It was a day of failures and some success. When it comes to woodworking I'm probably a little too cavalier with things like measurements and patience, but I do enjoy it. I spent the late morning sanding this (would-be) backplate into the correct shape:
I sculpted and sanded so much that it no longer works as a backplate for the P-Bass! And, during a break I had this sitting on the ground and thought, "the back is much prettier than the front."
I learned that I have a tendency to destroy the softer poplar when I'm rasping and planing the harder oak and purpleheart. Something I'll need to keep in mind down the road. I suppose you can still laminate hard and soft woods together, but a gentle touch would be in order.
Despite reducing the neck and adding a backplate the P-bass still wants to nose dive. So, after all that I'm just saying, "whatever P-Bass I'll just build something from scratch." Remembering that it's important to call things done at a certain point.
With that defeat I decided to check out my ebonizing solution that's been sitting for the last week (figuring it was a gimme since the wooden stir stick I've been using is black):
It looks super-gross! And it works beautifully!
I learned that it bleeds into the other pieces of wood that are glued to your intended piece. However the poplar and purpleheart turn almost as black as the oak which I wouldn't have expected, but if everything turns black you might as well use one piece of wood. I might try sanding this in a day or so to see how the black wears.
I had two solutions going—one inside and one in the garage. The one in the garage did nothing, so I learned that this chemical reaction won't occur in the cold. The solution in the picture is actually the two solutions combined and having sat for a couple days.
I sculpted and sanded so much that it no longer works as a backplate for the P-Bass! And, during a break I had this sitting on the ground and thought, "the back is much prettier than the front."
I learned that I have a tendency to destroy the softer poplar when I'm rasping and planing the harder oak and purpleheart. Something I'll need to keep in mind down the road. I suppose you can still laminate hard and soft woods together, but a gentle touch would be in order.
Despite reducing the neck and adding a backplate the P-bass still wants to nose dive. So, after all that I'm just saying, "whatever P-Bass I'll just build something from scratch." Remembering that it's important to call things done at a certain point.
With that defeat I decided to check out my ebonizing solution that's been sitting for the last week (figuring it was a gimme since the wooden stir stick I've been using is black):
It looks super-gross! And it works beautifully!
I learned that it bleeds into the other pieces of wood that are glued to your intended piece. However the poplar and purpleheart turn almost as black as the oak which I wouldn't have expected, but if everything turns black you might as well use one piece of wood. I might try sanding this in a day or so to see how the black wears.
I had two solutions going—one inside and one in the garage. The one in the garage did nothing, so I learned that this chemical reaction won't occur in the cold. The solution in the picture is actually the two solutions combined and having sat for a couple days.
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