Re: My Warmoth is finished! (pictures)
HarrisonDavid: Had I done everything right the first time, probably about $1200. It would have been considerably less if not for the super piece of rosewood I asked them to use for the neck. I actually know someone who lives near them and tried to do a pickup...they wouldn't let him. Go figure.
Minameismuddd: The wood was stained using stewmac colortone dyes - the green in the middle is water based, the blue is alcohol based. It's the same dye, but what you use to delute it has a huge impact on the hue you end up with. Experiment! I wiped on the green accross the entire body, then sanded gently around the edges. Then I did the burst with the blue, spraying with Prevail refillable aerosol cans. Stewmac has those too, as do most Hope Depots. After that was dry, I filled the grain on the back, applied sanding sealer, and then sprayed 11 coats of nitro lacquer. The sanding sealer actually hurt more than it helped because the stuff I used is terrible quality - live and learn I suppose. Let it cure for 15 days, sanded up from 600 to 2000, then buffed using Turtle Wax polishing compound, Stewmac swirl remover, and 3M Imperial Hand Glaze. Wiped it down with guitar polish and applied car wax to it to bring out the shine. The wax is the reason that even though it isn't as smooth as a factory finish, it's still just as reflective.
MattPete: That was what I wanted to do in the first place, but I don't have a set of nut files (can't make myself take the $90 plunge) and the old fart I had look at it kept telling me it was a bad idea. Hopefully whoever I have do the fretwork will be able to do that too though.
