

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 · January 2022

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 · February 2022

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 · February 2022

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 · February 2022

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 · February 2022

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

WezV · February 2022

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 · February 2022

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

WezV · February 2022

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

WezV · February 2022

test fit and bridge positioning

I found a spare P-90, but its a slight mismatch on pole spacing. I think i'm going to open up the top of the pickup cover so its a slot rather than holes. that gives me more options for later upgrades, and I think will look pretty cool

Also gonna need top ferrules on the tailpiece as the strings want to cut straight through the wood

ThePrettyDamned · February 2022

I have ordered my paints now for my build, but on the off chance I decide to go for a milk paint, how would I get a finish as smooth as yours? Is it like any other finish (ie paint it on, let it fully dry, sand back smooth and apply another coat if needed)?

I've found a water based milk paint supplier that has some gorgeous colours, and yours has turned out really well. Obviously don't want to spend loads of cash, but a 50g powder pack is about a fiver and would probably make enough for a guitar... Maybe...

WezV · February 2022

Yes, like any other finish really. It's nearly self levelling when you get the mix right. Just needs a bit of denibbing. It sands great, but does get dust everywhere.

For this final finish I obviously had some runs to deal with. I just scraped them level before rubbing the whole lot back with fine wire wool

I think 50g would be a stretch, but I have been quite wasteful in my approach and nearly used a full 170g bag, which makes a pint of paint.

I think I could have achieved this finish in 2 coats now I know how it works

ThePrettyDamned · February 2022

WezV said:

Yes, like any other finish really. It's nearly self levelling when you get the mix right. Just needs a bit of denibbing. It sands great, but does get dust everywhere.

For this final finish I obviously had some runs to deal with. I just scraped them level before rubbing the whole lot back with fine wire wool

I think 50g would be a stretch, but I have been quite wasteful in my approach and nearly used a full 170g bag, which makes a pint of paint.

I think I could have achieved this finish in 2 coats now I know how it works

Spot on! I'll get a bigger bag then.

I think I'll try it. Happy with the sprays, but actually a brushed finish is more easy for me in my space. I'll test and see how it compares.

I will try it with my water based top coat, see if it clouds up or not. Hopefully not. If so, I may try some of the more common oil finishes, like hemp oil or wax.

WezV · February 2022

Briwax leaves it feeling great

WezV · February 2022

Starting to come together

ThePrettyDamned · February 2022

WezV said:

Briwax leaves it feeling great

Excellent. Appreciate your help!

WezV · February 2022

Well shit.

Remember I said the afromosia was very oily and tape wouldn't stick to it... well glue doesn't want to either

I only have one glue join on this, for the truss rod. I glued it up pretty much straight after routing and cleaning the slot with some thinners to remove as much oil as possible. I was using titebond original, but the above process normally helps it work well on oily woods

This morning, the stripe has raised itself

The neck is still nicely straight and playing great, but the rod has pushed this out overnight. This needs to come out and be reglued with something a bit stronger.

Thankfully I don't expect to struggle when it comes to remove it and cleaning up the slot

Also that pic shows some sanding scratches I missed on the transition.

ThePrettyDamned · February 2022

Blimey, it must be oily! Does this mean you'll use a different glue?

WezV · February 2022

Yeah, I've had this with bocote before and that isn't as oily as this. With that I forgot to wipe down before gluing up a laminated neck blank. It came apart in my hands when I started shaping it

The dust from the afromosia actually feels waxy.

This skunk stripe was a tight friction fit, so no issues there.

With other oily woods a wipe with naphtha or thinners is enough to dry the wood off for long enough to glue it. Then the oiliness slowly returns, or can be added back

Think I might need to bathe this in thinners first. Will probably reglue with epoxy as extra insurance.

The guitar is playing great for now, so I will give it a few weeks to see how everything else settles in, than tackle a whole snag list in one go. Really happy with the ergonomics of it, and it plays great. It's been useful to get my head around this design before I make the hollowbody set neck version.

Howdy, Stranger!

Categories

In this Discussion

Become a Subscriber!

Archtop & Solidbody. Languedoc inspired

Comments