Worn Cherry VM Refinish

[Atomic]

well as you all know i have/had a VM in worn cherry, i did a neck mod on it and got it where i liked it.. then as i was warned by a fellow member here that once "you hit it with the sandpaper you wont be able to stop."

well they were right. :P

here is how the guitar originally looked:


i liked the worn cherry, but then at the same time i didnt like it. so at first i hit it with some clear to see what it looked like.. and then i realized that i now i just had one more cherry guitar. so.. i took my inspiration from this picture. it was a picture taken by the SOHO observatory of our lovely Sun. NASA's picture of the day a little while back:


onward....

stripped and sanded.. Hmm... a light streak right in the middle..


taped off for a natural binding:


i then hit the guitar with multiple coats of brown then black dye, sanding between coats. the result was slightly darker wood with a very intense grain coloration. i dont have pics of this stage because frankly my hands were very dirty.

for the burst i wanted something different..
so what i did was dyed the guitar with red, then yellow dye. sanded, dyed red again in a burst pattern, then yellow. at this point the entire top of the guitar was dyed an even shade. i wanted to try something neat that i thought of where the burst would appear at some angles and disappear at others. kind of like a ghost burst. so i sanded the burst pattern out in a particular way to make this happen:


the multiple brown and black dye coats left the back with a very intense grain pattern. its hard to see in the pics just what it looks like. the deep grains are very dark, but there are still flecks of red in almost all of the deep grains. its very neat looking.
here she is being sprayed:



hanging on the hook shortly after being sprayed. you can kind of see the "ghost burst" in action in the following shots:



a couple of days later, the lacquer has shrunk away quite a bit, and will be ready for another sanding and a few more coats..
here is a shot of the back:


and a good shot of the burst:


more pics to come as progress continues..

[xsouldriverx]

i like it! it seems if the light hits it the burst dissipates. but you can def see the redder outside layers.

[djwilbanks]

Pretty cool, and it does remind me of the pic.

Thanks for that by the way, I had never seen it.

[Atomic]

thanks guys

[Last]

Very nice!

I love VM projects!

[MRJ5]

Great job!

I can't wait to see the finished product.

[latomas]

brilliant!

[Atomic]

just a small update.

YouTube - Les Paul Studio Worn Cherry hangin out in the backyard

YouTube - Les Paul Studio Worn Cherry hangin out in the backyard

its coming together!

[flatrockmobile]

Did you do any sort of grain filling, or did you just let the lacquer fill it up?

[Atomic]

i used lacquer as my grain filler because i wanted something clear that would preserve the reds and blacks that were in the grain.





it is a LOT of extra work to do it this way because of the amount of shrinkage inherent in the lacquer. if it wasnt for the neat and unique look of the red and black in the grain i would have used a proper grain filler.

[Escher]

Awesome work!

[Atomic]

waiting game on this one too! im thinking mock-up.

[diceman]

That is killer!

[Atomic]

thanks!! im thinking i should have posted it somewhere other than the custom shop. my tele post gets way more views.

[Last]

You could have used Clear Grain Filler as opposed to the Mahogany 'colored' Filler for a 3-D transparent look while retaining all the natural wood color.

Clear

I've only used the Mahogany so far but plan on trying out the Clear next Spring.

Nice looking project~!

[Atomic]

thanks last. i didnt even know such a thing existed!

[Atomic]

mock up time....



i cant wait to be able to polish this thing and re-assemble it!

[decoy205]

U should throw some reflectors on there! Well done man.

[Atomic]

reflectors would look kinda cool huh.

[CARNAGE222]

Looks cool! Creme plastics would look put it over the top IMO.

[Atomic]

done!

[Guitarsquirrel7]

I love it!

Ghostburst is pretty sweet. and a unique idea. I like how you did the natural binding. I tried it in my refinish a while ago and it turned out great, but I like the way yours turned out more :P

[The Thruth]

Originally Posted by Guitarsquirrel7

I love it!

Ghostburst is pretty sweet. and a unique idea. I like how you did the natural binding. I tried it in my refinish a while ago and it turned out great, but I like the way yours turned out more :P

wow this is one chunky pickguard

[Guitarsquirrel7]

Originally Posted by The Thruth

wow this is one chunky pickguard

Yeah...
Me and the sander weren't getting along that day.

So it's a project for a later day