my DIY guitar - thought i'd never finish it!!

before staining the guitar

now that i'm happy with the shape and contours of the guitar i can stain it. i'm using real wood stain for the dark stripes - mulberry - and just normal clothing dye for the lighter red parts. but before staining the wood you have to wet it with a flannel/cloth soaked in hot water. then vigorously rub the wood where you're going to stain - why? because when wood gets wet the cells swell and when it's dry you can sand it off to nice smooth surface. after you've sanded back the raised grain - wait till it's dry - you can stain! i used the back of the guitar to test the stain because the longer you leave wood stain the darker it gets. it's not the same for the clothing dye.

guitar body cut and carved

at last i'm satisfied with the contours of the body! even though it looks like i copied the strat contours it's actually my own body contours. i simply pressed the guitar against my body and traced the line with a pencil - i pressed it pretty hard! and then the same for the area where my arm will rest. luckily the bass wood is easy to work with! i only used a rough file to create the contours - something like this. next i'll wet the body to raise the grain of the wood to make it ready for the wood stain. isn't that the meanest ankle biter ever?!

guitar headstock design

here's what the headstock looks like. i'm quite happy with it. oh - and i see you can now buy decal paper for lazer printers. i'm definitely going to make use of that for the headstock logo! i wonder if the lacquer will dissolve it? i'm almost done with the body shape and contours too so check back soon!