Silver tele

[Danuda]

I have been working on the checks for the tele and I finished it for the most part.  There is some touch up work and a little cleaning up to do to make the lines better, but this is pretty much it.

I went with a more random pattern.  Two of the silver colors (the two lightest) are close together, but I had limited colors to choose from.  I am not sure how much I like it yet.  I will have to sleep on it.  The lines did not end up being as clean as I wanted.  I used the stupid green tape and it caused me problems.  I have no idea why decided to switch from blue which I had used on all my tests just because of a label I read in the store.  The touch up work wont really be anymore work than stripping the top down to do in the same silver as the headstock though.  Basically now I have to decide if I like this more than the more clean silver.

 

[nexrex]

I like that it kind of reminds me of an old patchwork quilt. Good work  :icon_thumright:

 

[DangerousR6]

:hello2:

 

[Jusatele]

that not only looks great, buy it reflects a lot of work. killer axe

 

[mayfly]

Sleep on it?  are you kidding?  That looks fantastic!  Definitely a winner!

 

[lafromla1]

Sleep on it?  are you kidding?  That looks fantastic!  Definitely a winner!

+1  Great work.  :icon_thumright:

 

[Danuda]

Thanks everyone.  After thinking about it I definitely am going to keep it.  I like how it turned out as a concept.  The paint work is disappointing though.  The lines are not crisp and it looks sloppy up close.  The tape I used was awful.  It was too sticky and has basically created a lot of work for me.  Since it is all silver flake I can't sand or it will ruin the finish.  Basically what I have decided to do is to mask very thin lines around the borders of each of the squares.  Sand down the mess and clean it up and then respray those lines with the paint color from the headstock.  Then I will use that same color to finish off the binding.  That should fix the stuff I am not happy without me having to strip it down and start over again.  I don't know about you guys, but the green 3m tape is aweful.  It is way too sticky for paint on wood.  Maybe if your guitar sat to dry for a week, but the blue worked great.  With just 3 or 4 hours of drying time I could mask over the last layer of paint and nothing would pull up.

 

[AutoBat]

that looks amazing!

 

[jalane]

Thanks everyone.  After thinking about it I definitely am going to keep it.  I like how it turned out as a concept.  The paint work is disappointing though.  The lines are not crisp and it looks sloppy up close.  The tape I used was awful.  It was too sticky and has basically created a lot of work for me.  Since it is all silver flake I can't sand or it will ruin the finish.  Basically what I have decided to do is to mask very thin lines around the borders of each of the squares.  Sand down the mess and clean it up and then respray those lines with the paint color from the headstock.  Then I will use that same color to finish off the binding.  That should fix the stuff I am not happy without me having to strip it down and start over again.  I don't know about you guys, but the green 3m tape is aweful.  It is way too sticky for paint on wood.  Maybe if your guitar sat to dry for a week, but the blue worked great.  With just 3 or 4 hours of drying time I could mask over the last layer of paint and nothing would pull up.

That sounds like an awful amount of work, but i admire your dedication to go through all that trouble to realize your vision for the project. 

And seriously, didn't you just get the body last week?!  You are flying through this project!  Excellent work!

 

[ORCRiST]

Interesting. Not what I was expecting (thought you were going with all one color for the checks).
Are the checks shades of silver as well or grey(ish)? Oop, nevermind, I see that you say that
they are all silverflake. I have to say, even though its a pain in the ass, if you don't like it -
strip her down (as much as you need to) and do it again until you like the result. You never
want to look at your new baby months/years down the road and always have that internal
monologue that goes: "Man I really should have done a better job, or changed this or that, or..."
You know? Good luck, looks good so far.

ORC

 

[Danuda]

Jalane, yeah I get a little focused sometimes.  The guitar was all I could think about so I have been spending all day and working later into the night than I should have to get it done.  It will get even worse now that the holidays are coming up and I am off work.
ORCRiST, I was going to go that way, but after thinking about it I wanted something a little more unique.  Also I felt that the contrast was a little to strong and going with extra colors softened it a bit.  I agree with you on the paint though.  I am a bit of a perfectionist and if I do not like the results completely then I will always kick myself for not doing it right.  I know that I would sit there looking at the guitar and seeing the lines on it and thinking.  Man I should have stripped those down.  They could have looked a lot better.  It is getting difficult to be patient though.  This is only the third electric guitar I have ever had.  My first was an Epiphone out of a players pack with Humbuckers.  Then I got a Korean PRS with Humbuckers.  This is just so different I am itching to play it.

 

[Jusatele]

Danuda, that thing is a work to be proud of, I guarantee it will be a one of a kind as no one will want to go through all of that. I hate to say this but the lines do not sound like a good idea, But I am not working on it, I do know about what you are saying about being a perfectionist. M project sits as I look at a few things and get a few parts, and as I do I am doing this or that to perfect the finish, I still have not applied the lacquer as I have not finished nit picking the stain job.
Do the best you can and get your vision of the project done.
When you first displayed your ideas, I saw the potential of a unique idea getting put on wood that was both individual but exciting in the way it used simplicity to draw you into the object. I find myself drawn into the pattern. That is what an artist tries to do, draw you in, make the work reality to be explored and you have done that. It is a great piece. It is true abstract.

 

[Jusatele]

My wife say to name it Neapolitan Tele.

 

[Disco Scottie]

Very cool looking. However, I would agree with Danuda... as much as a PITA it might be, you're better off redoing it now so you don't regret it later. There's a documentary I edited almost ten years ago, and there's one tiny thing that I should have fixed. No one else will ever notice it, but it eats at me any time I watch it.

 

[Danuda]

Thank you everyone.  I am glad you all like it.  I did a test with the lines to see how it would look.  It cleans up the edges, but I am still not happy with it.  The design does not look as good and because of how thin the lines are I still can't get them smooth enough so you cant see ridges.  Basically I am going to sand it back to the primer and start over.     I just am not happy with how the paint turned out.  After sitting on it I really love the design and I want it to be great.  Because of the tape I used last time it just came out badly compared to what I am willing to accept.  I learned a lot though and the second time through will be perfect I am sure.  I also thought up with a new method of masking it off that will allow me to mask off squares without having to cut out squares.  That will make the lines completely straight and I also can do it in only 3 maskings so it will got faster.
Justatele, I may have to steal Neapolitan tele because silver tele just doesn't describe it well.

 

[Jusatele]

the neapolitan chord
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neapolitan_chord

 

[lafromla1]

Thats only if you make the squares brown, pink and eggshell......

 

[Danuda]

It is neapolitan as viewed through a dogs eyes  :icon_tongue:

 

[Jusatele]

some how I had a feeling some guys would associate the word Neapolitan with Ice cream.  :sign13:

 

[Jusatele]

a lot of the stone work of Rome came from quarries from outside Naples, Neapolitan is a word for things of Naples.
Anyway during the time they decided to restore a lot of the early roman works they would take stones from different quarries and set them in block form and age them near the sites of the different buildings to see which quarry the stones were from. Looking at these piles you can see the stones all of slightly different hues in square piles.
So, the Idea of square blocks closely related, Neapolitan. The checks of the guitar, Neapolitan. I guess it is an architectural thing. Or a historical thing. What ever.