Members Blackrock Posted October 1, 2015 Members Share Posted October 1, 2015 A few months ago, I started a topic about refinishing a Gretsch soundboard. So with a bee's wax finish... here it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members garthman Posted October 1, 2015 Members Share Posted October 1, 2015 Looks great. Good job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Grant Harding Posted October 1, 2015 Members Share Posted October 1, 2015 You sanded it with an electric sander and oiled it and it came out as a painted sunburst? I underestimated you! That's like magic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Blackrock Posted October 2, 2015 Author Members Share Posted October 2, 2015 lol... it had the sunburst originally. :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Blackrock Posted October 2, 2015 Author Members Share Posted October 2, 2015 Not to be one-sided, I refinished the backside last week. Obviously had the same clear thick coating, too. ...Sanded that off, then found some old viscous varnish, the consistancy of molassis, deep brown in color. I wiped that on, then wiped off as much of it as I could - giving it an ultra-thin finish. While it was still "damp" I gave it a generous coating of woodwax, then let the surface mixture dry for about ten minutes, then polished it up. The end result is a very shiney, very thin glossy coat with none of the thickness of the old finish. I'll leave the sides the way they are, because the sound is fine where it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted October 2, 2015 Members Share Posted October 2, 2015 That tells me you didn't sand all that deeply. Some sunbursts are stains that soak into the wood, some are colored finishes that are applied on top of the wood - in either case I got the impression from your earlier posts that you had sanded fairly aggressively. Can't tell a whole lot about the finish itself from the low res picture but it looks pretty good. Thanks for the update Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Grant Harding Posted October 2, 2015 Members Share Posted October 2, 2015 I need to see higher res pictures to believe that what you've said you've done isn't just a story. I'm naturally cynical though. Electric sander, smearing thick varnish, yet looks factory in the low res photo. I'm calling bigfoot without more proof. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Grant Harding Posted October 2, 2015 Members Share Posted October 2, 2015 So how did it change the sound? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Idunno Posted October 4, 2015 Members Share Posted October 4, 2015 I hear burst finishes can be viral, nasty things, and it might just have infected that guitar. No matter what you do to eradicate it, it suddenly reappears under any newly applied clear finish like a zombie. I say shoot it properly (model 1911; empty the clip) and kill those nasty bursties. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Grant Harding Posted October 4, 2015 Members Share Posted October 4, 2015 No - the electric sander with 150 grit didn't go through the top coats. Phew! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Blackrock Posted October 5, 2015 Author Members Share Posted October 5, 2015 This Sunburst soaked into the wood. On the top left side of the soundboard pictured (after clicking on it), you'll notice the black stain is slightly larger than the right side. That happened when I sanded it a bit more - the black shadowed (enlarged) a bit more, the more I sanded it. So I quite doing that :-) The "thick varnish" was applied to the backside... not pictured here. This front shot is of just a bee's wax coating on the just-removed glossy factory coat. Before the sanding job, the sound was a bit tinney. Now the bass and midrange have more "presence". But like I said - I left the sides the way they were. All in all... it vibrates more when playing, more than with the factory coating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Blackrock Posted October 19, 2015 Author Members Share Posted October 19, 2015 Write something (optional)... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Blackrock Posted October 22, 2015 Author Members Share Posted October 22, 2015 The front of the guitar looks better "in person", the shading is a bit off in this picture. And the back looks even more vibrant - with more contrast in the colors. The sound is much improved over the original glossy coating. The new finish allowes the wood to vibrate freely. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------Edit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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