PRS Body Refinish

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.View attachment 88124View attachment 88125
Is the singlecut an SC58?
 
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.View attachment 88124View attachment 88125
Those are 2 of the most gorgeous PRS' I've ever seen, aside from maybe some Private Stock!

Paul came to the opening of 2-week PRS show at the Easton, MD Arts Society a few decades back, and I asked him how he felt about the fact, (at least what I had noticed), that ever since he came on the scene, until PRS started putting out guitars with highly-figured tops, it seemed no one else did that, and now they all were following suit. He graciously danced around taking any real credit for it.

I may have been wrong about that observation, but when in high school in the late 70's, every time I visited Chuck Levin's, the wall of guitars started with the best Les Pauls, and they didn't have any real wood patterns, as I noticed. But fast-forward about 10 years or so, and that wall then started with PRS, and the tops were just astounding! And then a little further down the line of guitars, there were the LP's, also with figured tops...

Edit: Oh, and that Studio's top is so well book-matched, at first glance I thought it was a single piece of wood. Very nice!
 
Those are 2 of the most gorgeous PRS' I've ever seen, aside from maybe some Private Stock!

Paul came to the opening of 2-week PRS show at the Easton, MD Arts Society a few decades back, and I asked him how he felt about the fact, (at least what I had noticed), that ever since he came on the scene, until PRS started putting out guitars with highly-figured tops, it seemed no one else did that, and now they all were following suit. He graciously danced around taking any real credit for it.

I may have been wrong about that observation, but when in high school in the late 70's, every time I visited Chuck Levin's, the wall of guitars started with the best Les Pauls, and they didn't have any real wood patterns, as I noticed. But fast-forward about 10 years or so, and that wall then started with PRS, and the tops were just astounding! And then a little further down the line of guitars, there were the LP's, also with figured tops...

Edit: Oh, and that Studio's top is so well book-matched, at first glance I thought it was a single piece of wood. Very nice!
Ah, thanks. I just happened on them.

The first is a 2013 Studio in a Black Gold Wrap and the second is a 2016 SC245.

Yes, for a long time Gibson didn’t use flame. I had a nice Les Paul Custom, I think it was a ‘78, without a bit of flame. Obviously Gibson figured that the expensive model should be tight grained. The Standard’s wood had a wider grain but still nothing interesting.

As you said, when PRS showed up with guitars that looked like art the industry woke up. I was afraid to spend my money on something so pretty, then we started hearing about the build quality and playability along with their look, and that’s when I began paying attention. But I was in my “musicians are assholes” period and enjoying my IT world so I didn’t do anything. Finally, several years before retiring I missed playing so much I bought some Ibanez, didn’t like how they felt, sold them, learned about the PRS DGT and liked Grissom’s sound, found the Goldtop and got back into playing. One guitar led to another, yada yada yada.

That Studio is a blast to play. I don’t think it looks like it but it’s a real rock ‘n roll guitar, and the Narrowfield pickups cover Strat to P90 sounds well. It’s the guitar my friends tell me they’re going to steal.
 
That Studio is a blast to play. I don’t think it looks like it but it’s a real rock ‘n roll guitar, and the Narrowfield pickups cover Strat to P90 sounds well. It’s the guitar my friends tell me they’re going to steal.
There is one on Reverb right now - orange tiger.
screenshot_20210904-232425-png.88127


Correction:
There was one on Reverb in orange tiger.

It will be named Hobbes....
 

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Wow, the one on the left is pretty. The "cherry" burst is thin/translucent enough it almost looks more orange than red. My friend Rick's 339 Is tangerine burst and looks almost identical to that. Gorgeous guitar. Kinda makes up for the year of waiting, dunnit?
It is a stunning guitar, the photo doesn't do it justice. I had severe angst every time I started to take it out to play because I'm not comfortable with something that flashy. It was my first PRS that looked like a PRS, being a 10-top, and I've gotten better about stressing about taking them out, maybe I'm becoming desensitized by their looks, though that Red 509 is still kind of intimidating.

They're kind of like getting a date with the best looking woman at school and then finding out she's a super smart astrophysicist and is the star of the lacrosse or soccer team, loves hiking, is funny as hell, mixes a mean martini. Intimidating? Oh yeah. Fun? Hell yeah!

I'm going to shut-up now. I highjacked the thread enough.
 
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.


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.
The dark areas are black stain that sometimes is used to pull out the grain under the colour. You stain the sanded top black sand it again leaving some of the black that has seeped in to the figure and then add the colour over it . It makes the flame seem much prominent .
 
Not that the final result looks bad - it looks great - but I would've seen this and said "buff it, maybe clear and buff a couple times more, and it's done." It has a sort of faded tiger-stripey camoflage thing going on that really looks cool....
A happy accident to use a Bob Ross euphemism. If it was my guitar, I probably would have stopped at this stage. The photo is just a bit washed out but the color could be called "Apocalypse Green". Really cool effect, going to try to reproduce on a future guitar for sure.
 
They're kind of like getting a date with the best looking woman at school and then finding out she's a super smart astrophysicist and is the star of the lacrosse or soccer team, loves hiking, is funny as hell, mixes a mean martini. Intimidating? Oh yeah. Fun? Hell yeah!
I knew a girl like that. Completely failed to ask her out.... 😐
 
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