Charcoal Frost Jaguar Project

Talk about modding or building your own guitar from scratch.
Post Reply
User avatar
Moo-Stang
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 108
Joined: Wed Jun 19, 2019 5:36 pm
Location: Northern Virginia

Charcoal Frost Jaguar Project

Post by Moo-Stang » Tue Oct 26, 2021 8:47 am

After a few months of searching for a CFM Jag with no luck I made the decision to try making one myself. I have only done two refinishes before - one turned out pretty good, the other was a disaster. So, this should be interesting for me to see how this one goes.

I started off with a Vintera Sunburst Jaguar body I bought off reverb.

Image

While waiting for that to arrive I swung by a local auto paint supplier and bought a spray can of CFM to try out on some scrap wood and get familiar with the color as well as some amber clear coat to practice aging the finish. The paint supplier only offers polyurethane (?) but I wanted the guitar to wear like I've seen so many of the guitars here on OSG. So I ordered two cans of nitro from an online supplier and prepped the sunburst body for paint.

I ended up using BIN white primer and spend a day putting on 3-4 light coats before I got nice coverage over the guitar.

I had to go out of a town for a week so left the guitar hanging to cure while i was away. During the trip my Reverb notifications pinged me of a CFM Jaguar listed for sale. Figures! After pulling up the ad I quickly realized I made the right choice. It was beautiful, but $20k price tag ended any hope I had of buying it.

https://reverb.com/item/44655756-fender-jaguar-de-1965

Image

However, after comparing it with the test can of poly I bought from the auto paint guys I felt like I might be able to pull this refinish off. Once the two cans of Nitro arrived I got to sanding down the BIN primer to a smooth finish and began shooting the nitro.

Image Image Image Image

Well... that doesn't look like Charcoal Frost. After emailing back and forth with the supplier I learned that, despite stating they use vintage paint codes and formulas, this was their "interpretation" of CFM. Needless to say this was not going to work. I ended up having to return the nitro and instead picked up two cans of the poly CFM from the Auto body paint shop.

I sanded back the nitro (luckily I only sprayed on the back of the guitar so it was an easy removal), reprimed with BIN, and after that dried started shooting with the poly.

Image Image Image

That's much better! Depending on the lighting you can already see hints of green and blue.

Next up I need to mask off the headstock and lay down some primer.

Any comments or feedback greatly appreciated!

User avatar
Tweedledee
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 1149
Joined: Thu Jun 11, 2009 7:41 am
Location: Evanston, IL

Re: Charcoal Frost Jaguar Project

Post by Tweedledee » Tue Oct 26, 2021 6:04 pm

It’s looking great! It’s going to be fantastic when you’re done.

CFM is one of my favorite Jaguar colors. I’ve done two of them, one for myself and one for a friend, and I’ve done a CFM Tele as well. I use DupliColor Perfect Match car paint, which is acrylic lacquer, then I go with nitro clear coats.

I look forward to seeing the progress pics!

User avatar
Steadyriot.
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 1262
Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2011 2:16 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Re: Charcoal Frost Jaguar Project

Post by Steadyriot. » Tue Oct 26, 2021 10:19 pm

Looks great!
If I were you I’d consider doing a test piece with the nitro clear over the poly color coats. Chances are they won’t bite each other and then you’ll still get the aging nitro effect over the years. Many custom color Fender guitars weren’t nitro either when it came to the color coats.
"If someone duetted with a Bald Eagle, they could rule the Country charts from here to eternity." ~shadowplay

User avatar
Moo-Stang
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 108
Joined: Wed Jun 19, 2019 5:36 pm
Location: Northern Virginia

Re: Charcoal Frost Jaguar Project

Post by Moo-Stang » Wed Oct 27, 2021 9:24 am

Tweedledee wrote:
Tue Oct 26, 2021 6:04 pm
It’s looking great! It’s going to be fantastic when you’re done.

CFM is one of my favorite Jaguar colors. I’ve done two of them, one for myself and one for a friend, and I’ve done a CFM Tele as well. I use DupliColor Perfect Match car paint, which is acrylic lacquer, then I go with nitro clear coats.

I look forward to seeing the progress pics!
Thanks Tweedledee! Your Jags were partly inspiration for this project. Enough so that I dm'd you over at TGP about your colors. I hope this turns out as nice as yours did.
Steadyriot. wrote:
Tue Oct 26, 2021 10:19 pm
Looks great!
If I were you I’d consider doing a test piece with the nitro clear over the poly color coats. Chances are they won’t bite each other and then you’ll still get the aging nitro effect over the years. Many custom color Fender guitars weren’t nitro either when it came to the color coats.
Thanks! That is actually a question that I was going to pose down the line a bit. I was wondering if I should lay down a light coat of clear poly to protect the paint, and then finish with multiple coats of nitro. I'd be nervous putting nitro directly over the paint coats (this stuff is expensive). Would a thin protective layer of polyurethane followed by nitro still allow the finish to check and age the same as if everything was nitro?

User avatar
Moo-Stang
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 108
Joined: Wed Jun 19, 2019 5:36 pm
Location: Northern Virginia

Re: Charcoal Frost Jaguar Project

Post by Moo-Stang » Wed Oct 27, 2021 9:56 am

Ok, so progress was made last night on the headstock. I had a spare AV65 Jag neck I picked up a few years ago for a project that never really materialized. I had deep reservations about painting this neck due to resale potential, but found several vintage examples of CFM with binding and wanted to go that route. I looked into musikraft, but with November fast approaching and the weather in D.C. being unpredictable, a five month wait would have pushed me into Spring to get this project started. So I just went with it.

I masked off the edges as closely as I could and primed it with the same BIN primer as the body. After a few rounds of paint things were looking good.

Image Image

After letting it dry for a few hours I pulled off the tape and with the exception of the top shoulder near the first tuning peg everything looked pretty clean.

Image

This area always causes me problems
Image

So masked up the headstock again and lightly shot a tiny bit more paint on that shoulder area and set it aside to dry. I'll take a look after I get home from work tonight and hopefully will have minimal cleanup. You can see in this picture how the CFM almost looks blue. I love this color!
Image Image

User avatar
snarf
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 172
Joined: Sun Jun 14, 2020 7:04 am

Re: Charcoal Frost Jaguar Project

Post by snarf » Fri Oct 29, 2021 1:57 pm

Color and shine looks good. I noticed a lot of the stores that sell paint for guitar refinishing have metallics that look really dull and crappy.

IMO the best finishes change at different angles and lighting with different tints popping out.

Pinstriping tape works really good for getting clean lines if you have trouble with bleed when masking the headstock. I used to use a razor on the outline, but now its one less step and don't have to worry about keeping a steady hand.

User avatar
Moo-Stang
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 108
Joined: Wed Jun 19, 2019 5:36 pm
Location: Northern Virginia

Re: Charcoal Frost Jaguar Project

Post by Moo-Stang » Fri Oct 29, 2021 6:41 pm

snarf wrote:
Fri Oct 29, 2021 1:57 pm
Color and shine looks good. I noticed a lot of the stores that sell paint for guitar refinishing have metallics that look really dull and crappy.

IMO the best finishes change at different angles and lighting with different tints popping out.

Pinstriping tape works really good for getting clean lines if you have trouble with bleed when masking the headstock. I used to use a razor on the outline, but now its one less step and don't have to worry about keeping a steady hand.
Thanks! Yes, this paint has really nailed what I was hoping for when I envisioned this project.

Pinstriping tape is something I never thought about, but is a great idea. On the second go round with the headstock I laid my edge with this thin masking tape I had from when I built scale models. It's designed to bend around corners. Once the edge was laid down I just overlaped it with larger pieces of frog tape.

Image Image

Thankfully, I got a nice crisp line on that shoulder. Enough that I'm not messing with the headstock anymore out of fear of screwing something up.
Image

Post Reply