Quilt top Strat build - PRS Private Stock style "Frost Bite Glow" finish

docteurseb

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I posted this one in the "Just out of the box" a few weeks ago and I'm getting closer to the idea of dyeing it:

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To recap some of the crazy color schemes I tried recently staining PRS parts:
- Ultra Pink:
8xmFKQH.jpg


- PRS Private Stock-style Aqua Violet:
B1l76Gv.jpg

Tutorial posted here:
[youtube]https://youtu.be/tCy3kHUloI4[/youtube]

- PRS Private Stock-style Northern Lights. Same as above, just slightly different colors:
8chNIjy.jpg

Here with a clear coat:
[youtube]https://youtu.be/gSBiJUYZLh8[/youtube]

- Ultra violet / pink - Basically reversing the layering order of Aqua Violet:
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I have a curly maple 1/4 sawn curly maple neck from Musikraft being built that I'll most likely use for this build, and it'll most likely get Clapton electronics (mid-boost and Vintage Noiseless pickups).
 
Whatever you end up doing I am sure it is going to be an interesting build once again  :icon_thumright:
 
I'm biassed towards the "northern lights" style; it's probably my favorite PRS finish. However I'm sure it will be awesome either way, the pink-purple is very cool too!
 
Yeah I'm slightly leaning towards the northern lights too, since I no longer have a PRS with that finish and it's a fun one. Just need to practice a bit more if I go for that one as it's a bit finicky to get it right.
 
Would you care to briefly describe the process you take to apply the dye? Both options are stunning. I like the "Northern Lights".
 
monchavo said:
Would you care to briefly describe the process you take to apply the dye? Both options are stunning. I like the "Northern Lights".

See the videos in the post above...
 
stratamania said:
monchavo said:
Would you care to briefly describe the process you take to apply the dye? Both options are stunning. I like the "Northern Lights".

See the videos in the post above...

Ditto... :)

At this point I'm leaning towards the red/pink fade color scheme, which is color-matches to a PRS Private Stock guitar I briefly had recently (but had to return due to inlays falling apart... bad glue I'm told).

It's insanely vibrant in person due to the use of Fiebing's leather dyes.
The other ones I think would look best on curly maple with strong tight curls.

These pieces don't even have a clear coat on them, that would drastically enhance colors and contrast:
cqX1wBY.jpg


 
Started re-sawing a piece of ash to try making a matching backplate.

I start with a pic of the back:
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Edit it and print:
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And this is likely going to be as good as it'll get given the board of ash I have:
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After re-sawing and planning here's what I have:
lFb5zkx.jpg



 
Had to plane again as there was a very minimal wood warping. Not too surprising, I should have let the wood stabilize for a few days after re-sawing it instead of planing it right away.

Even though I removed very little material you can see how much the figuring changed:
c7UMGfk.jpg



The back will have a cerused finish which is why I don't want to randomly cut a piece of ash. I wouldn't bother trying to match grain roughly if I were just going to have it finished in a dark translucent color
 
Found a better piece of ash that should yield a much better match. Looks like I'll have a spare ash backplate for sale soon :)

I also received the neck (Musikraft), it sure took a while (4 months) as they are overbooked with orders but it's a beautiful piece of quarter sawn curly maple. Pondering whether to make my own red resin dot inlays to replace the black ones, it's a bit tricky to have a flat/flush fingerboard surface when replacing dots on an already fretted neck
 
Now that I'm almost done with my burl top Soloist I can finally resume working on this one.

The color will be the pink to dark red color scheme for the top, and white wash + red grain filler for the back and sides.
Something like this:
mPSog9W.jpg

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I'll reserve the crazy intense purple+pink finish for a curly maple Soloist body I ordered (among other things...), I think that'll look far better than on quilt.

I made a few new backplates last week-end.
The fun thing with ash is that by the time you surface it even ever so slightly, the figure you thought would be a great match changes dramatically.
I still think this one has a figuring that will work better for the white wash+red grain filler finish; the other one had just too many grain lines next to each other compared to the body:

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And I also received the neck. This one is a Musikraft 1-piece 1/4 sawn curly maple. I did not go for the most expensive grade to keep budget more reasonable but the figuring is excellent:

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And that's it for now. I'm hoping to stain the body in couple weeks as I still need to fine tune the dye ratios for that red finish.
 
Since I'm going with a red/pink finish I made matching swirl resin blanks last week and decided to replace the blacks dot inlays of that neck...

The surgery went decently well considering this was the 1st time attempting this on a real neck (prior neck was a $20 neck, shipping included).

That was the point of no return:
cEEqjAS.jpg

A few bruises/chips as you can see but nothing that maple dust and super glue can't hide.

I really got the hang of it for the final dot... that's great.
What worked best for me was:
- drill the center of a plastic dot with a 9/64" or 5/32" bit.
- fill with acetone to loosen the superglue holding the dot
- take a larger drill bit, but smaller than 1/4", and use a hammer to push the outline of the dot down. At that point it's easy to chip it  without damaging the surface.

In the past when I practiced on that wonderful $20 neck (frets not even parallel to each other) I took a 1/8" drill bit to drill out the center of the dot, then reversed the bit to wiggle the dot around until it got loose.

This worked great on that neck which was flatsawn and likely with a very weak glue (or possibly none) but turned out to be a terrible idea on a this quartersawn neck: it chips like crazy if you try to pull out the dot that way.

The dots:
MpAzC5K.jpg


inserted and glued:
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This neck happens to be a 12" radius, just like the sanding block I have. I ended up cutting out two pieces from that block that I can use to sand/level the dots without damaging the fingerboard.


 
And this is what I got using the sanding blocks:

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Overall replacing dots works well once you get the hang of it.
For future necks though I'll just order them without the dots and drill/install them myself for a much cleaner installation.

I would personally only attempt this on fixed radius necks were you can make a matching radiused sanding block.
I've seen others use a razor blade with tape so only the dot gets scraped; this should work on a compound radius but I'm unsure the end result would be as smooth/seamless.
 
That's super cool. I wonder if this is something Warmoth would do for you off-menu? If you made the dots and shipped them to Warmoth, might they install them for you?
 
Fingerboard edges are rolled, here the treble side is done:
x2uxAmq.jpg


I went for an aggressive roll; you can start seeing the side dots on this work in progress shot:
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I do this only when using a bridge with narrower/modern string spacing; otherwise the E/e strings can easily slip off the edge if you're a sloppy player like me.

For once I'm planning to do a gloss lacquer finish, at least on the front to make those resin dots and curly maple pop.
 
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