Just want to run my plans by you all since I'm a first-timer!

Hi All,
I have been scouring this forum for some time reading all of your wisdom and experience, and first off I would like to thank you all. I have wanted to build my own guitar since I first realized that it was possible, and I have decided to take a swing. I don't plan on building it totally from scratch, I suck at drawing, so design ain't my thing! I'm going to buy a grizzly tele kit (I know, not a popular choice) and take tons of measurments so that if I like it I can attempt to replicate it. Anyways, long story short, I would like to know if there is any reason why my finish plan won't work.
I plan to (after some serious sanding) apply a water based wood dye with a rag, and then apply a tru-oil finish with a rag. I would spray it, but no sprayer, so no spraying! I also plan to use the wood dye on the headstock, and tru-oil on the neck. I was planning to leave the fingerboard finishless, is that a problem? Keep in mind I am an absolute beginner, so feel free to warn me of any possible pitfalls!
Thanks!

Stewart-Macdonald luthier supply has lots of tools and information -- get their free catalog (http://www.stewmac.com/)!

water based dye after sanding will raise the grain on your body, alcohol based dye might work better, it won't raise the grain. that way you won't need to sand again, so no risk of going thru the color to the wood.
tru oil will work on the body, but bear in mind, it won't protect it from dings as well as a harder finish. nitro lacquer does come in aerosol cans if you rethink your plan of attack. deft is one, and i believe minwax black label is another. no sprayer required.
for the neck, tru oil will be an excellent choice. is your fingerboard maple, or rosewood? maple without a finish gets dirty fast, rosewood needs no finish.

Hey, thanks for the responses,
I have looked into swtewart mcdonald, haven't ordered the catalog, I'll have to do that!
On the water vs alcohol issue I was planning on going for water based because I read that it would add more color to the grain. Since the body is alder hopefully the grain won't go too crazy, but if it does I guess I will just go for the paper. As for the finish, I'm pretty set on tru-oil, because I want to go as thin as possible, to be honest if I didn't think that the dye would come off I wouldn't use anything.
On the fingerboard it is actually niether, it's walnut, so I assume that it has the same properties as rosewood as far as dirt hiding.

I just had a thought/concern. I was trying to decide between dying the guitar red, yellow, or black, and I remembered that when I was a kid and tried to make red sugar cookies they always came out pink. Now I'm not judging anybody that is comfortable enough with their masculinity to use a pink guitar, but I don't know if I'm one of them. Do you guys think that red dye would turn alder red, or might it go pink?

You say you have no sprayer, but you can afford a Preval gun, and they work very well.

The big risk with dye is blotching. Once it happens, it's virtually impossible to remedy, and it can be very ugly. So what many people do is use a light, clear sealant such as shellac, then use tinted coatings on top of that. A good aniline dye in clear shellac can be made dark if you want it that way. It can be sprayed or wiped. Shellac in particular does a nice job of raising the grain slightly so that you can knock it back down to a very level surface. Furniture finishers have long used shellac for this purpose. Apply a couple of light coats, smooth it down and wipe with a tack cloth, then apply the tinted shellac. You can top shellac with pretty much anything you like, though water-based finishes are to be avoided.

A nice thing about shellac is that, if you're unhappy with your results, all it takes is an alcohol-soaked rag to remove everything in a matter of minutes, no harm done. The initial clear coats act as a barrier against rapid, uneven absorption of dye.

That spray gun is pretty cool, the only thing that I always get caught up on is that it's essentially a spray paint can, and I really suck at spraying! With some future practice maybe i'll spring for it on a future project though. As for the shellac I've read about those, and I was tempted to go for it, but I want kind of a satiny finish, so I'm pretty sold on the dye and the oil.

Here's another dumb question, I am looking for Tru-Oil, but how much do I need for a body and neck? They come in 3, 8, and 32 oz.
Thanks :lol:

Hi Joefaity,

I am in the process of doing one of those Grizzly kits myself.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v619/mypetelvis/100_1647.jpg
The kit itself is nicer than I expected.
The body is three pieces and the routing was nice and clean. However, the neck mounting holes were drilled wrong. I had to enlarge them a bit (and enlongate one) for them to work.

The maple used for the neck is not the best looking, but it is straight and the frets were leveled and crowned with no sharp edges. I don't have a gauge, but the radius feels some where between 12" and 14" (which is fine with me).



Like you, I decided to dye the wood.

Be aware that the body is covered in a thin layer of sealer (not sure but, it may be shellac).
I tried using StewMac's colortone with water to dye the body (after much sanding), but the results were less that spectacular. First off, I raised the grain and sanded it down several times, but when I wiped on the stain, it raised yet again. In addition, it seems that no matter how much I sanded, some of the sealer remained in the pores of the wood, causing the stain to be WAY blotchy (and it looked pink).

After sanding it down again, I took Chicknpickn's advice and mixed 1oz of the cherry red dye with 16oz of amber shellac. The results were much better. The mixture went on easy, and even.

Here's a shot of where I'm at now. (Not the best shot, the color is darker with more grain showing, looks much better in person.)http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v619/mypetelvis/100_1703.jpg

After I'm done with the stain, I'm going to shoot it Deft lacquer.
I also picked up some fretboard dye from Stewmac and will be ebonizing the board. The white pickguard will be replaced with single ply black when it is done.

VERY cool! Thanks for the info, great to know! Good to know the kits seem good, I have heard they are perty cool and by the look of yours they are! Also good to know about the sealer, I'll have to go for the best that I can, I have thought about going either yellow dye or black dye (mcfadden's). Do you think they would be better?

Well, the finish plans just changed, still going with the dye, but I have a new spray gun staring at me, so it looks like we're going for nitro!

Too cool! What kind of spray gun did you get?

I wish I had a compressor and spray gun. I would have just used the dye to tint some nitro and shot it all on at once. It would have saved me several steps.

What color dye did you decide on? (I think a trans black would be really cool.)

I forget what brand it is, it's just a fairly cheap small one from harbor freight. I will be going for a yellow tint. Hopefully it will look good, if not maybe I will sand it off and go for black. :)
I started a build thread with pics if you want to take a look!
http://www.tdpri.com/forum/tele-home-depot/182513-noobie-attempts-grizzly-kit-birth-suncaster.html

Harbor Freight's $14 touch up gun (http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=86) is a good product at a great price. It's essentially a Chinese-made copy of the (Taiwanese) guns that Stew Mac and Sears sell for more like $50. The 7oz cup size usually lets me spray three coats of clear on a Tele body.

Of course you need a decent compressor too!

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/photos/00000-00099/00086.gif

That's mine! Already had the compressor, so we got that and one of the regulator-cleaner-water remover things (forget the name).

A combined pressure regulator and moisture trap? Good move too!

As far as the stain/dye is concerned. I used a red dye with water on a swamp ash body. I wet the body with a rag and raised the grain. I sanded it down and then applied the dye. It still raised the grain, but not as much. So I sanded down and reapplied the dye. Then I did grain filling and sealer over the dye. Sanding after the filler and sealer does take the dye off. I have reapplied the dye several times. I'm not sure the way I did it is the best, but it is working out ok.

I have seen a lot of people say if you want a stained look, dye the first few coats of clear. I have to say that idea is a good one if you have a spray rig.

I have seen a lot of people say if you want a stained look, dye the first few coats of clear. I have to say that idea is a good one if you have a spray rig.

Wouldn't the water based dye affect the clear coat?