HumanFuseBen

haha yeah a lot of those ibanez finishes are insanely heavy duty! its weird though, some of their colors, like the Grey Nickel and Royal Blue, are insanely thin and prone to chipping...

hey man! thank you so much for the input. Yeah, i would much prefer using this body rather than buying a new one or making one… i'm not up to the task of making all those precision routes and stuff! Is there some kind of stripper or solvent i could use to help dissolve that sealer coat?

okay cool! thanks man. I'm also a total bonehead and just figured out that the finish i'm looking for is TV White…. haha, i'm not exactly a Gibson historian! When you are talking about thinned out white coats, what kind of paint would be best? And what kind of topcoat is needed for that satiny goodness?

Hey guys! Here's the deal… i'm about to get this: http://www.guitar-museum.com/uploads/guitar/117/230284698498-2.jpg Its an Ibanez RG520QS. Mahogany body RG, very sweet guitar. It has a thin veneer quilt top on it, which i plan on sanding through down to the bare mahogany. Its transparent blue, which, knowing Ibanez, is probably just a tinted clear they shot on top. I am wanting to steal the aesthetic of my buddy's white Les Paul special DC (kinda satin whitewash finish, adding a black pick guard, etc). It looks like this: http://www.mygear.com/img/item_pictures/large/36037.jpg http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/19/ba/d1/19bad17abffb037a5421f9c4e445ac56.jpg its a really cool finish! It is kinda of like a thick see thru white finish. You don't exactly see through it, though… you can just kind of see the pores of the mahogany showing through. it looks killer in person. It is satin, not gloss. How would i go about doing this? I assume i will start with either sanding the blue finish off, or using a stripper to do the bulk of the work for me. But considering i WANT the grain pores, what do i need to do there? I assume the body was grain filled before the finish was shot, so i will need to un-fill them, if that makes sense! WHats the best plan there? and then, how could i get a finish like that white? Thank you all so much for the help. This board is the best.

House of Kolor's flourescent paints are discontinued i will check out the custom shop though. I hit up Day Glo, too! They should be sending me some samples soon.

I am working on an Ibanez RG7620 right now, and my goal is to basically end up with a 7 string Rg550RFR. I already have a sweet maple boarded neck for it and everything! I need that wicked neon red in my life. I'm not going to be ultra picky about 100% matching the classic Ibanez Road Flare Red.... as long as it is that wild, reddish orange flourescent eye-melting red, i'll be happy! I have a buddy who paints cars and does clear for a living, so i have access to high quality equipment for spraying. Let me know if you know of any good places to get some ULTRA bright neon paints!

Okay, i've applied a coat of CA, sanded it, did another coat, and sanded it again. It feels super smooth now! Whats the next step? Does anything else need to be done before prime and paint can begin?

Okay cool, i can do that. As for paint, i haven't quite decided; since its just plain black, i could go the rattle can route, or have a buddy of mine that paints cars for a living shoot it after i've prepped it.

Absolutely nothing. I'm looking at a raw wenge headstock that wants to be black! I await your commands!

That pretty well sums it up! I have a wenge headstock that needs to be painted gloss black. What should i do to prep?

Good freaking lord, Andy.... between your swirls and now this, its like you're reading my mind and building all my dream guitars. This guitar is STUNNING.

Hey guys! i do some swirling on the side, and i've been reading up on how a lot of dudes do their clearcoats on top. Typically, after i swirl the guitars, i pass them along to my brother who clears them with a 2k clear at his shop. But i read something written by the infamous Patrick Sims recently on an old Jemsite post, and he mentions using a "polyester sealer" on top of his swirls before he clearcoats them. He says the polyester sealer can be laid down super heavy and thick, which dries rock hard and can be sanded down flat to hide surface irregularities, making a MUCH flatter surface to clearcoat on top of. That makes sense to me to do. My brother has often complained about how much clear you have to put on these things before you can start leveling them out and making them look smooth; the sealer means that you'd be starting with a good flat surface to work with. Does that make sense to you guys? Anybody have a clue what product he could be talking about? I googled Polyester Sealer and found a product that sounds about right.... super thick, crystal clear, rock hard. It says you can apply it with a brush, rag, or roller. Does that sound right?

awesome! thanks man. this one seems to be very tightly grained, no big pores or anything... i reckon the sanding sealer ought to handle it.

Hey guys! I've got an alder Warmoth body that i will be painting here soon. Do i need to use anything other than sanding sealer before i start priming it? thanks!

Sure thing, i'll snap some pics! Thanks for the help! As far as epoxy goes, is there a particular type or brand i should use? I mean, there are tubes at the hardware section of Wal Mart labeled Epoxy... is it all pretty much the same?

Hey guys! I have a body i am going to swirl paint that has some decently big chunks missing from the wood around the input jack. i don't quite know what happened to it, but it almost looks like maybe it was dropped while a cable was plugged in and it took some of the wood with it. ouch. anyway, what is the best and most stable thing i could patch that up with before repainting? thanks!

ah okay, gotcha! thanks for the info. i'll maybe try to snag some of that Stew Mac dye, then.

Hey guys! i have heard of a lot of people using leather dye to ebonize rosewood, but has anyone ever tried black india ink for the same task? i have an ibanez that has a very light reddish brown board, and i've always been partial to darker shades myself. the only thing i am concerned about is the amount of water in the ink causing some mischief with the frets. anything to be worried about?

hahaha i am officially LAME!!!! i also just remembered i have a buddy who has a UV that i can borrow to measure/trace the inlays... thanks guys!

That pretty well sums it up! i need a template for those keen pyramid inlays Ibanez did on the UV and Jem guitars for an RG7 to UVMC conversion project i've got going. any help is much appreciated! p.s. do these inlays seem like they will be difficult to do?

any ideas? thanks guys!

so i just called every hardware place around here and nobody carries grain filler. lame. also, i did a google search on grain filling, and i saw some people on the warmoth boards talking about using super glue as a grain filler on ash. i have never done this before, but it seems to make sense. are we talking the same super glue that you use in the little tubes? or is this something different? and how is it applied? seems too goopy and sticky to brush on.

all i could find at the local place was "professional wood filler" paste in a can... i'm guessing this isn't what i need?

oh alright then! i've never worked with a wood that needed grain filling, is it pretty simple to do? thanks guys!

That pretty well sums it up! i have a Tele body that i am going to swirl next. the other swirls i have done have all started with a preexisting finish that i have just scuffed down them primed over, which has turned out great! this is the first time i've started from the bare wood, though. do i need to use a few coats of sanding sealer before i start priming the body white for the swirl? or will it be alright just to sand the body smooth, then prime a few coats on that? thanks guys!