Brian May Red Special Guitar Build Project: Body Finishing Part 3 - Grain Filling & Staining by dsgb

This is the third video in a series illustrating all the techniques involved with finishing the body of a Brian May Red Special replica guitar, i.e. veneering, grain filling, staining and lacquering.
In this video, I illustrate and discuss the techniques required to apply grain filler and Rustins red mahogany wood stain to the mahogany marquetry veneer of a Brian May Red Special replica guitar. There are several sequences as listed below with time stamps for convenient navigation. Some are speeded up for brevity.
00:01 - Introduction
00:41 - Preparation precautions
02:20 - WS Jenkins black Jecofil grain filler discussion
05:15 - Applying grain filler to the mahogany veneer
06:45 - Removing excess grain filler using a cloth and white spirit
07:45 - Removing excess grain filler using 320 grit 3M Stikit Gold abrasive paper
09:55 - Staining the grain-filled mahogany veneer discussion
11:08 - Rustins red mahogany wood dye discussion and application instructions
12:07 - Applying Rustins red mahogany wood dye to the grain-filled veneer with a sponge applicator
13:40 - Applying Rustins red mahogany wood dye to the grain-filled veneer with a cloth
14:17 - Removing excess Rustins red mahogany wood dye with a cloth
14:51 - Examining the stained, grain-filled veneer
Brian May Red Special Guitar Build Project: Body Finishing Part 1 - Introduction
• Brian May Red Special ...
Brian May Red Special Guitar Build Project: Body Finishing Part 2 - Veneering Techniques
• Brian May Red Special ...
Please check out my other UA-cam videos and website, dsgb.net for a wealth of information about Brian May's guitars and musical equipment.
#BrianMay #RedSpecial #dsgb #DougShortGuitarBlog

[@kadenkelly9237]

Thank you for making this mini series. It’s helped me tremendously in my guitars finishing process. I just have a few questions. Is the same process used for the neck that is used for the body? Do you know of an alternative to Rustins? I’m located in the US and I’m having trouble sourcing someone online that will ship to me.

[@dsgb]

Hi Kaden. Thank you so much for your positive feedback. Yes, the same lacquer/lacquering process is used on the neck. I recommend nitrocellulose lacquer. If my local conditions were more favourable and I was confident using an aerosol based lacquer, I would have used it. Luke Holwerda @lukeyourself used it on his build (check out his series of 13 UA-cam videos on building a Red Special replica if you haven't already). I understand that Andy Guyton uses nitrocellulose lacquer except on the Time Warp Red Special replicas. That is my alternative recommendation. I don't know of any other brush on hard lacquers for use on guitars. Check out StewMac's range if you don't want to use nitro. 👍😀

[@bfm3488]

Do you know which company's paint was used when making the Brian May guitar? Why is the paint on my guitar peeling off like that?

[@dsgb]

Brian used Rustins wood stain and Rustins Plastic Coating on his guitar. I don't know what coatings are used on other Red Special replicas or commercial Brian May Guitars instruments such as the BMG Special and the BMG Super. Commercial instruments generally are coated with a tinted hard wearing clear lacquer such as polyester or polyurethane.
You refer to "paint" which is a suspension of pigment in a solvent which is either aqueous (water based) or mixture of volatile organic compounds. No Red Specials are "painted" to my knowledge.
I can't comment further without specific information, sorry.

[@donatochirianni5882]

Hi, how long should you leave the grainfiller before removing it with white spirit or sandpaper?

[@dsgb]

The manufacturer's (W.S. Jenkins) instructions state:
"Apply with a cloth, working the filler into the grain then wipe the surface clean with stockinette / mutton cloth. Once dry, sand with a 320 grit abrasive before applying a finish."
I didn't wait long to wipe it off.

[@donatochirianni5882]

@@dsgb thanks

[@dsgb]

👍🏻😀