maxvintage
Poster Extraordinaire
I have for about twenty years played a parts tele that I got at a local store. Somebody had deliberately reliced the neck and put an fake fenders esquire decal on it. The body was of unknown origin, fairly beat up and had an opaque poly butterscotch finish, It looked fine and sounded good, but it was little heavy. For years I thought about making a new body, but on a whim I went to Warmoth and bought a 4.1 pound Ash body.
I've posted before about Shellac, which in many ways is ideal for the home shop. It does not require any spraying, it requires minimal sanding, an it's not toxic. It's more durable than its reputation suggests--I've still got it on my fingernails a couple days later. But it also has some disadvantages.
I decided to try for a variation on the tele butterscotch finish. I tried filling the ash body with z-poxy, but it was a disaster. I've tried Z-poxy twice and just did not like it at all. it works really well for other people, so I'm sure the fault is mine. I ended up using a combination aqua coat and Pumice, which is the traditional method of filling grain with shellac.
First I laid down a coat of "Minwax Color wash transparent layering color, whitewash," which was really excellent. Paint it on, let it sit for a minute, and wipe it off. I made the mistake of putting aquacoat over it too soon, and it caused crazing in the aqua coat, but it was fine if I let it dry overnight.
Anyway the minwax gave it the "pickled" finish look. Then I started putting down shellac, using flakes dissolved in alcohol. I added a lot of Mixol white to the shellac, which does not really dissolve--you need to stir the mixture to keep the white suspended. I added some mixol yellow and a few drops of transtint "vintage amber," just eyeballing it.
Below are some pictures. I had a bit of a quandry since the neck is so beat up: If the body was perfect it would look odd. So I wasn't too fussy about the finish. Its not polished at all, for example
The guitar is as light as it can get, and balances perfectly--any lighter and it would neck dive, so I'm very happy with that. The hard part with this method is getting even color. It came out ok, but spraying would be more effective. it's a bit too light maybe: next time I change strings I might take it down and and some brownish shellac. All finish methods have advantages and disadvantages
Some pictures:
I've posted before about Shellac, which in many ways is ideal for the home shop. It does not require any spraying, it requires minimal sanding, an it's not toxic. It's more durable than its reputation suggests--I've still got it on my fingernails a couple days later. But it also has some disadvantages.
I decided to try for a variation on the tele butterscotch finish. I tried filling the ash body with z-poxy, but it was a disaster. I've tried Z-poxy twice and just did not like it at all. it works really well for other people, so I'm sure the fault is mine. I ended up using a combination aqua coat and Pumice, which is the traditional method of filling grain with shellac.
First I laid down a coat of "Minwax Color wash transparent layering color, whitewash," which was really excellent. Paint it on, let it sit for a minute, and wipe it off. I made the mistake of putting aquacoat over it too soon, and it caused crazing in the aqua coat, but it was fine if I let it dry overnight.
Anyway the minwax gave it the "pickled" finish look. Then I started putting down shellac, using flakes dissolved in alcohol. I added a lot of Mixol white to the shellac, which does not really dissolve--you need to stir the mixture to keep the white suspended. I added some mixol yellow and a few drops of transtint "vintage amber," just eyeballing it.
Below are some pictures. I had a bit of a quandry since the neck is so beat up: If the body was perfect it would look odd. So I wasn't too fussy about the finish. Its not polished at all, for example
The guitar is as light as it can get, and balances perfectly--any lighter and it would neck dive, so I'm very happy with that. The hard part with this method is getting even color. It came out ok, but spraying would be more effective. it's a bit too light maybe: next time I change strings I might take it down and and some brownish shellac. All finish methods have advantages and disadvantages
Some pictures:
