VIP Charcoal/black satin finish??

M

metalman22105

Guest
I was thinking of doing a VIP with a charcoal/black-ish satin finish similar to this PRS, any suggestions/tips on how to do this? Also, I can't decide if I want a mahogany back with flame maple top, or solid mahogany body. Personally I think the all mahogany body would be better with the satin finish, but since this is my first build I have no idea! haha!
 
Use black satin lacquer.  Here is one before it was rubbed out.  After it is level sanded it gets glossy then you go back with white paste wax and OOOO Steel Wool to dull it back down.  It is a very labor-intensive finish to accomplish.

RemovingBindingTape.jpg
 
If you go back through old DIY Finishing posts there's at least one long thread about reproducing that finish...
 
Tonar8353 said:
Use black satin lacquer.  Here is one before it was rubbed out.  After it is level sanded it gets glossy then you go back with white paste wax and OOOO Steel Wool to dull it back down.  It is a very labor-intensive finish to accomplish.

RemovingBindingTape.jpg

Could you just leave it like that, Tonar? I'm no custom-finish connoisseur, but that looks amazing as is.
 
Could you just leave it like that, Tonar? I'm no custom-finish connoisseur, but that looks amazing as is.

You could but there would be some slight orange peel and maybe some dust particles showing.  The reason for the wet sand and rubout is to get a perfectly level surface and get rid of any junk that is on the surface.

There is one other option and that would be to a level sand and then do one last flow coat with the finish heavily reduced.  You still might get some junk showing up but it would be pretty level.

I think Warmoth stopped doing these kinds of finishes because they are a lot of work.
 
Is it a lot of work, or a lot of skilled work?

I've never done anything like finishing a guitar, but I absolutely love that finish (and finishing a guitar myself would make the body purchase several hundred bucks cheaper). And is it possible to get the kind of lacquer necessary in a spray can?
 
it's not all that much cheaper to do the finish yourself...if you're doing your first nitro job with spray cans you're gonna go through about 4-6 cans at$13 each +sand paper + resporator mask + anything else you'll need but wont know till you get there. a $220 pro finish from Warmaoth is a bargain.

Brian
 
That's the view I've held since I first researched re-finishing my first guitar...I was hoping this particular finish would be different. Oh well.  :(
 
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