Since the finishing of the twins is well underway and other than spraying lacquer and wiping on
Tru-oil, there really isn't anything else to do with them. I suppose I can make the bridges but I really don't want to be kicking up all that dust while I am in the process of finishing the parts. So, I decided to dig out the SJ and start the task of level sanding and polishing it. The parts have had the lacquer curing for 2 months now so it is good and hard. I started by wet sanding with 400, 800, 1500, and 2400 grit paper. I then went with dry through all the
micromesh grits. After that was done I wasn't happy at all with how it looked. It seems my pore filling wasn't quite as good as I thought it was and I had a lot of pores that telegraphed through the finish. Those little pores accumulated the white slurry from the wet sanding and the shiny finish was covered with white spots. I decided to start over and try and level sand it down to eliminate as many of these pores as possible. I have the back re-sanded through 800 grit and I almost have the pores gone. This is where it gets tricky. I want to sand enough to get rid of all the pores possible, but I don't want to sand through to the wood. So far I haven't sanded through but I still have a few pores that show. I got most of them with the re-sanding but there are still some that show. I now have the decision to make if I want to try and continue sanding down to eliminate more of them with the risk of sand-through, or stop now , polish, and then clean out the pores that have the white stuff in it. I will sleep on it and decide what to do tomorrow. Part of me says I don't want to ruin the finish by sanding through, but the other part wants it to be right and I am willing to risk it even if it means I have to re-finish the back. It wouldn't be the first time!
I received the
Englemann top and 3
EIR fingerboards in the mail yesterday that I purchased in the swap meet. I have to say, the top has an incredible tap tone to it and it is very stiff. It has a deep resonance when tapped and it rings forever. Well, maybe not forever but a good 6-7 seconds that I can hear and probably longer. My ears ain't as good as they used to be! Too many years of hammer drills, chipping hammers, and other very loud construction equipment without proper hearing protection has taken it's toll. Of course when I was younger you couldn't convince me too use hearing protection because like all 20 year
olds, I was invincible!
I scored a few more deals on the swap meet over the last few days. Below are pictures of what I got. I also ordered the Advanced Voicing DVD from John
Mayes as he had a special price at the swap meet so I couldn't pass it up.
First up, a back and side set of Curly Myrtle that I got at the swap meet.
I got two of these 2A redwood soundboards.
And I got this set of
head plate veneers.
Remember this guy? Yeah, it has been a while since it has seen the shop!
After a lot of sanding and polishing I got the body nice and shiny but I didn't like the pore divots that collected the white slurry from sanding. I decided to re-sand the back and try to level out the pores. If you look at the full sized image, you will see it is covered with white dots where the pores are. Not good!
This is how it sits tonight. It still has some pores but I got rid of the vast majority of them.
Here is an extreme closeup of what I am talking about. See those white specks, those are pores that didn't fill correctly.
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