Guitar Build #1 - 1/25/2015

Yesterday was a busy day. We spent half of the day out and about, but I did manage to get some more clear coats applied and learned a valuable lesson in the process. Considering that it's difficult for a camera to accurately portray the progress during this process, I only have the following picture which was taken after this morning's coat (which I'll delve into downstream a bit):

Yesterday I began the day with the realization that the entire first day was spent so that the open end grain on the top of the guitar could soak up every last drop of finish. Not quite the way I thought it would work, but it is still working out in the end so no big deal. I first buffed the finish with 0000 steel wool (as recommended by many-a-YouTuber). This left a ton of debris on the finish that I couldn't remove with a tack cloth. I plowed forward with another coat of finish anyways and then we left for half the day.

Upon my return home my heart sank as it seemed that I would not be able to remove the debris from the finish, which now included lint from the wiping rags I was using. I promptly threw the remainder of the rags in for a wash/dry cycle to try and remove some lint and also grabbed an old white t-shirt for use as lint-free rags.

I decided to employ another technique I learned on YouTube: wet sanding with Tru-Oil. I took some 800 grit sandpaper and a boatload of the oil and began *VERY* lightly sanding the top. I did this until the oil on top became extremely sticky. I then took one of my new lint-free rags and cleaned up the top. To my surprise I achieved two things: all debris was removed from the finish AND the finish was significantly smoother than before. This went a REALLY long way in my eyes towards a nice, glassy look. I later wiped on two more thin coats of finish.

This morning I went back to work with the wet sanding with Tru-Oil, this time with 1000 grit sandpaper. Same process as yesterday, and once done I took the picture above. It's even more glassy looking, and still debris-free! You can now see the sheen in the photos, but it really isn't representative of what I see in person. I will wipe on two more coats of finish today and move on to 1500 grit wet sanding tomorrow (plus two more wipe on coats) and 2000 grit the following day. On that day I'm not sure whether or not I'll add additional coats, so we will see!

After the top is done, I'm going to let it cure for probably a week before going back to start over on the back and sides of the guitar.

Cheers,
Dean