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Re: Lungs / Adventures in MDF

Posted: Thu May 16, 2019 9:25 am
by Amon 7.L
You're a machine, man.
The padauk has a super cool shade too.
Yet, if you want to darken it, you can experiment with a teaspoon of baking soda diluted in tiny glass of water. Then brush it on. Try on some padauk leftover first, as depending on the wood you get different result. It works great on bubinga and mahogany. More baking soda=more dramatic tan.

Re: Lungs / Adventures in MDF

Posted: Thu May 16, 2019 9:50 am
by Rgand
Amon 7.L wrote:
Thu May 16, 2019 9:25 am
You're a machine, man.
The padauk has a super cool shade too.
Yet, if you want to darken it, you can experiment with a teaspoon of baking soda diluted in tiny glass of water. Then brush it on. Try on some padauk leftover first, as depending on the wood you get different result. It works great on bubinga and mahogany. More baking soda=more dramatic tan.
Would you need to neutralize the baking soda afterwards with something? You can burn leather and make it brittle with too much baking soda.

Re: Lungs / Adventures in MDF

Posted: Thu May 16, 2019 10:55 am
by Amon 7.L
Rgand wrote:
Thu May 16, 2019 9:50 am
Amon 7.L wrote:
Thu May 16, 2019 9:25 am
You're a machine, man.
The padauk has a super cool shade too.
Yet, if you want to darken it, you can experiment with a teaspoon of baking soda diluted in tiny glass of water. Then brush it on. Try on some padauk leftover first, as depending on the wood you get different result. It works great on bubinga and mahogany. More baking soda=more dramatic tan.
Would you need to neutralize the baking soda afterwards with something? You can burn leather and make it brittle with too much baking soda.
I just a did a light passage with a paint brush and let the fretboard dry on its own, then I just went on with some wood moisture, nothing else.
No problem handling the fretboard afterwards nor right after the brush-on.
It's not as if you were soaking the entire neck into a barrel filled with pure baking soda.
Watch this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYH083c8dEw

Re: Lungs / Adventures in MDF

Posted: Thu May 16, 2019 11:57 am
by Rgand
Amon 7.L wrote:
Thu May 16, 2019 10:55 am
Rgand wrote:
Thu May 16, 2019 9:50 am
Amon 7.L wrote:
Thu May 16, 2019 9:25 am
You're a machine, man.
The padauk has a super cool shade too.
Yet, if you want to darken it, you can experiment with a teaspoon of baking soda diluted in tiny glass of water. Then brush it on. Try on some padauk leftover first, as depending on the wood you get different result. It works great on bubinga and mahogany. More baking soda=more dramatic tan.
Would you need to neutralize the baking soda afterwards with something? You can burn leather and make it brittle with too much baking soda.
I just a did a light passage with a paint brush and let the fretboard dry on its own, then I just went on with some wood moisture, nothing else.
No problem handling the fretboard afterwards nor right after the brush-on.
It's not as if you were soaking the entire neck into a barrel filled with pure baking soda.
Watch this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYH083c8dEw
Thanks. I was curious about that.

Re: Lungs / Adventures in MDF

Posted: Fri May 17, 2019 8:05 am
by epizootics
Thanks for the tip, I am keeping a notebook with all the ways to alter the color of all sorts of wood...That's a new entry :)

The CockBat (erm) took over my poor Lungs, because it has to be done by next Friday...

Routed the cavity, contour & binding channel:

Image

(now here's one LIGHT body)

...and, talking of doing stuff to poor wood...here's the back after going through the Tint-o-Matic (and a bit of relicing):

Image

(white vinegar, steel wool and a handful of English pence...)

Re: Lungs / Adventures in MDF

Posted: Fri May 17, 2019 12:38 pm
by Rgand
Looks good. I like the back color. Vinegar and steel wool I'm familiar with. What were the pence for?

Re: Lungs / Adventures in MDF

Posted: Fri May 17, 2019 10:03 pm
by epizootics
The pence emphasize the overall blue tint. It works great on French walnut, making it lean toward purple in a very natural fashion. . Plus years of living in the UK made me like the idea of dipping the Queen in acid

I am pushing back the moment when I'll copy the pickguard template onto my PVC blank. Last time I did that, I filled up the apartment with electrostatically-charged little chips of plastic that didn't want to go anywhere. I am tempted to buy a small tent and a better dust mask to do the dirty routing.

Re: Lungs / Adventures in MDF

Posted: Sat May 18, 2019 2:09 am
by Amon 7.L
* cheerleaders supporting vibes °

Go, man! Go!!

Re: Lungs / Adventures in MDF

Posted: Sat May 18, 2019 7:05 am
by epizootics
"reverse country-burst in progress"

Image

Re: Lungs / Adventures in MDF

Posted: Sat May 18, 2019 12:29 pm
by antisymmetric
^^Nice! :-*

*files away for future reference*

Re: Lungs / Adventures in MDF

Posted: Sat May 18, 2019 12:58 pm
by Rgand
This is looking good.

Re: Lungs / Adventures in MDF

Posted: Sat May 18, 2019 10:55 pm
by epizootics
Cheers guys! I'm plowing on and doing as little thinking as I can, this body has to be finished & dry by Friday night.
Now we have a binding:

Image

Not sure what I want to do with the top. Maybe something on the orange side. And I am going to have to rethink the bridge thing, I didn't do my maths with regard to pickup height - those Mustang-ish pickups simply won't go high enough with my pickguard design if I use a wraparound. I could recess it into the body but I don' think it'll look so hot. I do have silly ideas and a Mustang bridge to butcher, though. More later...

Re: Lungs / Adventures in MDF

Posted: Sun May 19, 2019 6:43 am
by ThePearDream
This is looking really good. Something orange would look nice, or a red-orange coral type color, or an aqua color too.

Re: Lungs / Adventures in MDF

Posted: Sun May 19, 2019 9:07 am
by Rgand
Pretty much any color you choose would look good on it. You could even do just a brown dye on it. I like the look.

Re: Lungs / Adventures in MDF

Posted: Mon May 20, 2019 9:10 am
by epizootics
Getting there...Slowly but surely...

Image

Pickguard - done
Bridge - getting there

The top half is getting its finish tomorrow...I found a discreet but nicely orange-ish wood dye that should work.