And the finishing has begun.....

Today I had quite a bit of free time to work in the shop so I set my goal to get the first coats of lacquer on the twins bodies, and the first coat of Tru-oil on the necks. I had quite a bit of clean up sanding to do, I had to locate and mask off the bridge locations, mask off the parts that I didn't want finished and I had to make two sets of holders since the one holder set I have is still on the SJ. I got all that done and got the first 4 coats of lacquer on the two boxes. I did get the first coats of Tru-oil on the necks as well. I decided not to stain the necks as I really liked the way the wood had flaming and striping in it. The strips and flames really pop out when I wet them down with naphtha so I figured that Tru-oil would give them the same effect. I was afraid that stain would dull that look. With the first coat on, I think I made the right decision. The necks really look very interesting and I like it. I also didn't stain the dark body because I figured it was dark enough. I did stain the lighter colored body with a bit of brown and red mixed. I did quite a few different tests on scraps until I got the color I liked. My original plan was to try and get both bodies to look as close to the same color as possible, but I stumbled upon a color combination for the lighter colored one that just knocked me over and I stuck with it. The body has a platinum color to it now which blends in with the koa bindings. It really has a nice bit of sparkle to the color and I love the look.

The two bodies after the first few coats of lacquer.

This is the lighter one that I stained. I used water based stain, was very careful about keeping the coat very light, and then once it was dry I wiped it down with denatured alcohol to pull some of the color back out. It gave this really cool gold/platinum color that actually shines. It is a lot nicer looking that I ever expected it to be.

This is the other body. I didn't stain it because it was dark enough. It also has a nice sparkle to it as you can see in the photo. I really like how the koa contrasts with it. This set has a bit of a purple shade to it. Both of these back and side sets were 'opportunity grade' sets which is another way of saying B grade. They don't have the nicest grain figuring (especially this darker one) but under finish the color really is very nice.

The two necks with the tuner holes drilled and final sanded. They are ready for finish.

This neck goes with the dark body. It has a lot of flaming in the grain which really pops out under finish. It may look like it is mottled in color in this picture, but it looks almost 3 dimensional in person. It is very cool looking!

This neck goes with the lighter body. The picture doesn't really show, but the striping you see in the peg head carries down through the neck. I like the look of this one too. I just wish I didn't have to put that mahogany laminate in there. Oh well.