Christine

I'm having one of those mornings remembering friends departed that you get from time to time. The post above about the white spirit soaking into the rosewood reminded me of my favourite oil finish that was explained to me by a Devon cabinet maker called Alan Peters and I thought I'd share it here. This oil finish isn't for the light hearted, impatient or fretboards, it is best suited to darker solid timbers, Walnut being a perfect example. Many people might well just slap on four or five coats of Danish oil and call the job done, well yes that has it's place and can be more that adequate for many applications but it lacks that little something and lacks a lot in durability especially on furniture but less so on guitar bodies So why bother mentioning this, well if you see the two side by side there is no comparison at all visually, the depth of colour is really brought out by this method and after time (several years) the colours and subtleties of the wood explodes with life whereas the four or five coats of Danish oil will just have faded a little. So what is it and how do we do it: Well you finish sand your piece, then with a damp cloth wipe the surface to raise the grain, then with 240 - 320 paper sand it smooth again, do that again three or four times until the wood remains smooth after wetting leaving a good hour between goes. Your piece is now ready for the first part of the oiling. In a jar of some sort mix 50:50 white spirit and RAW linseed oil, now wet the surface of the wood, almost flood it if you can, every time the surface has soaked up the oil re flood it and keep doing this until the wood will absorb no more, give it a wipe between coats to remove any dust with a clean rag with white spirit on it. That process may well take a good week, sometimes even longer until it has become saturated. The wood now has to be left to evaporate out the with spirit, so a warmish room for maybe two weeks with good air circulation. Once the smell of white spirit have gone and it feels dry the next stage is a two stage process using BOILED Linseed oil. The first part is with the oil diluted as above with white spirit, once a day flood the surface, let it stand for 20 minutes then wipe dry and leave for 24 hours and do it again. If the surface stays wet looking after the 20 minutes let it rest for a couple of days then move on the the part two stage which is exactly the same but with undiluted boiled linseed oil, you need four or five coats of this until the surface layers are totally saturated and won't absorb any more. Now you need to let that fully dry for about a week before moving onto the final stage. Lightly sand the surface with 320 grit paper then wipe the dust off with a clean rag dampened with white spirit then wipe it dry. With a clean cloth apply the first layer of Danish oil, wet the surface, leave it for about 20 minutes then with the same cloth wipe the surface dry, leave it 24 hours to fully set then lightly sand with 320 grit. Do that again the next day. On the third day we change our technique slightly, we apply the oil and wait 20 minutes (or so depending on how quickly it dries), then with the same cloth rub the wet slightly sticky oil in circular and figure of eight patterns as in French polishing until your left with a swirl free finish, the oil will thicken during this and get pushed into the pores of the wood. The next day if the wood feels perfectly smooth then do the same again, if it feels slightly rough cut the surface back slightly with 0000 wire wool first. You might need four or five applications like that until you feel the surface is as you want it. Once the last coat is on leave it overnight then have a good look at it in the morning, it should be perfect, if not then with a very clean soft duster buff the surface in the same patterns as you did with the oil then it should be 100% perfect and with a high sheen. Once we're there we again set the wood aside for a week to fully set and become durable. If you want a satin finish then at this stage just cut the surface back with 0000 wire wool That's about it, ongoing maintenance would be an occasional wipe with Teak oil as needed. Your surfaces should now be deep and full of lustre and be ultra hard wearing. Whether or not you want to do that on a bass body is up to you obviously, it's a long process but if you have a nice piece of wood it may be worth it. Lastly a word of caution, those rags with oil on, dispose of them after every use either by laying out flat to dry before binning them or by burning them, oily rags can and often do spontaneously combust. I once did a job fitting out the local church with new fittings (alter etc.), I needed to do a little oiling there for some reason I forget but rather than take the rag back to the workshop I threw it into a public dustbin outside the church, four or five hours later that bin caught fire Whoops!

Once I'd selected the piece I ripped off 2 8mm strips for use as binding and kept an off cut to use for inlay blocks. I marked a pencil line down one side for orientation while working with the piece, then I ripped it to the width of the widest block (19th), planed the edge marked it then sawed off the inlay with an old (yes I mean old LOL) Ulmina mitre saw and then ripped the blank down to the width of the next widest inlay (the 17th), planed it and so on. This will give me consecutive inlay blocks from the same piece, I doubt it matters but that's how I like to work so that's how it happens And just for fun

So what has been happening in the land of dragons and ladies in tall black hats today? Following on from stacking wood yesterday afternoon I realised all my stacking sticks had disappeared, so I made some more and restacked my stash A word about stacking wood for those who don't know or want to know how to stack wood properly. Basically it needs to be on a flat service top of accurately machined battens (sticks) with all subsequent battens on top of the last so there is no bending load on the timber. This lets it breath and settle without added strain After that, well there wasn't much I could do but I had a look for some Satinwood fretboard blanks I hid about 15 years ago for this very build or more accurately dream of a build. Then I gave it a bit of a plane to check how it looked, the answer was great. Satinwood is hard and interlocked, it is the most difficult wood I have ever worked with, thankfully this piece wasn't too bad but the face will just be routed then sanded to shape so it won't be a problem. Then I had a hunt through some old bandsaw cut veneers to use for binding and blocks for the fretboard. This is them with a wipe of white spirit on them to give an idea of how they will look Out of interest to those who think wood isn't really that absorbent. That veneer was 2.76mm thick as you can see but if you look at the back you can see how the white spirit has soaked through the spring growth Quite amazing don't you think?

Seriously That would be amazing 🤗

Planer thicknesser and the saw: Well I needed to rip up some stuff to make sticks for stacking so I took some pictures of those being sawn. Notice no guard, naughty me! the truth be told, the guard on this machine is horrible, I hate to say it but I feel safer without it. As a rule I always use guards, one day I might show you a picture why. Yes that blade is spinning The saw Just a cheap Bosch site saw on a cupboard on wheels, very useful for quick conversion of boards into almost dimensioned material The Planer thicknesser (with the guard removed ) The cutter block that does the actual cutting, think of it like a large horizontal router How it works (not running) Converting to a thicknesser, remove the guard and fence Lift the tables Flip the dust extraction hood over Feed the wood underneath the cutter block (not running or even close to wood) The cutter block and feed rollers, notice the two types for either side of the cut, a nice touch Does that give you an idea of how it all works? As an extra, if anyone is considering this machine it is very good, I am very pleased with it and would buy another without thought. The guard is actually very good, one of the few that are easy to use, doesn't get in the way and is safe too. BUT... when the machine arrived to convert it to thicknessing mode was a nightmare involving lying on the floor with spanners to remove the guard arm so you could remove the fence so you could tilt the tables, it took maybe 15 minutes. With the best will in the world that guard would never ever be used again, What I did though was remove all the bolts and add some stainless studbar and a stainless handwheel nut so now I can get it off in seconds so the guard is always used and is a pleasure to use. Mr Record, take note, with due respect whoever invented that was having a laugh!! Showing how it fits And fitted Now to tell you what I did today

One of the nice things sometimes about making thing on spec is being able to change your mind and I think I'm just about to do that. I think this morning you have to imagine a me digging a pair of high heels into the ground and doing a U turn, what is she going on about you may ask? The trouble with buying Mahogany is sometimes you look at a board when buying it and it looks wonderful, just what you need but once you plane it clean it looks, well, just dull and sometimes you see a board and think straight grained and uninteresting, it will be ideal for framing (being a furniture maker) and you plane it resolving a surface that blows you away! As I said yesterday, the wood for the wings isn't quite what I hoped for, it's OK but not what I hoped for. After sleeping on it, the thought not the wood I have come to the conclusion that for a hand made bass with my mark on it, it's not really good enough, as a timber it's good but just visually no. I had already decided that my bass in this trio would have a quilted Maple veneer on the front with a candy apple red burst fading into transparent red spray job with a Satinwood fretboard. Now I have already ordered the Rocklite Ebano fretboards for the other two, so I don't think Maple is the right wood for those, just wrong to me somehow, a contrast too far. I have decided then to veneer the fronts of the other two in Macassar Ebony and possibly the backs too depending on the final shape of them and thickness. You may be and quite rightly be thinking two things at this moment, the first being why not use a solid laminated top not a veneer; well the solid top introduces a distinct lamination which is a tone changer and that I don't want to do, there is nothing wrong with the tone on a thunderbird as is and it will mean cutting quite heavily into the centre piece of the body. Whilst that isn't a bad thing depending on how you design it but on a Thunderbird type thing? The other and more pertinent here is veneering a white of black wood which is only 0.6mm thick onto a red wood is going to look a little odd as well as having some vulnerable edges. How do we get around that, well we hide it somehow, we could use a binding, which I've been mulling over for a while. Imaging a Thunderbird with a decorative binding, it would be like seeing Joan Jett in a pink tutu! The other way is to blend it into the radius of the edges of the body so it is smooth and then paint over it as a burst so the edges are hidden, better I think? So that is the way I'm going, a candy apple red (over gold) for me and a black burst for the other two. So now we have a new plan, not what I envisaged but I think it's better than my original and certainly adds a different look to a classic design. I am open to discussion on the colour of the burst on the Ebony pair if you feel you have a better idea

I'll take a couple of pictures in a bit hun

Yes, I ripped the bigger boards down with the saw to make the laminates, the planer only gives a straight edge and makes them parallel

I think I might have had the first copy of that, I was on the first dispatch and all the others went to the States so mine arrived first

For this I use the local timber yard Huws Gray, they are FSC registered, for stuff like Maple/Walnut probably Timbmet and foe home grown I use an old friend call Dave Hoyle in Llangernyw

I hope you don't mind, I pinched this image for the Talkbass forum/Thunderbird club. I did credit you for it if that's OK, I should of asked first I know

It was only half an hour's work! Joys of a circular saw

I got a little done today, just prep work. Ripped up the neck laminates and took a bit of wood off the wing blanks with the planer/thicknesser. There are a couple of patches on the wing wood that are a bit plain looking so they will go into mine as that will be veneered so it will never be seen. I've stacked them on sticks to breath and settle for a few days until the constructional veneers arrive (which I'll order tomorrow) I did re stack the wing blanks better than that, I just laid them out like that to show you

The extra tension in the wood does it?

It looks that way yes

So the shape of the dish becomes permanent when all the braces are glued in place, very clever! Do you not lose the harmonic qualities (is that the right term?) of the top and bottom once they're braced like that?

Selling them I hope

Some thoughts on one I'm building for myself, it will probably be having a Satinwood fretboard (think ancient maple with aged nitro for colour). I want a transparent red finish on the front but I've been thinking maybe I could veneer the fronts of the body in some fort of quilted Maple then rather than bind them I could blend them into the rounding over then do a candy apple over the sides and maybe the back but over gold not silver do it's a sort of candy apple burst. How does that sound? I'm actually having a lot of difficulty visualising it, I can usually see these things clearly

So the braces are actually laminated? 🤣

Not much of a start but this is the wood I have in for these builds, messy workshop, I will have a good clean up before I start work again. I'm going to call CapitalCrispin on Monday and see what they can do in the way of constructional veneers for use as contrasting laminates in the neck. Gibson use Walnut or black Walnut as it's known over here but I'm tempted to go for something like Beech or Maple/Sycamore. Again Gibson use four Walnut laminates, I think I'm going to add another one dead centre to make it a total of 11 laminates for the centre section So without further ado.... the wood!! Doesn't look like three new basses does it?

This might be of some interest: Love to hear your thoughts

No expert but I would say the more support you can give it the better. Supporting the body there as you have should remove any leverage on the neck joint during transport

Believe it or not (knot) no, never, well not in any wood I have actually used hand tools on; occasionally one have been through the planer but has been left out of any wood that actually gets used

This is so frustrating, on electric builds I can usually guess what's coming next but I'm lost here, I haven't the first clue So interesting

It's a bit of a sad day, on a par with the day David Bowie left us, we lost Aretha Franklin today one of the greatest voices of the 20th century. A bit daft maybe but I think I'm going to inlay a small AF into one of these, somewhere out of the way. Now could someone remind me about this when I'm cutting Mother of pearl in a few weeks please? Anyone or everyone Thanks