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INCOMING!! Another Kay 😆


Maude
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19 minutes ago, Ricky Rioli said:

 

Different tone woods for bass - low mids - high mids *nods*

 

Ah, why didn't I realise? That's exactly what it is! The darker wood is obviously more dense and used on that side to accentuate the higher frequencies of the treble strings. 

These Kays really were ahead of their time. 

😄

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Looks like you're doing a good job with the refin @Maude

I'm really enjoying this thread. And I still wish the young me had bought one of these when I first saw them around.
It was probably the "Kay" badge that put me off..... or I needed the cash for Friday & Saturday night out! ;) 

Looking forward to seeing how the staining goes. But don't make too good a job of it, or I'll have 80's Kay GAS

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On 08/09/2021 at 09:10, Marc S said:

Looking forward to seeing how the staining goes. But don't make too good a job of it, or I'll have 80's Kay GAS

 

Ah, erm yeah, no need to worry. Things haven't gone well! 🙈

Firstly the red ink is brown. I didn't want scarlet so went for 'Indian Red' as it was a deeper dark red. On paper it might be but on this wood it's gone brown. Then as I was wiping coats on it started to drag the colour out from the previous coat, probably not dry enough but I was trying to build up costs to see if it would go a deeper red. Less haste more speed as they say. 🙄

 

I'm just letting it dry a bit and then I'm going to try a make or break plan. 

 

Stay tuned for the results folks. 😄

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OK crisis averted, I think. 

 

The ink that went all patchy looking says non water fast on the bottle, so a good rub with a wet sponge should even it out, right? What's the worst that can happen? 😄

 

It worked!! 

As well as evening it out it took some of the colour off again. I had to keep rinsing the ink out of the sponge and really rubbing quite hard to kind of make an ink slurry, then just wiped it off. I've left the heavier, dark ink in the curve of the top horns, around the bottom and right beside the centre stripes and it's given it a cool aged look. 

It's still slightly uneven but I think that's more the wood than the ink as when I tried it again it dried the same. 

I've managed to turn boring pine into boring mahogany. 

The only downside is that the water has lifted the grain and made the surface a bit rough for lacquring, but a couple of extra coats and good wet flat will sort that. I could try lightly sanding the wood to reveal the grain more but the grain is pretty dull and I don't want to risk making it more patchy and having to start again. 

The colour will 'pop' more (as the cool kids (probably don't) say) once lacquered. 

 

Here ya go! 

 

Ee6qU1Q.jpg

 

cbvkWFa.jpg

 

ldNIcMF.jpg

 

pnGZ1rY.jpg

 

The control cavity cleaned out nicely, until I got ink all over it. 

cxcm9p3.jpg

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That looks great! It may not be the colour you intended but that really works. As far as the headstock's concerned, I'm leaning towards colouring it - the stained wings give the bass an Aria-esque look, & the SBs had a head veneer matched to the wings. It would also even out the look of the darker section, which stands out more on the headstock than on the body.

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I read the text before looking at the photo and that is not boring, that looks ace, good work, Sir! If it were me, I’d colour the headstock, as it would tie the head to the body very nicely as the fretboard makes it look disassociated from the body (plus, you have the reverse for the complete head to tail look).

Edited by ezbass
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I'll mull it over this evening. I've done my usual of placing it opposite the sofa so I keep glancing at it and the ideas can stew for a bit. 

The brass TRC looks good against the 'fauxhogany' so maybe stained. 

 

So far, in favour of staining we have, 

2 For 

1 Against 

 

 

 

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17 minutes ago, Maude said:

I'll mull it over this evening. I've done my usual of placing it opposite the sofa so I keep glancing at it and the ideas can stew for a bit. 

The brass TRC looks good against the 'fauxhogany' so maybe stained. 

 

So far, in favour of staining we have, 

2 For 

1 Against 

 

 

 

 

My opinion in this is beyond worthless but I can't resist voting Against, just to tie the results so far 😬

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1 hour ago, Reggaebass said:

I say leave it, bassassin says stain it, so just do half 😁

 

20 minutes ago, Maude said:

 

 

So far, in favour of staining we have, 

2 For 

1 Against 

 

 

 

Now it should be 2/3 stained 😉
 

 

 


 

EDIT: or at least it should’ve been.

Edited by ezbass
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9 minutes ago, PaulThePlug said:

LOL!

 

Leave it... Thru Neck, Matches the body.

As mentioned it should melow and balance in colour a bit with laquer...

Aww, I'd almost decided on staining it. 😄

 

I just don't know. I'll wipe some white spirit on it tomorrow, it'll show the colour once lacquered but won't lift the grain like water. A yellower tint will blend better. 

I do like the idea of a stained headstock as well though, I've been looking at Arias. 

 

Here's the TRC against the stained colour. 

YqTWTte.jpg

 

And this a better picture of the darkened edges I mentioned earlier which were a happy by product of my balls up. It looks like a conker!

It's not patchy now it's thoroughly dried. I really like it now and it'll only get better once lacquered. 

Happy days 🙂

QN5QP81.jpg

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It's too difficult, or too risky I should say. Being water based ink it seeps into the wood fibres and I'm not sure I could get a crisp edge. 

If I did the face of the headstock I'd mask just slightly down the sides to disguise any blurred edge. If I only stained the edges I'd have double the masked lines, so double the risk of seepage and I'd have to mask down the side for the reason above, leaving only a very narrow stained edge. 

I think it's got to be all of the face or nothing at all. 

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