Matt Black, and a change of plans

The back of the Les Paul body got sprayed black today - the finish looks excellent:



The Rick kit hasn't been touched yet because it's going to be blue all over and we haven't got any blue stain yet. It turned out that the shop around the corner that sells the bright coloured wood stains mentioned in the previous post has closed down. Also we tried applying some wood stain to the back of the LP kit before spraying it black and the stains don't hold very well - the Saga kits have got quite a bit of sealant over their basswood that prevents the stains getting into the wood. Rather than spend ages sanding the guitars down, we're going for plan B.

Plan B is to get some spray on nitrocellulose laquer from the Manchester Guitar Tech web site which they recommend for colouring guitars. Some of the laquers they sell are translucent allowing the grain of the guitar body to show through - the effect we're trying to achieve. We've gone for the "Clear Blue" colour.

They claim it's fairly light when sprayed thinly but "more coats result in a deep blue" - so we're hoping to achieve the desired blueburst effect by spraying more heavily around the outsides of the guitar than in the centre.



As shown to the left, the sunburst finishes the lacquers can create is incredible.

Time will tell whether we will be able to get anywhere near that finish!