Weekend Tele paint job

Deadman

I thought I’d share this as I haven’t painted a guitar in quite a while after changing jobs. I still have all the equipment available to me when I do have to scratch the itch though, so today’s the day.

I picked up this lovely 2004 Highway one Tele recently that plays and sounds sublime. Came with SD vintage 54 pups onboard, man do they sound good. However as you can see, the finish has been cleaned off, after an accident with some nail polish remover. I couldn’t leave it looking like this, so I got to work removing everything only to find the original sunburst under the hardware and pickguard.

After cleaning off the remaining finish with a bit of solvent and a quick rub down I popped a coat of white cellulose primer on followed by some tinted yellow nitro lacquer as I like that 60’s look and I also find bog standard alder grain very boring to look at.
This was after 2 coats, I popped a couple more on until I got a bit more of an orangey vibe going on. So that’s it for today, tomorrow will be 3 colour burst and a few coats of nitro lacquer. Total time spent so far is about 2 hours.

Edit! I've decided I'm going to finish this today so more pics to come..... 

Deadman

I recently got hold of a tiny little puffer gun. First time I’ve used it today. It was ideal for applying the tobacco burst. This was tobacco mixed with some cellulose black to give it depth. I’ve now banged on a quick coat of nitro lacquer (using my Devilbiss GTi) to avoid any separation or furring when it comes to putting the red on.

What I’m using today.

ElectricXII

Nice job.Looking forward to the finished article.

Deadman

Thanks @ElectricXII given the white guard and rosewood board I’m hoping it all ties together nicely. 

Finished pics. I went with a bit of a clown burst as I just felt the need. Just the requisite flat and polish to do in a few weeks time and I’ll pop some final pics up. 

Deadman

Totally unrelated but tomorrow’s job is a table top that the missus wants me to do (Tele of course took priority and is nestling safely in the adjoining bay  ) Right. Time for beer, music and curry. Have a good night, all.

SteveRobinson

A sunburst table would be amazing

Deadman

SteveRobinson said:

A sunburst table would be amazing

If I could get it past the missus Steve, I would  By the way, I'm only sorry that I'm not using your products because of the obvious. I don't use aerosols. Shame but I remember long ago you saying something about shipping restrictions associated with tinned paint?

NPP

interesting, I always assumed bursts would be sprayed from the inside out but apparently that's not the case. Looks good!

Deadman

NPP said:

interesting, I always assumed bursts would be sprayed from the inside out but apparently that's not the case. Looks good!

Easiest way @NPP and of course the way Fender did/does it. The red is always so opaque that it obviously doesn’t show on top of the dark burst but does on top of the lighter centre.