Pantera X390 Project Part II

Sanding has been finished and my dark green stain has arrived. I started to stain is this morning and was very disappointed with the results for 2 reasons:
1. I didn't have a consistent grain after sanding - some spots were more smooth than others so the stain was much darker in the rougher areas than others. I used the same grit over the entire guitar for many hours to try to correct this but could not get a consistant surface. This is my first attempt at staining a guitar and was aware that stain would should my flaws, but was really suprised at how obvious it would turn out.

2. The hard maple is not very pourous so the stain did not penetrate the wood as well as I had hoped. The natural wood color still remained even after a few coats.

So after some disappointment (some of it expected) I decided to go to Plan B........Paint it.

Now the question was....stay with the forest green idea? or go with my second choice, which is white. I chose the forest green and have laid down the color. it is currently drying but I will upload some pics tomorrow so you can can an idea what it is looking like.

I will add the logo's tomorrow as well, and then if the time permits, do the clearcoat next weekend and get back to sanding and hopefully get it smooth as glass. After that, I have a black BMD trem and tuners to replace the chrome ones that were original.

I think the black hardware will look good against the dark green and that means I may have a set of chrome tuners and BMD trem up for sale soon ( the trem is in VERY good condition) that I would certainly make availble to those here before ebay.

Gee, that's a shame, eh; I like the idea of a dark green stain!! I reckon stay with the dark green; all the guitars I've seen in it look stunning - I look forward to seeing what's going on there, eh!!

Will you have to neutralise the stain before painting?

corsair wrote:Gee, that's a shame, eh; I like the idea of a dark green stain!! I reckon stay with the dark green; all the guitars I've seen in it look stunning - I look forward to seeing what's going on there, eh!!

Will you have to neutralise the stain before painting?

I sanded it down a bit after staining, but figured that the paint would have no trouble colouring over it. I have to say..it is very green at the moment. perhaps the only green 390 out there

sarcaster wrote: I have to say..it is very green at the moment. perhaps the only green 390 out there

Liking it so far!!

I wonder, though, if you have to use a special primer to offset the affects of the stain; I know you do with furniture if you're going to paint over a previously varnished surface; from memory it was a meths, or spirit based primer....

Well we'll see what it looks like tomorrow when dry. I'll take some pics and put them up. Ah poop - forgot to get more ink for my printer for the Pantera logo - self reminder to do so before the football games tomorrow.

Too cold downstairs so brought it upstairs to dry:








I can't wait to put this together and work on my next project

sarcaster wrote:I can't wait to put this together and work on my next project

Spoken like a true addict!
The pix are a little dark and indistinct, but from what I see, I think this gonna turn out OK!

Barry wrote:

sarcaster wrote:I can't wait to put this together and work on my next project

Spoken like a true addict!
The pix are a little dark and indistinct, but from what I see, I think this gonna turn out OK!

Oh if you only knew what the next project is.....gonna be a good one

Oh yes!!! Looking good... better pix??? Please???

Final coats of green are on. Currently drying. Tomorrow I'll put on the logos and apply the clear. Next week I start the wet sanding and hopefully polishing. I'll try to get some pics up tomorrow.

Ok here are the logo's right as I applied them.
Note: it looks like seafoam green in the pictures because of the flash, the color is really a dark forest green.

You can see the outline of the cuts in the Pantera logo pic, but I wiped those down and they cant be seen now.

I decided to put the clear on tonight so it is drying. I'm getting there.








Keep in mind these are taking with a crappy cell phone cam. It really looks good so far.
I have a few coats of clear on and will let dry overnight. I may do a few more tomorrow and will start wet sanding next week.

Also a great thing to notice is the headstock picture - can anyone tell where it was snapped in half? The repair was done perfectly - shameless plug for the luthier: http://chellee.com/

A couple of more pics now that the clear coat is dry. It looks a bit lighter in these pics than in person.
Hope to start the wet sanding and polishing this weekend and then get the hardware back in place.

I like the colour. Looking good...

So I finally got the time to get into the wet sanding, and although I thought I put on more clear than I needed I still sanded through the clear and exposed the wood.
From my understanding I should sand at 1000 grit until all of the flat spots (they look dark and shiny as opposed to the dull rough parts) are no longer visible.

So the question is - can I spray a bit to touch it up, then clearcoat the whole thing again? Or do I have to take down all the rest of the clear, touch up, then reclear?

How many coats of clear (PolyU) is too much?

Me I would put 2 or 3 coats of clear on, leave it a day then sand, the sanding should only take a wipe unless you got a run which will need to be left to dry and sanded out before any more coats applied. Works for me anyways. Repeat several times. At the end just polish.

Better to try touching up first rather than start again. If careful and take your time you should be ok.

It's progressing...I sanded down the clear so it was even across all areas with 1000 grit so it is all flat. Sprayed a couple of more coats of clear and will repeat the process (Hopefully no sanding through this time) of sanding with 1000, 1200, 1500, 2000, and then finally a polish cloth of 4000 before I begin to buff it out.

So this is a pic of the first clear coat after I had sanded down with a 1000 for my corrections. I think it is looking good and am seeing a light at the end of the tunnel.




So now go throught the grits again and put this one back together. Let's hope I can do a better job of sanding without getting down to the paint this time.

Barry like!!
Now of course, I need a green Mats.