New build thread: Paulownia body • Nitro • Dakota Red • MIM neck

[Silky999]

Starting a new build for a fellow Basschat member, because this one deserves documenting properly — if only as a cautionary tale.

 

The brief: a paulownia body, finished properly in nitrocellulose, going Dakota Red, paired with a MIM Fender neck.

The timing: while fighting a genuinely world-ending case of manflu.

The wood: paulownia, which has zero sympathy and even less respect for human suffering.

 

As usual, this will be a warts-and-all build thread — no carefully curated highlights, just the reality of what’s involved in getting a nitro finish right on a wood that actively resists it.

 

This is very much not a “quick colour and clear” job. Paulownia has a habit of revealing grain, pores and dents you were sure you’d already dealt with — especially once primer goes on and you’re already feeling sorry for yourself.

 

The plan (and yes, this is the long way round):

 

Multiple coats of nitro primer

Careful flattening

Shellac to lock everything down before colour

Grain filler, because the grain will come back if given even half a chance

More sanding than feels medically advisable

Eventually… Dakota Red

 

 

At the moment it’s firmly in the “primer shows everything you missed” stage — which is nitro’s favourite moment to kick you while you’re down. The aim here isn’t speed; it’s getting a finish that won’t sink, print through, or look like it’s been applied with a teaspoon. I’ve also added a cut out to the neck pocket as the neck is a heel adjustment truss rod. My cunning plan is that it will be covered by the pickguard in normal use but means that the neck can be adjusted in situ by just taking the pickguard off and not having to de-string, remove the neck, adjust, attach neck, re-string, tune and repeat until it’s right. 

 

Progress may be slower than usual, fuelled mainly by tea, ibuprofen and stubbornness — but it will be done properly.

 

I’ll keep this thread updated as it goes along, warts, mistakes, fixes and all, including the usual sanding, swearing, re-priming, and pretending this was all part of the plan from the start.

 

Dakota Red to follow… once both the finish and the builder are fully cured.

Edited 1 hour ago by Silky999