VIP refinish job....

jackthehack

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This just plopped in from Canada over the weekend; picked it up with the Gotoh 510 bridge for $178 Canadian on eBay.... I made most of the scratches on the back with my fingernail in disbelief; the guy that sold it thought it had a "nitro" finish, but believe it or not it appears as if someone used some Minwax type stains to color, and used GLO-COAT for a top finish....  :toothy12: HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

(Here's a link to a vintage ad if you're too young to remember Glo-Coat: http://www.wagglepop.com/bin/auction/view?cmd=view&listingID=382842 )

Should be able to get it down to bare wood in about an hour, now to study on how to finish it, any suggestions? Will order a Warmoth headed mahogany neck with some fretboard, maybe rosewood or pau ferro....


VIPrefinfront.jpg


VIPrefinback.jpg
 
Don't have a suggestion on the finish, but it sure looks like a good buy. What pickups you gonna put in it?

:rock-on:
 
Jack! You should ask for some participation in Warmoth's business  :toothy12:
You're almost a partner!

Do you like purple guitars?
I like it, but it's a little 'screaming'...
purple-lion-body.jpg
 
Hmmm; don't know about the purple....  I got some of the blue dye that Tonar used in this demo thread: http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=1324.0 but was going to use that on a AAAAA quilt Strat I also bought cheap off of eBay that hasn't arrived yet.

Need to get it stripped back down to bare wood to see what I have to really work with wood wise; if I wind up ordering a mahogany neck from Warmoth it's always sure to be an opposite coloration of what I have, but need to strip the mahogany down and see how light it is, they didn't fill it at all any way; and the differentiation in mahogany may predicate using a darker color toner/dye to even those up....

As to PUs, haven't decided yet, may do an RG set different from the TX/BBQs I've been using....
 
I usually don't like that kind of colour, but should look great, like this:
922b_1.JPG


http://cgi.ebay.com/AAAAA-Quilted-Drop-Top-Guitar-Body-by-Warmoth_W0QQitemZ320186671428QQihZ011QQcategoryZ41406QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
 
That was kind of the idea for the quilt top, except I was going to do the sides/back in Lake Placid Blue...
 
Black cherry perhaps? I notice a little shadow at the bottom edge. A burstover would hide that better than your arm, and cherry/mahogany seem to go together :-\
 
"Shadow" looks like a crack to some people, is actually natural figure in the carve top....

I was thinking it might be fun to try to recreate the "Fire Burst" finish like on the $999 LP nobody's bought yet:

http://www.warmoth.com/showcase/sc_guitar_bodies.cfm?type=guitar&itemNumber=LPCP128&menuItem=4&subMenuItem=0&subMenuItem2=0&finish_filter=125

Looks like they dyed the flame top a reddish brown; washed/sanded that back and filled with a bright amber/yellow color, then bursted over from back with the trans red?

How do y'all think they do that Fire Burst?
 
I haven't a clue how they did the fireburst, they've got some real tallent up there at Warmoth in the finnishing Dept. All Depts for that matter.

I have been working on several finnishes on several guitars, I am confident that if I can put a nice predictable finnish on a guitar, I could put a finnish on anything,  I am now planning to paint my own Corvette, It would look good with a fireburst and a quilted maple top as well
 
As no one has a clue/suggestion on the Fireburst; maybe I'll go in a different direction. I was going to strip the nasty finish off this thing today so I did a test burst using some of the leftover toner I used on the Tele Thinline Special, see below; not as "red", but could do a subtler version of a '58 LP Sunburst... Ordered a Rosewood on Mahogany Warmoth peghead neck with trapezoid inlays; could just finish it as below with the deeper red tone on back/neck and throw some vintage HBs in it and voila! '58 VIP Sunburst....


VIPbtest.jpg
 
Maybe I am just a little to green at the refinishing thing, but a fireburst looks like a dark red dye job sanded back and topped with amber dye.  Add a little red to the edges or don't sand it off there for the burst.  Heck, you got the body pretty cheap you might experiment a bit with it.  Then again, it is pretty nice...
Patrick

 
Didn't order any veneer on the neck... Started stripping the beast; didn't notice, but there is a black pinstripe line, the body's hollow and the back is  a one-piece mahogany. Will move this thread to the DIY Finishing section with pics once I get it stripped, getting through the thick layer of Glo-coat is a pain....
 
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