Keep going, quit now or start over...

[birddog01]

I'm on my second build a strat this time, from the beginning your mind wanders to how your gonna put the finish on, color, grain you know the process.
But being fairly new at building guitars but certainly not the finishing it makes me wish I had a dozen bodies laying around to play with colors on.
They just don't seem to end up as the original concept for me yet.
This one I was intending on doing the classic 3 tone sunburst but I blew it when I used to dark a grain filler.
Well the body was dyed with transtint honey amber and alcohol and then I sprayed a can of Deft sanding sealer on, sanded a bit and shot a about 3/4 of clear on.
Almost left it that way.

Laid my white pearl pick gaurd on it and it looked pretty good.
But as usual I couldn't leave it.
So I mixed up about 8 oz of thinner and 4 oz of clear, added 100 drops of transtint red. Opened up the cabinet with all my sprayguns I haven't touched in years, pulled out the touch up gun and...
This is where I'm at now. Kinda looks cool, don't really like the way my red ran into the tummy cut on the back but its the back, I can live with it.
In some ways the grain looks ok, haven't laid the pick gaurd on it yet.





Something says leave it and something says go ahead and finish your black.
I'll lay the paick gaurd on I'm sure before I decide but want to get some feed back from the forum.
Oh, Rosewood fingerboard and like I mentioned white pearliod pick gaurd.

Thanks

Wally

[fletch]

Hey birddog, Dont be too hard on yourself, That doesn't look too bad. A suggestion: I'd burst in some tobacco brown or black in around the edges

[shandraster]

I think that looks great. I like the red. :)

[robt57]

Sand back the red to where you want it before you move onto the clear, second time I said that today. ;)

It is looking pretty dapper to me.

[ColeRyan]

Love the look of Sienna Bursts/Cherry Burst. Gotta echo robt57 thogh, sand it back a little if you're not going to do the tobacco outline over it.

[Ronsonic]

I kinda like it like that.

[wshelley]

I like it as is, but would like to see it with the pickguard in place just to see how much of the burst shows up and where. Overall I think it looks great and original, and I'm typically not one to like a sunburst that is nontraditional.

You wouldn't happen to be putting humbuckers in the neck and bridge with that rout, would you?

[Faraldi]

I like it. Better than I could do.

[flyingbanana]

LEAVE IT AS IS.

Looks really good.

[Jonnyfriendly]

Looks good to me - I really like the red colour

[dragonfly66]

I like it. Put a cream/vintage pearloid and rosewood finger board.

[birddog01]

You guys got me wonderin.
I kinda like it myself but I was wet sanding it yesterday, had a couple sags in the clear on the radius on the front side. Looks like it may have attacked the red some so I thought I'd probably add the black.
Well I didn't follow through, rain was coming and humidity was building.

These spots are not bad almost hardly noticable but they are on the front and I'm somewhat picky.
Maybe since there is no rush I'll shoot a couple coats of clear on and see if those spots blend in ok and how they look.
If they look ok I'll lay the pickgaurd on in and take a pic and post it before following through with anything.

Oh, this is how it looked when mocked up before tearing it apart for finishing.


Wally

[szechuanking]

looks good.

[Hollmanp90]

I like it......love it.

[birddog01]

Rainy weekend and to humid to do any painting.
Decided to put the pick gaurd on and took a few photos as with it wet sanded keeps the glare down for photos, tried to add a couple of the blemishes too. Sorry with the rain couldn't get them in natural light.
You will have to tell me what you think.
Shot 1

Shot 2 from end

Blemish shot on the radius of the upper horn is the next one and best I could get. What you have is as far as I wanted to go with the sanding, the spots on each side are still glossy and the part on the radius itself is not lighter or thin like it looks. It may or may not be ok after some clear and when the weather clears I'll shoot some clear and make a decision, worse case I could try and fog some color with my airbrush but candies are the worst for blending in.

Next is blemish #2 on the inside of the face of the upper horn, sanded out ok and I think this one will be fine if I leave it alone.


Both of these were from sags in the clear and coats were probably applied to close together and/or to much material. If these Look ok I may leave it.
If not they I'll add the black and they will cover.
I know this pickgaurd looks cheezy, especially around the humbucker route, why the heck they didn't leave the corners rounded I'll never know.
It was real cheap, complete assy from GFS only $33 and I needed something to get this project going, I have no idea what it will sound like.
I figure to get a playable guitar first, I'll order a pick gaurd from Warmoth and build one for later replacement once I figure what I want as I need to get a pearliod back plate any way.

This is kinda like a Sienna Sunburst gone Wild, and Fender charges and extra buck fifty for this without the extra color, makes no sense.

Wally

[appar111]

Originally Posted by flyingbanana

LEAVE IT AS IS.

Looks really good.

Ditto-- clear coat it and you're done. I think it looks beautiful!

[fenderchamp]

I think it is sweet. I love the dark grain. It reminds me of a finish like you'd see on a G&L. I vote clear coat it as it is.

[rcole_sooner]

That looks pretty sweet. I wonder why the backs always look better than the fronts; I think maybe the routes distract from the front.

What neck? Maple or rosewood?

That GFS assemblies are pretty decent, it is what I put on my dinky thingy. Which by the way I was going to cherry burst, er, uh, I mean sienna burst. But the sanding sealer made it look sorta n4'ish, so I just clear coated. But after seeing yours...

[wshelley]

Clear coat it and call it done. Looks really good with the pickguard.

[birddog01]

Wow thats like 15 - 1 to clear it and I'm done.
Good thing its raining and to humid to paint here, I even mixed up some thinner, clear and black dye yesterday and put it in a can while sitting around.
guess I'll have to save it for something else.

Sooner, thats a nice looking guitar. That finish and the black pickups and tuners give it a nice look. Nice grain too, that style without the pick gaurd does lend itself nice to showing off color.

Wally