hi mountainchick,great job,in the middle of doing the same myself with an old stripped round badge gretsch kit,what finish is that,a lacquer or varnish,and how many layers did you do

cheers

ramrod

Minwax fast drying polyurethane satin for build, apply several coats, sand flat, repeat 3x or so, then finish with Minwax "wipe on" satin finish, Let harden a good long while (a week or two) then hand rub.

Tinting the new shell was just golden oak stain with a bit of dark walnut mixed in to make it a little more brown. Applied after sealing with a couple coats of poly. I have made the mistake before of trying to stain the wood itself, which resulted in disaster, ruining the appearance of a shell.

Hi. Looks great! I've got a '70's Gretsch set coming that needs rewrapping. Bass has cracks, bad seam on tom, etc. Was thinking about the same kinda finish. Cut down on head fit problems, etc. Cheaper, too. How did you get all the old glue off? I assume that's part of the reason not to try to stain the wood itself. I was kinda thinking a dark wood stain. It'd be uneven with any glue blocking the pores. Yes I know, the dreaded Pearl mount. I'll probably leave it. Damage is done, they are pretty functional, and if I'm not wrapping them, it'll be tough to make the plugs blend.....

Sanding

Incorrect

Possibly, but there was no glue on this shell it was new raw maple.

Trying to stain a raw maple shell with the wood unsealed with dark stain just about guarantees a blotchy nasty looking job. Blotchiness comes from penetrating stain getting into open wood pores. Believe me, I ruined the appearance of a shell by staining without sealing first. Learned my lesson. I will never apply penetrating stain to another shell without sealer.

There are other types of stains, and a lot of water based finishes that may avoid this kind of problem, but personally I like the warmth of the solvent based urethanes and varnishes to any modern gel stains and clear finishes.

YMMV

I figured a lot of the glue could be sanded. Was worried about going thru a ply and making a mess.

I get the finish warmth thing. I did these Hipgigs with pretty much the same. Was talked thru it by a luthier friend. It's how he finishes high end custom ukes. Did use Vintage Maple stain first, tho. Multiple coats of wipe-on MinWax, light sanding.

Went light, wiped the early coats back off, trying to get a "rustic" finish. sure was nice to get rid of the Ronald McDonald blue wrap.......

Always a concern, but on the old gretsch shells I have worked with, the glue is hard, not gummy and sands off well. Just takes the right touch to sand evenly without taking too much wood/veneer.

Like I said, YMMV, depends on the wood your working with as well. Your kit looks nice, can't tell what kind of wood though.

Some wood types take penetrating stains better, for example if you want to see highlighted grain in oak, it can be nice, and I did use it once to bring out grain in curly maple, (see pic and thread below) but if you want an even non-blotchy vintage natural look on flat cut maple I still gotta warn against it.

A lot more background via google search

Here's the snare I re-veneered with curly maple and used stain on bare wood to make it pop.

[IMG]http://www.mountainserver.net/pics/refurb/slingydone.jpg[/IMG]

Thread

Wow! That really does pop. Cool work....