PRS Body Refinish

JoKeR III

JoKeR III

Fractal Fanatic
Been debating whether to post this with all of the other talented luthiers, builders and finishers on the forum but here goes. Friend of mine got this CE22 a few years ago for a steal but really couldn't stand the color. He knew I had painted/finished other guitars and asked if I would refinish it for him. My background is as a cabinet finisher and novice artist so I enjoy the opportunities to do stuff like this.

Original Color:
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The reason some grain pops and not all is it was originally black stained and sanded before the final colour and some of the black remains.
I presume you have seen this technique .
 
Andy Eagle said:
The reason some grain pops and not all is it was originally black stained and sanded before the final colour and some of the black remains.
I presume you have seen this technique .
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I have painted a few guitars but not much experience with transparent guitar finishes. It's been interesting discovering how the guitar was finished, or at least appears to have been finished. The dark areas appear to have been a dark grain filler, then another clear grain filler/sealer was applied upon which the stain was applied.
Andy Eagle said:
What materials are you finishing with?
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For the stain/dye, I'm using Mixol tints in alcohol, sealer is universal shellac sanding sealer. Final color/shading coats and top coats will be Crystalac Brite Tone. There's a couple of 'blotchy' areas that bug me but I'm pleased with where it is at this point. These areas will be remedied during the next couple of color applications.
 
Dave Merrill said:
Think this is the first I've heard of someone refinishing a PRS. Too nice to risk it usually.

Well done.
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I had a DGT 10-top cherry burst that had a big finish chip on the lower cutaway, and asked a shop to patch that spot so it wouldn't spread further. Their tech totally screwed up the job, tried shooting red to cover his mistake but didn't match the color or the transparency, then sat on it for a year giving me BS stories why it wasn't ready. Finally he, and the shop manager, got fired by the owner, who was so apologetic when he found out what they'd done, that he stripped and reshot the top resulting in a gorgeous cherry burst, that I think is the equal of the finishes PRS does.

It turned out so pretty I hated taking it out because it looked like a collector's piece, and since I already had a DGT Goldtop which is somewhat beaten up, it stayed at home. Eventually, my son-in-law, who is a Berklee grad in guitar and vocal performance, saw it, played it, and was so in lust with it I gave it to him for his birthday. The way he touched it was almost disgusting, but he loves it and uses it for special shows.

That's it on the left. The flame really shows through on the edges when seeing it in person.
IMG_0332 (1).png

A while after getting the cherry burst back I had the goldtop in the shop because it had an intermittent wiring problem, and the tech pointed out that there's a lot of flame underneath the gold finish. You can barely see it in the photo, but the finish settling has really made it stand out. We talked about stripping the finish and reshooting it in a burst, then decided "Naaaah!" and left it alone. Zoom into the photo on the goldtop and you can see the flame patterns under the finish.

PS - The original photo was for insurance purposes, but I balanced the tones to make them more accurate and now both guitars look much more like they do in real life.
 
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Greg Ferguson said:
I had a DGT 10-top cherry burst that had a big finish chip on the lower cutaway, and asked a shop to patch that spot so it wouldn't spread further. Their tech totally screwed up the job, tried shooting red to cover his mistake but didn't match the color or the transparency, then sat on it for a year giving me BS stories why it wasn't ready. Finally he, and the shop manager, got fired by the owner, who was so apologetic when he found out what they'd done, that he stripped and reshot the top resulting in a gorgeous cherry burst, that I think is the equal of the finishes PRS does.

It turned out so pretty I hated taking it out because it looked like a collector's piece, and since I already had a DGT Goldtop which is somewhat beaten up, it stayed at home. Eventually, my son-in-law, who is a Berklee grad in guitar and vocal performance, saw it, played it, and was so in lust with it I gave it to him for his birthday. The way he touched it was almost disgusting, but he loves it and uses it for special shows.

That's it on the left. The photo makes the red look a little darker and less transparent than it really is. The flame shows through on the edges when seeing it in person.
View attachment 88111

A while after getting the cherry burst back I had the goldtop in the shop because it had an intermittent wiring problem, and the tech pointed out that there's a lot of flame underneath the gold finish. You can barely see it in the photo, but the finish settling has really made it stand out. We talked about stripping the finish and reshooting it in a burst, then decided "Naaaah!" and left it alone.
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I've often wondered how many painted guitars would look if they were stained. I had an Ibanez RGA32 in satin black. Wanted it gloss but as I was prepping the top, I went through the paint and discovered a flame maple veneer. This one was done with automotive paint and clear coat:
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My guess would be there is some type of "flaw" in the character of the wood, that is the reason PRS chose to make it a solid color.
But then again, I've worked on some old houses, in which old hardwood floors had been painted, and when they were stripped, the underlying wood was stunning. Course, Paul probably knew, even right from the beginning, to save the consistent-figured tops for transparent staining, and only paint the ones that wouldn't look good stained.
 
TSJMajesty said:
My guess would be there is some type of "flaw" in the character of the wood, that is the reason PRS chose to make it a solid color.
But then again, I've worked on some old houses, in which old hardwood floors had been painted, and when they were stripped, the underlying wood was stunning. Course, Paul probably knew, even right from the beginning, to save the consistent-figured tops for transparent staining, and only paint the ones that wouldn't look good stained.
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In the "old" days, flame and quilted maple were considered trash woods and the craftsmen wanted no such markings; My mom had several big pieces of furniture made from maple without any pattern and with as straight a grain as I've ever seen, but the old school desk she bought, which was cheaply made in those days, had flames all over the surface, and I kept wanting to use it to make the top of a guitar.

Even Gibson's early use of maple caps shows no real concern for the patterning in the wood. Some of the old bursts are nicely flamed, others are not. I think they were more concerned with the density of the wood, and it was later when people started asking for flame and quilt that they started to demand a premium.

I suspect PRS requests a certain grade of maple that will supply a large number of patterned blanks. Some are better than others and the best get used for the wood library and 10-tops, and the normal tops get used for non-10-top and solid finishes. I have two that have bursts and are not 10-top, and they're quite figured in comparison to the tops of regular companies. That the goldtop shows strong patterning fits the idea that it's got flame, just not enough to have been a 10-top.IMG_1141 (1).pngIMG_0314.png
 
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