26 posts
Here's some action shots of me spraying my latest tele body. I'm using Transtint dyes (vintage amber and reddish brown) in DNA (denatured alcohol). Started this body off by sanding to 400, then I wiped the entire thing down with reddish brown dye dissolved in water. The reason I start with water is to raise the grain, and get a more even wipe spread. Alcohol evaporates so fast that it's near impossible to wipe evenly. After the whole thing was reddish brown, I sanded most of the dye off, leaving stain in just the flame. Also filled in the back triangle of birdseye with a bunch more brown dye.
Then I sprayed the alcohol dye (that's what's happening in these pics)... you can't really spray water-dissolved dye, but alcohol dye is born for it, the alcohol evaporates so fast that you essentially lay down a coat of nearly dry dye.
After this, shellac sprayed, grain filler on the sides, then clear coat.
I did only a red to clear burst on the back, and a yellow to red burst on the front.
Good to see the GAS tradition is alive and well in Santa Cruz! :)
nice gloves ;D
hope you are wearing a mask when spraying ?
Wow! An LP-looking Tele!
Great burst!!!!
I like the back of it. Can you get a better shot of that? It reminds me a little of the back of a Martin D-35.
Here's the back again. This is on the third coat of lacquer. It's hanging from the edge of the roof to dry, and as you can probably tell, it was foggy yesterday. More evident in the next photo...
EDIT *** swapped out pics***
Third coat of lacquer, front. The day was foggy, and this was side was facing the sun, so as you can probably tell, there was a ton of UV in the picture... needless to say it's not actually this bright. Since the first pic, I widened the wider red-brown ring, and hit the middle again with yellow, so it's now kind of dark red-brown to orange to yellow. The flame is also very defined, as you can see... a result of the first water dye/sanding.
EDIT *** swapped out pics***
after lacquer coat 6. You can see some orange peel in this one. That all levels out in the sanding process.
*insert sexy whistle* very nice bro.
Updated:
After approximately 15 coats of water-based lacquer, she sat for about three weeks curing--that's the process where the finish gets all the water out and forms a hard film that can take a pounding.
Then, sanding, on the following schedule:
800 grit dry (Norton 3x) to get rid of the most obvious pitting--this is where a lot of lacquer comes off
1000 grit wet sand (Norton Black Ice and water)--getting rid of everything except the lightest pitting at the edges. Wet sanding is REALLY wet, you get the sandpaper into a slush, and then rub in circles until you stop feeling resistance--this happens once the sandpaper has smoothed everything to its grit level.
1200 grit wet sand, as above. Note that on a Tele, I always use a sanding block until I'm sanding details, because the body is flat. On an archtop and certain parts of the strat, you'd use your hand and just be more careful.
After 1200 you can go with 1500--I did that with the last bodies. However, I did a much better job on this finish, so I stopped at 1200. When the body looks uniformly dull, it's ready for buffing.
Here is the front and back after coarse buffing. After this, I'll do a medium fine, then a fine buff.
Pictures following---
Good job! Heck, the back looks even nicer than the front! :)
Yeah, we've been remarking about that a lot. I didn't do the yellow on the back, it's more of a natural burst to red/brown. The front is yellow to red-brown. It's cool... the back reminds me of that "sienna burst" that fender does.
Gorgeous. I love the yellow in the top.
yep, I really like the front, and LOVE the back. VERY nice.
Wondering how much you'd charge me to do the Carvin body.... hmmm... perhaps a nice custom made OD pedal. ;)
I kind of love doing this work, so if you've got a body you want finished I'll do it reasonably cheaply. I've got reddish brown, honey amber, and black dye, and all the finish stuff. If you want another dye you'll have to buy it and ship it to me... Transtints... http://www.homesteadfinishingproducts.com/htdocs/TransTint.htm . I'm really interested in doing a white-blue burst or blue-purple, but of course I love the classics, anything that can be done with red/orange/yellow/black.
Unfortunately, I don't have a real shop and I spray outside, and it's pretty much fall/winter here until about March, so there will be some lag time.
Awesome! That's beautiful!!!
Ya need some logo to go on the headstock.
Dearthian: — Nov 10, 2010Ya need some logo to go on the headstock.
A headshot of Obama perhaps? ;) :D
CraigBert — Nov 11, 2010[quote author=Dearthian: The Gear Pimp link=1284158935/0#23 date=1289411072]Ya need some logo to go on the headstock.
A headshot of Obama perhaps? ;) :D
Yes It could prove useful as an alibi when touring in Alabamee.
No we weren't smoking Hippy MJ - take a look at that darn headstock, we bought it from Stratman. :)
