Custom Coronado II Project

[u6crash]

Did some.sanding today.

 

For a while I thought, "Holy crap, I'm sanding out some of the previous flaws and stains and the grain looks good. Maybe I'll do a natural finish!"

Then this happened:

And I either had a boo-boo, or there was a flaw there I hadn't seen before.

So now I'm back to doing a finish that helps hide the flaws.

[daddymack]

Do I take it that the 'pink' finish is still on the table?

[u6crash]

Anything opaque or semi-opaque is on the table. If I go with that color, it will be mixed with nitro and sprayed. The acrylic wash was not consistent enough to use on its own.

I've kind of been toying with a Gibson color called Smokehouse burst (which can have a few different looks) that is kind of a brighter version of a Tobacco Burst, but not quite a 3-Tone burst. I've also considered doing a mild version a Wildwood guitar, since that's a thing that would have been available and can have a lot of different looks.

Edited July 3, 2023 by u6crash

[u6crash]

This is the most controversial thing I have considered. Some sort of hand painted design. Some are awful. Some are classic and iconic. The thing about this idea that appeals to me is that it for sure a one off and no one else has anything like it.

IF (this is still a big "if") I do something like this, I would first cut out a silhouette on quarter inch plywood and do a study to see how I like it. Then and only then, if I still like the idea, I'd put down quite a bit of clear coat on the body before doing any painterly things.

Obviously this image is a painting of a guitar, but I like the idea of working in different colors, almost as if the guitar has be reworked several times in it's life (and it has).

[daddymack]

interesting idea....[this coming from the guy who thinks the best color ever for a guitar is black...]

[u6crash]

Well, here's the direction I think I'm going. Lighting is the garage is not great for taking photos.

I am going for sort of a hand applied faded burst through French polishing and successive coats of tinted shellac. I have clear shellac, amber shellac, and amber shellac tinted with additional napthol red pigment.

This is a progress shot. It's blotchy. After every thin coat dries, I am sanding a little and feathering the blend with more alcohol. I am going to try and leave that bit in the very center untinted.

Part of my inspiration came from natural Coronado II I found on Reverb:

I liked this a lot, but having sanded through the top ply in one spot and having some other imperfections, I knew it wasn't going to get this clean. I'm pretty sure they never did a natural version. With this guitar you can see they just embraced the existing imperfections (mostly the shrinking around the f-holes), but I had quite a few more.

So my method is to distract with extra imperfections by introducing a bit of charred barrel effect in the areas of the body where there are more flaws. I'll keep playing with it as I go along and see what look I like best. I still don't know how I'm going to get the f-hole binding clean. I'll either make some mini-scraper or maybe try a q-tip or something with alcohol. I debated just letting the amber shellac tint the binding, but the binding on the neck is white (although I could apply amber shellac to it).

Anyway, a lot of words for one progress picture. I'm not really a fan of making a guitar looked like a relic, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that this guitar is a relic. It is nearly 60 years old. There aren't a whole lot of electric guitars out there that are much older.

[gardo]

It has more character than the natural finish. , I like where you’re going with it 

[u6crash]

16 hours ago, gardo said:

It has more character than the natural finish. , I like where you’re going with it 

I decided I didn't like the way the black looked, so I got rid of most of it. There's still going to be plenty of imperfections.

Brought it inside to see if I could get a better picture of it. I scraped the outside binding and cleaned up the binding around the f-holes. For a moment I considered trying to paint the gaps where the f-hole binding has shrunk and been filled in with epoxy, but I decided to leave well enough alone. I'm going to do a couple more layers of clear before I mess with touching up any of the bursted areas. I kind of like that the top right horn is a little more red since I have the snafu with the top there anyway. Just about every hour I go out and do some touchups and add a new coat of clear. Originally I was going to do the final coats in nitro, but I'm considering doing it in the clear shellac. I know nitro is a smidge tougher, but with all the character this body has, I'm not worried about it too much.

[gardo]

I’m a believer of doing the best you can with what you have. A showroom restoration is not necessary. Make it presentable and playable while still keeping its mojo. I’m enjoying the progress 

[daddymack]

'battle scars' and blemishes are all part of the mojo

[u6crash]

Had some problems with the shellac the last couple of days. I had some beginner's luck with it initially and then it wasn't cooperating. The problems (I think) were that I switched from applying with a cloth to applying with a brush that was too thick. I also feel like the humidity might have been a factor. I switched to a cheap chip brush and I'm having much better results.

It's really difficult to tell the thickness of the coats. Sometimes when sanding between then I sand right through them. I kind of dig the way the brush strokes look when they dry, so I'm sanding super light with 320 now.

Hoping to start work on the headstock this week. I'm probably going to mimic the Fender shape. Debating leaving it blank or coming up with some symbol, letter, or something to put on it.

[gardo]

11 hours ago, u6crash said:

Had some problems with the shellac the last couple of days. I had some beginner's luck with it initially and then it wasn't cooperating. The problems (I think) were that I switched from applying with a cloth to applying with a brush that was too thick. I also feel like the humidity might have been a factor. I switched to a cheap chip brush and I'm having much better results.

It's really difficult to tell the thickness of the coats. Sometimes when sanding between then I sand right through them. I kind of dig the way the brush strokes look when they dry, so I'm sanding super light with 320 now.

Hoping to start work on the headstock this week. I'm probably going to mimic the Fender shape. Debating leaving it blank or coming up with some symbol, letter, or something to put on it.

I look forward to these updates 

Since I don’t have any projects of my own right now I’m having fun following 

You’re on your way to having something really special 

[u6crash]

Some stuff about headstocks.

I feel like I messed up and should have ordered a paddle headstock even thought I'm doing a 6-inline design. There isn't a ton of material to work with if you like a larger headstock (I kind of dig the CBS Strat headstock). 

Here's the actual headstock:

I taped a sheet of paper flush with the nut and used the hard edges of the headstock to "emboss" the paper. Then I gave those edges more definition with a pencil. I have a pre-slotted nut that helped me figure out where the strings will go. 

I scanned that mess into the computer and drew some vector lines on it with Illustrator. That allowed me to print out some paper templates to sketch designs.

This is maybe the front runner. It's more or less the original shape. It's just eyeballed because I'm limited by the stock I have to work with. This would maybe be a good (though unoriginal) way to pay homage to the original manufacturer. "Coup de foudre" literally translates to lightning strike, but means "Love at first sight" in practice.

This is an original design (unless you can find that I've ripped it off, which is possible) that is close to a shape I used on a Carvin bass kit I built. "Douleur Exquise" refers to the pain of unrequited love, which has got to be the subject of 40% of all songs, right?
 

Variation on the preceding design. I don't like this one as much.

File under "Not happening". But sometimes you have to get a design on paper to see what it looks like. Based the katana shape found on Yamaha's "Flying Samurai" guitars. I also really like the cantilevered design of Parker guitars, but that's not going to fit the vibe of this model. 

 

Still to do:

- Mix up another quart of nickel salts in order to create a bath large enough 
- Polish brass parts for plating
- Finish body (I brought it inside yesterday because it was too humid outside)
- Drill tuner hole template/practice drilling on scrap
- Do an inventory of parts (I'm starting to wonder if I have strap buttons, but I should have most things; I've kind of been looking for a "fancy" neck plate) 

[gardo]

This is interesting 

[daddymack]

does it have to be 6-in-line?

Even with the generic 'fenderish' blank, you could mess with  it and go 4+2 or 5+1...c'est tres chic!😉

[u6crash]

8 hours ago, daddymack said:

does it have to be 6-in-line?

Even with the generic 'fenderish' blank, you could mess with  it and go 4+2 or 5+1...c'est tres chic!😉

It's probably my preference at least, but not a requirement. I would have to buy more tuners (or could I flip these upside down?) and I kind of hope that I'm done buying parts for this. I might think on this a bit.

12 hours ago, gardo said:

This is interesting 

This is derived from the only other time I've cut a headstock out of a neck. I might see how I like it in black. I'm still leaning towards the "Coup de foudre" name.

Due to the geometry, it would be difficult to get that curve in on the tuner side, but this was something I envisioned for a "company wide" headstock shape if I ever I put more than one instrument together in a decade.

No progress pictures to show. The finish on the body has a problem. I brought it inside to work on and the finish was soft enough that it picked up the texture of the towel it was laying on. I may end up removing the shellac and outfitting my washout booth as a spray out booth (which requires a little bit of modification first).

Actually, I have a junky shower in the basement. I might be able to hang some plastic and heat that room.

[daddymack]

okay, so this is sort of a trademark design, then, with the 'shark fin'....then call it 'fait accompli'....

[gardo]

4 hours ago, u6crash said:

It's probably my preference at least, but not a requirement. I would have to buy more tuners (or could I flip these upside down?) and I kind of hope that I'm done buying parts for this. I might think on this a bit.

This is derived from the only other time I've cut a headstock out of a neck. I might see how I like it in black. I'm still leaning towards the "Coup de foudre" name.

Due to the geometry, it would be difficult to get that curve in on the tuner side, but this was something I envisioned for a "company wide" headstock shape if I ever I put more than one instrument together in a decade.

No progress pictures to show. The finish on the body has a problem. I brought it inside to work on and the finish was soft enough that it picked up the texture of the towel it was laying on. I may end up removing the shellac and outfitting my washout booth as a spray out booth (which requires a little bit of modification first).

Actually, I have a junky shower in the basement. I might be able to hang some plastic and heat that room.

I actually like the straight edge along the tuners for this project. It’s a little more substantial looking to complement the size of the body 

[u6crash]

Not much new to share in the way of pictures, but here's how it's going.

I have a temporary spray booth.

I've actually been taking it off the hook, holding the makeshift handle, and spraying it that way, then hanging it to dry. I can also heat this room (it's a tiny bathroom) to make it dry better (I hope).

I ended up stripping the vast majority of the shellac off. I had too many flaws (dirt, etc) that were trapped under a layer or more and trying to fix them without removing the finish was very difficult. So now I'm applying very light coats of shellac with a spray. I kind of miss the way the brush marks looked and I did buy some new brushes. I might opt to introduce that texture again.

Here's another headstock take.

I can kind of move the points around to see how I like subtle adjustments on the curve. I think my plan will be to buy a gold metallic paint pent to write the name on the headstock and then clear coat over it. I might experiment with underlining the name. I feel like it needs a little something.

[daddymack]

btw...are you using 'coup de foudre' as 'love at first sight', 'struck by lightning' or 'thunder bolt'? French idioms can be confusing out of context....

[u6crash]

17 minutes ago, daddymack said:

btw...are you using 'coup de foudre' as 'love at first sight', 'struck by lightning' or 'thunder bolt'? French idioms can be confusing out of context....

I prefer it as "Love at first sight". I should note that I don't speak French. I liked the idea of using a word/phrase from another language that didn't have an English translation. Of a dozen or so things ranging from Japanese to Arabic, this is the one that struck me most.

[gardo]

On 7/16/2023 at 11:48 AM, u6crash said:

Not much new to share in the way of pictures, but here's how it's going.

I have a temporary spray booth.

I've actually been taking it off the hook, holding the makeshift handle, and spraying it that way, then hanging it to dry. I can also heat this room (it's a tiny bathroom) to make it dry better (I hope).

I ended up stripping the vast majority of the shellac off. I had too many flaws (dirt, etc) that were trapped under a layer or more and trying to fix them without removing the finish was very difficult. So now I'm applying very light coats of shellac with a spray. I kind of miss the way the brush marks looked and I did buy some new brushes. I might opt to introduce that texture again.

Here's another headstock take.

I can kind of move the points around to see how I like subtle adjustments on the curve. I think my plan will be to buy a gold metallic paint pent to write the name on the headstock and then clear coat over it. I might experiment with underlining the name. I feel like it needs a little something.

The headstock is evolving into something nice.  Had you considered slightly aging the headstock finish so it’s not “newt” looking than the body

[daddymack]

2 hours ago, gardo said:

The headstock is evolving into something nice.  Had you considered slightly aging the headstock finish so it’s not “newt” looking than the body

relic-ing?

[gardo]

39 minutes ago, daddymack said:

relic-ing?

Although I hate the practice, yes . There is a place for it when done tastefully.

 

[DeepEnd]

On 7/12/2023 at 9:48 PM, gardo said:

This is interesting 

Yeah. Reminiscent of the G&L version.