Winter 2017 Build Off - Padauk Single Cut

[I-Am-The-Slime]

Gorgeous!

 

[lbridenstine]

Thanks everyone!

No finish on it at this point. I still need to carve the rest of the heel and the belly cut.

I was able to get it setup good enough for recording, there's a couple shots in here:

 

[chinjazz]

Hi Lisa, wondering if you ever decided on a finish for your awesome looking bass?

I was having a read back on your build thread and learned one more great tip (thanks).
I noticed that after you glued on the peg head cap, you used your planer to thickness it, then later on you glued it on. I think I'll alter my plans to do the same. By the way, I recently bought a Cutech planer and like it
Still learning the ins and outs of dealing with occasional snipe.

Anyway, once again, beautifully designed and executed bass!
Cheers, Adam

 

[lbridenstine]

Hi Lisa, wondering if you ever decided on a finish for your awesome looking bass?

I was having a read back on your build thread and learned one more great tip (thanks).
I noticed that after you glued on the peg head cap, you used your planer to thickness it, then later on you glued it on. I think I'll alter my plans to do the same. By the way, I recently bought a Cutech planer and like it
Still learning the ins and outs of dealing with occasional snipe.

Anyway, once again, beautifully designed and executed bass!
Cheers, Adam

Yeah, I'm planning on doing blonde shellac as a sealer, followed by water based grain filler, then EM6000 water based lacquer for the main finish.

I'm going to try getting back to this soon. I've been playing shows with the bass since I assembled it.

Which Cutech planer did you get? The one I got has a "Snipe Lock" on it that seems to work really well. I haven't had any issues with it so far.

Thank you! Good luck with yours.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

I have a Delta 12” planer that does a nice job , but it will snipe, regardless of the cutter head lock. Recently I’ve been running sacrificial wood like pine through either side of anything I can’t afford to cut off the snipe, it works. Mine has the double sided replaceable blades, and using sharp ones makes a big difference in tear out . I still have to be really careful with figured wood, if they aren’t brand new, it’ll tear out.

 

[chinjazz]

Yeah, I'm planning on doing blonde shellac as a sealer, followed by water based grain filler, then EM6000 water based lacquer for the main finish.

I'm going to try getting back to this soon. I've been playing shows with the bass since I assembled it.

Which Cutech planer did you get? The one I got has a "Snipe Lock" on it that seems to work really well. I haven't had any issues with it so far.

Thank you! Good luck with yours.

Cool stuff on the finish! I need to check into shalacks, water based sealers and EM6000 water based laquer. It’s most likely rich looking.

I ended up with the Cutech (a version behind yours): Link Removed
I’ve learned how to set up the fold out tables to kill the pesky snipe. I had a bit of a journey buying and returning 3 DeWalt DW734’s - each had some broken part or deficit. This process afforded me some planer setup chops, and some heavy box lifting

 

[Snort]

I have built a Bass with Paduak op and Back, this hangs on my wall when not in use, I have not been able to keep the orange raw wood colour, but have resigned to the dark red brown colouration, it still looks great, just not as eye catching as Orange. I didn't have any issues gluing these laminates together using tightbond. I did have issues with the Cocobolo fretboard lifting after a few months and had to realign and glue using epoxy. Paduak is heavy!!

 

[lbridenstine]

Cool stuff on the finish! I need to check into shalacks, water based sealers and EM6000 water based laquer. It’s most likely rich looking.

I ended up with the Cutech (a version behind yours): Link Removed
I’ve learned how to set up the fold out tables to kill the pesky snipe. I had a bit of a journey buying and returning 3 DeWalt DW734’s - each had some broken part or deficit. This process afforded me some planer setup chops, and some heavy box lifting

That's rough about the Dewalts, but I'm glad you have one that's working for you now!

I have built a Bass with Paduak op and Back, this hangs on my wall when not in use, I have not been able to keep the orange raw wood colour, but have resigned to the dark red brown colouration, it still looks great, just not as eye catching as Orange. I didn't have any issues gluing these laminates together using tightbond. I did have issues with the Cocobolo fretboard lifting after a few months and had to realign and glue using epoxy. Paduak is heavy!!

Nice, which finish did you use on yours?

Mine has been living in a case, but comes out 1-2 times a week for practice or shows and the color is holding up so far without finish. I definitely want to get it finished soon anyway.

 

[lbridenstine]

I have a couple weeks until the next show, so here I am taking the bass apart.

What I had left is:
-Carve belly cut
-Carve heel & heel end of neck
-A small forearm/bow contour
-Sand
-Finish

I got the $9.99 angle grinder from Harbor Freight and got to try it out today. It was pretty fun!

I used a 60 grit flap disc.

Belly cut:

(hit the right arrow on the video to see the heel)

Forearm:

I have a bit more sanding to do, then I can get it shellaced.

 

[Jon Clegg]

I have a couple weeks until the next show, so here I am taking the bass apart.

What I had left is:
-Carve belly cut
-Carve heel & heel end of neck
-A small forearm/bow contour
-Sand
-Finish

I got the $9.99 angle grinder from Harbor Freight and got to try it out today. It was pretty fun!

I used a 60 grit flap disc.

Belly cut:

(hit the right arrow on the video to see the heel)

Forearm:




View attachment 3194447

View attachment 3194448

View attachment 3194449

I have a bit more sanding to do, then I can get it shellaced.

That looks great. The process looks pretty easy to control as well (or maybe you just make it look easy ) I have one of those but have yet to use it.

 

[lbridenstine]

That looks great. The process looks pretty easy to control as well (or maybe you just make it look easy ) I have one of those but have yet to use it.

Thanks! It seemed easy to me. I actually think it might have helped if the disc was a little smaller when I was working in the heel area though.

 

[chinjazz]

Yeah, that looks great! As Jon said, you definitely made it look easy. I always wondered what it would be like carving with an angle grinder. Inspiring!

Those curved lines look butter smooth!

 

[I-Am-The-Slime]

very nice!

 

[wraub]

Your work has improved so much, the quality is apparent.

You should be quite proud.

 

[lbridenstine]

Thanks guys!

 

[Beej]

Yup, your work, and documentation of same is really high end.

 

[Fat Freddy]

What the others said...^^^

 

[lbridenstine]

Thanks!

Shellac! It's a pretty thick coat. I'm hoping I can get away with just 1 coat before the grain fill. What do you guys think? I don't usually do a seal coat before grain filling.

 

[Jon Clegg]

Thanks!

Shellac! It's a pretty thick coat. I'm hoping I can get away with just 1 coat before the grain fill. What do you guys think? I don't usually do a seal coat before grain filling.





View attachment 3195425

View attachment 3195426

It was looking sweet unfinished, now I can see how that will really pop.

 

[lbridenstine]

So, the answer to "is 1 coat of shellac enough" was a no. I sanded thru in a few spots .

So far I've done 4 thick coats of grain filler and it's still not filled. Erg. I'll keep going, then re-do the shellac. I think that the shellac on the padauk is okay, so I'm going to try to keep that so I don't have to wipe with acetone again.

This shot is before any filler:

These are after 2 coats:

I didn't take a picture where I left off, but it was looking filled when the filler was still wet, then shrunk back again as it dried. Have any of you used Aqua Coat?