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Today I sprayed the sunburst on my (hopefully last) guitar project that I've been building. This one is built with and alder body and hard rock maple neck, Elliott Mosrite pickups, MIJ Mosrite bridge, Hallmark vibrato and mint green guard. Although I really like my last candy apple red one, I have a hunch this one is going to be my favorite because of the sound. I played it a bunch without the finish. Those Elliott pups are great.

Tomorrow I will wet sand the over spray and start the multiple coats of clear lacquer. It's should only take a couple of weeks in this 100+ degree heat to cure the finish. Then I can wet sand and assemble it. I know you guy's are probably getting sick of me constantly posting about my various projects, so, until I start seeing some other projects being posted I'd better hold off.

EDITED, 8-7-08: Since this project has been completed I'll post a photo of the finished product.

Danny,
Did you take pictures during the sunburst finishing process? How did you do the bands?
Mel

MWaldorf wrote:Danny,
Did you take pictures during the sunburst finishing process? How did you do the bands?
Mel

Unfortunately, I did not take any pictures. I got pre occupied with the project and once I got started I didn't stop. Also, I had nothing but trouble at almost every stage of the painting. My equipment (and me) is getting real tired.

For painting, I have a professional rig that I've had for almost 40 years. I do my 'art work' with an ancient Binks Model 18 spray gun. I first spray the yellow center. Next I spray the red fading into the yellow, then I spray a transparent black edging. The fading into the next color is accomplished by adjusting the spray pattern of the gun's nozzle and air pressure. It's just a matter of technique. But of course having sprayed several hundred finishes during my lifetime helps. BTW, I mix all my colors using pigment toners. That's how I get the transparent colors.

For a first time finisher that doesn't have access to a professional spray rig, there is an excellent guide to do a sunburst finish over on the ReRanch website. Some of those guy's have turned out master pieces.

I always get a chuckle when I read that sunburst finishes on Fender guitars was standard and a solid color cost more and was considered 'custom'. heck, I can do five 'custom' colors in the time it takes to do one sun burst. Most of that time involves total disassembly of the spray gun and cleaning before moving on to the next color.

Danny wrote:

I always get a chuckle when I read that sunburst finishes on Fender guitars was standard and a solid color cost more and was considered 'custom'. heck, I can do five 'custom' colors in the time it takes to do one sun burst. Most of that time involves total disassembly of the spray gun and cleaning before moving on to the next color.

You know, I too, could never figure out what the heck Fender was talking about w/their so called "Custom" Finishes. Other than they used different colors available and also sometimes finished the Headstock the same as the body (matching headstock), there really wasn't anything fancy or Custom about the finishes, other than maybe some of the colors. But their application to the bodies and/or headstocks were not any different than them painting their guitars White or Black, with the exception of a few colors, but not enough to validate them as "Custom Colors"......

I don't think anyone gets tired of hearing about your project guitars. I for one can't wait to see it.

Jim

Sounds like another winner. Look forward to seeing the photos after its completion.

Love then project guitars, Danny. And yes. we want pictures!

I've got it finished, assembled, played and now photographed (finally). I've got one more guitar to build then I'm done. The next one will be a bass. As for this one, the pix pretty much tell it all. The color layout didn't turn out the way I wanted as my spray gun needs to be retired. You can see that I had to come in further on the transparent red in the pickup area. Thanks to my spray gun, it shot out some droplets that didn't add anything to the desired effects. Solution was to bring the red in more to cover the mistake. It worked out alright, just not what I wanted.

Holy cow Danny that looks AMAZING!

So, what do you mean by "I've got one more guitar to build then I'm done" Done with current projects? Done building guitars? ???

Danny wrote:

You can see that I had to come in further on the transparent red in the pickup area.

Sorry, I like that!!! I think it gives it character!