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Do we have any musical people on DC?

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theGleep:
@40hz:  Thanks for the info.  There is *one* thing I wanted to comment on..."more dent-proof than what's already on your bass"?  Ummmm...I already got rid of that...it's pretty easy to dent, now!  (And I've got some interesting "character" added to the wood from trying three different stripping techniques...and learning how to properly use a heat gun.:)

@tjbray: Arm-r-seal, eh?  I'll look into that.  I don't know, yet, what I'll do with the finished product.  If I really like it, it'll probably become my "practice bass".  If not so much, I'll keep it at my church to be the "emergency bass".  I suppose that either situation would allow for a shellac-only option.  And if I liked it enough to really get into gigging with it (...*and* I actually did any gigging! :), then I could do a touch-up and then arm-r-seal it.

Sounds like I have a plan for moving forward!

Oh...I already bought some stuff from Home Depot; minwax wood preparation and some kind of stain ... but I don't remember exact details on them.  Does that ring any scarey alarm bells with you?

...and I'll be looking forward to working out specs for an app.  I like having a specific goal when I'm learning new things.  It'll be great to have something I know will be useful before I even start with it.

tjbray:
@theGleep:  I know Rockler carries the General Finishes line (I'm fortunate to live in the greater Cincinnati area, which has a Rockler store, but they have a website as well).  De-waxed shellac has excellent adhesion properties, so you can use it over oil or water based stain, so you won't have problems using it with the stain. Be sure that you've lifted the grain of the wood by wiping the bare wood with a rag dampened with water or denatured alcohol (if you want it to dry faster), allowing it to completely dry, and lightly sanding it with 220 sandpaper. Do this about 3 times, also only handle the wood with latex or rubber gloves to keep the oils in your skin from affecting your stain coverage. Some woods take stain great, others are horrible.
I'm new at posting advice, so excuse my jumping around. I wanted to advise you to be sure you use DE-WAXED shellac--it's properties for hardness, shine, water repellence, and adhesion make it far more guitar-friendly!  As for wood preparation, Zinssler has a dewaxed version of their shellac, which is a wood prep. It may be what is in the Minwax wood prep as well.

The only fault you will find with shellac is, once it is in liquid form, it has a definitive shelf life. Commercial shellac cans should have a date on them, either when it was made or an expiration. I prefer buying shellac flakes and preparing about 16 ounces at a time, which I use up long before it begins to go bad. Rockler.com sells the flakes as well, and YouTube has great videos covering all phases of shellacking from prep to finish.

My experiences with Minwax has varied, and  as I used it at the start of my woodworking experience, I can just as easily blame my knowledge base at the time as I could the product. It's been so long since I've used their products I cannot give a fair evaluation.  I'll leave that to the many great advisors here.

Hats off to 40Hz as well, I can tell he has been helping pass information on to forum users for quite some time. Maybe in time mine will be laid out and as clear as his!

40hz:
Hats off to 40Hz as well, I can tell he has been helping pass information on to forum users for quite some time. Maybe in time mine will be laid out and as clear as his!
-tjbray (November 26, 2014, 04:32 PM)
--- End quote ---

Thank you even though long time readers of my blather may disagree with you about how clear I am when posting. I tend to run on :-[. And I'm not always organized. :-[

40hz:
@tjbray/theGleep - One last bit on building guitars...

A gent by the name of Roger Placer built a guitar for himself and did up and demoed a wiring scheme for two humbuckers that basically covers every useful switching combo possible with a pair of split-coil humpups. Well worth a listen.



You can get a copy of the schematic here.

If I were to do that. I'd probably also install a varitone (or capacitor selector) circuit since I always prefer some form of tone control be installed on an instrument. You can build one or buy one. However, varitones are pretty simple devices - and building your own gives you complete control over which capacitor values and types you want to use. As you probably know, tone cap selection is a fetish that borders on religious mania with some guitarists. ;D

Ok, that's it from me for now,

theGleep:
@tjbray: So...I got home and took a look and what I've got is "wood stain".  How does that impact your advice?

@40hz: I'm gonna have to add that to my schematic collection.  I've got a strat that I did the Brian May treatment to, and I was REALLY surprised at the variety of tone.  Unfortunately, I used metal toggle switches - the kind that stick up about an inch?  Yeah...knuckle barking every time I get too excited.

So - I've bought the hardware to re-do it with low-profile black switches instead...but I have no idea when I'll get around to redoing it.. :)

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