thirdstone Posted August 29, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 29, 2006 Back to where I was a couple of days ago. Back to wood top cleaned up This time I was able to spray the outr black first whic in hindsite is the way to go black outer Then I sprayed the transition brown (with a touch of red) At first I used the template method but after a couple of passes I thought I would spray freehand . This worked out well , I set the gun to low lacquor output and droped the press to about 20psi ,I did this so I could control the flow better. Then it was just a matter of spraying the yellow all over. Not yet finished but going ok. A bit darker than I wanted . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsnhavoc Posted August 29, 2006 Report Share Posted August 29, 2006 I actually like how it came out the second time a lot more. It looks more traditional, and professional. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chunkielad Posted August 29, 2006 Report Share Posted August 29, 2006 It seems like the edges of the bursts are a little too harsh to my eye but then again, who said they have to be anything else . It is a striking guitar though and I like it a lot. Good work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thirdstone Posted August 29, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 29, 2006 Since that last photo I sprayed one more coat of yellow which gave it a very slight increase in yellow brightness. I did want the yellow to be brighter but i am in the ball park of what vintage Gibbo jrs are now after years of fading in terms of yellow tones. There is still clear to spray over which will bring it to life a bit more.Chunkielad the burst is trying to replicate the finish on the 55-57 LP Jr and thats what they look like. The major veriation they have is in the thickness of the outer black/brown (actualy very dark brown). I prefer the thinner version so thats what I did. The original guitars were hand sprayed in what I would imagine was quick time going on the unevenness of some guitars...Kev Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Logical Frank Posted August 29, 2006 Report Share Posted August 29, 2006 Wow--that second try looks about ten times better. Nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chunkielad Posted August 30, 2006 Report Share Posted August 30, 2006 Sorry mate - i didn't click that you were doing a replica paint job too - I'm a bugger for not reading properly. I'm not surprised that Gibson did shoddy fades as their finishing never impresses me. I just set my mates LP Studio Jem up and it's a shocking finish on that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thirdstone Posted August 31, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 31, 2006 Well its all gone to hell again, Looks like I have some MAJOR moisture problems with my spray rig. I have been having problems with airbubbles coming out of the clear causing pinhole marks. I was getting close to resolving these by drop filling and sanding back, I did another coat of clear and the thing went mad with airbubbles. I tried sanding back but no use as the bobbles go right down to the base. UnFu****g beleivable. Back to striping the burst off.Again , This is getting a joke!! The proof Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chunkielad Posted August 31, 2006 Report Share Posted August 31, 2006 Do you have a water trap on your spray gear mate? I fnot, get one and if you have, check it's working and not damaged. What about a go with Rustins plactic coating and brush it on - just to get the whole spray gun out of the equation? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thirdstone Posted August 31, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 31, 2006 Do you have a water trap on your spray gear mate? I fnot, get one and if you have, check it's working and not damaged. What about a go with Rustins plactic coating and brush it on - just to get the whole spray gun out of the equation? Thanks for the thought , I do have a water trap but I must admit i have not checked it out for a while. The rustins plastic coating is getting tempting. I thought of using it this time but as you know I went for the nitro. I`ll give it one more go then it will be the rustins if I fail again..Kev Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thirdstone Posted September 8, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 Alright , it looks like I have the spray paint bubble problem is sorted. In the end of a very long saga I find you just have to be very careful sealing the surface. I did the burst but I must admit there are problems with it, maybe I rushed it a bit as I had a deadline to meat. Looks like that has to be forgoten now as I will probably sand it back AGAIN. see for yourself The overall thing is too dark , the transition is too harsh and the center has to be a brighter yellow. Compair with an earlier attempt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maurits Posted September 8, 2006 Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 That's such a shame. The second pic does look better. I always find the burst on a Jr really strange without the pickguard, cause it looks too much like a plectrum to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thirdstone Posted September 8, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 Yeah the new spray job actualy looks a bit better in daylight but it still is a disappointment. I managed to get a day in a real spray booth but I am afraid I have wasted that opportunity. Its gonna hurt stripping this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thirdstone Posted September 23, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 23, 2006 After stripping Well I am back on track after a long and expensive” learning how to finish the hard way” period . I had a particular reactive piece of mahogany that did not get on with the lacquer. This is what I did for the top. 1 Bleach the wood , this may not have been necessary I’ll explain later. 2. Grain fill twice 3. Sand sealer twice by brushing on . After the second coat had dried I sanded it flat but not through then sprayed a light coat on and again light sanding with 400 grit. 4.I sprayed the face of the guitar with clear to test the sealing and think god no more problems.I also sprayed in a rough guide for the brown part. 5. Now another problem I had been facing was how to get the mahogany light enough to make the yellow the correct brightness. That is the reason I bleached the wood in the first place but by the time all the grain filling and sealing had taken place I had lost about 2 steps of tone on the wood which brought it almost back to sanded mahogany. I know that if I put the yellow on this it would end up too dark so I sprayed some opaque white car paint from a spray can into some thinners. I filtered out some solids then let it dissolve in the thinners overnight. I mixed this with some clear lacquer and sprayed in on thinly. This worked a treat as it lifted the tone of the wood back about two steps. The down side is that although it was no longer opaque is was not totally clear either. This means that the grain of the wood is not as visible as it would have been with straight clear. It was an okay trade off and its no worse than Gibson VOS juniors. This step negates the need to bleach the wood.See Here 6. Next I sprayed the sides with brown and a touch of black mixed in. This gives the overspray on the edge radius a nice blend in with the brown on the face. After that a light coat of yellow on the front. I did this to make it easier to gauge how the burst will go. 7. The burst was next using dark brown, when sprayed a few times like on the horn areas it get very dark, almost black. 8. The back came next which is brown stain with brown / black around the perimeter. I did this on a previous attempt on this guitar and I liked it a lot. It makes for a nice blend with the sides and gives it a bit of individuality. 9. After all the spraying there were a few brown spits that had landed on the yellow front so leaving the yellow to last gave me the opportunity to fix it up by rubbing it back. The yellow is sprayed all over the front bringing every thing together. After lots of trialing I ended up not using a template for the burst. Both methods have their pros and cons but in the end I think you have a bit more artistic control by not using the template although the chances of cocking it up are greatly increased. Next for me to do is glue the neck in before I spray clear over the body. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted September 23, 2006 Report Share Posted September 23, 2006 Thats a huge improvement over the first tries, it looks very authentic now. Like one of the less shoddy bursts gibson must have got right at some point Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thirdstone Posted September 24, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 24, 2006 Thanks Wez ; Its getting close now but first the ritual of putting some soul into it , not for the squemish Gluing the neck on Yee Ha a Geetar Closer look under lights Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thirdstone Posted October 17, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 17, 2006 Its now finished thank god, wired up and playing. I am , in the end very pleased with the outcome. Its every thing I was aiming for , very punchy and lively. The guitar has a good acoustic tone unpluged which is always promising. Its fairly narrow focused as are all single pup guitars. The Vintage vibe P90 fitted with ceramic magnet,I have not tried the alnico that comes with it yet, is hotter sounding than the lollars I have in another guitar and helps give the guitar a nice raw sound. Now after all that, some playing to do. Bound Neck Back of Guitar Neck Angle pup 55 Jr spacing Later Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vinny Posted October 17, 2006 Report Share Posted October 17, 2006 Very cool ! Nice work there. -Vinny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maurits Posted October 17, 2006 Report Share Posted October 17, 2006 Looks great, have fun playing it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
travismoore Posted October 17, 2006 Report Share Posted October 17, 2006 Looks good Very clean work there =) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yahilltrade Posted October 18, 2006 Report Share Posted October 18, 2006 is there a picture of the full guitar that you can let us feast our eyes on? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matttheguy Posted October 18, 2006 Report Share Posted October 18, 2006 Don't you love how dust settles on beautiful guitars almost instantly? Nice guitar man, real nice burst. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thirdstone Posted October 18, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 18, 2006 Don't you love how dust settles on beautiful guitars almost instantly? Nice guitar man, real nice burst. Thanks guys The guitar had about a week of playing on it before the photo's hence the dust Whoops. I'll get a full length shot of it soon. I am also keen to try out the alnico magnets in the pup to see if there is any differance. I'll let you know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnsilver Posted October 22, 2006 Report Share Posted October 22, 2006 Thirdstone, very nice. I like it and would like to hear it. Maybe I'll make one. Congrats. Your persistence paid off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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