B40 Bass Build

[MichaelGA]

I just took advantage of the great sales they have on kits and bought a B40 kit with a humbucker and black hardware and maple fretboard. Everything else is standard. Does anyone know how long it takes for them to fill an order?

Michael

[skully13a]

Mine came in exactly 6 weeks from order date.

[MichaelGA]

What kind of finish did you use?

[skully13a]

I'm going for a solid color nitro....my kit is a bolt so I went with Crown Royal Purple from Reranch, with tung oil on the back of the neck.Check out my thread, if you would like. I dig these kits, so I'll be watching yours.

[Coda]

I just took advantage of the great sales they have on kits and bought a B40 kit with a humbucker and black hardware and maple fretboard. Everything else is standard. Does anyone know how long it takes for them to fill an order?

I was told 6-7 weeks on my Black Friday sale bolt kit. Maybe that included the extra wait time because I ordered the Lithium single coils, which are a little backed up in production - I can't remember. It can't come fast enough - I'm excited!

[MichaelGA]

I got tired of waiting and called Kiesel to get an update on my order. They are waiting for the pickups to be made and it should ship out at the end of the week. In the meantime I'm reading and watching YouTube videos about finishing and I've been practicing with dying, paint and Solarez clear polyester resin on scraps of wood and cheap bird houses. I received a 2 x 4-foot piece of alder plywood to get an idea what colors I like the best. I'm really looking forward to this project!

Michael

[MichaelGA]

I just received an email that my bass kit shipped today!

Michael

[spudmunkey]

Nice! Feel free to post pics of your finish experimentations, too.

[MichaelGA]

It came thi afternoon! I'll post some pictures tomorrow.

Michael

[MichaelGA]

Here it is! I've played around with the Keda dyes, but I don't really like the colors that much. I've been watching YouTube videos where a guitar builder used Angelus leather dyes to color his guitars and they look much better(if interested look up Big D Guitars). I ordered some to try out next week.

Michael

[skully13a]

It's just the beginning, right? Have fun.
Kits are frickin' cool.

[MichaelGA]

I tried dyeing it black, sanding down to raise the grain, and then I tried green dye. Ugly results. I'm sanding it all off and starting over.

Michael

[MichaelGA]

BTW,

Trying to raise the grain on alder doesn't work very well. The grain is so tight, it just doesn't allow you to enhance the grain like ash and other woods do. I see why it is often just painted over. I did get some nice grain, I just hope it will come through.

Michael

[MichaelGA]

I finished dyeing the Bass last night. I'm going to applied the Solarez Polyester coating tomorrow!



Michael

[MichaelGA]

I finished applying the Sorarez clear coat this weekend. Now I just need to sand and buff it to a high gloss shine! There are some blemishes, but I love the color!

Michael

[MichaelGA]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xgSYSdou7Eo

I'm currently recovering from a sinus cold and I have a lot of sanding and polishing on the body to do yet. I have included a link to the YouTube video showing Chris monk of Highline Guitars applying Solarez resin to a guitar. I used this method, but I didn't appropriately block the UV rays from my garage. The resin began to cure while I was applying it. It was a very rough finish that I had to sand down and reapply and I'm working on sanding it down again.
The neck is being finished in Tru Oil, which is much easier to apply.

Michael

[skully13a]

Right on!
Yeah man, I find that you have to follow the instructions very explicitly or it'll cost you, usually in elbow grease. Oh well. ..it's all good. That IS a sweet color.

[Coda]

^^ Cool video about Solarez. I'll have to learn more about that stuff.

I look forward to more bass pics. I'll bet all the sanding and polishing is the last thing your sinuses are looking forward to. Hang in there!

[MichaelGA]

I'll attach some of the many pictures I've taken while working on this.
Here is a picture of the body wiped with mineral spirits to enhance the grain. The grain is really nice, especially since alder is considered less desirable for its grain than other species of wood:


This is a picture of the brown Keda dye I applied before the red dye. In my practice on plywood, it helped to enhance the grain and altered the red a little to a shade I liked better:

Here is the red dye after it has dried. It looks different from the final clear coat.

Here is another angle of the clear coat. You can better see the waviness in the finish after applying the Solarez resin and letting it set for an hour before curing it in the sun. This is much better than the first application.

[MichaelGA]

I level sanded the front and back to 320 grits and sanded down the sides until they were smooth. I sanded down to the wood in a number of spots, so I re-dyed the sides and reapplied both Solarez resins. It came out much better than the first time due to blocking the sun coming into the garage and the experience gained from the previous application. I need to sand the sides smooth and gradually sand with finer and finer grits until I buff it out. I ordered a polishing kit from LMI to sand to 12,000 grits before polishing. I also ordered their aniline dye kit to see what colors they have.

Michael