Laguna burger build

[ctmullins]

Feel your pain, bro….

 

[Rôckhewer]

if I was looking any harder, I'd need a microscope.

What... you can still actually "see" stuff ?
... good on ya.
I currently employ TWO bench mounted, articulated & illuminated 30X magnifiers, one illuminated handheld glass.... and magnifying visor with headlamp and 5 different power lens options.
I feel like Mr. Magoo up in dis bich.

 

[BBassBassington]

What... you can still actually "see" stuff ?
... good on ya.
I currently employ TWO bench mounted, articulated & illuminated 30X magnifiers, one illuminated handheld glass.... and magnifying visor with headlamp and 5 different power lens options.
I feel like Mr. Magoo up in dis bich.

Gotta do what you gotta do!

 

[Rôckhewer]

 

[RichterScale]

Actually, I used to struggle with distance and artificial light at night.
My near sight was great. Very helpful for this kinda stuff. In recent years, that's started to go too. So I do that old man thing where you hold the paper at arms length and move it in/out until you find the magic spot where you can just barely read it.
I've had bifocals for a few years but already need new ones.
Those Magoo goggles are in my near future.

 

[/\/\3phist0]

Actually, I used to struggle with distance and artificial light at night.
My near sight was great. Very helpful for this kinda stuff. In recent years, that's started to go too. So I do that old man thing where you hold the paper at arms length and move it in/out until you find the magic spot where you can just barely read it.
I've had bifocals for a few years but already need new ones.
Those Magoo goggles are in my near future.

Goggles, you mean like these?

The final sanding and buffing is the most exacerbating part for me, especially since I love high gloss.
A buffing wheel / machine makes the process so much easier.
I built one with an old motor, and a Shopfox buffing arbor.
Buffing Arbor Assembly, ShopFox
And a 39.00 HF grinder stand.

Only need to sand to 1000 the buffer takes over from there.
Look at the finish on the Tasty Walnut Jazz.

 

[RichterScale]

The final sanding and buffing is the most exacerbating part for me, especially since I love high gloss.
A buffing wheel / machine makes the process so much easier.

Oh man, I'm not even there yet. I'm still sanding wood. I got to 400 grit and spot sanding with 220. I wiped it down, wrapped it up and put it away. I'm hoping my next session will be 400-600 with fresh eyes, then get finish on.
Which I'm sure will be filled with even more anxiety and regret.
The most I've done with finish is wipe-on stains and spray poly. The first and one of the only times I did manually applied clear was an oak dining rm table I made 25 yrs ago. I knew nothing about finishing and ended up redoing it 3 times. This bass is the first project that I've cared about the finish this much since that table. Luckily, unlike back then, I can talk to people all over the internet and look at pics/vids on my phone on how to do this stuff. That's still no guarantee that I won't screw it up. But it helps.
Now the trick is to be patient with the steps and put the hours in. Usually my add kicks in and I'm eyeing up my next adventure, so I tend to hurry through. The last thing I wanna do is go through all this work and then find I have tons of mistakes trapped under the finish,...and on the finish.
Lots of struggles on this project.
Yeah yeah, I'll be a better person when it's done and all that horse$#!t.

 

[Matt Liebenau]

To paraphrase Jerry Rosa from a couple of his videos, the first 80% of the build is 20% of the work and the last 20% (all the fine details and finishing) is 80% of the work. Stick with it, you’ll get there. I’m working through refinishing a couple of old bodies because I got frustrated and decided they were “good enough” then, after they were finished, all I could see was the flaws so now I’m redoing them. Fun stuff!

 

[ctmullins]

Pareto strikes again!

 

[/\/\3phist0]

Oh man, I'm not even there yet. I'm still sanding wood. I got to 400 grit and spot sanding with 220. I wiped it down, wrapped it up and put it away. I'm hoping my next session will be 400-600 with fresh eyes, then get finish on.
Which I'm sure will be filled with even more anxiety and regret.
The most I've done with finish is wipe-on stains and spray poly. The first and one of the only times I did manually applied clear was an oak dining rm table I made 25 yrs ago. I knew nothing about finishing and ended up redoing it 3 times. This bass is the first project that I've cared about the finish this much since that table. Luckily, unlike back then, I can talk to people all over the internet and look at pics/vids on my phone on how to do this stuff. That's still no guarantee that I won't screw it up. But it helps.
Now the trick is to be patient with the steps and put the hours in. Usually my add kicks in and I'm eyeing up my next adventure, so I tend to hurry through. The last thing I wanna do is go through all this work and then find I have tons of mistakes trapped under the finish,...and on the finish.
Lots of struggles on this project.
Yeah yeah, I'll be a better person when it's done and all that horse$#!t.

Sandpaper choice is critical to the process on wood.
Stearated paper helps a lot since it doesn't load up. Most useful in the removal stage. Actually, I use it at all stages, as loaded paper can gouge the surface.
Also, at the removal stage, any flat areas should be blocked with a large flat (truly flat) MDF block for example.
Using a small block, or a soft block, allows an uneven surface to develop.

Too much pressure also is your enemy when surfacing a variable hardness surface like wood. During the removal phase, with a soft block, the softer areas between the winter rings gets taken down more quickly, and leaves the hard bands standing proud. A soft block makes the situation worse, as it allows the paper to dip lower into the areas that are softer, making it an exercise in futility.

A HARD large block used with less pressure , just skating lightly across the surface will yield a more even, less deeply scratched surface. As only the cutting edges will only abrade the surface they touch. Think of it as letting a razor blade being used as a scraper, light pressure it glides and leaves a smooth surface, whereas more pressure induces 'chatter'.

Just the very tips of the grit do the work, more pressure cuts deeper groves that are harder to remove with the next grit.

And as to the curved surfaces, I have found 3m super flexible paper to be a godsend.

 

[RichterScale]

Pareto strikes again!

Is that similar to, "I'm 100% right, 60% of the time"?

 

[dwizum]

I've lost track of the thread. What type of finish are you putting on it?

 

[RichterScale]

I've lost track of the thread. What type of finish are you putting on it?

I'm going to attempt a method I saw on one of the Highline guitars YT vids.
He did a few coats of solarez and then a coat of carnauba wax and a light buff. It looks similar to an oil finish, but can be completed in a single day.
Although I do like a high gloss finish. So I could use the solarez to fill/level and then topcoat, instead of the wax.
I'll have to decide once the solarez step is complete. But I'm leaning towards the wax and less shine.

 

[RichterScale]

The important bits start at about 5:30

 

[/\/\3phist0]

I'm going to attempt a method I saw on one of the Highline guitars YT vids.
He did a few coats of solarez and then a coat of carnauba wax and a light buff. It looks similar to an oil finish, but can be completed in a single day.
Although I do like a high gloss finish. So I could use the solarez to fill/level and then topcoat, instead of the wax.
I'll have to decide once the solarez step is complete. But I'm leaning towards the wax and less shine.

Hit me up with SolarEZ questions.
It's a joy to use, with proper parameters
The best part is you can screw it up 4 or 5 times in the same day, since it cures so quickly, and sands easily.

I have an issue with one of his first statements. "Soaking in" is NOT what you want! This allows the product to get into the fibers deeper than light can penetrate! Therefore it cannot cure. And will stay fluid.
This is especially problematic with endgrain.
I would choose to seal first with zinzer wax free shellac french polish style ( with a soaked rag and rubbed on)

If you choose to just use ICBINL:
To use SolarEZ as a grain fill, apply thinly and scrape off so the product only remains in the pores, cure for a minute or 2 in full sun.
Apply again scaping off excess. Cure immediately. After that the product will no longer soak in.

I prefer to seal with shellac, all the pockets where endgrain is exposed, and drilled channels get plugged so nothing runs into the areas where light can't reach.

Shellac is super forgiving and dries really quickly. Everything sticks to dewaxed shellac, so unless you are staining or oiling, a shellac seal is step one.

 

[RichterScale]

That whole letting it "soak in" thing came up once before. Thanks for reminding me.
Yeah, not sure what he's thinking. Not sure why he would want it to soak in, for reasons you stated, but it's a little thick to be soaking into tight hardwood. Plus, he's wiping it on thin and then immediately wiping off all the excess. Anything that would get into the pores is being pushed in, not soaking in. So, there's no reason to let it sit around for 10 min.

 

[/\/\3phist0]

That whole letting it "soak in" thing came up once before. Thanks for reminding me.
Yeah, not sure what he's thinking. Not sure why he would want it to soak in, for reasons you stated, but it's a little thick to be soaking into tight hardwood. Plus, he's wiping it on thin and then immediately wiping off all the excess. Anything that would get into the pores is being pushed in, not soaking in. So, there's no reason to let it sit around for 10 min.

The wiping on with a soft towel, is also counter productive if you are looking to fill the pores it dips into the voids and pulls it out again. This isn't french polish
I use a Bondo scraper to remove the excess, or a rubber 'brush' I got at an art store.

You let the topcoat sit to self level before cure. As a grain fill SolarEZ is a great solution. Fill, cure, sand, fill again, cure sand, if pores are filled, on to the next coat, let level, sand with high grit (800 etc) if surface is level, and no burn through , go to 1000 and wax if you desire a satin sheen .
Hand rubbed buffed Carnuba is durable enough for bowling alleys ,

 

[TerribleTim68]

I've used that same Zinsser Seal Coat on a lot of my wood turning projects, it's good stuff.

 

[RichterScale]

K, here's the deal,
This wasn't a scratch build and it was my first, so I've made myself accept that it won't/can't be perfect. I'm making an exec decision and calling the sanding done. There's a few spots where the curves aren't perfect, but it would require me going back to the rasp or 80 grit and working back up. I don't wanna. Also, I wanted to leave all the contrast between the 4 different woods and just do clear, but there's still a lot of black specs in the pores of the maple neck from the old paint job. It would require way too much sanding and removing too much material to get it all out. And it really stands out when I wipe it down with mineral spirits, so it will do the same under a finish. I still have the old maple wings, so I'll run out tomorrow and grab some brown water based dye and stain and test it out on the old wings. I want to stain the whole bass with one color so there's still some contrast, just everything will be much darker. There's a lot I don't like about how this turned out, but that's good. It will help when I do the next one.
Oh, I had the control cover plate in a drawer in the basement. It had alum flashing epoxied to one side and was unfinished. It curled up. My theory is that the exposed side absorbed moisture and expanded on one side, causing it to curl (I was pissed and didn't think to take a pic). The good news is, the alum came off easily and the wood straightened right back out. And I hadn't taken it down to final thickness yet, so I was able to keep it. Which I was very happy about because the grain matched.
The brown stain on the old wing is blotchy, because it was oil stain on rough sanded maple. But it was just to see the color. I also goofed around and tried my homemade sharpie stain on the other side. It dried a nice color, but oddly, it hid all the grain. I'm still gonna use it on the CBG. I mean, mini hollow body resonator octave bass.
I'm staining, top coating, fretting and assembling the burger bass this weekend and calling it good enough. I'm anxious to move on to other projects. I can spend another 2 weeks sanding and fussing with this thing and it will still never be perfect. Time to finish it so I can play it and work on a new bass that's actually worth this kind of effort.

 

[Beej]

It's looking great I was going to try to write some encouraging words about sanding, but when it comes right down to it, sanding is lameballs. Uninviting, tedious, bothersome, possibly incommodious and certainly rebarbative. It's even more annoying than not having any good words for how annoying it is, and having to look up annoying in the thesaurus.