Committee of Custom Colours

[ken_j]

I have always liked Heritage's almond sunburst.

This was the inspiration for the coloring I blended on my home built guitar.

[admin]

Almond sunburst is very nice and a classic finish, Ken. Thanks for including this one.

[jimk]

Exactly my sentiments, Jim. Would a metallic burst be as effective as a solid colour metallic?

Effective? Somehow I keep thinking that a metalic burst runs the risk of being toward the gaudy end of the spectrum. If I were going to have a metalic finish, I'd want something like a DCM, or a deep, dark midnight blue metalic flake finish. Also the thought of plixiglas guitars comes to mind when I think of such finishes, too.

I like wood guitars to look like they're made of wood. This probably explains why I like burst finishes, or stains that bring out the depth of any figure in the wood.

It's up to you in the end.

JimK

[kiramdear]

A metallic burst could be achieved with use of metal powder in a clear medium with no pigment besides. The less powder in the mix, the more transparent the effect. Many thin washes could be built up like watercolors to graduate the opacity.
The difference between opaque and transparent paints is the use of white (titanium, commonly) or ochre in opaque paints. Lampblack is an earth pigment too. If you want transparent finish, don't add those colors!

[jingle_jangle]

My issue with metallic (and solid) bursts has nothing to do with how to achieve or not to achieve them, Kira. It's to do with the appearance...I think they look awful.

With lacquers, enamels, and urethanes, there are two types of mixing colors used. One makes use of solid pigment particles which are quite opaque. These begin with (most) blacks and all whites, and move on through cadmium red, cadmium orange, cadmium yellow, yellow ochre and the monastral red and maroon series.

OTOH, most blues and greens are translucent mixing colors, made with gels and dyes in which the pigments are intense and almost on a molecular level so they transmit light rather than stopping it. There are also a wide range of reds, oranges, and a few yellows, as well as perindos (in the PPG system) in the maroon and violet spectrum. There is also a low-intensity black made with dyes that can be reduced to a true translucent black.

All metallics, pearlescents, and micas involve floating bits of reflective material in a transparent medium. I love glamour colors as solids, but as bursts they look phony and overdone to my eye.

When I was finishing up painting the five-color candy over pearl flames on my black VW woodie in my studio in Natal, Brasil, although there was a large commercial paint store across the street which stocked all sorts of nitrocellulose lacquer (try finding THAT in the States!), I had to travel across the city to the only PPG distributor in town. They had no formulas for candy or pearl colors, although they had the same 72-color mixing bank that all PPG stores have, and I also have, here in SF. I asked for a candy red, not knowing their unfamiliarity with this theory and practice.

I got a liter of clear urethane into which had been dissolved a bit of bright cadmium (opaque) red. I knew right away what the guy had done, and through an interpreter, I explained the difference between using translucent red oxide and deep maroon cut with a bit of clear to achieve a true translucent red that could be thinned and sprayed over pearl for the typical knockout candy apple effect. The distributor herself, and all three countermen, were happy to turn me loose with their mixing bank and note my formulas as I mixed a maroon, red, orange, gold, and acid yellow candies, all using the translucent dye pigments and avoiding the relatively few opaques in the bank. I got my paint at a greatly-discounted price, and they got formulas for a range of candy colors that for some reason are not in the color formula books down in South America.

[ozover50]

Pretty much all of my suggestions have already been put forward by others, Peter.

Whatever the end result, I think the finish should be referred to for all time as 'Peterburst' or 'Peterglo'!

Or would that be 'McCormaburst' or 'McCormaglo'?

..... or 'Adminburst' or 'Adminglo'?

OK..... I'll stop now.................

[jingle_jangle]

"Peterburst"--isn't that a line from that Japanese toilet training video:

[jps]

Sick!

[antipodean]

Peter,

The Autumnglo/Tobaccoburst/Montezuma Brown/2-colour sunburst would seem to me to be the way to go, as many others have suggested...

However, if you decided on a solid metallic colour, how about Ruby/Candy Apple Red?

[kiramdear]

All metallics, pearlescents, and micas involve floating bits of reflective material in a transparent medium. I love glamour colors as solids, but as bursts they look phony and overdone to my eye.

I think see what you mean.

I couldn't find my exact idea of what I would call a metallic burst, but if I did it would probably prove your point.
Anyway, here's a parting shot:
I agree it's an acquired taste, like cheap beer.

[kiramdear]

I couldn't "leave" you with that last post, so I turn to my favorite source of inspiration as an antidote.

If you can invoke this kind of presence from your guitar you will have a treasure to behold.

[wmthor]

I'd agree that this one is real nice.

[admin]

Evan: Thanks for your comments. Your summary certainly reflects the majority of helpful comments here that allows for the grain to be seen. The bursts, some of Kira's samples aside, are going to remind me that I am playing an instrument crafted from wood. At the end of the day this would be a look that I wish to preserve.

Kira: I really like your autumn leave photograph that is the reverse of most of the burst techniques, that is the colour pattern moves from dark inside to light on the edges. Richard and I are certainly in agreement on this one. This defies convention and I wonder what Curmudge has to say about the idea. All bursts that I typically see move from a light middle to a darker outer edge.

Having pretty much settled on a burst using as yet an undetermined number of colours, it is time to think about the colour. As Stan has certainly pointed out, I have a brown burst already which is a Montezuma Brown and for this reason it would be nice to consider something different, yet something that might compliment the MB.

Paul: Thanks for the new song, I will add it to my shower medley.

I am grateful for all the suggestions thus far as it has allowed me to rule in or out a number of options that I may not have considered on my own.

[Ric O'Sound]

Peter...

A couple more I threw together quick in Photoshop.

Here's a take on Paul's Aqua-Burst. Looks nice on a 350...

Aquaglo

I've always been a fan of the "Mary Kay" translucent white. It's elegant looking even if it's not a burst, with just a hint of the woodgrain showing through the finish. I did this one up with all black hardware. If you dig the black, you'd have to get your existing hardware powder coated, but that's no big deal. You'd certainly have a very unique instrument.

Mary Kay white

Of course, if you're a fan of Zakk Wylde or Eddie Ojeda, you could always go with something like this. And if you decided to put a vibrato on this one, forget an Ac'cent or Vibrola...this one screams for a Floyd Rose.

Bullseye

Anyway, I made this Photoshop template because I very recently acquired a 350 which I'm also going to have refinished, and I wanted to experiment with different ideas. If you have anything in your head you'd like to see, just send me a PM with your ideas I and can create mockups for you. It takes me all of about 2 minutes to do one, so it's no great effort, really. If you wanted, you could then post the mockups of the finishes you like most in a poll and have the Forumites vote for their favorite. Might be kinda fun, actually. Let me know.

[admin]

Daniel: What a wonderful tool to assist in projects such as this one. Again, I appreciate the effort and as I get closer to choosing the final colour I suspect that I will take you up on your kind offer. The idea of a poll also sounds like fun.