Hey Simon

Great tip on the fitting of new pickups before putting on finish. Made sure all new parts arrived and mock up done with new parts.

Simon just on fitting strap locks. I had a good think about this the other night. Usually I would do this before finishing but this time I am going to leave it till later and see. I am only a lounge room guitar player and actually haven't used a strap in years as I am always sitting down when playing so might just see how it looks with no strap locks.

Ok here's an update.

The only option I really had was used spray cans. I think it was a waste of a nice maple top and a lovely mahogany back and sides but o well shit happens.

This is where the fun began. I only ever watched staining videos so using spray cans was going to be an experience especially nerve racking.

The back, sides and mahogany neck were already grain filled with timber mate but I thought I would just start from there.

I sprayed 2 coats of primer on both body and neck then let it dry. Gave another 2 coats of primer, let it dry and gave it a light sand with 400 grit. Then another 2 coats allowing it to dry overnight. Another light sand with 400 grit.

Used Dupli Color Galaxy for the main colour. Sprayed 2 coats let it dry. Sprayed another 2 coats. Dry overnight. Gave it a slight rub with 400 grit just to remove a few nibs and 2 bloody cat hairs lol. Then a final 2 coats. No bad runs and no real outstanding defects in paint after drying for a week.

As I was spraying in 2 parts I was worried about the colour match between parts. So what I did is I kept one can aside that was only used for the final two coats on each side. That way hopefully it will match as it came from the same can not another can which may have came from a different batch. Hopefully it will be the same lol

Not perfect but I think it is the best I can do. The binding on the sides could be cleaned up a touch better and one or two tiny nicks where scrapper blade slipped a tiny bit and I tried to cover. But I think I might leave as is as every time I say to myself I might just tidy this up bit I seem to make it worse.

Please go easy never used spray cans before...







PS. The triple binding on the front is now double binding?? I hid one of the black lines under the top coat.

Now the nerve racking part...the clear coat.