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Should I document my kit builds here?
- Thread starter Markshan
- Start date
Thank you. I love when people use words that I have to look up. It expands my horizons.Looking goodCan't wait to see that chatoyance come alive with more coats!
I need opinions again. I had in my head a fairly clear vision of what I wanted for the body and to my own amazement I was able to come pretty close to what I saw in my mind's eye. However, I have absolutely no idea what I want to do with the headstock. The neck feels good as it is so I could very easily not do anything to it. They didn't use the Tele shape and I'm not in love with what they did. I wouldn't mind reshaping it some but I don't know exactly what I would want to do with it, and I also have to refinish if I reshape.
If I made it as dark of a green as the body I wouldn't be able to use a water slide logo because it wouldn't show against that. I can't decide if I did it a very light green if that would be complementary and allow the logo to be seen.
Lastly, I recently found out that you can get custom branding irons on Amazon for like $25. So now I can't even decide if I want to go with a water slide like I've always done on other projects or if this one with the dark colors and the oiled finish might not be well suited to a wood burned logo instead of a decal.
If I made it as dark of a green as the body I wouldn't be able to use a water slide logo because it wouldn't show against that. I can't decide if I did it a very light green if that would be complementary and allow the logo to be seen.
Lastly, I recently found out that you can get custom branding irons on Amazon for like $25. So now I can't even decide if I want to go with a water slide like I've always done on other projects or if this one with the dark colors and the oiled finish might not be well suited to a wood burned logo instead of a decal.
There isn't enough wood on the nose to reshape to a Tele profile, were you so inclined. You could add a "wing", but then you'd have a visible line, and capping Fender style headstocks is no fun.
Accepting it for what it is (mostly finished) might be the move here.
My take on waterslide decals: I print them on laser specific clear waterslide paper (inkjet decal paper will melt and ruin your laser printer). Laser decals don't need sealing. To get solid, opaque color, start by printing the logo or letters hollow/outlined.
Cut out the decal, soak, flip it over on the decal paper, let dry. Then, buy some fine point -paint- pens and carefully color inside the lines. Let dry, soak, flip, apply.
Works great. Also, tedious AF.
Some paint filled decal example pics:
Fender font (Strato), laser printed outlined letters, gold paint pen filler. Buried in lacquer. Capped Fender style headstock, 5¢ string retainer.
Paulish bass headstock, decal filled with silver paint pen (kinda sloppy on this one).
Truss rod cover, silver paint pen again.
Rick
Accepting it for what it is (mostly finished) might be the move here.
My take on waterslide decals: I print them on laser specific clear waterslide paper (inkjet decal paper will melt and ruin your laser printer). Laser decals don't need sealing. To get solid, opaque color, start by printing the logo or letters hollow/outlined.
Cut out the decal, soak, flip it over on the decal paper, let dry. Then, buy some fine point -paint- pens and carefully color inside the lines. Let dry, soak, flip, apply.
Works great. Also, tedious AF.
Some paint filled decal example pics:
Fender font (Strato), laser printed outlined letters, gold paint pen filler. Buried in lacquer. Capped Fender style headstock, 5¢ string retainer.
Paulish bass headstock, decal filled with silver paint pen (kinda sloppy on this one).
Truss rod cover, silver paint pen again.
Rick
Yeah, I had already ruled out trying to shape it like a Tele. I just haven't come up with inspiration for a different shape yet, but I will. I LOVE the way you did those decals. I don't have a laser printer though. Your string tree is pretty cool too. Is that legal?
What does capping a headstock mean?
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It's illegal to melt US pennies or nickels for the purpose of selling the recovered metal for profit (melt value).
Using US coins as raw material for projects and crafts is legal (value added). Melted into sculpture, hammered flat, turned into rings, etc., all fine.
Headstock veneer. Layer/veneer of wood (usually) glued to the face of the head stock. Makes things pretty. Fender style headstocks aren't flat, though. And the end of fretboard is blended into the curve. Lots of extra work.
Rick
Has anyone here used one of those custom branding irons? Did you like the result? Is it a steep learning curve?
I can't answer re: branding irons, but what I will say is, if you decide to stain the headstock to match the body, the gold would look killer against it.
What gold? I don't understand.
As far as a matching stain goes, I'm not sure that the maple would even match the Okoume.
I guess at this point I should mention that I was being facetious.
Gold like the logos that @rickwrench posted. I know that's not what you posted about originally but I just thought it would look good. As for the stain matching, you're probably right about that.
I get it now. That could work. I may have to find a friend with a laser printer. I like the idea of coloring from the back. I used to occasionally put painted ads in the window of a store I worked at. So that idea of working from behind the image has some nostalgia for me.
I did a quick wet sand with thousand grit tonight to prepare for a second coat of oil tomorrow. To my unpleasant surprise it took off some color. Faintly noticeable in a couple spots but really not too bad. That got me to wondering, would it work if I put a few drops of the green dye into the tung oil?
So the reading I did says that you can use an oil-based dye in tung oil. I'm using the leather dye which is alcohol based. So I just decided that the couple slightly lighter spots would add a little character and went ahead and put on my second coat of oil. Just oil. I'll put up another picture tomorrow.
Second coat of tung oil, 24 hours later...
in the earlier post I mentioned the wet sanding taking off some of the green. However, wiping the second coat of tung oil did the same thing. I also noticed that the spots that got lighter were the same spots that were light after the first application of leather dye. So what I'm thinking now is it wasn't the sanding or the oil that did it, but rather it was that the second coat of leather dye didn't really stick. I'm thinking in the future if I don't think it's dark enough I need to not treat it like paint and let it dry and then apply more, but rather I need to apply more right away while the first coat is still wet. In effect making it a heavier first coat rather than two lighter coats.
I didn't like anything I was reading about dying tung oil, but I read that a lot of people who use tung oil finishes will coat them with one coat of shellac after they are done with the oil. I also read that shellac will cover anything, mix with anything, that it's kind of the universal finish. So if I get six or eight coats of oil on here and I still feel like it's too light perhaps I will finish it with one coat of shellac tinted with the green leather dye. Stay tuned.
I didn't like anything I was reading about dying tung oil, but I read that a lot of people who use tung oil finishes will coat them with one coat of shellac after they are done with the oil. I also read that shellac will cover anything, mix with anything, that it's kind of the universal finish. So if I get six or eight coats of oil on here and I still feel like it's too light perhaps I will finish it with one coat of shellac tinted with the green leather dye. Stay tuned.
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Are you happy (enough) with the color coverage? If not, you're only 2 coats in. You can still stop, call "try #1" a learning experience, strip/sand it down to bare, and start fresh. Could be the areas where the dye lifted may have had some residual original sealer left behind.
Shellac is... a great wood sealer, and pretty much everything will stick to dewaxed shellac. I love working with fresh mixed shellac myself, and use it a lot (as sealer, mostly, under lacquer).
Shellac isn't clear, it varies in color from -almost- clear, but still slightly yellowing (platina), to red (garnet). The color is translucent, but still, you're looking through the color to see the wood.
Using it under pure tung oil would keep the tung oil from penetrating into the wood, which is kind of the whole point of tung oil.
Laying a coat on top of the tung oil finish seems the wrong direction, too, as tung oil is a tougher finish than shellac.
Rick
Shellac is... a great wood sealer, and pretty much everything will stick to dewaxed shellac. I love working with fresh mixed shellac myself, and use it a lot (as sealer, mostly, under lacquer).
Shellac isn't clear, it varies in color from -almost- clear, but still slightly yellowing (platina), to red (garnet). The color is translucent, but still, you're looking through the color to see the wood.
Using it under pure tung oil would keep the tung oil from penetrating into the wood, which is kind of the whole point of tung oil.
Laying a coat on top of the tung oil finish seems the wrong direction, too, as tung oil is a tougher finish than shellac.
Rick
Thank you for this. I was under the impression that shellac was harder than tung oil. Maybe it's glossier? I'm not worried about gloss I'm just trying to remember why the one builder recommended putting the shellac over the oil.
No, I'm not unhappy with the finish. Certainly not unhappy enough to sand the whole thing back and start over. Of course I don't know how it's going to look over the next couple months as additional coats cure. I'm basically just thinking out loud and looking for good input like you gave me.
If more color comes off as I do the third coat of oil that could change things.
