slingblader Posted November 15, 2021 Author Posted November 15, 2021 Sounds like the general consensus is to keep it. 👍 I think what I may try is to shoot a few coats of some UV aged lacquer on it near the end of the finishing schedule. That will impart an amber cast to it and may knock the edge off of the green somewhat. I really want to get these finished up so that I can buff them out by Christmas. Right now, it is snowing and that makes it harder to keep the garage up to temperature and these puppies will need a lot of top coats to get them level sanded without cutting into the flake. Thanks for all of the kind words everyone, I really do appreciate it.
Biz Prof Posted November 15, 2021 Posted November 15, 2021 I actually think Buck would have preferred that more vibrant hue of gold given how much he liked da bling.
slingblader Posted November 15, 2021 Author Posted November 15, 2021 True, that man did love the bling!
slingblader Posted November 15, 2021 Author Posted November 15, 2021 Here's another quick post which will get this thread up to current time. For anyone who has not shot metal flake on a guitar with binding, let me just say that removing that initial mask is just the beginning. Yikes! The initial masked line was generally pretty good, but the timing of the mask removal is crucial. Too soon and it doesn't pull away cleanly; too late and it gets a bit crumbly. Once the mask has been removed, I let it dry a bit, then cleaned up the lines with various blades and scraping tools. Before shooting the next coat of clear, I used a dry brush to clean off all loose flake from the bindings and crossed my fingers. I'd shoot another coat, then repeat the process again, scraping out any stray flecks of flake from the bindings... clean up with a brush, shoot again, ad-infinitum. I lost count, but I think it took approximitely 5 sesssions of scraping/cleaning/shooting before all of the flake shedding/binding contamination was under control. Not to mention repeated vacuuming of my shop to get most of the loose flake cleaned up. It was a bit nightmarish there for a while, I'll admit. At one point, the house looked like it had hosted a stripper convention. Now, I have enough build over the flake that I can start to block sand every few coats to knock down the peaks and start to level the clear. These will definitely not be an ultra-thin finish; not no way, not no how. Here are a few more shots of the process. Things look a bit rough now, but they will come around eventually. Binding cleanup... Building up the clear. More to come.
Drew816 Posted November 15, 2021 Posted November 15, 2021 YEAH, love the Citron Gold, that's totally bad ass! Silver if fine, but it's just ya know, "silver." The Citron Gold is in your freakin face! Yes, metal flake is a monster to deal with. That you got results of ANY kind shows your skill. These look great, keep on truckin!
slingblader Posted November 15, 2021 Author Posted November 15, 2021 4 hours ago, Drew816 said: YEAH, love the Citron Gold, that's totally bad ass! Silver if fine, but it's just ya know, "silver." The Citron Gold is in your freakin face! Yes, metal flake is a monster to deal with. That you got results of ANY kind shows your skill. These look great, keep on truckin! Thanks man, it's growing on me. This has certainly been a learning experience.
kizanski Posted November 15, 2021 Posted November 15, 2021 6 minutes ago, slingblader said: Thanks man, it's growing on me. This has certainly been a learning experience. I'll take it if you don't want it.
slingblader Posted November 18, 2021 Author Posted November 18, 2021 A quick update on the Telecaster chronicles. I've basically been working to get the flake buried. After the first 5 or 6 coats, I very gently and quickly just took the tops off the mountains with some P320 on a block. The pictures below after another 5-6 coats (so, somewhere in the neighborhood of 10-12) I hit the sides with P320 on a rubber block and the flats with P320 on my ROS. I went a little more aggressive on this sanding since I had built up a bit more headroom, so to speak... but I still did not attempt to completely level the finish at this point. And here we are after another 5 coats (roughly 16-18... I know I forgot to mark down a coat or two on my tracking sheet). It's still very wavy, of course, but now I'm really building up. I'll let this dry for a few days. I'm pretty sure I can sand completely level on the next round. Once everything is level, it will be time to apply the flag stripes to the silver w/white binding. I'll also be applying headstock decals during the final clear coats on the necks and of course throwing on the last few coats of clear on the bodies. This has been a long process and I've gone through a lot of finish. I'm ready to be done, for sure! More soon.
slingblader Posted November 22, 2021 Author Posted November 22, 2021 I didn't make as much progress as I'd hoped this weekend, but I did get the pickguards made. I was able to lay out all 3 on one sheet of W/B/W material. I rough cut the pieces, then mounted each to my template. I used a flush cut bit followed by a chamfer bit. Drilled the holes and countersunk them. A few shots of the guards laying on the bodies. I had hoped to level sand the clear this weekend, but our plans changed and I ran out of time. So, that will likely happen in a day or two. If the weather holds, I should be able to continue shooting finish around the Thanksgiving holiday. More soon, thanks for looking.
RobB Posted November 22, 2021 Posted November 22, 2021 They all look great, but, that GOLD...oh, my heart!
slingblader Posted November 22, 2021 Author Posted November 22, 2021 2 minutes ago, RobB said: They all look great, but, that GOLD...oh, my heart! Thanks! The color is really growing on me... seeing it with the pickguard sorta pushed me over the edge.
Stike Posted November 22, 2021 Posted November 22, 2021 On 11/15/2021 at 1:24 PM, kizanski said: I'll take it if you don't want it. That color would look great on say a GMP. On 11/14/2021 at 10:27 PM, slingblader said: Here's another quick post which will get this thread up to current time. For anyone who has not shot metal flake on a guitar with binding, let me just say that removing that initial mask is just the beginning. Yikes! The initial masked line was generally pretty good, but the timing of the mask removal is crucial. Too soon and it doesn't pull away cleanly; too late and it gets a bit crumbly. Once the mask has been removed, I let it dry a bit, then cleaned up the lines with various blades and scraping tools. Before shooting the next coat of clear, I used a dry brush to clean off all loose flake from the bindings and crossed my fingers. I'd shoot another coat, then repeat the process again, scraping out any stray flecks of flake from the bindings... clean up with a brush, shoot again, ad-infinitum. I lost count, but I think it took approximitely 5 sesssions of scraping/cleaning/shooting before all of the flake shedding/binding contamination was under control. Not to mention repeated vacuuming of my shop to get most of the loose flake cleaned up. It was a bit nightmarish there for a while, I'll admit. At one point, the house looked like it had hosted a stripper convention. Now, I have enough build over the flake that I can start to block sand every few coats to knock down the peaks and start to level the clear. These will definitely not be an ultra-thin finish; not no way, not no how. Here are a few more shots of the process. Things look a bit rough now, but they will come around eventually. Binding cleanup... Building up the clear. More to come. Ah, good times. 😄
kizanski Posted November 22, 2021 Posted November 22, 2021 6 hours ago, Stike said: That color would look great on say a GMP. Go onnn.....
Stike Posted November 22, 2021 Posted November 22, 2021 1 hour ago, kizanski said: Go onnn..... https://tenor.com/bbuqR.gif
cmatthes Posted November 22, 2021 Posted November 22, 2021 16 hours ago, Stike said: Ah, good times. 😄 Says a gentleman who is going to be spraying flake with binding...
slingblader Posted November 29, 2021 Author Posted November 29, 2021 Well, it's been a little cool here and I've been busy with the Thanksgiving holiday, so progress has been slow. Here's what's been going on with the Tele project. I needed to get everything level sanded as much as possible without getting into the flake itself. I got pretty agressive with this as the surface was very rough and I had a lot of clear built up. I started with P320 and used a ROS on all the flat surfaces. I sanded up to P800 so that no large scratches were remaining. Most of the way there. There we go, only a couple of low dimples remaining. Today I decided to get the color on the "Flag" Tele. This took a lot of measuring and careful masking. Headstock masked off. I used a taped down ruler to help lay out the stripes on the body. Center of the body masked off. Ready to spray! Started with the blue. Needs a few more coats to get the color depth that I'm looking for. That we go. Moved the middle masks and started on the red. And now we have U.S. flag stripes! There is a little cleanup to be done around the binding. After that, I'll start top coating with clear. I'm pretty dang pleased with the result so far. Thanks for following along, more soon!
LucSulla Posted November 29, 2021 Posted November 29, 2021 Oh god... I'm never going to make it a year.
HAMERMAN Posted December 1, 2021 Posted December 1, 2021 If Evel Knievel played a Tele it would look like that!
Dutchman Posted December 1, 2021 Posted December 1, 2021 8 hours ago, HAMERMAN said: If Evel Knievel played a Tele it would look like that! Or Buck Owens!! Beautiful!!!
Travis Posted December 1, 2021 Posted December 1, 2021 On 11/28/2021 at 10:42 PM, slingblader said: Well, it's been a little cool here and I've been busy with the Thanksgiving holiday, so progress has been slow. Here's what's been going on with the Tele project. I needed to get everything level sanded as much as possible without getting into the flake itself. I got pretty agressive with this as the surface was very rough and I had a lot of clear built up. I started with P320 and used a ROS on all the flat surfaces. I sanded up to P800 so that no large scratches were remaining. Most of the way there. There we go, only a couple of low dimples remaining. Today I decided to get the color on the "Flag" Tele. This took a lot of measuring and careful masking. Headstock masked off. I used a taped down ruler to help lay out the stripes on the body. Center of the body masked off. Ready to spray! Started with the blue. Needs a few more coats to get the color depth that I'm looking for. That we go. Moved the middle masks and started on the red. And now we have U.S. flag stripes! There is a little cleanup to be done around the binding. After that, I'll start top coating with clear. I'm pretty dang pleased with the result so far. Thanks for following along, more soon! Oh, man…. I love everything about that finish…. Stellar work!
Steve Haynie Posted December 2, 2021 Posted December 2, 2021 On 11/30/2021 at 10:55 PM, HAMERMAN said: If Evel Knievel played a Tele it would look like that! Stike did an Even Knievel paint job. http://www.rowycokustoms.com/GalleryPages/RK_gallery004.html
django49 Posted December 2, 2021 Posted December 2, 2021 Howzabout Buck Owens meets Evel Knievel with a touch of John Rambo? The stars are “riveted” with .357 magnum shell casings.
Drew816 Posted December 2, 2021 Posted December 2, 2021 2 hours ago, django49 said: Howzabout Buck Owens meets Evel Knievel with a touch of John Rambo? The stars are “riveted” with .357 magnum shell casings. .357 Magnum; come on! If you're going full guitar Americana they should be .454 Casul, .460 or .500 S&W Magnums man! 😉 The only revolver I still own is a .357, great caliber with a lot of flexibility. I just had to be a smart a$$!
slingblader Posted December 2, 2021 Author Posted December 2, 2021 7 hours ago, Steve Haynie said: Stike did an Even Knievel paint job. http://www.rowycokustoms.com/GalleryPages/RK_gallery004.html Stike is the freaking man. That had to be a pain in the ass to mask all those stars around the perimeter! I was looking at his gallery earlier today... I'm strongly considering just sending all my stuff to him from now on. These flake Teles have really burned me out. 2 hours ago, django49 said: Howzabout Buck Owens meets Evel Knievel with a touch of John Rambo? The stars are “riveted” with .357 magnum shell casings. Damn, now that's pretty cool too. Although that Strat jack plate looks like ass on the front of that guitar... just my opinion of course.
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