Step 2 - Sand & Raise the Grain (Again)

This morning the neck & body were dry, however they were no longer very smooth. The water did an excellent job of raising the grain. I've read that you shouldn't soak the wood, just wipe with a damp rag, but I actually rinsed the body in our deep sink and wiped it down with a damp rag. The grain around the edges took a little longer to dry, but I don't think there were any ill effects. I wouldn't dunk it in the bathtub, but I think a damp rag isn't going to put enough water on the surface to effectively swell the fibers. In case you were wondering whether it's even necessary, here's a picture of the effects of the first raising.
As you can see, I've no longer got a smooth foundation for the final finish. This is why you'd want to go through the trouble of sanding & grain raising. Imagine what would happen when that water-based Minwax white gets on it! The neck, being maple, wasn't nearly as rough, however its grain did raise up a bit. Shouldn't take as many passes to get it ready to stain though, and I shouldn't need to fill the neck's grain.

So, a little more sanding and another rinse to raise the grain. It should be dry and ready for another round this afternoon. Notice that I'm using a sanding block. It's easier on the hands and keeps you from sanding a trough where you want the wood to be flat.

While I was waiting for Carvin to build and ship the guitar, I was doing research and as much prep work as I could think of. One of the projects was screwing a couple of plant hangers to the ceiling of the garage to hang the neck & body from so they could dry. The neck is hanging from a piece of wire coat hanger put through the high E string tuner's hole. The body is screwed to a piece of 1"x2" scrap and hanging from the other plant hanger. Since the plant hangers spin as needed and the wood is the right length, I should be able to do my staining and oiling without having to worry about laying the body on my nice clean (right!) workbench.

I probably won't post until I'm onto the next steps, which will be filling the body's grain and first coat of stain on the headstock.