Fender Mocha Brown 544?
- Thread starter beyondat
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jackthehack
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Here's a link with some good pictures of a '74 Mocha Brown PBass:
http://www.grouseguitars.com/fender74pbassbrown.htm
From the verbiage:
Colour is the not-so-common Mocha Brown, which is a transparent and lightly metal-flaked brown that is a lot more attractive in the flesh than the photographs can convey! Mocha Brown was introduced by Fender in 1973, and this was when black pick guards and pickups were first introduced on Stratocasters (only with Mocha Brown bodies). This colour is sometimes (often!) confused with the Walnut finish, which does not have the subtle metallic component.
What kind of experience/finishing gear do you have?
If you simply want to reproduce that color you can experiment with a scrap board of the same wood you intend to use, you could use a stain (light walnut?), Mixol or other dye applied with lacquer thinner or shoot it with a toner (Behlen Medium Walnut Brown is pretty close).
If you actually want to reproduce the finish as described, you'd need a spray rig and need to use a suitable tint to the lacquer and I'm guessing you'd add tiny metalfakes sparingly in the mix.
Maybe Tonar the Magnificent has an exact formula.....
http://www.grouseguitars.com/fender74pbassbrown.htm
From the verbiage:
Colour is the not-so-common Mocha Brown, which is a transparent and lightly metal-flaked brown that is a lot more attractive in the flesh than the photographs can convey! Mocha Brown was introduced by Fender in 1973, and this was when black pick guards and pickups were first introduced on Stratocasters (only with Mocha Brown bodies). This colour is sometimes (often!) confused with the Walnut finish, which does not have the subtle metallic component.
What kind of experience/finishing gear do you have?
If you simply want to reproduce that color you can experiment with a scrap board of the same wood you intend to use, you could use a stain (light walnut?), Mixol or other dye applied with lacquer thinner or shoot it with a toner (Behlen Medium Walnut Brown is pretty close).
If you actually want to reproduce the finish as described, you'd need a spray rig and need to use a suitable tint to the lacquer and I'm guessing you'd add tiny metalfakes sparingly in the mix.
Maybe Tonar the Magnificent has an exact formula.....
jackthehack
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You can use the MinWax oil or water based stains available at Lowes/HomeDepot/most hardware stores, then finish with the rub-on poly topcoat. If using the oil based stains, ensure that you let them dry completely out before applying the rub on poly, this can take a few days this time of year.
I'd try that rather than tinting the rub on poly.
I'd try that rather than tinting the rub on poly.
From the looks of the chipped finish it looks as though the coloring was mixed into whatever finish they use. The layer of color looks really thick and the wood underneath doesn't even look stained at all. Would this mean that they sprayed a thin clear coat first and later applied a brown tinted poly/lacquer coat? Thanks for the directions!
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=604154
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=604154
jackthehack
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beyondat said:
Most likely they sprayed a clear sealer coat, then the coats with the brown tint + light metalflake, then add'l clear gloss top coats. Not sure whether they were using lacquer or poly in the early 70's.
jackthehack
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Search the forum for "metalflake" there have been some builds done by board members that included custom metalflake paint jobs; think metalflake is most easiest available from sources that supply the automotive industry.
W
Watershed
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I stumbled across this site doing a random Google search for something else.
Thought I would share since the topic seems to be metal flakes.
http://www.paintwithpearl.com/
They sell quantities more suited to a guitar body, but the color options are a bit "loud" for my taste.
No harm in lookin' though....usually.
:icon_jokercolor:
Crescent Bronze is another vendor, their colors are more "vintage" for lack of a better word.
I believe they do have a brown, as well as numerous shades of gold.
Or you could just add a pinch of silver metal flakes to a brown pigmented lacquer.
James
Thought I would share since the topic seems to be metal flakes.
http://www.paintwithpearl.com/
They sell quantities more suited to a guitar body, but the color options are a bit "loud" for my taste.
No harm in lookin' though....usually.
:icon_jokercolor:
Crescent Bronze is another vendor, their colors are more "vintage" for lack of a better word.
I believe they do have a brown, as well as numerous shades of gold.
Or you could just add a pinch of silver metal flakes to a brown pigmented lacquer.
James
W
Watershed
Guest
My bad on pigmented, I looked at some of those pictures, it's not opaque.
Tinted, or mixed with dye would be the way to go, with a splash of silver flakes.
That would probably get you close.
Tinted, or mixed with dye would be the way to go, with a splash of silver flakes.
That would probably get you close.
jackthehack
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While it might prove an interesting science project, I never heard of anybody mixing metalflake into dye, seems like it would tend to clump and be hard to apply as evenly as shooting suspended in lacquer/poly.
DMARCO is the board member I was think of, check his posts in this thread: http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=4773.0
DMARCO is the board member I was think of, check his posts in this thread: http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=4773.0
W
Watershed
Guest
jackthehack said:
What I meant was adding dye to lacquer, then adding some silver flakes.
Cool, thanks to everyone for sending me down the right path! I'm gonna try and mix stain/metalflakes into miniwax wipe-on poly and apply very thin coats until I build up the color I am looking for. I know lacquer would be better for this but honestly I am not patient enough to wait for it to cure. The question is much silver metalflake is enough?
Keyser Soze
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I'd think twice about adding metal flake to a wipe on. You are just not going to get the even/random dispersion you would get from a sprayer.
Definitely do a test piece (something with contours - not just a flat board) before you commit to this approach. You are most likely to get decent results from mixing very small amounts of flake into slightly thinned finish and applying very thin layers.
You also might try talking to the people at Mohawk/Behlen.
http://www.mohawk-finishing.com/help/contact.asp
They are the ones who have put together the lacquers and toners that get branded as vintage guitar products. I suspect someone there is either a guitar aficionado or at least a resident expert. They might suggest a combination of one of their aerosol toners and aerosol metallics that will give a good approximation.
Definitely do a test piece (something with contours - not just a flat board) before you commit to this approach. You are most likely to get decent results from mixing very small amounts of flake into slightly thinned finish and applying very thin layers.
You also might try talking to the people at Mohawk/Behlen.
http://www.mohawk-finishing.com/help/contact.asp
They are the ones who have put together the lacquers and toners that get branded as vintage guitar products. I suspect someone there is either a guitar aficionado or at least a resident expert. They might suggest a combination of one of their aerosol toners and aerosol metallics that will give a good approximation.
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