Getting the Red Out - Color Coats Are Done

Vaughn McMillan

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I've got a red electric guitar called a Variax. It's a cool guitar, but I've never liked red guitars, so this evening I started the process of changing the color. I figured I'd show the progress as things move along. (I'm putting this in the Off Topic area, since it's not really woodworking, and it's not really a finishing question or answer.) ;)

Here's what I started with...

Variax%20Paint%20Job%2001%20-%20800.jpg


You might have noticed there are no normal pickups on this guitar. The pickups are actually built into the bridge. The Variax is more of an electronic guitar than an electric guitar. It can emulate dozens of different guitars, and it does a pretty presentable job of it. But because of all the electronics, it was a bit trickier to disassemble that a typical electric guitar. Under the white pick guard is a few circuit boards, and everything is connected with various multi-pin connectors. Here's a poor-quality photo of the innards...

Variax%20Paint%20Job%2006%20-%20800.jpg


And here's the guitar with all the innards (and neck and bridge) removed...

Variax%20Paint%20Job%2002%20-%20800.jpg


The back side also has a compartment where the batteries go...

Variax%20Paint%20Job%2003%20-%20800.jpg


Since I didn't want to remove the wiring harnesses, I simply taped over everything...

Variax%20Paint%20Job%2004%20-%20800.jpg


And the back...

Variax%20Paint%20Job%2005%20-%20800.jpg


I failed to take any pics, but after I got everything taped up, I scuff sanded the whole body with 320 grit sandpaper. (At that point, I was pretty much committed to finishing the job.) After thoroughly cleaning off any dust, I shot a few coats of flat rattle can primer on it. No pics of that, either, because it's dark outside, and that's where the body is hanging. ;)

I'll update this thread as things continue tomorrow. :wave:
 
A great start Vaughn. Its good to take something like that and make it your own.

So . . . who beat you with a red guitar that caused this red-git aversion? :D
 
Getting the Red Out

Well, years ago back when I was a red-headed stepchild orphan playing the blues circuit down south, I met a beautiful girl named Pamela. Her favorite color was red, and she was attracted me because of my hair color. Before i knew it, everything in my life was red. Red car, red shoes, Red Ryder BB gun, you name it, it was red. (Well, except for my toothbrush, because everyone knows red toothbrushes are just creepy.) We eventually fell in love, married, and had eight kids. But all of the kids had black hair, and this caused a big rift between Pamela and me. She accused me of cheating on her, and I accused her of being biologically ignorant. Things went from bad to worse when she sold all the kids to a car wash and ran off with the owner's cousin. So I bleached my hair blond, gave up the blues circuit, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Actually, I just never liked the color red. :D


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Well, years ago back when I was a red-headed stepchild orphan playing the blues circuit down south, I met a beautiful girl named Pamela. Her favorite color was red, and she was attracted me because of my hair color. Before i knew it, everything in my life was red. Red car, red shoes, Red Ryder BB gun, you name it, it was red. (Well, except for my toothbrush, because everyone knows red toothbrushes are just creepy.) We eventually fell in love, married, and had eight kids. But all of the kids had black hair, and this caused a big rift between Pamela and me. She accused me of cheating on her, and I accused her of being biologically ignorant. Things went from bad to worse when she sold all the kids to a car wash and ran off with the owner's cousin. So I bleached my hair blond, gave up the blues circuit, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Actually, I just never liked the color red. :D

Gads, that just sounds like Vaughn. I wonder if he owns an organic fertilizer company? Or maybe he is half of that chewing tobacco company, Bull DerHam.

Enjoy,
JimB
 
Well, years ago back when I was a red-headed stepchild orphan playing the blues circuit down south, I met a beautiful girl named Pamela. Her favorite color was red, and she was attracted me because of my hair color. Before i knew it, everything in my life was red. Red car, red shoes, Red Ryder BB gun, you name it, it was red. (Well, except for my toothbrush, because everyone knows red toothbrushes are just creepy.) We eventually fell in love, married, and had eight kids. But all of the kids had black hair, and this caused a big rift between Pamela and me. She accused me of cheating on her, and I accused her of being biologically ignorant. Things went from bad to worse when she sold all the kids to a car wash and ran off with the owner's cousin. So I bleached my hair blond, gave up the blues circuit, and the rest, as they say, is history.

....

^^^True story....
That owners cousin just so happened to be my grandfather from my fathers side. 'Big Red' folks called him! Story goes, or so I've been lead to believe, that
Big Red was originally nick-named 'Blackie' for his notorious black hair. Evidently he was caught playing with another man's music box, and upon discovery
was beaten over the head with a 'Red' guitar belonging to the 'Big' blues-playing star{ hence the 'Big Red' moniker}. Grandpa ended up marrying a divorced women with 8
kids that he met via his cousin. The guitar of course was repainted to avoid criminal charges. The Blues player died....his hair that is, grew it out & became a singer
in a rock & roll band and keeps his true identity well hidden under the guise of a well-renowned wood-turner. He was recently spotted playing the underground club
circuit out west. Well that's all for now, I need to go relieve my great-uncle running the car wash.:D


Looking forward to the final outcome as well :thumb:
 
^^^True story....
That owners cousin just so happened to be my grandfather from my fathers side. 'Big Red' folks called him! Story goes, or so I've been lead to believe, that
Big Red was originally nick-named 'Blackie' for his notorious black hair. Evidently he was caught playing with another man's music box, and upon discovery
was beaten over the head with a 'Red' guitar belonging to the 'Big' blues-playing star{ hence the 'Big Red' moniker}. Grandpa ended up marrying a divorced women with 8
kids that he met via his cousin. The guitar of course was repainted to avoid criminal charges. The Blues player died....his hair that is, grew it out & became a singer
in a rock & roll band and keeps his true identity well hidden under the guise of a well-renowned wood-turner. He was recently spotted playing the underground club
circuit out west. Well that's all for now, I need to go relieve my great-uncle running the car wash.:D ...

Wow! Small world, huh? :rofl:
 
OK, i was kind of wanting to keep the color secret, but hard to show progress pics and do that at the same time, so here's a shot of the guitar body after the few coats of primer I applied last night. It needs a bit more curing time before I can go on to the next steps, but here's where it sits for now...

Variax%20Paint%20Job%2007%20-%20600.jpg


That's not the final color, but yes, there will be purple involved. Was there ever any doubt? :rofl:
 
OK, i was kind of wanting to keep the color secret, but hard to show progress pics and do that at the same time, so here's a shot of the guitar body after the few coats of primer I applied last night. It needs a bit more curing time before I can go on to the next steps, but here's where it sits for now...

Variax%20Paint%20Job%2007%20-%20600.jpg


That's not the final color, but yes, there will be purple involved. Was there ever any doubt? :rofl:

Are you old enough to play a purple guitar????:thumb::wave::rofl::rofl:
 
Time for an update...

First, when I removed the hardware, I ended up pulling off a chip of the red paint on the corner of the battery compartment. Here's what it looked like...you can see the existing red finish was pretty thick:

Variax%20Paint%20Job%2010%20-%20800.jpg


There's also a smaller chip on the upper right corner, too.

Anyway, after the first coat of primer, I decided the chips needed to be fixed, so I filled them with epoxy. Here's the bigger of the two:

Variax%20Paint%20Job%2008%20-%20800.jpg


Then the epoxy got sanded down flush with the guitar body:

Variax%20Paint%20Job%2011%20-%20800.jpg


After spraying some more primer, it was time for the color...I went with a two-tone sunburst, using black and purple Krylon glitter paint from Hobby Lobby. Here's the front after the first go-round:

Variax%20Paint%20Job%2012%20-%20800.jpg


And the back:

Variax%20Paint%20Job%2013%20-%20800.jpg


Seems like nearly every time I use spray finishes, I learn the hard way that multiple light coats take less time than one or two heavy coats. You can see the runs in the black paint, particularly on the right hand horn. After the paint had dried overnight, I was able to sand the runs flush, and re-sprayed both the black and the purple sections. It's too dark to take pics tonight, but the runs disappeared with the re-coat. (Fortunately, the glitter paint goes on pretty thick, so it hides minor flaws very nicely.) I'm happy with the color coats. :thumb:

Next up will be multiple coats of clear lacquer. I'll start with sanding sealer for a fast build, then switch to regular Deft gloss when that can's empty. Because the glitter paint has some texture, I don't think I'll be able to sand it down to a "flat as glass" finish, but I'll still try to lightly wet sand away any orange peel that shows up from my poor spraying technique. I hope to get the clear coats done within the next couple of days, since I need time for it to cure before wet sanding and polishing, and I've got a gig to play a week from tonight. I have another guitar here if need be, but I'd prefer to use this one. ;)

More pics in a few days...
 
Looking great. I love the two tone. I as well have problems with trying to cover too much too fast with spray paint. But I'm getting better over time.

Patience is something that, ironically, takes quite a while to learn...
 
Groovy :D:thumb: what's the headstock look like? & FWIW, I would call the paint 'metallic'{whether that's correct or not} sounds more manly to me than 'glitter' :p
Nice fix on the chips as well :thumb:

The headstock matches the neck...plain ol' maple.

I was looking for something like metallic automotive paint, but this stuff was the closest I found. And trust me, it's glitter, not metallic, lol. Just like you wouldn't call a old Kustom amp "metallic". :D

130U-8005_front.jpg


When it's done, I suspect it's going to look pretty...um...how can I put this tactfully?...fabulous. :rofl: And I don't care. :p
 
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