desert rose - Posted - 09/04/2005:  08:53:11

Well lets see if I can write this down without it becomming a new encyclopedia. Im going to take a day or two to write the whole thing likely. PLEASE try and avoid the temptation to throw in alternative ideas etc. The question and request was for me to write up a method. This method will be following industrial paint manufacturers recomended practices to get a factory level professional DEEP LUSTER finish as found on professional instruments in the highest price ranges. The methods are those seen, used and practiced everyday at factories and workshops making professional level instruments. These are methods Ive learned, use, and teach to the biggest stringed instrument brands in the world.

If there are real questions, lets try this, contact me off list and unless I get swamped Ill answer them or make additions to the post

Maple neck and resonator.

The first step in preparing the wood for finishing is proper sanding. I would recomend shaping the neck in whatever method you choose and use 60 grit paper as your first sanding of the neck shaft and heel. Follow around the headstock you should use 80 grit to blend everything uniformily and follow the shaft and heel with 80 grit completely. After this you want to completely sand the whole neck with 150 grit, followed by 220. There is no magic in these grits just use whatever is available and close. Note DONT use garnet or flint paper, these actually put scratches in the wood as you are sanding. They are cheap and for good reason. I recomend using silicon carbide or aluminum oxide paper as virtually all factories do. It will give a uniform finish for each grit.

For the resonator, after binding, I use a Stanley scraper to scrape the binding flush with the sides. I NEVER ever put the "hook" on a scraper blade! When it no longer cuts I use an industrial belt sander and put a new edge on it with a 320 belt. This kind of edge will scrape the binding fast and clean without damaging the delicate thin veneer. Those triangle shaped Stanley blades also work great for this and are disposable

When the binding is flush on top and sides, I go over the whole resonator with a flat block and 80 grit litely to make the surface uniform. I follow this with 150 and 220 grit. I follow with 220 and a slightly padded block to blend everything. At this time your lighting is of extreme importance. Dont sand by a bright open window, you wont see the scratches. Close the curtains and get some lights and position them to cast shadows, its in the shadows that you will find the hidden scratches

When the neck and resonator are both sanded to 220 I take a slightly damp cloth and wipe the maple surfaces just to damp the wood and raise the grain. This will both enhance the grain, make finishing easier and show any scratches you missed so far. Let dry for about half an hour. Resand any scratches.

After this I follow the entire instrument with 320 and usually about 400 or 500 grit. I may sand the headstock with the inlay to 600 or 800. Lacquer finishing may benefit from a final sanding of 600 to 800 grit if you have a really nice flame to bring out on the neck and resonator

At this point take a small piece of 320 paper and roll it up. Sand the entire perameter of the headstock edges to break the sharp edge, top back and sides. Do the heel also. Follow the resonator binding edge in the same way. This helps the finish flow, eliminates the danger or sanding or buffing thru the edges and looks highly professional. A finished edge. The break should be about .5mm wide or so.

At this time the sanding is done, wrap the neck and resoantor up when not working on it from now on as any scratch or ding is a real pain in the tail.

Next, coloring

Edited by - desert rose on 09/04/2005 10:38:30

Kenneth Logsdon - Posted - 09/04/2005:  13:42:00

Good deal Scott...Why don't you go ahead and write the book...If someone should condense and refine all the points we've covered on the Hangout, It could be the real Banjo Bible....I nominate you for the job!!!

KL

fitch5string - Posted - 09/04/2005:  14:08:34

Scott, that is a great tip about "finishing the edge" ! Trying to maintain a crisp edge was one of my biggest rookie mistakes. C

Cliff Fitch
Fitch "Masters Five" Banjos
Banjo Repair and Set-up
Dallas-Ft.Worth Metroplex
cgfitch@att.net

randybartlett - Posted - 09/04/2005:  19:52:04

That's well written and clear. It should become an article in the permanent section.

Randy

My playing is a natural product. Minor variations and imperfections are normal and only serve to enhance it's natural beauty.

jmesplay - Posted - 09/04/2005:  23:15:07

Thanks Scott.

Jim

Not an expert, just obsessed.

desert rose - Posted - 09/05/2005:  09:41:28

Installment Two Coloring A

There are a number of ways to color the maple. I will outline one method, that actually includes two techniques.

The first job in coloring the neck and resonator is to CAREFULLY mask off the binding. Dont use cheap masking tape, go to an auto paint supplier and get good tape for detailing. The good tape has a very good edge and is made for masking straight clean lines.

Tape off the neck binding using tape the width of the binding or slightly taller and let it wrap over the top.

Mask the resonator with tape the exact width as the binding.

We are doing a maple banjo so the first thing you want to do is enhance the flame. We will be using alcohol based stains available from First Quality Stew mac or Luthiers Mercantile. We WONT be using water based stains at all.

The grain enhancing will be done with either black or dark brown stain thinned A LOT. Use high grade alcohol. Go to your pharmacy and get methol alcohol in as pure form as possible. The purer the more expensive, and the less water is in it. (I use PURE ethynol from a pharmacy guaranteed to be 99.8+ pure, but I understand this is not available in the U.S.)

Mix the stain very thin, almost like dirty swamp water. follow the directions. First on the resonator back, wipe a good wet amount of ONLY alcohol on the back. If you dont do this the first wiping will be VERY streaky, wetting first helps eliminate this. The effect should be to just "dirty up" the look. The stain will soak into the curls because they are alternating grain and not soak into the background as much. You can get creative here. One wash over the whole back and let is sit. Then carefully add more to just the outer edge of the back to start building a burst effect into the curls only. After applying one or two passes take a clean rag and wipe fresh alcohol on to blend everything. There is no right or wrong here its your creation so do as much or as little as you like. Be advised that adding even so little that you cant really see it will after further colors are added show definate effect. If things get out of control a fresh wipe with alcohol or even sanding with fine sandpaper can reverse things a lot.

Repeate this on the resonator sides, wiping the sides once and going back and concentrating more enhancement by the heel and butt end

Follow with the neck in the same fashion, concentrating more enhancement in the heel and peghead areas.

Let everything dry a few hours or until the next day. If you have been libreal with the alcohol it may be necessary to re mask the bindings as the alcohol will work on the adheasive. No problem.

Next lets start a simple sunburst. You will need more alcohol and a yellow stain powder. Mix this according to directions, it will be fairly strong.

Wet the wood litely and apply the yellow stain evenly over the whole neck and resonator, no bursting, an even color, wipe with fresh alcohol to blend streaks and color and you are done. Adding more applications makes it stronger

Note, it is almost guaranteed that some color has seeped under the tape. Once everything is dry at this point get a good single edged razor blade, a comfortable chair and GOOD lite. And magnifying glasses if you are like me

Sit down and carefully scrape the binding of any coloring that has gotten on the binding. It IS advisable to mask even though you know you will be scraping because it reduces the amount of scraping a lot.

Also you will have to CAREFULLY scrape the two 1.5 mm edges of the resonator binding that couldnt be masked. Use your fingers as guides against the resonator sides to hold the blade so that just the right amount of blade extends to scrape the binding only NOT the color on the wood

Note again, ALWAYS ALWAYS test your colors on scrap maple before you touch the stain to the banjo, thin or adjust as you like. I would strongly advise doing the whole staining and even coloring excercise on a scrap piece of wood a few times to get your technique down and experiement with what can be done and what mistakes you are not prepared for before you do the neck and resonator.

Also once the stain has dried it will not look anything at all like what it will look like when finished. The finished effect will be close to what it looks like when wet.

You should now have a neck and resonator with enhanced grain and yellow stain.

After its all cleaned up, mask the binding again to prepare for the final coloring

Scott

Stoney - Posted - 09/07/2005:  06:49:03

GeeWizz.....I got lost somewhere around the using the 320, hold on maybe it was 800. Dang..Reading this brings back Bodyshop Days. Putting all jokes aside, Great job Scott with the layout and tips, but I believe I'll leave it to the one's who know best like yourself.. Thank goodness for all the Luthiers out there.







STONEY

Edited by - Stoney on 09/07/2005 06:59:04

desert rose - Posted - 09/07/2005:  08:05:50

Stay tuned for Coloring B and Clear Coats and Buffing

Scott

desert rose - Posted - 09/07/2005:  08:31:38

It does not matter, just use as PURE as possibly

Roy Smith - Posted - 09/07/2005:  12:29:34

Also, wear gloves. You don't want aniline dye on your skin. It's a known carcinogen.

Roy

Buddur - Posted - 09/07/2005:  14:04:13

One word...EVERCLEAR!



Buddur
I pick, therefore I am...a picker.
community.webshots.com/album/3...239dcXquN

desert rose - Posted - 09/07/2005:  22:04:44

Basically what Im using is high power Everclear

Scott

desert rose - Posted - 09/08/2005:  06:10:48

Bill

You need to be very careful about the poisonus and dangerous point, , In ANY and ALL finish work, common sense and caution is foremost

Virtually ANYTHING is not good if not used correctly. You cant live without water but if dropped in the middle of the ocean you will most definately drown

Methyl alcohol is the traditional alcohol used in much is not most finishing, French polishing, analine stain mixing etc., has been for almost forever. Yes its dangerous, just like lacquer fumes and pearl dust

Premixed stains of alcohol are almostly methyl,

Again just common sense and no need to raise a red flag and scare anyone

Lets not get side tracked here, as I requested in the beginning of this, PLEASE contact me off list if you have a question or a point. Im not even half way done, all points will be covered before Im done

Scott

Edited by - desert rose on 09/08/2005 08:23:39

Roy Smith - Posted - 09/08/2005:  08:27:41

Scott, I'm not trying to scare anybody off this. It's just that I'm a toxicologist by profession and I kind of feel a duty to remind people. But I use aniline dyes myself (with ethanol, not methanol), and consider them safe when handled correctly. I'd happily use methanol, too, but then I'd need a respirator and an exhaust fan and ethanol works just as well.

BTW, thanks very much for posting this information, especially in this kind of detail (which goes well beyond published finishing schedules I've read. I'm happily taking it all in.


Roy

desert rose - Posted - 09/08/2005:  09:28:43

Ethanol has been my choice because its the purest alcohol I can get

Scott

RB11 Player - Posted - 09/08/2005:  10:21:12

Ethanol is going to be a very popular chemical soon.

It has been proven that additives to gasoline will cause cancer via fumes and unburnt residues. The federal government has mandated that the additives be removed by Jan 2007. The replacement chemical/additive is Ethanol.

There are 27 manufacturing facilities being constructed in the US right now with another 30 proposed.

The only reason I know this is I'm working on 3 of them now.

If ya think gas cost a lot now, wait till 2007.

njaxx - Posted - 09/08/2005:  10:48:48

Scott,

I think it is very decent of you to take the time and effort to share this information with us. I very much appreciate it.

Thank you,
Roger

desert rose - Posted - 09/08/2005:  11:07:18

Thanks Roger

Couldnt believe how "windy" it got once I started writing

Thats why Im breaking it up. Once I started writing, it just grows

But it will be a very useable source for sure

Scott

RB11 Player - Posted - 09/08/2005:  11:34:12

Scott

Your input is REALLY appreciated.

desert rose - Posted - 09/11/2005:  09:36:13

Installment Three Coloring B

Ok lets prodeed with the basic coloring of the banjo, but we wont be coloring today.

I am as stated instructing methods used professionally. And adapted to account for some safety margins the hobby maker will appreciate If you dont have a decent compressor and guns, you will have to do the leg work to get access to them.

We will be spraying strict traditional nitrocellulos lacquer ONLY.

You need to gather the following.

&A compressor suitable for your spray guns WITH the proper water, oil and solids traps
&Spray guns with the proper tips
& Lacquer sanding sealer of the same brand as the clear you will use
&Nitrocellulos lacquer and the CORRECT thinner
&Transparent stains such as Colortone, or dry analine powders as used on the yellow
&A CLEAN, DRY place to spray and hang the parts to dry
&Wet dry sandpaper of 800 grit. Cork or rubber blocks to sand

Before proceeding you need to completely seal the instrument with lacquer sanding sealer.

Mask off the fretboard completely, make some kind of mounting stick to hold the resonator for spraying. Its convenient to mount the stick somehow where the neck notch will be so a hole can be drilled in the resonator wall to hold a long bolt or stick. The area will be where the notch eventually goes.

Mix the lacquer sanding sealer about 50/50 with thinner. Test spray and thin more depending on your gun and location if necessary.

Maple is very easy to cover having no open grain.

Spray good even coats that wet the surface evenly but dont run or sag the sealer. With no experience you will run and sag most likely. You can lay the neck down fingerboard down on two elevated blocks to spray if your booth allows.

Spray once and set aside. Within 30 minutes the thinners should have flashed off so that the surface is dry to the touch. When this is ok, spray again as before just wetting the surface.

If you spray and the surface looks dry you are either spraying the wrong mixture of material and air out of the gun or you are spraying to far and the lacquer is actually drying before it hits the banjo. About ten inches is the ideal distance,.

If you are careful to avoid runs, and always follow the next coat after the previous coat is dry to the touch you could spray six coats of sealer on the neck and resonator in a day.

Let them sit it a dry place for about five days to be safe. If they have hardened sufficently, you can start the wet sanding.

Use 800 grit wet paper. Disolve some powdered laundry detergent in a bowl of water and let the paper sit in the water for at least thirty minutes

With a sanding block of hard cork or rubber begin sanding the flat areas like the resonator back and sides and the peghead front and back. Sand in small circular motions overlapping always With a towel wipe off the water often to see the condition of the surface You should not be using much preasure at this point, just firm. Also dont worry about the edges of the resonator and peghead and heel unless you have a run to fix. You want to build material on the binding edges so its not really necessary to sand them

At this time you DONT want a perfectly flat surface. If you find areas that are really low, like flames in the maple or small depressions LEAVE them. You just want to take the highs down as much as possible without sanding thru the sealer. Flame on the resonator may have lows at this point.

The neck back, peghead sides should all be sanded CAREFULLY with the 800 wet by hand. Find a comfortable place to work especially on the delicate peghead sides and just remove the shine from the surface

When the whole instrument is sanded, wipe it down with clean wet towels to remove all the sanding slury.

When completely dry you can repeat the spraying of the sealer, this time three coats "Should" be enough on maple.

After waiting at least three days sand again with wet 800 grit as before. This time you are looking for dead flat surfaces, no dips or shinny spots. Use common sense and if you have a low spot that seems just to risky to sand without sanding thru the sealer, decide if you need another coat.

You now have a completely sealed instrument that will make the coloring coats and top coats of clear a dream to spray, with no worry of adheasion problems etc.

A firm rule in your spraying should ALWAYS be to realize that the finished surface cant be any better than whats under it. DONT ever do finish work with the attitude that the next step will fix or hide or solve a problem you have now. Do everything as perfect as possible and the next step will reward you with good resaults.

Next

The issue of coloring cant be dictated, this is your project and the final coloring is your choice totally. For reference we will proceed with one choice.

Since we are doing a maple sunburst lets finish the coloring with a Cremona style. Its simple just one color and has a traditional look to it.

For your reference Ive recieved a few requests for mahogany finishing, so we will do that after the maple is colored.

Stay tuned, and questions or comments PLEASE off list

Scott

Edited by - desert rose on 09/11/2005 09:43:13

grm405 - Posted - 09/11/2005:  14:33:33

As a chemist, I feel the need to jump in here. First, I would like to thank Scott for this great storehouse of information. When all it said I will print this thread off and keep it for future reference. Now about alcohols...

Methanol, methyl alcohol or Wood alcohol, CH3OH is a poisonous alcohol which when drunk can and is likely to cause blindness or death. That said, it is not particularly dangerous as chemicals go. Its nasty habit is that it carries whatever is dissolved in it thru the skin. Industrial Toxicology owes its existance to that feature. Several workers at a Dow Chemical phenol plant died in the 1930's because they used methanol to wash their hand to remove the phenol. Investigation showed that it was the phenol which was carried into the bloodstream by the methanol which killed them, not the methanol. For that reason I would not like to use it to dissolve analine dyes.

Ethanol, Ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, CH3Ch2OH is drunk routinely by about half the population of the world as "booze". It undoubtably has killed a million times more people than methanol, but has a higher LD50, doesn't cause blindness and is socially acceptable. It is not as poisonous as methanol, but still has a suprisingly low lethal dose. People die of "acute alcohol poisoning" after a night of binge drinking fairly often. Of course even more die on the way home from the bar by car accidents.

Because of its drinkability, "pure" ethanol is expensive because it must be taxed as booze unless used for scientific purposes. In graduate school it was the ingredient of choice in party punch, but as an employed chemist, it was kept in a locked cabinet and doled out sparingly as needed for reseach. USP ethanol pure 100% alcohol is available and would probably be the solvent of choice for aniline dyes. Much cheaper "Denatured ethanol" has been adulterated with stuff which makes it undrinkable and also contains at least 5% water. It would probably not work well for dissolving analine dyes. Ethanol has less propensity for carrying things thru the skin, but I would still be careful when working with analine dyes.

I would be more concerned with the aniline dyes than the alcohol used to dissolve it. That said, ethanol would probably be the safer and more expensive solvent. Personally, I would not use a respirator with either alcohol under normal circumstances when finishing a banjo.

Gerry





BanjoSKP

desert rose - Posted - 09/11/2005:  22:03:35

Gerry

Excellent analysis

Scott

hidehead - Posted - 09/11/2005:  22:46:30

Gerry,
I mix my own shelac so that it is always fresh, I use it for sealer coats and sometimes add amber analine as an aging toner. I disolve my flakes with bekol alcohol and make stains and toners with analine dye and bekol alcohol. Is bekol some type of ethanol? It seems to disolve and suspend shelac and analine much better than denatured alcohol.

hidehead

VILLAGE MUSIC Where Bluegrass Rules!

desert rose - Posted - 09/11/2005:  23:05:09

Beko is ethynol I believe WITH propriatary things added

Scott

pak - Posted - 09/12/2005:  22:35:52

I just received a catalog that has a line of a product called Crystalac. It is waterborn they have a product for instruments as well as dyes and tinted stains. Have any of you tried this product as yet? pak

desert rose - Posted - 09/13/2005:  09:43:14

Crystalac has been around for a long time.

EVERY and I mean EVERY manufacturer of stringed instruments wants to use this stuff or another similar brand. This is the dream of all of them, to have a simple to use finish that the EPA will leave them alone about AND is cost effective

But as of now they just havent reached the level of rich deep gloss demanded by instrument makers

Crystalac is evolving and has improved a lot over the last five years and some day sooner than later one of the makers will reach the demanded standards.

We are all watching and many are testing constantly but its still a ways off

Luthiers Mercantile sells another brand and some are really happy with it but its only a fringe market meaning that it also hasnt reached the level demanded by the industry giants

Scott

pak - Posted - 09/13/2005:  10:33:01

Scott, Thank you for your comments. I recently have finished a few wood pieces and a wood floor. I used waterborn products and I like the characteristics such as flow out, dry time and few noxious vapors.

tomrice - Posted - 09/13/2005:  21:27:18

Hope I'm not jumping ahead. Are all Nitrocellulose lacquers created equal, for instance is the brand Deft the same as Stew Macs nitrocellulse and would both be suitable for necks and resonators?

desert rose - Posted - 09/13/2005:  22:12:28

Tom

EXCELLENT QUESTION, not jumping ahead actually its right on time.

NO under no conditions are all nitro lacquers created equal

Under no conditions buy your instrument lacquer from Home Depot or Loewes!

You need to at least go to a specialty auto paint shop but the best lacquer around for instrument work acoustic or electric guitars is from

Luthiers Mercantile

Its made by the MacFadden company and most all instrument makers in the US use this lacquer and thinner

Stew Macs Behlens is a good second, but Luthiers Mercantile is a FAR first

Scott

tomrice - Posted - 09/16/2005:  09:12:02

Scott thanks for your help. On Frank Ford's site he talks about amalgamating a worn factory lacquer finish. Is this made by cutting lacquer 50% with retarder, then painted on? Will this fill the cracks (originating in the wood of a resonator) and level out and, following buffing, look like new?

desert rose - Posted - 09/16/2005:  10:25:40

I avoid using retarded at almost all costs, I dont like dealing with the stuff. And find I really dont need it. If you become adept at the fine points of thinners and know that all lacquer makers make two or three types of thinners that can be used to control drying, retarder is not really necessary. I can spray lacquer in a typhoon with no blush, and no retarder, Ive done it often

For an old finish that just needs what they call an overspray, very common on old Martins, you can simply mix 60/40 or even 70/30 lacquer and thinner. No need for the retarder which really softens things up! And takes a long time to reharden. For a banjo its not as critical but on an old acoustic guitar the respray will possibly effect the tone because you have reversed decades of the lacquer crystalizing, and it has to start all over again. Retarder just makes this more

Lacquer has the wonderful characteristic of completely melding with the undercoats when you spray more on top, so overspraying actually remelts the lacquer down to the wood this is exactly what Frank is refering to

WARNING

ANY tampering with an old finish, NO MATTER HOW DISTRESSED will immediately and irreversable reduce the value of the instrument, the older the instrument the more this hurts the price

For that reason I rarely agree to do this as its the kiss of death to the value of a collectable piece. But there does come a time when reworking the finish is important to the safety of the instrument, then you got to do it. I dont count resonators as needing refinish for safety though

To give you the simple answer, DONT use retarder its not necessary or advisable

What Frank is talking about is simply spraying on a coat of lacquer thinned a LOT which will remelt everything and will help to smooth out some MINOR defects, but no in no way will it fill cracks. For that you are talking about more involved finish restoration

Its a not uncommon practice by some builders when doing original finish work with lacquer to spray one more coat after ALL the coats are sprayed. This final coat can be as much as 80 percent thinner and 20 percent lacquer. This makes the final finish lay out like a piece of glass., because the under surface is new and perfect

There are dangers though its VERY easy to run or sag the finish which means you just turned all your work into junk. And the work area must be extremely clean because dust at this point just made your work useless

Long winded, sorry

Scott

Roy Smith - Posted - 09/16/2005:  12:59:06

Actually, what Frank did (described here: frets.com/FRETSPages/Luthier/T...tor1.html) was a little different. He brushed and sprayed on several coats of pure butyl cellosolve (aka 2-butoxyethanol), and no lacquer at all. After it dried (it took several days) he level sanded it and oversprayed with lacquer, then buffed it out several weeks later. Reading between the lines, I gathered that this was a last resort before stripping the crazed and blistered finish and apparently it dealt with the cracks and blisters pretty well. The photos are pretty dramatic.

Roy

tomrice - Posted - 09/16/2005:  21:47:39

Hey Roy, I was startled by those photos too. I was unsure though if he was using a commercial product called cellosolve or was making his own concoction with lacquer and thinner. Is that a commercial product readily availiable?

Tom

desert rose - Posted - 09/16/2005:  22:00:04

Butyl cellusolve is a magic stuff but I would not recomend someone use it with out a fairly well grounded level of experience in finisdh restoration.

I would not recomend it to someone who just does new finish work either.

Photos are dramatic but it took thirty years plus experience behind those photos to get the results. In the hands of an inexperienced person those photos could likely look like a total disaster looking for someone like Frank or I to repair an even bigger mess

Tom

I just sent you an email answer to your off list email to me. You should be able to solve your situation following my advice in the email

Scott

Roy Smith - Posted - 09/17/2005:  12:33:51

Scott, I agree completely. Amalgamating a terminally ill finish like that is last-resort stuff, and definitely not something you'd want to do at home to your own valuable instrument. And of course the hallmark of an expert is making hard stuff look deceptively easy.

Tom, butyl cellosolve is widely used in industrial coating operations and easily available, e.g., chemistrystore.com/butylcellosolve.htm (I've never done business with these guys. They just googled up first.) But heed Scott's warning about using it.

Roy

tomrice - Posted - 09/17/2005:  13:17:52

Thanks for the help, advice and warnings. Though I tend to dive in, I've become reluctant to do so when it comes to valuable instruments. Not to say I haven't learned the hard way a-plenty. I continue to ask so I can learn as much as possible. While I've become fairly proficient at frets, fret boards, nuts, inlays, set-up, I'm clueless on finishing. I appreciate the easily obtained experise from here.

DHoffmeyer - Posted - 10/07/2005:  02:09:50

This one needed a bump... I'm doing mahogany.

Dean

Edited by - DHoffmeyer on 04/20/2006 00:38:37

desert rose - Posted - 10/07/2005:  03:02:13

Dean

Thanks for the bump, Im in the middle of assembling Desert Rose and Recording King banjos for IBMA, Ill try and address the mahogany prep over the weekend

Scott

pak - Posted - 10/07/2005:  12:09:24

What would be a good sequence for grits of sand paper on a finish job? 220,320,400...? Dry or wet?

DHoffmeyer - Posted - 10/07/2005:  16:20:39

I think that's covered earlier in here somewhere. I hope.

Buddur - Posted - 10/09/2005:  09:42:29

Along with staining the neck and resonator, if one were to stain an ebony peghead overlay to darken and eliminate grain color-contrast, when would be the best time to apply this stain in the finishing sequence? Prior to or after final sanding of the inlayed face?

Buddur
I pick, therefore I am...a picker.
community.webshots.com/album/3...239dcXquN

desert rose - Posted - 10/09/2005:  10:01:55

You would have to do it on the bare wood unless you plan on masking off ALL the inlay

Scott

DHoffmeyer - Posted - 11/24/2005:  23:50:10

mahogany bump

desert rose - Posted - 11/25/2005:  03:37:20

Dean

A big thank you for reminding me

Now that ibma is behind us Ill work on bringing this to a conclusion

Look for an entry this weekend

Scott

silvioferretti - Posted - 11/25/2005:  06:32:50

Scottie baby,

you're gonna finish the maple part (Cremona sunburst etc) before tackling mahogany, aren't you?........ Thanks an awful lot, I've decided that traditional finishing methods are great but sometimes they are not so appropriate on banjos , and surely not perfect for restoration / reproduction work. Picking your brain is better for me!

Silvio Ferretti scorpionmusic.com
See Scorpion banjos for sale in the USA at elderly.com/new_instruments/it...CORP1.htm

aj_fuller - Posted - 12/09/2005:  13:32:54

Scott,

I suspect you are very busy getting the Recoding King line ready for the NAMM show, but wanted to give this thread another friendly bump, as I am sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for the dramatic conclusion of the Maple sunburst saga.

Thanks again for all the wonderful inisghts and comments!

A.J.

desert rose - Posted - 12/09/2005:  21:56:37

Thanks

I just got in at 2.30 am from a week in the land of the great Khan

Its on the top of the to do list

Scott

dr_pinch - Posted - 12/19/2005:  07:37:24

bump

desert rose - Posted - 12/19/2005:  21:00:01

OK 0K sorry

Its in the works and will be added to this week

Scott