Guitar - 7 String Build - P4

Finishing...

... ugh...

I initially dyed the guitar a vibrant red-orange but didn't like it so I resanded the entire guitar back down and gave it a coffee brown back, black top, and natural faux binding. I use Transtint dyes and have tried others but these are definetely the most concentrated. I have some quality water color pastes I will try for the next build...

Finish coats: Normally a super high-gloss lacquer finish would be called, but I wanted to try something else and I didn't feel like spending all the time a nice lacquer finish requires (call me lazy, yea, but I just want to play the dang thing already and have too many important projects going on right now). An oil'esque finish also is more 'ergonomic' in a sense. The finish wont hold a cold like lacquer does and high gloss necks are not fun to play on - sticky sticky! I also want to try some earth-friendly finishes now that I am old enough to care about my environment to some extent... Water-based it is! I'm giving Minwax's Polycrylic a whirl for a few reasons: 1) It's water-based. 2) It's cheap. 3) It's 100% clear (no tints like many oil-based products). You can also easily dilute it and use it as a wipe-on although, I would not recommend this for a 'gloss' finish. After a few wipe-on coats to soak in, I sanded with 220g and began the 4-5 top coats via spray. I am a firm believer that a wipe/brush-on finish is NOT suitable for anything other than satin or very 'light' coats which simulate an oil type finish. There's no way to avoid lines and for a semi-gloss finish you cannot colorsand and buff the finish to the final result. The last sprayed coat is the end of the road. Heck, in some sense it makes it a little less error-tolerant than something a lot of sanding could fix.

Phil