Step 4 - Sand and Stain!

The second round of sanding went a lot quicker, either because I put a thinner coat of grain filler on or because the wood didn't suck up as much filler. I dunno, but it seemed like I got to bare wood a lot quicker. It's smooth as a baby's derriere though.


One thing I noticed is that as I sanded the body I got an extremely fine sanding dust that went everywhere with the slightest breeze. Don't blow off the dust, especially if you're sanding indoors! I had to keep wiping off the worktable, as any little piles ended up crushed and stuck to the body whenever I set it on top of them. When I got done, all the little holes left by the CNC machine were full of the dust, so I (carefully) cleaned them out with a drill bit (fingers only!).

After that, a quick prayer and on to the first round of stain. The first little bit I used a brush, however it dried with some streaks, which I had to sand out. I also found a couple of small grain filler spots that I'd missed sanding. Then I had to fix the sand through spots. Finishing up the stain I used a paper towel to spread the stain, which gave me more control.

As for the headstock, after I shot it with the white, it occurred to me that tung oil might not be able to penetrate the lacquer, which would keep me from getting a close match to the body. I've read that you can, and I've been told you can't, do tung over lacquer, so I'm doing a test piece on some scrap I've got laying about. If it works, great. Worst case, I'll be putting my decal directly on the white and shooting some semi-gloss clear over the whole thing. Either way, the headstock will be pretty busy, and it's gonna be different anyway since it's maple. It's a detail I'm willing to live without.