Michael Kelly hidden treasure...

[mandolinlee]

Perry -

In one of your early posts, you stated that you wanted to see the wood grain through the stain and finish.
You cetainly obtained that result! The top is beautiful.
Lee

[Dobe]

Great job, I love sunbursts as well but that's undeniably a gorgeous improvement !

[Ivan Kelsall]

Perry - If you'd covered the headstock & showed the body of the mandolin to us,i bet very few of us would have guessed that it was an MK.Hidden treasure indeed,& i bet that it will surprise a few folk when they see it in all it's newly discovered glory !,
Ivan

[keebler]

Just wondering if there has been any update on this instrument :D

[Tom Cherubini]

How, exactly, did you remove the old finish?

Strings

[Skip Kelley]

Perry, Nice work! Too bad they hid that nice looking wood under all that finish.

[Perry Babasin]

Hey Guys! Last weekend I decided to spray a light coat of wax free shellac sealer first, rubbed that down a bit and started applying multiple coats of tru-oil, steel wooling inbetween. It is looking more beautiful every coat, in fact I think I'm getting close to the point of stopping applying, letting it dry really well and rubbing it out. It's actually almost too shiny for what I had in mind, I'm going for a vintage (but not distressed) finish and I think It's going to work well. I will post some updated photos in the next couple of days.

Does anyone have recommendations for a final polishing compound or cloth? I read on a Shotgun forum (ha,ha,ha,ha) that 3M Finesse II was a good product after the finish hardens sufficiently. The Telecaster guys said to use Rottenstone (which may look more vintage) or micro-mesh polishing cloth, or white carborundum grit... I can hardly wait to string this puppy up and play it. Hope it sounds as good as it looks!

String8 - Removing the finish was hard until I developed a technique. That epoxy nightmare they dipped this in was resistant to everything but brute force. No thinner or stripper or solvent would touch the stuff. I carefully sanded and scraped the finish off, in fact careful scraping followed by sanding was the fastest. I did mess up a couple of spots and inside the scroll was impossible to reach but I was able to sand in there.

[billhay4]

Don't use anything with silicone, Perry.
I used polish from Stew Mac. There are others just for instruments.
Bill

[Kerry Krishna]

After it is all polished up, you are going to dull it right? Why polish it at all? There are 3M pads that are used in the industry to do this type of work. Do NOT just 'go in the direction of the grain' though. It has to be swirls. Someone who has actually done this work should speak up though. I have only read about it.

[Perry Babasin]

Got some white 3M pads and Behlens Rottenstone powder last night, ready to Rock&Roll!

[Ivan Kelsall]

Perry - You've got a lot of folks eagerly awaiting the 'final finish' pics. It should look stunning !!,
Ivan

[Wupeide]

Now that is a thing of beauty!!! I don't really understand the Gibson sunburst fascination - orange and black can't compete with nice wood grain!

OK this has been a process of research, research, more research - and - eventually jumping into the deep end of the pool. I avoided staining for a long time and watched the James Condino video a million times along with many more on Youtube, Cafe, etc... Debated whether or not to use pre-stain conditioner or shellac or thinned hide glue or the zillion other suggestions found here at the cafe. I finally decided on alcohol based aniline dyes and like James Condino flooded the wood and worked in the color slowly. I did not want a sunburst but rather wanted a lot of visible wood grain, more like a fine acoustic guitar. Keep in mind this is only dye with no finish, and I'm still cleaning up the binding and tight areas... So I'm pretty jazzed with the results so far, see what you think.

[Cary Fagan]

Just to say how much I'm enjoying this thread.

[keebler]

I am very much interested in the sound results from this. I have a MK with sentimental value that I couldn't dream of getting rid of, but if this improves the sound by a lot I would consider investing the time/money to have this done!

[Perry Babasin]

OK folks! With a wife, two kids and six grandkids (and a dog), Papa is a pretty busy dude, but I find bits of time to keep this project moving forward. I went back and forth on the quality of the finish but in the end the media was the message, and this thing just started talking to me! Ha,ha,ha... I thought I wanted a matte finish instrument, but that tru oil is just amazing and goes on so well, I would put on a coat and the next day smooth it down (I'm in California) and each time I coated I fell more in love with the richness of the finish. Still amazingly thin finish but very beautiful and most of a small bottle of tru oil used up, I'm just waiting for the finish to harden so I can smooth a little, but I can hardly wait to string it up and play it! I forgot that this thing has a radiused fingerboard!

[Tobin]

Very nicely done! I've been watching this thread too, as I have a MK FSE that I suspect has some lovely wood beneath all that crud they slathered on the surface. A project like this is very intimidating for me. But your results make it look like it's well worth the effort. I'm interested to hear what you think of the final tone improvement.

How did you handle the headstock area? Did you have a transition area coming from the neck and then stop at the headstock, or did you refinish all of that too? That's one part I haven't figured out how I would handle in a refinish job.

[Perry Babasin]

The headstock area was mostly black with some red orange "sunburst" spots on the sides and top edges. I sanded the area but left it black. I painted the back and the side "burst" areas with black enamel paint sanding between a couple of coats until it was smooth. On the back I tapered the black down to the natural point at the base of the neck. I have seen builders here on the cafe do that. The front was some kind of material, I think maybe plastic or something with the "inlay" (I don't think it is wood). After coating the instrument including the headstock it looks way nicer than it ever did, very much the look of a vintage hand rubbed finish. After I string it up I'll take some detail shots both of good areas and (grimace) the bad spots...

[Ivan Kelsall]

Perry - That mandolin looks awesome all round, but that back is off the planet !!!!,
Covering up wood with grain like that should be made a criminal offence, Ivan

[Perry Babasin]

I can't believe it but it is completed, strung up, top not sinking, Woooooo-Hooooo!! Looks great and sounds better. I will try and record a little something soon, but so far I'm loving it and it keeps sounding better! Some of the pics are a little out of focus, but you get the idea! I'll take some glamour shots on the weekend... ha,ha,ha

[tmsweeney]

NICE!

so when are you going to refinish my MK octave plus ?

this is one of the coolest threads!

[Caleb]

That's amazing. I wonder why many companies don't just make them like that in the first place, rather than globbing on all that candy-coating and hiding such nice wood. Very nice work!

[Samuel David Britton]

That's amazing. I wonder why many companies don't just make them like that in the first place, rather than globbing on all that candy-coating and hiding such nice wood. Very nice work!

The reason is it would cost to much for labor.

Looks stunning! How does it sound now?

[Caleb]

The reason is it would cost to much for labor.

Looks stunning! How does it sound now?

It would be more in labor to simply put on a thin coat of clear vs. globbing on thirty layers of gloss, not to mention doing a burst? (scratches head)

[Perry Babasin]

The sound woke up. It really is like playing a new/old instrument. I have had the thing for 8 years and basically stopped playing it years ago when I got my ff hole. Now the sound quality is better than my other mandolin and is easily louder, which allows for better dynamics. I'm going to try and do some sound samples to post this weekend, but I have to say I'm really jazzed. This was sort of a finishing trial for a couple of kit builds I want to do and I am very pleased with the way it turned out.

[dang]

Amazing transformation!
And you have inspired another generation of mandolin players to scrape the finish off of their mandolin... Way to stick with tradition!