Time For Something New

NoisyDante

There’s a fine line between stupid and clever.
Joined
Jun 5, 2015
Messages
356
Location
Black Forest, Colorado
I decided to refinish my CU22 ‘Nebula’, primarily because I knew there were mistakes that needed correcting, but also because I really want a purple stained guitar. I can redo the nebula deal when I find a CE to refurbish, but I’d prefer the stain to be on the CU model. Anyhoo, broke out the ol’ soldering iron, screw drivers, wrenches and orbital sander. The paint I put on was an absolute PITA to sand off, it would melt and gum up the sanding pads so I used a heat gun to melt it and scraped it off. Here are some photos for those with a strong constitution. More sanding to come tomorrow, waiting on stains to arrive hopefully next week. On condition that it doesn’t completely suck I’ll post more progress photos.

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I'm thinking that guitar was either "Grape Metallic" or "Metallic Purple" (and not necessarily "Nebula")?

Are you keeping the metallic neck-finish, as an accent to a standard purple-stained body?
 
I'm thinking that guitar was either "Grape Metallic" or "Metallic Purple" (and not necessarily "Nebula")?

Are you keeping the metallic neck-finish, as an accent to a standard purple-stained body?
Next time I do a shifting paint I’ll find one with some green in it and try something to keep it a little darker.

I’m sanding down the neck today, gonna stain the whole thing.
 
Oof, that inside scoop is a real b!tch to sand. Glad it’s not me this time!.
It’s an obscene pain, I’ve gotta clean the electronics cavity a bit more, just to be completely finicky.

them draft ponies from los angeles?

yep those are our Gypsy Vanners, Midnight and Levi.
 
Little update. Decided to try adding an Indian rosewood veneer to the headstock and trussrod cover. I made a template to rough cut the veneer and I’ll refine the shape once the glue cures. The veneer is so thin, a little thinner than I thought it would be, so I think this may be the best way to give it some stability to avoid cracking. We’ll see, basically the theme of this whole project is ‘let’s see if this works or not’.
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Also tried some stain samples but these colors I have are too warm so the overlap comes out muddy. Got some other colors on order.
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It may be worth getting a rattle can of lacquer to lay over the stain samples.

It brings them to life and gives an idea of what your finish will look like.

Headstock overlay looks great.
Yea for sure, once I get something closer to my goal stain I’ve got some spare gloss poly I can check it with.
 
Today’s update: The glue dried on the headstock and TRC veneer. Very carefully sanded the sides flush with the headstock, ended up chipping off three of the sharp horn tips but got that fixed no problem. Drilled tiny holes through the back to open up the tuner peg holes and expanded those with a rasp. Sanded smooth and grain filled the rosewood along with all the mahogany parts. That stuff is a pain in the butt, I’m gonna let it dry for a day and will probably have to sand a couple areas for cleanup prior to sealing the back and binding. Altogether really happy with the veneer addition.
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