Gosh… how do I start?
Ok, last time I wrote I had just finished my grain filling attempt, which came out kinda pink-ish and very tough to sand. Luckily it turned out that the grain on both guitars was actually quite filled in the process, so at least I didn’t have to find alternatives to start the grain-filling process from scratch.
After binging YouTube videos about grain filling to see if I could find an alternative I liked better for the 2nd grain filling coat, I decided to return to the traditional Gibson grain filling formula, only slightly modified. I knew I did like the color tone and depth both guitars had when I originally gave them a Boiled Linseed Oil finish, so I basically decided to use BLO as the main ingredient, but adding some pumice powder to keep on filling the grain, and also as I felt a bit edgy (?) some aniline dye, to see if I could give it a slight cherry tone.
I decided to apply the new concoction using 320 grit wet sandpaper. That way in addition to the pumice powder I would fill some grain with the sawdust itself. In the process I was also able to sand off the remaining bits of acrylic paint stuck within the creases of the guitars after the first grain fill.
The result was way cleaner this time and the wood resulted in a nice and even 320 matte finish, ideal to start spraying some sanding sealer on it. There was one problem tho… again, I wasn’t too happy with the color. The attempted cherry resulted instead in a more “wine purple” sort of hue that I didn’t like at all. Unfortunately there are no pictures taken from any of the stages I just told you about. Seems to be a pattern with me. Only taking pictures when things turn out the way I like it…
I was again in a crossroads not really knowing what to do next. The one thing I knew for a fact is that I was just not willing to dry-sand again. In fact during this process I realized how much I hate dry-sanding. I used to like it… not sure why…
Since the problem this time was the hue from the aniline dye I started tp think of a way I could remove it and maybe give it another coat of the mixture, this time translucent and keep the natural cancharana color that I was (again) dreading to lose. Since it is an alcohol-soluble dye I thought I’d just rub alcohol on the guitars, but I know this is usually not recommended to do on unprotected wood. But I also knew that eventually I was thinking about adding a wash coat of shellac on top of the oil finish before sprayin lacquer on it. Shellac is alcohol based, So I thought maybe the shellac itself will at least remove some of the dye. Lucky for me, it did.
Now, here’s when another one of my sudden changes comes into play. As soon as I started applying the shellac on the cancharana and I started to see the least amount of a sheen, my mind went into “french polish” mode. A technique I always admired and hated myself not to be ever capable of pulling off properly. I spent the rest of the day french polishing the front of my Les Paul #1. It went about 90% right. I never saw that thing shine as much. It really looked as if I already lacquered it, wet-sanded and polished it. However, there they were, the ghost of my many french polish attempts: swirl marks. Of course the moment I attempted to fix them I screwed the whole finish up. That’s the thing about a french polished surface. It’s so beautiful, yet so freaking annoyingly delicate… At this point however, I was seriously considering french-polishing both guitars completely and leave that as the final finish, since that would also save me all the toxic hazard associated with nitrocellulose lacquer…
The next day after binging (again) on youtube. This time on french polishing videos, of course, I attempted to french polish the top of my Les Paul #2. After my first grain filling attempt had dried I had made my first attempt at a new burst using aniline dye by hand. It did come out pretty good. Sort of a light-brown burst type of tone, so I knew some shellac and french polishing would give it a nice honey/gold three-dimensional feel. I was right about the color, but again, I sucked at the french-polishing process and eventually screwed up both the finish and the first burst attempt in the process…
Needless to say, this was the point at which I rage-quitted french-polishing. My mind is now set again on lacquer. It might be long and tedious, but it’s the standard classic, more resistant than french-polish, and a process I attempted at least 3 times with progressively better results, whilst my attempts at french polishing keep getting worse every time.
So finally now I’m proceeding to the final stages before spraying, for which I’m gonna have to wait until the Argentina spring, because this year’s winter is being obnoxiously cloudy and humid. I say this living in a city that always has cloudy and humid winters, to give you a clue.
I decided to give both guitars another wash coat of shellac (just by brush, no french polishing involved here) then sand that down to 320 to get it ready for spraying the first sanding sealer coat.
I also “painted” a second burst on the top of Les Paul #2, which came out gorgeous and I don’t intend to even touch anymore before I spray lacquer all over it.
This is #1 with the shellac applied but not yet sanded down. Not worrying about those ridges, since I’ll be sanding them down anyway.
#2 with the shellac already sanded down and ready for spraying (many anxious days from now). You can also see the new burst, which I’m pretty proud of. It’s almost an improved version of the original color. I said I got bored with the “iced-tea” burst bot boy, do I really love how it turned out. I’m sure It’s gonna look so much better once lacquered.
Anyways, there is a sense of closure now, after so much back and forth. Now there’s the wait until the weather is right for spraying. I bought a new turbine-gun HVLP kit, so in the next chapter of this odyssey you’re gonna first-hand witness my struggles with it as I use a spray-gun for the first time (All my 3 first attempts with lacquer came out of a spray can)
I’m pretty confident still, You’ll find out if I was right after all…
