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Tutorial for how to Do a carriburst Sponsored


Snork

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2. it seems that the ones who do know how to do it have an advantage and probably don't want the ones who don't know how to be able to even the playing field.

That's not quite my style at all. I am always free and open with any and all helpful information, that's why this place is here, that's the basic premise of this place, to help and learn and pass on information.

And I'm still all for that, that's why I'm backing out and letting the whole thing just evolve into whatever it wants to evolve into, because it's no longer the original intention, and that's OK! It's really no biggie to me, seriously.

It now seems to be a kind of free-for-all with no structure, everybody is still chipping in ideas, and that all ended Jan.1, there was 6 weeks to hash that all out and it's now over. If this idea is OK now, 2 weeks into it, then I can only imagine what it will have turned into by, say, August...so I say let it just evolve into whatever it turns into, just let it flow freely at this point and I hope some very cool guitars come out of it and I'll still build the guitar I wanted to, so everybody's happy! :D

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My $0.02

Funnily enough, mine too.

(If this is kept up we could have a whole $ by the end)

I can see all sides of the argument, but if I was in the comp I would naturally research it first (before mutalating a new bit of wood). This generally means asking someone that knows and :D .

Drak - I think you're generally renowned as the finishing geezer. Got a problem finishing it: ask Drak because he knows what he's doing. Unfortunately not everyone has your finishing skills and could do with a bit of help. If they go into it blind we could end up with 10 useless carriburst tutorials and alot of guitar tops thrown against walls.

In my humble opinion - information is information whether it's on here or out of a book. I can see your point as to why you're withdrawing, but I think you'll wipe the floor with the opposition anyway.

Even if you do withdraw, please do a carriburst anyway, mainly because I want to see it B)

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seriously if you people do NOT want to read it you dont have to.... You have to understand something, even being told what to do does not mean it will turn out good. actually doing the job is a lot different than reading about it on a website. just let the contest go on...... I mean honestly.... if you dont want to read it... dont.

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Hello everyone.

I'm new to this forum, and having read through some of the responses to this thread, I'm not quite sure how much detail I should go into, but I'll give this a shot and try to make it back here fairly regularly over the next few days to try and answer any questions that might come up. I'll also try and cover a couple different methods to accomodate people on a slightly lower budget who can't afford a spray finishing system. Since it looks like there are other tutorials here about finishing in general, I'll just gloss over that and cover how to bring out the figure, and ways to create a burst finish

1)"Popping" figured woods. Judging from the pics I've seen in the main thread you guys have on bursts, I'm guessing most of you are planning on using quilted or flame maple. There are different ways to make the figure really stand out.

After sanding the body down to a 220 grit, I apply a black stain over the top. I usually use an alcohol based stain for this, but I've had equally good results with water-based. Let the stain soak in for about a half hour or more. The stain will penetrate deeper into the figured areas of the wood. Re-sand the top using 220 grit sandpaper until all but the figure has been sanded back to its natural color. This will leave you with blackish grey lines in the figure. Wear some kind of mask if you're using an orbital sander; otherwise you're breathing stain into your lungs.

For best results, you should repeat this process, but now with a different color. Which color you use depends on whether or not you will be spraying your finish onto your guitar, or if instead you will be applying it by hand. I almost always spray nitro lacquer for my finishes, but I realize not everybody has the $$$ to spend for a decent spray system.

If you have access to a spray system, believe it or not, the color stain I next apply is Behlen's Solar Lux Blood Red. It's a dark wine red color, which will look black underneath green or blue tinted lacquer. Again, you'll be sanding most of it off, except where it penetrates the grain. (You can get away with just the first black stain by the way. This second time around with the red just makes the final finish look more 3-D.)

If you're going to be applying a finish by hand (i.e. Danish Oil), the second stain should be blue. Sanding it back off will be a little different this time. Don't sand the blue off near the edges. This area will become the edge of your burst where the green fades into blue.

2)Bursting Out

Here's the big difference in the coloring process between hand and spray finishes. With spray finishes, you apply the lighter colors first, whereas by hand you apply the darker colors first, and then sand them back in the areas where you want the colors to blend into each other, so that you take out the "lap marks" - the lines or streaks left over from your brush or rag.

By Hand (All coloring is done by staining the wood)

For a "Carribean Burst," you want green fading into blue, so the entire top is stained blue (already done if you were trying to pop the figure) and then sanded back, leaving as much blue as you want around the edges. Then rub a green stain into the top. Be careful not to put too much of the green in at first, or it may end up being so dark that the figure in the wood doesn't stick out. It's easier to put more on than take it off. Rub the green on all the way out to the edges, and put it on heavier as you get farther out from the center. You should be putting it on pretty heavy over the areas that are still blue, to help make the fading out look as normal as possible.

Finally, lightly sand the center area with 320 or 400 grit to take out most of the green where you want your yellow to be. Typically, this is the area right around where the pickup routs are. If you're planning on using a pickguard, you'll have to go a little farther out. Then rub a yellow stain over the entire body. Let the guitar body sit overnight so that the moisture from the stains escapes before applying any finish.

Spraying (Only the yellow stain is applied directly to the wood. All the other colors come from tinting the lacquer)

For spray finishes, once you've sanded back the black and dark red stains, rub a yellow stain over the entire top (the cheap stew-mac sunburst yellow powder works fine for this.) When you're done, if you've used figured maple, the top of your guitar should look like a bumble bee - yellow with black stripes. Let the guitar body sit overnight so that the moisture from the stains escapes before applying any finish.

The next step is to start applying the green. You should thin the lacquer down for color coats. For nitro, I use about 1 part lacquer to 3 or 4 parts thinner. Add a few drops of Trans-tint Bright Green to the lacquer. It's really easy to accidentally add too much stain to the lacquer. This is especially true for the first coat of stain, since this is used where the yellow fades into the green. Test what you've got on scrap wood first. Spray first around the edges and slowly move towards the center with each successive pass. Hold the spray gun a good distance away to avoid any runs or drips. Don't go all the way to the center, since you want that to stay yellow. Again, this first coat will be a very light green. Let the first coat dry. Since the lacquer is considerably thinned, you can get away with only about 40 minutes or so between coats. Add a few more drops of green, and repeat the previous procedure, but this time don't go quite as far in towards the center as the last coat. Let it dry, and then add a few drops of blue into your mixture for the next coat. The last coat of tinted lacquer should be just blue. It should also be noticeably darker than the previous coats. Aim the spray just along the sides of the guitar.

3)After applying all the colors.

Once you've got the coloring scheme the way you want it, just add multiple layers of clear coats on top, whether it's spraying lacquer or rubbing in oil.

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2. it seems that the ones who do know how to do it have an advantage and probably don't want the ones who don't know how to be able to even the playing field.

That's not quite my style at all. I am always free and open with any and all helpful information, that's why this place is here, that's the basic premise of this place, to help and learn and pass on information.

And I'm still all for that, that's why I'm backing out and letting the whole thing just evolve into whatever it wants to evolve into, because it's no longer the original intention, and that's OK! It's really no biggie to me, seriously.

It now seems to be a kind of free-for-all with no structure, everybody is still chipping in ideas, and that all ended Jan.1, there was 6 weeks to hash that all out and it's now over. If this idea is OK now, 2 weeks into it, then I can only imagine what it will have turned into by, say, August...so I say let it just evolve into whatever it turns into, just let it flow freely at this point and I hope some very cool guitars come out of it and I'll still build the guitar I wanted to, so everybody's happy! B)

Sorry it wasn't my intent to sound like an accusation towards anyone. But if like you said all these details were hashed out earlier than th e poeple involved in the contest should refer to example #1 in my earlier post :D

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I was going to suggest that Brian Calvert hang on to the tutorial until after the competition but it looks like I'm a bit late? Or is there more comming?

One other thing : knowing how to do it doesn't mean that it will come out looking great. There are tons of resources on how to finish guitars but many of us continue to produce mediocre looking instruments.

Having said that, I can still see why Drak is dissapointed. If part of the challenge was comming up with the methods, it would have been nice to just hold off on that tutorial until after the competition.

Maybe in the future, any changes or posted information related to a competition should be sent through a single person (Drak in this case). People will of course snag info off the web, but this type of thing (not already posted somewhere on the web) could be postponed until an appropriate time?

I guess I have said the same thing several times. I hope you understand what I'm trying to say.

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Guest AlexVDL

Man, what's all the fuzz about??

You're all talking like you were supposed to invent the wheel... big news for ya.. it's already invented! So are the tutorials on the internet about painting multicolor sunburst (or carriburst as you all call it).

A one man's explaination about how he does that kind of bursts doesn't make difference to the whole intention of the competition. His way is not the only way and may not be the right way for you, but it's up to you to find it out in the competition.

You may think people will now use this tutorial to get a better result in the competition, but don't you think people would have searched for info on the internet anyway, unless they had a complete plan to start with??

As for who's tutorial will be on the projectguitar website... I'd say ALL of them!! Yes, we can learn from everyone's experiences. That's what this site is for! Haven't you noticed that we have different tutorials about the same thing?? :D

Bryan, welcome to the forum and thank you very much for your time to explain us how you do those beautiful bursts. It may not seem that way, but we appreciate your appearence very much B)

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OK OK OK... :D

I had to find a way to bring this new information in and process it.

You need 'em tut? Fine and dandy Sandy.

But if I'm stayin' in it, I'm pullin' *ALL* the stops out! WEEEEEEEEEEE! :D

I'm smellin' blood now. Grrrrrrrrr! :D

But puh-lease! no new brainstorming ideas without checking it out thru Brian first, OK? We've got 11 1/2 months to go for chrissakes...(you hearin' me Snorkie? B) )

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But if I'm stayin' in it, I'm pullin' *ALL* the stops out! WEEEEEEEEEEE! B)

that's more like it.....and you are going to need that attitude to beat me.....after you see what i do to my neck thru you may want to get even more radical...so you might want to wait to start.

you may be the finishing geezer but i am catching up :D

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Guest Litchfield Custom Gutars
But puh-lease! no new brainstorming ideas without checking it out thru Brian first, OK? We've got 11 1/2 months to go for chrissakes...(you hearin' me Snorkie? :D )

Agreed. And the thing Bryan wrote up, wasnt all to much different from what Drak wrote up 4 months ago.

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Guest Litchfield Custom Gutars

Yup me too. And you best have more soul than me, cuz I'm a gonna win :D . Lets get back into the spirit of things. Welcome to yhe forum Bryan Jeppson. After making an ass out of myself, I would like to see some of you work. I apologize for my actions and encourage you to help and ask questions as much as you can.

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ho HO..... DAMN

Hi Sam,

Thank you for your kind letter. Unfortunately I have very little time to

spend on line. Any tips or techniques I may have are likely already

included in my book or video series, but if you have a specific

question or a problem with an inlay, feel free to email me, and I'll try

to help you out.

Best wishes,

Larry

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