This will likely be the last set of pics or updates for about 3 or 4 weeks. I have 7 coats of clear finish on it now and tomorrow I'll be sanding out any dust marks and such with 600 grit. After that I have to wait at least 2 weeks before I can sand out to 2000 then 4000 and then polish. I hope to end up with a finish as glassy and smooth as if I had used nitro cellulose lacquer (hope I spelled that correctly) which is something you have to have a business license of some sort to use. To get that, you'd need a spray booth setup with positive ventilation - or so I'm told.
You can see all sorts of reflections in these next photos - some make the finish actually look milky or deficient in some way but it's only light reflections. What's not coming across is the true chocolate colour of the wood - it's actually nicer than it photographs!
In this side view of the upper bout you can see a reflection of the wooden support that is bolted into the neck mounting cavity! Pic on the right is the bottom with the rosewood end graft.
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What also appears to be not true colour (at least on my laptop) is the neck. It is more orange-brown that what you see here and it goes with the body colour better than you might think by looking at these. This time around I decided to apply the finish with only pilot holes where the tuners go, which is why you only see small holes there at present. This was to stop clear finish from running through full sized holes and creating any drips or runs on the down side during drying. I just need to be careful when drilling these out so as to not mar the finish on either side.
Middle pic is the headstock with a black layer then maple (the white part) and then the veneer on top (on the right). The veneer is left over side or back material (left pic).
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