Okay - working on my 5th CBG, and with each one, I have gotten a little more complicated...I suppose I should perfect one before I start messing with new stuff, but that's how it is...
My current project, which I'm on a bit of a time crunch with, is a 4-string fretless with a black Tabak box with gold lettering and edging tape. I'm putting a fingerboard on it, but not doing frets. I'm thinking about using some gold tape from the craft store to do a binding of sorts up the neck, to sort of mimic the gold binding tape around the box and tie the whole thing together. I'll be using wipe on poly for the finish of the whole thing. Several questions for those of you with a bit of experience:
1. Will the tape cause any issues long-term, pulling up or anything, if the poly is on top of it?
2. Will the poly smooth out the seams of the tape?
3. This will be my first time using wipe on poly - the neck (maple) is stained black with water-based stain, and the fingerboard (red oak) will probably stained a golden tan with an oil-based stain. The poly is oil-based, I believe. Will this cause any issues?
4. I'm switching to wipe-on poly because I was using polyacrylic brush-on, and it got a bit...chunky. Frankly, I think it was an old can that may have been left open before, so that may have been the issue, but I've heard a lot of good things about the wipe-on, so I thought I'd try it. I'm looking for a nice smooth look - how many coats do you think will be necessary?
5. Last thing - I'm using a shower drain for a soundhole cover. Do y'all tend to poly over that, as well? I like putting the poly on the box - I feel like it unifies the look of the instrument a bit better, but didn't know about this part...
UPDATE!!
It's finished! Had quite a few missteps on this one that haven't happened on any other one yet, but got them fixed without too much drama. Picture is below.
The tape worked well as binding. Next time I do this, I'll need to take some extra care to get the tape to stay completely flat at the edges...some minor lifting on corners and around the curve of the neck. After one coat of wipe-on, I switched to a brush-on, because it was obvious that the wipe-on was not going to build quick enough for the amount of time I had. Used a different kind, though, and it worked much better. Thanks for the help, everyone!
Replies
I think I would try a sample piece of wood with the tape on it to make sure that the poly doesn't make the glue come loose on the tape. I think spraying it on with several light coats as opposed to one or two heavy ones would work the best.
I would not poly the drain cover. Can you put it on last, after the poly work is done?
Sure can put it on last - only concern was if it would look better poly'd, or if there was something I wasn't thinking of with it...
When you mention spray-on, are you recommending NOT to do the wipe-on, or is there a spray-on method with the same stuff?
If you wanted to shine it up, you could buff the cover easily. I would be concerned that the poly would peel off after a time.
Wipe on would probably work OK, but I think if you wanted to do multiple light coats, the rattle spray can might give you more control. I have had good luck with Minwax polyurethane.