U Beaut Stuff

[fanlee]

I posted here because this isn't really about musical instruments.

The body was stained with U Beaut Water soluble dyes using damp cloth wads, sanded,blended with dampened cloth pads, sanded, blended given a coat of U Beaut White shellac & sprayed with rattle can nitrocellulose rubbed to 1200 w'n'd paraffin and glossed up with Meguair's Mirror Shine 2, 9, then 7. The result is by no means perfect because the ONLY imperative I had was DO NOT SAND THROUGH!! I didn't and I'm happy.

The necks were stained with U Beaut Water soluble dyes and finished with U Beaut Hard Shellac. Finishing was straight off page 64 of the Polishers' Handbook. Satin. I have to say I was a gloss fan until I tried this. They look better in reality than in the photo and the finish makes them look like beautiful pieces of timber not shiny plastic coated objects of indeterminate origin. There are some rub throughs on the sides of one of the headstocks...all my own fault becuase of my inexperience and impatience. That's why I was so paranoid with the body.

The value of the Handbook is that it provides a clear path through the information jungle that confronts we newbies. Course there's nothing like screwing things up oneself to learn a lasting lesson!!

Thanks U Beaut.

[Tex B]

Beautiful work .

Tex

[ernknot]

With a finish like that, the music will be great.

[Dan]

Very nice work.

Just wondering what colour dye was used for the body?

[Driver]

Beautiful work, . You should be proud. Have to agree about Neil's Handbook. It is a tribute to his obvious experience and ability to communicate that it's possible for you to get results like this (and for me to do a half-decent job) purely from reading the Handbook. Great stuff!

Col

[sea dragon]

Looks fabulous.
I am envious of the obvious skill, yet again.
With three necks, does that make it an 18 string guitar?
CJ

[fanlee]

Very nice work.

Just wondering what colour dye was used for the body?

IIRC I applied yellow all over, then orange then red round the edges. After standing overnight I sanded it back & sort of blended things using damp cloths & applied more orange & more red round the edges & blended. I didn't mess with it too much because I was flabbergasted with how well it came up.

I followed the method given in Roger Siminoff's book: Constructing a Bluegrass Mandolin. He used alcohol soluble dyes - I used the U Beaut dyes. All at 25%.

[fanlee]

Looks fabulous.
I am envious of the obvious skill, yet again.
With three necks, does that make it an 18 string guitar?
CJ

LOL!! I'm doing three sort of in parallel to give me something to do while the lacquers cure and to teach myself as I go. I'm hoping to get one good one out the other end.

My kids have their hands up !!

[woodsprite]

Gee !! What a stunning finish! Well done - guess loving bluegrass brings out many other talents! Think I might drag out my old 5-string banjo and strip and re-coat the sound box on it, after seeing your work. Must get my hands on 'The Book'.
Woodsprite Jeff