Doing Things Wrong

Still Loothering

This is the Kubicki bass body from last year (?) It is now wearing a nice chocolate burst and a thick coat of OIL-BASED polyurethane. It has been hanging up for over two months, and I figure the poly is 99% as hard as it will ever get.

I just finished wet-sanding to get out the orange-peel and dust nits. A quarter-sheet of good quality 1500 ( not Chinese ! ) and my small sanding block made from 1x2 and mousepad rubber, see it in the laboratory section. The matte finish now is very nice, but I'm not done yet.

I remind everyone that this body is built up from Radiata pine 2x2s, from Home Depot. Now that the edges are covered, you'd be hard-pressed to tell it is not an expensive single-piece blank from some luthiery supply place. This wood is really great to work with, much better than alder or poplar. Of course, the tone is "radiant".

That's better, a nice shine. Needs a bit more work in some spots, then it will be ready for re-assembly.

This is my dry-polishing setup, also described in the laboratory. One thing about this rig is how surprisingly quiet it is.

While I was at it, I decided to do the guitar body as well. These are all sanded 1500-2000 and then rough-polished. Block sanding on the faces has made them as flat as glass. A bit of touching-up, and then final polishing will make them shine.

On the right is an old Harmony body that I got on eBay a long while ago. I gave the lacquer the same treatment. Lacquer polishes much faster than tough poly, and scratches up just as fast. A project for someday ...


Strung up with a rough setup. Everything tweaked and tightened. Feels good, haven't plugged it in yet. The guitar stands nicely on its two strap button feet without a stand, so you can safely lean it against a wall or amplifier. At least until your drummer gets loose, then nothing is safe. You can use the leather loop on the headstock to hang it up out of reach.

Printed from luthierylabs.com