Filling The Grain
For those of you that missed Build Your Own Guitar – Part 1 and want to start from the beginning you can find that post HERE.
Beginners Guide To Build Your Own Guitar!
Unlike other Beginners Guide’s To Build Your Own Guitar this guide is actually done by a beginner.
That’s right! I have never built, stained, painted or finished a guitar before! But I did watch a Youtube video so that makes me an expert right?
All that aside I figure a good majority of you buying a kit and building your own guitar are going to be doing it for the first time so why not let me be your guinea pig. At the very least watching me do this should give you confidence that yes even someone that has no experience wood working or staining and finishing can do this too!
So after inspecting the guitar body and neck I did some sanding. Originally the guitar was supposed to be finished in black. However, after a visit to the local Home Depot to pick up some ebony stain I came across a blue stain I really liked by MinWax called island water.
So after some deliberation the decision was made and project Dark Lord became project island water.
Here is a rundown of what was picked up at the hardware store:
Ebony Wood Filler
MinWax Water Based Stain (Island Water)
MinWax Polyurethane Semi-Gloss
Blue Painters Tape
Foam Paint Brushes
220/400/800 Grit Sandpaper
The ebony wood filler is used to bring out the grain of the wood. Now the grain of the wood on the body of this guitar was not super interesting but enough that I decided to stain rather than go with a solid color.
Instead of just applying the wood filler straight and having do to major sanding, I decided to play it safe and mix 10% wood filler with 90% water.
Using a cloth the water/wood filler mix was wiped on in an attempt to accentuate the grain.
After letting the guitar body dry a light sanding was done on the body to expose some of the natural wood while leaving behind some of the filler to bring out the grain.
All in all, so far, so good. I figure if I like how it looks I must be on the right track. And if you don’t like the result you are getting you can always sand it down and start again.
Check back next time when we start applying the stain!
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Check out Part 3 HERE.
