Taking a stab at finishing a Pearl drum set

[oipunkguy]

hey Paul,

it all depends on what you are working on and the situation. there's several ways of achieving the same goal when it comes to finishing. when I buff out a guitar I always wet sand with a buffing pad and water, and then buff it out with the scratch polish and water. the only thing to watch out for with the water, is to try avoid getting the water into screw holes where it can raise the wood up and crack a finish. the water really helps because it evaporates quickly from nitro, plus it keeps the friction down so one can avoid burning the finish or rubbing it off completely during the buffing process.

usually nitro needs time to cure before buffing, but I was able to get away with buffing this drum out because I used water, plus the finish was decently thin enough. If I built up another 4 coats of lacquer I probably would have had to waited a few days before attempting this. Also I should have mentioned that the drum was already finished on the inside of the shell so no where was the water ever exposed to bare wood.

For nitro I would hazard not using gum spirits for me personally just cuz I'm happy with the system I already use and the only thing I know that is safe on nitro for sure is wax, water (in small amounts) naphtha, and mineral spirits. Gum spirits may be totally fine, but I have no reason to test it.
but I do use it in my shop from time to time. I like using it of thinning out a linseed oil finish if I wanted to apply it extra thin for example.

In my experience I find more people have no clue how to apply a varnish. when applying you can glop it on, but the key is wiping away the excess. I usually put it on with a disposable foam paint brush and then remove the excess with a paper towel. the point to this is to make it look even. It takes some time and practice to get good at this, but it's not hard. once it's dry (in about 24 hours) you can then apply the 2nd coat, after 3-4 coats varnish a piece can really look beautiful. here's a Victorian Eastlake dresser with mirror I did a couple years ago completely in a clear gel varnish on top of a walnut and natural stain. I wish I had before pictures cuz this piece look like it sat at a landfill for decades before I refinished it. It was that bad..really. It even has it’s original brass hardware, before I buffed them they were BLACK! this dates around 1870.

[oipunkguy]

[oipunkguy]

now Sarah, wouldnt you rather have a pink celebrity clone

[Veenture]

Hey Aaron, I should've known better than to give pointers to you, a knowledgeable wood craftsman, LOL. You're doing fine buddy

That dresser is really looking swell. I should come over and have you teach me a trick or two while I sweep the floor for you

[Sarah93003]

now Sarah, wouldnt you rather have a pink celebrity clone

well, duh!

[oipunkguy]

lol, it's all good Paul. anytime you need advice on finishing just PM me

[KRamone27]

yeah thats my brother's strat project i been finishing.

Man I love that finish! What's the cost involved in a finish like that? I tried calling today btw.

[oipunkguy]

hey kev, I got your message. I got home around 11pm, so I didn't want to chance calling you late on a sunday in case someone had to be work early or whatever. the glitter finish is actually pretty easy. first you put on a grain filler (if the wood calls for it) then a sanding sealer coat. these glitter finishes are pretty thick so I tried to keep the sealer coat as thin as possible. next is painting the guitar a primer coat, which is just trying to find a paint that matches the color of the glitter. you could maybe skep this step since the glitter covered the whole guitar, but I never did a glitter finish before so I was trying to be careful. i used fender's burgundy mist metallic from reranch. that paint sprays uber rich in color so I only needed a couple thin coats.

next is the sparkles. which you can get online or probably at any craft store. the sparkles for this guitar came from michaels. my business partner was very concerned about trying to spray the sparkles because he didn't want them to get on the antiques that i work on, so i went with the low budget way of doing it. got myself a plastic tub from walmart to put the guitar in and laid it down. I put the glitter in an old salt shaker, and almost just like putting glitter on in elementary school, I sprayed the guitar in a nitro clear to use as a glue then poured the glitter on while the lacquer was still wet. this method takes a lot longer then spraying it on I imagine, but it really keeps down on the mess, and works great. you have to do sections at a time and apply several coats until the color underneath the sparkles disappear. then after that you just clear coat the crap out of it.

my brother really wanted it to be in a nitro, but since the paint has to be so thick, if it was me I think I would have gone with a urethane or poly myself. the nice thing with a glitter finish is it's almost impossible to see an imperfections in the finish. usually i'm always in a fight to keep dust out of a finish , but on this who cares, you'll never see it. when you start to clear coat it, the finish will be about as rough as sand paper from all the glitter, so suggest appling 2-3 coats of uber thick coats. once that has dried you can then began to sand the body some to get it flat. work down the high points in the finish, but be careful not to go down too far, because if you hit the sparkles you loose the color of them. they will turn silver on ya, not sure why this happens but it does. so just sand it down some, and then clear coat it again, and repeat this process until you have a flat finish.
happy painting everyone.

[oipunkguy]

kev, were asking me to finish it for you, or what does material cost for yourself to do it?

on a seperate topic, I got 2 more drums in, I'll be finishing them this week probably.

[oipunkguy]

just as an update, I got the floor tom done, just need to buff it out, and I'm gonna start working on the rack tom today or tomorrow. I'll take some pictures today and post them.