Here's another I am busy with. A friend's Fernandes Strat which I am refinishing from the ugly artic(ish) white to something nicer.
First I stripped the back to have a peek at what lay underneath so we could decide what to do. TWO finishes - there's a gold finish underneath the white. With the thick layer of sealer (still on in the pic), it was total about 2.5mm thick in places. God, I hate factory finishes. On the bright side, the finish hadn't bonded with the sealer, so it chipped right off with minimal work with a blade (hence the red smudges on the wood - I should
never be allowed near sharp objects 🙂
Stripped and paired with it's hardware. The green mineral streak behind the bridge and some uglies on the edges put paid to the owner's first choice of clear - it was also very pale alder, so I thought I'd try a vintage tint finish first.
With the vintage tint. It goes with the unusual colour celluloid tortoiseshell pickguard very well. Unfortunately it didn't quite cover enough, so I persuaded the owner to let me do a burst. He hates traditional bursts so I asked him to trust me (not that he had a choice, mind you 🙂 ), and tried something else.
I bursted in brown only, just mixing in more dye to the finish as I got closer to the edge, so it gets dark towards the edges, but is still transparent, unlike a traditional burst to black. While it doesn't cover the mineral strek, it does take attention away from it.
Even I was surprised when I popped the pickguard on for the pic to show him - it matches so well it looks like the pickguard was made specifically for the finish.
The edge, where you can see the brown properly.
