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One-piece swamp ash jazz


ahpook
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Picked this up from Guitarbuild last week as part of their 'Black Friday' sale

[url="https://flic.kr/p/Bb63eZ"][/url]

I'm planning a pretty simple finish - a good sanding and then Danish Oil. It's a lovely bit of wood in the flesh and I fancy a change form my usual black.

I've got most the parts in my bits box, and here it is with a Squier CV Jazz neck which may end up being the neck I use for the time being. I fancy something block-inlayed at some point though.

[url="https://flic.kr/p/Bz1Zkf"][/url]

Not sure about the black (Hammerite, natch) control plate yet, but it completes the picture.

Edited by ahpook
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Thanks :0

If anyone's got any tips about using Danish Oil then they'd be most welcome. Beedster's been most generous with advice as it's a bass he sold recently that got me interested in Danish Oil finishes, and so kick-started this project, which has been on the to-do list for years.

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Are you grain filling before applying the Danish oil?
With finishes such as Tru-oil, some prefer to fill using the "slurry method" (there are lots of tutorials out there) but basically you finish sand with sand paper/wet and dry which is lubricated with the oil, which then forms a slurry with the fine dust and grain fills as you go.
Also, I've found it tricky finding truly lint free cloths if you are doing a rub on finish, and you end up with one or two tiny fibres in your hard earned finish, which you know are there! So I tried using coffee filter papers which you can wear like a little mitten and it works quite well and doesn't drop any fibres
God luck
Harry

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Thanks for the advice Harry - I'd read about the slurry method and was still mulling over whether to try that (all work is forbidden on the bass until the final cupboard's up in the kitchen !). I don't mind a more 'open' feel to the wood though, so I'm still 50-50.

Top tip for the filter papers - I'll give that a try.

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Once you've done ten or so passes with the oil (sanding back with wet and dry each time) you can finish with a few coats of beeswax for a little extra protection and a lovely satin finish.

If you just leave it as Danish Oil, you could end up with shiny patches where your arms comes into contact with the body.

Personally, I'd be expecting to spend around two months getting the finish right. At least a day on each coat of Danish oil and a few days for each coat of wax too. Time consuming, but you'll never feel more proud of your beautiful finish!

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[quote name='rubis' timestamp='1449668710' post='2925775']
Are you grain filling before applying the Danish oil?
With finishes such as Tru-oil, some prefer to fill using the "slurry method" (there are lots of tutorials out there) but basically you finish sand with sand paper/wet and dry which is lubricated with the oil, which then forms a slurry with the fine dust and grain fills as you go.
Also, I've found it tricky finding truly lint free cloths if you are doing a rub on finish, and you end up with one or two tiny fibres in your hard earned finish, which you know are there! So I tried using coffee filter papers which you can wear like a little mitten and it works quite well and doesn't drop any fibres
God luck
Harry
[/quote]
Micro-fibre cloths are pretty much always lint-free. I used to have loads of problems until I started using those. I also use a glass-cleaning micro-fibre as a tack rag nowadays...got utterly p****d off by 'specially made for the job' traditional tack rags leaving bits all over the place!

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If you go for a grain filler, you may struggle a bit with the 'slurry' method on Ash. That method works fairly well on small pores like Walnut, but Ash usually has great big chasms which may be a bit too much for the slurry to achieve a 100% fill. You'd be better off buying a either a purpose made paste grain filler or Epoxy, it'd certainly be quicker!

Though if I were you I'd probably leave the pores and have it feeling a bit more natural, that's supposed to be what an oil finish is all about anyway :).

Looks like a fun project, good luck! :).

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[quote name='Manton Customs' timestamp='1449692036' post='2926083']
Though if I were you I'd probably leave the pores and have it feeling a bit more natural, that's supposed to be what an oil finish is all about anyway :).

Looks like a fun project, good luck! :).
[/quote]

Thanks

This is really what I'm thinking. All my other basses are glossy (black) finishes, so something very 'wood' is quite the ticket, but all thoughts are very much welcome.

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  • 1 month later...

Wow, was that almost 6 weeks ago ? Oh well, I have been finishing the kitchen !

Got to grips with the body today and gave it a good sand from 180 down to 320, lovely afternoon's work with the shed door open and a robin for company, then I wiped it down and tomorrow will see another 320 in a different light and a good onceover.

Feels great already and the sanding's brought out the grain really nicely.

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  • 5 weeks later...

Hey dude!

Looking good my friend :)

Have you settled on the control layout yet? Are you going with the standard VVT controls?

I found that modding my Ibanez Jazz clone with a series/parallel switch brought out some lovely mid tones that aren't as obvious when in normal parallel VVT mode. Should be a fairly simple mod with a pull pot or toggle switch.

Interested to see how this build progresses!

Ian

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  • 2 weeks later...

Started on the first coat of Danish Oil yesterday, and wow, did the body soak up the oil ? I'd expected it to, but not as much as it did - it's quite magical to watch.

Lots of wiping and spreading and here's the result the next day




And it's come up an awful lot darker than the bare wood...didn't realise it would be quite so dark (especially the end grain), which I'll admit is alittle bit of a shame as I liked the lightness of the wood. No biggie - you live and learn...part of what this was all about.

I've brought the body into the house to warm up a little and I'll get on with the second coat today.

Edited by ahpook
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[quote name='ahpook' timestamp='1457691090' post='3000948']

And it's come up an awful lot darker than the bare wood...didn't realise it would be quite so dark (especially the end grain), which I'll admit is alittle bit of a shame as I liked the lightness of the wood. No biggie - you live and learn...part of what this was all about.

[/quote]

That's most likely the Linseed in the Danish Oil causing it to go a little darker than expected. Something Tung oil based may not have darkened so much, though an oil finish will always darken the wood a bit. You could rub back and resume with Tung oil pretty easily if you'd prefer a paler looking bass. Though it looks nice as is to me :).

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[quote name='Manton Customs' timestamp='1457700691' post='3001080']
That's most likely the Linseed in the Danish Oil causing it to go a little darker than expected. Something Tung oil based may not have darkened so much, though an oil finish will always darken the wood a bit. You could rub back and resume with Tung oil pretty easily if you'd prefer a paler looking bass. Though it looks nice as is to me :).
[/quote]

OK, good to know about the Tung oil.

The second coat is drying now, absorbed a fraction of what t did yesterday, and overall it's darkened a little, and some of the front grain has a red tint to it.

Looking good !

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And here's a very quick mock-up - think it'll look better with a silver control plate, but chuffed so far.



Third coat tomorrow and then some beeswax wood wax.

I have a gig on Tuesday...I could be ready by then !

Edited by ahpook
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And here it is today, third coat drying



When I started this morning my worst fears were confirmed - I'd missed a patch about the size of a playing card on the ribcage contour and it was now a shiny patch. That and a few odd dots here and there....

Hmmm

After some reading up on the Web I tried a little bit of wire wool...very gently on a patch which will sit under the neck plate...and the patch slowly disappeared and the finish wasn't affected, so I tried that on all the patches and eventually gave the whole body a once-over and it evened up the finish.

The third coat went on in and most of it came off ! Endgrain was still pretty thirsty but filled up eventually.

What you see above is Mrs. Pook very kindly holding up the bass as it is now in the wan spring Tottenham sunset, and it looks lovely. The finish has smoothed out beautifully and there are coppery hues in there and greens/browns in the endgrain.

Next step..Beeswax polish after a few day's drying off.

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[quote name='Bottle' timestamp='1456403986' post='2988597']
Hey dude!

Looking good my friend :)

Have you settled on the control layout yet? Are you going with the standard VVT controls?

I found that modding my Ibanez Jazz clone with a series/parallel switch brought out some lovely mid tones that aren't as obvious when in normal parallel VVT mode. Should be a fairly simple mod with a pull pot or toggle switch.
[/quote]

I'm sorry - I missed you question, my apologies !

I was going to go for the standard VVT, but as I have a couple of stacked pots in my bits box it's possible I'll use those instead....

Not sure really ! The series/parallel sounds interesting tho.

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[quote name='ahpook' timestamp='1457804099' post='3001967']
I'm sorry - I missed you question, my apologies !

I was going to go for the standard VVT, but as I have a couple of stacked pots in my bits box it's possible I'll use those instead....

Not sure really ! The series/parallel sounds interesting tho.
[/quote]
It's very similar to the Fender S1 option on the Jazzes - pops the mids up quite a bit as well as the overall volume

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OK, bit of a teaser here. :yarr:

Bought some Colron Beeswax today and get two nice even coats on and buffed off this afternoon. Was thinking of another coat, but didn't want it to go too dark.....so I popped the neck on, just to see how it looked...and then the bridge as well.

It's actually assembled now with a pickup and scratchplate, but I'm going to wait until tomorrow to get some decent pictures of it.

In the meantime, here's an action shot of me fitting the bridge. The copper earthing strip is a piece of shielding tape, folded over a few times.

It looks lovely - I'm very pleased.

Edited by ahpook
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