DIY e-guitar - Part 3 - Finishing

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After doing a quick test by screwing on the neck and two outermost tuning machines with strings, checking that they sound fairly OK, I decided that it is time to start finishing the thing, to make sure it's playable as soon as possible.

So, based on the suggestions I've seen on youtube and read everywhere, I started by taping everything carefully: on the neck part masked the fretboard, bindings, tuning peg holes, neck joint getting inside the body, nut, and on the body masked the pickup holes, the f-hole edges, bridge post and tailpiece post holes, potentiometer holes, toggle switch hole, and the neck cavity.

After everything being taped, I went on with two coats of ground for wood (sanded with 120-grit then 320-grit sandpaper) and then came the interesting part with mahogany-tinted odorless wooden lacquer. It looked quite dark brown, but when applied to the mahogany (started with the neck first) it turned out to be orange-y. So, I've applied several coats: one coat of lacquer, sanded with 320 grit, another coat, sand with 600 grit, another coat, sand with 1000-grit sandpaper. And at this point the neck was fairly similar to the neck of the other two (acoustic) guitars we have in our house, so I considered it to be ready. I've done the same finishing to the back and sides. The top was another story, I was thinking how to finish it, did check for inspiration on the net, and I initially wanted a darker brown, but that wouldn't work with the side/back I have, so I thought I'll do a sunburst, by mixing some dye with transparent lacquer. I did spend some time with mixing, I had two shades of red (one deep red and another one orange-ish), but doing the manual the sunburst didn't work for me. Tried to sand down and start over, but due to the curved top that didn't work well either, so I simply sanded down as much as I could, and then went on with the red only. The wood stain is visible (as is part of the sunburst at the curves and my attempt at sanding it down, but fortunately only upon a closer inspection), and the guitar looks OK. Not as unique as I wanted it to be, but I should be able to change that once I'm bored with it.
Headstock masked
Neck masked
Body masked
Neck joint masked
Second coat of lacquer applied
First coat of lacquer applied
First coat on the body making it orange-ish
Almost invisible sunburst

Side and top

Side and back


Finished and hardware mounted


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