5150 Kit Build

[cullenszoo]

Might as well make a few bucks painting guitars LOL.
Where is Oliver Springs? I know I have seen the sign for that town in my travels thru Tn.

Oliver Springs is about 30 min north west of Knoxville just past Oak Ridge. It's also reachable from the Harriman exit further west on I40. Little bitty place but the cost of living is cheap.
I considered specializing in finishes for guitars. everybody around here that does them works for an autobody place and uses automotive paints. they can look nice but aren't the right thing for guitars.

[vector]

Might as well make a few bucks painting guitars LOL.
Where is Oliver Springs? I know I have seen the sign for that town in my travels thru Tn.

I considered going into painting guitar finishes back when I was in art grad school- was pretty capable with an airbrush and with my near- fanatical love of guitars and graphically powerful imagery, prolly coulda done alright. But it's that patience thing that woulda killed it. Got very little of it and if I had a customers bugging me for their axes back (like I do with mine, when I send them out- paging Mike Learn ) it'd have been a cluster fuck.

[cullenszoo]

I have always hated refinish projects but the more I do the better they get. I've got a few more before I have it down to an art but I've learned to take my time. I wish I had the talent with an airbrush. I wouldn't have gone the decal route. but I dont and Inzane makes some REALLY cool designs. I'm tempted to build a DK2M kit, or find one in bad need of a refinish and put their Rising Sun decal on it. Something about Jacksons with rising sun graphics is just cool!

[straycat]

OK I know the area now nice country.
I used to truck thru East Tenn quite a lot.I knew I had seen the sign before.
I used to deliver to a place in Wartburg Tenn and there was a little hole in the wall music store on 27.
The owner looked like an old stoner hippy which was OK with me.LOL. He had just painted a washer and dryer with a bengal pattern and it was sitting out front of his shop drying,thats what caught my eye and caused me to go in and check the shop out.
I bought an old USA Charvel from him for next to nothing years ago.

[vector]

I have always hated refinish projects but the more I do the better they get. I've got a few more before I have it down to an art but I've learned to take my time. I wish I had the talent with an airbrush. I wouldn't have gone the decal route. but I dont and Inzane makes some REALLY cool designs. I'm tempted to build a DK2M kit, or find one in bad need of a refinish and put their Rising Sun decal on it. Something about Jacksons with rising sun graphics is just cool!

I've painted (w/ rattlecan) a total of 6 guitars and while the process got better and better, I was not satisfied with the clear coat. The rattlecan clear finish always felt a little tacky- even after a month of curing. I was obviously using something not meant for a guitar but I was growing frustrated with the difficulty in procuring a decent clear product that didn't involve a spray gun and mask.

[toejam]

That looks really cool. Nice job!

[cullenszoo]

One of the things I've learned is the type of clear makes all the difference in curing times. Enamel takes FOREEEVVVEEERRR. Lacquer cures hard in a day or two but don't spray an enamel over it or its crackle city. For the Tigger I used spray polyurethane. It cures hard in less than 24 hours and is seriously hard. each have their pluses and minuses. There are other products out there like nitro that are kinda tedious. I would love to find the photo sensitive clear that Rickenbacker uses. that would be cool.