My quilted maple project

  • Thread starter Thread starter WhiteStrat
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WhiteStrat

WhiteStrat

Don't stare at the eye.
In another thread I sought advice on finishing quilted maple. I had kinda sorta bought an unfinished body. Thanks much to Muttley and Light for their invaluable help. With the confidence their advice instilled, I got to work.

Here's that thread if you want to read their advice:
https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=272873

As a refresher, here’s what I bought. Quilted maple top (1/4”) on a mahogany body with nice white binding. Only routed for a bridge pickup and I decided against adding a route for a neck pup. I’m gonna use a bit of that real estate for a 24 fret neck—and keep my router away from this thing!

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Here’s what I want to build—but with gold hardware (and obviously one pickup, so no switch—just a volume knob):

B.jpg
 
Best piece of advice: test on samples. So I did. This piece had much the same color and pattern as the guitar.

By the way, I have no spray equipment (not that I trust for this anyway) so one of my biggest requirements is that everything work with cloth or brush.

After a bunch of research (and again, advice) I decided on Stew Mac Color Tone dye. I’m using Vintage amber on the top, and Red Mahogany on the body. I’m diluting with water, not alcohol; applying by rubbing with a cloth.

My clear coat/top coat is KMT-9 glossy. (This stuff is awesome.) I was thrilled with my sample board. 5 applications of dye—sanding back the raised grain on all but the last one. I wanted the color to stay as rich as possible on the last pass, so I figured I’d be able to cover the raised grain with the top coat. Also did 5 passes of the top coat. Didn’t sand the first 3. I wanted to make sure it was thick enough so that when I did sand, I wouldn’t get back to the dye.

The shine that you see here is the natural shine of the KMT-9 with a nice flat application. I left the last coat unsanded on my sample. It looks good, but trust me, it’s rife with imperfections. For the guitar, there’ll be more like 10 coats, with lots of sanding. The last one will be sanded, so that the gloss will be brought back with a polishing procedure--and will be more consistent and even glossier.

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First up—the body. The binding is masked and I’m dying the body. 5 coats of dye, light sanding in between.

04.jpg


Now the KMT-9. I figured I’d do about 5 coats, then work on the top, where I’d get to about 5 coats of top coat as well. Then I’d unmask the binding and do the the finish top coats on the whole guitar. The idea was to get some top coat over the binding, and avoid the hard edges that would form at the binding if I did all 10 on bottom, then all 10 on top.

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The tape is coming off after the body is stained and top coated. For the body, I taped with my focus on the bottom edge of the binding. I’ll re-tape the binding for the top with my focus on the top edge.

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EDIT: I almost forgot: pore filler. The mahogony body would need it, but the maple top wouldn't. The grain in the mahogany needs some help to achieve a glassy smooth surface. I bought some epoxy type filler that would go on after the stain and before the top coat. But DOH!!! upon closer examination of the body, I could see that the previous owner had used a putty type filler in the mahogony. Probably not as effective as the epoxy type (I dunno for sure), but it was close enought that I knew I could get the glassy smoth finish with the KMT-9 top coat.
 
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The top is ready to go. Sanded smooth as glass.

07.jpg


The binding is masked again and the top is dyed. 5 coats, sanded in between (except for the last one) applied with a cloth. Here's a funny thing: the pattern in my 7 dollar scrap is prettier than the one in the guitar. I'm happy with the guitar, but after getting the dye on, it was apparent that the quilting was a bit more random and less ribboned than on my scrap. Oh well...

08.jpg


Bit of a fast forward here. I ended up doing all ten top coats on the maple without removing the mask. (My plan wasn’t so brilliant after all.) Turns out the nice hard edge of the top held the top coat so well, it just made it easy to treat the top as its own beast and do all 10. It looks a bit dull, but that’s because it’s sanded—and then some. You can’t see it here, but this baby is smoother than glass. I’m not bragging—I’m surprised myself. With some patience and sanding, this KMT-9 stuff is amazing—even with a brush.

So in this pic, the masking is removed, the top has all ten coats and is sanded and waiting for polish. The body has all ten coats, but still has to be sanded flat. Then the whole body will be ready for polishing. (After I put in a couple holes here and there!)

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sweet! :)
You are blessed with the great virtue of patience.....can't wait to see it finished. ;)
 
Isn't it amazing what dye does to figured maple? I never get tired of that one.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Good work so far. How's the ridge between the binding and timber? That can be quite pronounced if you leave the binding on. I always remove it once the first coat is on and before the finish dries that way it comes off clean. You may need to do some light sanding and brush in those edges. One good thing about the KTM is it nearly colourless so you can build as you need to. Once you have it level. Flat the whole thing back and put a few final top coats on there.

Keep us posted. Looking forward to seeing the finished item and well done so far.
 
muttley600 said:
Good work so far. How's the ridge between the binding and timber? That can be quite pronounced if you leave the binding on. I always remove it once the first coat is on and before the finish dries that way it comes off clean. You may need to do some light sanding and brush in those edges. One good thing about the KTM is it nearly colourless so you can build as you need to. Once you have it level. Flat the whole thing back and put a few final top coats on there.

Keep us posted. Looking forward to seeing the finished item and well done so far.
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Yeah, it sounds to me like you're going to get Gibson Binding Syndrome on there. You'll want to fix that.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
I can't see the pics! I've never had the cojones to work on a nice piece of wood like that - hat's off to you. Can't wait to see some pics :D
 
The color is vibrant....and although the $7 piece of scrap wood does have a more distinct pattern, which sorta jumps out at ya, the guit top's woodgrain pattern is a beauty in itself!!

I also love the red mahogany body...that rich warm look contrasting the vibrance of the amber.

What are your plans for the neck and fretboard wood?....and are you going to use any inlay? Maybe I'm jumping too far ahead here.

I can't wait to see this baby come full circle...looking good Strat.
 
Since nobody asked this yet, I assume it is correct, but why is the route for the bridge off-set from the route for the pup? Supposed to be that way?
 
stevieb said:
Since nobody asked this yet, I assume it is correct, but why is the route for the bridge off-set from the route for the pup? Supposed to be that way?
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You might want to get a wammy in there.;)
 
joeym said:
sweet! :)
You are blessed with the great virtue of patience.....can't wait to see it finished. ;)
Click to expand...

Actually, I'm not very patient. Seriously. But the water based dye and the water based topcoat are perfect for me--they're forgiving and fast setting. I go cook dinner--do another coat. Paint a bathroom door--do another coat, and so on. It's been fairly fast paced...
 
muttley600 said:
Good work so far. How's the ridge between the binding and timber? That can be quite pronounced if you leave the binding on. I always remove it once the first coat is on and before the finish dries that way it comes off clean. You may need to do some light sanding and brush in those edges. One good thing about the KTM is it nearly colourless so you can build as you need to. Once you have it level. Flat the whole thing back and put a few final top coats on there.

Keep us posted. Looking forward to seeing the finished item and well done so far.
Click to expand...

Light said:
Yeah, it sounds to me like you're going to get Gibson Binding Syndrome on there. You'll want to fix that.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
Click to expand...

About 5 coats went on the body with the masking in place. That was enough to form a bit of a ridge. So after taking off the binding I did sand the edge a bit and then did some more topcoat on the body, but including the side of the binding. That smoothed over the ridge and gave a nice touch of gloss to the binding.
 
true-eurt said:
The color is vibrant....and although the $7 piece of scrap wood does have a more distinct pattern, which sorta jumps out at ya, the guit top's woodgrain pattern is a beauty in itself!!

I also love the red mahogany body...that rich warm look contrasting the vibrance of the amber.

What are your plans for the neck and fretboard wood?....and are you going to use any inlay? Maybe I'm jumping too far ahead here.

I can't wait to see this baby come full circle...looking good Strat.
Click to expand...

Ahh...the neck. I'd love some cool inlay work, but that would mean rosewood (or some other dark wood) and I'm really craving a maple neck. So I'm going with birdeye maple. I might do abalone dots instead of plain ones for a littel spice...

I actually bought a ton of scraps (off eBay) hoping I'd get at least one similar to the guit body. Now I have to think of crafts that involve amber maple scraps. :D
 
Light said:
Isn't it amazing what dye does to figured maple? I never get tired of that one.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
Click to expand...

Isn't that the truth!

muttley600 said:
Keep us posted. Looking forward to seeing the finished item and well done so far.
Click to expand...

Thanks again for the help guys. It calms my nerves a bit knowing your there looking over my shoulder. Sort of--well you know what I mean.
 
That's gorgeous, dude. I'm sitting here fighting the urge to hop over to Warmoth for an unfinished body and a neck. :D
 
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