OK, here's part 2... So my eldest son was sick all last night and as a consequence, my wife and I were up early. I don't really know what she got up to, but I went to my newest girlfriend ;) I finished the headstock off by about 9am. This involved sanding with some 320 grit, moving to 400, to 600 to 800. Then I went to Axe Wax the rosewood fretboard. All was good till I turned it over to make sure none dripped over to the curved neck bit (does that have a proper name?). Well the stuff dripped over there, so instead of slightly tinting the neck, which was my plan, I just rubbed the stuff all over it. Came out OK too. I set it aside to soak in and later today I did 1 coat of Tru-Oil. I'll sand and Tru-Oil the neck at least 2 more times.
Then came the body - cause I was on a roll. I started sanding the thin veneer (it looked like it was 1mm thick in the neck pocket) with 600 grit. I used a whole sheet before moving to 800. I then thought, this is smooth enough for some dye. I went with a really light pink. 2 coats of that, then another sand at 600 to try and bring out the chatoyance above the spalting (near the horns).Then I hit it with some light grey (black diluted with metho) and did 2 or 3 coats. Then another sand. This time 600, then 800. Then a darker grey, followed by a darker grey and a sand at 800. Then I mixed the small amount of reddy/pink left over with the grey/black and gave that 3 coats. Then I sanded 600, 800, 1500. Admittedly, I couldn't feel the difference between 800 and 1500 but I still did it anyway. Lastly, when the metho had evaporated etc. I gave it a thin coat of Tru-Oil. The photo you see is with out sanding after the Tru-Oil coat. The camera colours are reasonably close. The main thing is I can see the pinky hue at the top (although in the photo it's almost non-existant) and the oldish colour at the bottom. I can also make out some striping at the sides and I think the colourisation process has accentuated the spalt marks really nicely. I'm hoping that with a few more Tru-Oil coats and sanding in between the stripes will come out more.
Then came the body - cause I was on a roll. I started sanding the thin veneer (it looked like it was 1mm thick in the neck pocket) with 600 grit. I used a whole sheet before moving to 800. I then thought, this is smooth enough for some dye. I went with a really light pink. 2 coats of that, then another sand at 600 to try and bring out the chatoyance above the spalting (near the horns).Then I hit it with some light grey (black diluted with metho) and did 2 or 3 coats. Then another sand. This time 600, then 800. Then a darker grey, followed by a darker grey and a sand at 800. Then I mixed the small amount of reddy/pink left over with the grey/black and gave that 3 coats. Then I sanded 600, 800, 1500. Admittedly, I couldn't feel the difference between 800 and 1500 but I still did it anyway. Lastly, when the metho had evaporated etc. I gave it a thin coat of Tru-Oil. The photo you see is with out sanding after the Tru-Oil coat. The camera colours are reasonably close. The main thing is I can see the pinky hue at the top (although in the photo it's almost non-existant) and the oldish colour at the bottom. I can also make out some striping at the sides and I think the colourisation process has accentuated the spalt marks really nicely. I'm hoping that with a few more Tru-Oil coats and sanding in between the stripes will come out more.
