Color time

A few coats of Sanding Sealer and it's time to get to the really hard part, the color. I really don't know what I'm doing when it comes to spraying a sunburst type finish, but starting with the lightest color sounds like a good idea. first up : Amber.

Tomorrow evening I'll spray the orange tint, then the following evening the reds. By the time I'm done you probably won't see too much of the amber color left, except for the center of the body.

FIRE!

So far, so good. The Orange went on easy, only problem is the back of the headstock.

Something got on there, an oil or something from the sand paper, naptha, or a cloth, and it is not letting the color take properly, resulting in a blotchy flat area. I'll need to sand and redo the back of the headstock tomorrow. Hopefully blending it back into the good areas won't look too obvious.

OK, back of headstock sanded, and blended back with amber and orange tints, looks good! can't believe these rattle cans from ReRanch, such a great product - in case you are unaware, back in the 50's and 60's guitar companies used a product called Nitrocellulose Lacquer, which is no longer legal to spray in California, hence the rise of Polyurethane type finishes. Nitro goes on smooth, is easy to sand, and has a very organic feel. it also has a warm cast to it, and yellows with age, making sunburst type finshes especially nice. You can still by nitro lacquer in a few places, and there is a small company out of Texas that provides guitar specific nitro in rattle cans, for hacks like myself, they are called ReRanch, and I love them.

So, I have used ReRanch nitro sanding sealer, Amber tint, clear Orange, and now I'm spraying some Cherry Red (this nitro courtesy of StewMac), and some ReRanch 3 color Edge burst red. The cherry red from StewMac is very bright and looks great, the "3 color edge" from ReRanch is the middle color in a traditional Fender style burst, and gives the outside edge a slightly darker and dirtier look. The combination got me very close to the mid 60's RIC Fireglo that I love. Could have used a little more amber in the center, but I'm not complaining, the bass looks GREAT!

next up - the clear coats, waiting, and a lot of elbow grease.....

sand. seal. wait. repeat.

not much to report, just sanding my lil' fingertips off. got a couple coats of sanding sealer on it, smooth and ready for the color. looks good though, could definitely build as is and start rocking, Macca 70's style. The body wings have some nice figuring that is starting to pop with the application of some clear coat. pretty non uniform, just some subtle flamey stuff going on, I made sure to pick maple that was not too figured, as I did not want this to look like a boutique 90's bass. that being said, I'm a sucker for some flamey maple.

Had to order some grain filler for the walnut strips on the headstock, as the grain on walnut is so open, there is no way to get a glassy smooth finish unless you fill the pores. that should take about a week, so I'll be mellowing out on this until then. stay tuned....