Manchester Guitar Tech
Below I’ll show how to achieve a Candy Apple Red finish on a Stratocaster body. Candy Apple Red is based on the old custom car technique of spraying clear lacquer over a metallic base coat, and was Fenders only truly “custom” colour, all the others being repurposed car finishes. I have itemised the process in …
I was asked to refinish the top of this 1981 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe which was originally sunburst but had been “goldtopped” using what looked like car spray. The colour was completely wrong and bizarrely, mini-humbuckers and P-90 pickups (which are the same size of course) would not fit in the cavities! For this job …
This Les Paul Junior has had a hard life. When it came to me for a refinish in nice thin nitrocellulose it was coated with a thick layer of yellow paint which on closer inspection revealed a history that the owner was completely unaware of. It seems that at some point in its life it …
Marty sent me some pictures of his Mexican Strat refinish that he’d done. Marty wrote: “Thought I would share my before, during and after pix of my lefty strat. I must say the paint and advice was spot on – has a beautiful almost factory finish that I’m now reluctant to relic! Thanks again for …
This guitar was built on commission from a customer. It features a two-piece ash body from Guitarbuild, an AllParts V-profile neck and P-90 pickups from Wizard Pickups. The body is finished in my dark “53” Butterscotch lacquer, and body and neck have clear satin lacquer top coats for a silky smooth feel.
This Stratocaster was built by one of the UK’s best makers of relic guitars. The owner, who’d had it from new, complained that the back of the neck felt sticky and so it did. I found that a good clean and polish helped matters a lot, but the owner wanted the neck de-glossed. Once I’d …
The La Cabronita is complete. Well, almost. I’m sending it back to Italy without a pickguard as the owner is undecided whether it should have one. Here are a few shots of the guitar for Daniele with different colour pickguards. The 3-ply one was supplied my Guitar Mill and I made the singly-ply ‘guards.
I’m putting a La Cabronita style guitar together for a customer in Italy. He has supplied all the parts but was unhappy with the “sonic blue” finish on the body. I’m therefore repainting it in Shell Pink. It’s going well so far. More soon when the lacquer is hard. Next job, make some pickguards and …
Rob Granville kindly sent me some pictures of the Fender Mustang he recently refinished using my lacquers. I think you’ll agree its a brilliant job!
This was also refinished by a customer. It’s a mid 90s Mexican Fender DuoSonic re-issue with a 22″ short scale neck. David writes: “Results are great! Again I thank you for the paint – clearly excellent quality, and for the advice both on your web site and via email – invaluable. There is no way …