Narcissism Posted March 24, 2009 Report Share Posted March 24, 2009 Sandpaper can help with that. That's how I got the fade on mine to look more like a gradual fade without actually trying to paint a fade. Just be careful though, because you may end up sanding off your dye job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j. pierce Posted March 24, 2009 Report Share Posted March 24, 2009 Couple of ideas, and I'm just going off my experience here; You're still doing all your painting with rattlecans, aren't you? While a spray system is awesome, and probably a better choice nothing else taken into consideration; understandably, it's not realistic or valid for a lot of folks for a lot of reasons (Space, money, etc.) However, I have had great luck (or at least, I'm happy with the results) spraying my sunbursts using an airbrush. Airbrush setups take up less room, and are cheaper to get going than a full-fledged paint setup. The other thing I've had luck with when airbrushing my sunbursts was thinning the paint down with clear to make it translucent. This allowed me to slowly layer my coats for better control, and get a better fade in the burst. (I like a burst where the gradient fades across a longer distance, rather than solid black with a half inch of burst into the center color.) Might be something worth trying with a Preval sprayer or some such? I don't know. If you're going to sand to touch up your burst, it helps a lot of if you've got a bit of clear between the burst and the underlying color to help prevent sanding through the stain. I know it saved my butt on the first burst I did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted May 15, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 15, 2009 I put it on the shelf for a couple of months because it pissed me off. I took it down and dusted it off, then sanded the top bare and started all over again. It came out a LOT better the second time around. Now I'm thinking about keeping it. If I do... black hardware or gold? I'm thinking black. Remember - cream binding and a sapele/maple back. Maple neck to match the lams in the body? What to use on the f/b? I can put a quilted plate on the headstock to match the body. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keegan Posted May 15, 2009 Report Share Posted May 15, 2009 Black hardware. Maple neck. Pau ferro/rosewood/other medium brown wood for the fretboard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted May 15, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 15, 2009 I sprayed a good soaking coat of poly to lock everything in place before I dorked it up. I left it to sit outside and dry. After a few hours when it was dry to the touch, I pulled off the tape and scraped the bindings. I was debating whether to scrape the top edge or not because the side had such a crisp, clean line. I decided that I was just being lazy and I needed to do it right. Boy am I glad I did. Hofner? Hofner? Paging Mr. Hofner. Oh... THAT'S why we can't find him. John channeled a Hofner into his PRS body... Sometimes, good things happen as a result of a mistake. All I was wanting to do is find a way to cover up a mistake when I routed the binding channel too low and accidentally exposed the base woods in the carve. Now I have a Hofner-like PRS body. I almost feel like I should paint the back black. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willybomb Posted May 17, 2009 Report Share Posted May 17, 2009 I almost feel like I should paint the back black. I can see why you'd do that, and almost pretty much totally agree. Overall, nice comeback. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StormLeader Posted May 17, 2009 Report Share Posted May 17, 2009 Looks great John! But what's with the no binding in the lower cutout? -Stormy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Narcissism Posted May 17, 2009 Report Share Posted May 17, 2009 That looks much better! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted May 17, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 17, 2009 But what's with the no binding in the lower cutout? Cuz that's the way PRS does it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StormLeader Posted May 17, 2009 Report Share Posted May 17, 2009 Ok, Cool, just wondering. -Stormy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted May 21, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 21, 2009 I'm gonna finish this one up and put it on consignment. It's getting the Epiphone neck I have, the pups I salvaged from a Warlock, and chrome hardware. Here are some shots of the headstock painted black and getting the first coat of water-based poly. I made a TRC from some quilt & dyed it up. You can see it in the 3rd pic. As much as it pained me to do it, I had to paint the back of the body black. Even with the maple/maple neck, it looked fruit with the black burst on the face. and natural wood on the back. I'll get some pics when I have them. It actually looks REALLY good, I just hated to cover up the wood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted May 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 23, 2009 Getting some poly on it. Like I said - I hated to paint over the sapele & maple, but it was necessary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Razbo Posted May 23, 2009 Report Share Posted May 23, 2009 That looks really nice. I hope mine turns out half as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted June 22, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 22, 2009 It sat & cured for about 2 weeks. I finally had the opportunity to do some work on it today. Before touching it with any abrasive. top done & polished up I's bugging me that not a single picture thus far has shown what the top really looks like. They all have the red mushed into the yellow, looking really muddy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drak Posted June 22, 2009 Report Share Posted June 22, 2009 I know what you mean, I had that problem years ago whenever I tried to take a pic of a red job, they all do the same thing. I think I had to use editing software and color edit the pics to get them to look real. At least with digital cameras... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j. pierce Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 Ah, the red into black burst with a black back and white binding is one of my favorite color schemes. Yours came out much nicer looking than my slightly-similar padauk-topped versions from a few years back. I had the same thing - the backs of mine looked too good to cover up, but the black really pulls it together. But yeah, really like this a lot. Your work is getting very good. Nice job! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 I find ambient daylight better for taking pictures of instruments rather than bright sunlight for many reasons, not just colour "true-ness". If i'm thinking logically, the spectrum of direct sunlight has a tendancy to possess a greater amount of energy in the longer wavelengths (same as how bass frequencies take more power to reproduce at the same apparent volume as higher ones) - ie. yellow through red to infrared - which probably doesn't help produce good exposures of yellow or red objects, especially with digital cameras which will invariably try and compensate through adjustment of the white balance. Possibly. My windowsill in the music room is fantastic during sunny days for taking shots as it's bright, but not through direct lighting. It might even be down to the non-linear range of wavelengths through the visible spectrum and the compression/lack of sensitivity/headroom? Someone who is actually more experienced in the theory and practice side of photography will probably know what the real issue is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwedishLuthier Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 This looks way better than I could imagine when you first started this thread. My initial thoughts was "this body is going to end up in flames" but it looks really good now. Lets see it entered into GOTM. Try shooting some pictures on a resonably cloudy day. And remember to adjust the white balance first. Use a tripod and absolutely no flash. One way is also to do something similar to what Prostheta sugests: Use indirect lightning. Place the guitar facing a withe wall that has direkt sun light on it. The result is usually a really soft and usefull lightning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted June 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 Thanks for the tips. Yea... it'll see GOTM sooner or later. Maybe next month. Honestly, I wasn't sure that it was going to turn out worth anything either. It all started out as a quest to fix a mistake, hoping it didn't go FUBAR on me. As it turns out, I've really learned a LOT by fixing what I screwed up in the first place. BTW Pierce - it's actually cream binding. I know it's kinda hard to tell, but the black REALLY lightens it up. I still say it looks like an old Hofner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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