Guitar Build #1 - 2/2/2015

I had some apprehension going into today. Since finishing the top up (actually since long before that), I had noticed some drippage down the sides of the guitar (Tru-Oil). Additionally, the binding on the sides of the guitar were fairly well caked with the oil. Let me just go on record as saying that as much as I dislike scraping binding with an Xacto knife for cleaning purposes, I REALLY despise doing it when the binding has oil-based finish all over it. Truly messy and nerve wracking...but it got done (I did slip and make a nice small scratch on the top...this guitar is CERTAINLY not perfect)! I took a few minutes to sand down the back and sides, paying particular attention to the sides due to the oil drippage, with 320 grit sandpaper. In the end, there was still some evidence of drippage in the color. My hope was that when I re-applied the wipe-on stain that this would blend end (more on that later).

Like a total scatterbrain I didn't take ANY pics of this...so here's another of the top and all it's shine!!

I then re-applied the wipe-on mahogany stain (check out the first post in this series) to the back and sides. This made the sides and back look really deep and mostly concealed the marks left by the oil drippage. Once again, my hope was that re-applying the oil finish would completely conceal what was left of the drippage (more on that later...once again). Take in mind that all this was done two days ago on Saturday several hours after I buffed and waxed the top. Once again, I didn't take a single pic...I'm very neglectful lately...

Now to today...Today I taped off the fretboard so as not to allow any oil finish onto the board. I didn't tape the ends of the frets because I'm not planning on building the back and sides to nearly the thickness or shine as the top...this means I could easily scrape away (even though not my favorite task) the clear from the fret sides if I needed to. I wiped on a single coat onto the back and sides as well as the headstock (I do plan on making the headstock shiny like the top of the guitar) and that was that. It seems as though the mahogany doesn't soak up nearly as much oil in the first coat. Tomorrow I may buff with some 0000 Steel Wool and wipe on another coat. I may not buff...we'll see. I figure a single coat a day for three to four days should be enough to protect the wood, highlight the pores (it'll make the guitar feel more "real" to me at least), and provide a little sheen. The back of the neck I'm seriously considering buffing to a satin finish. Decisions, decisions...

Here's a pic of the back AFTER the first coat of oil:

Cheers,
Dean