Champagne Sparkle VI

[snarf]

I've been experimenting with metal flake again. Trying to figure out my spray gun settings for this application. I can never get enough flake on at once, so I have to put a ton of coats on to get coverage. Not to mention the amount of clearcoat needed to bury the thing was insane. Probably a good 10 coats of lacquer. I used shell pink for a base coat which probably contributed to void spots popping out more than the usual burgundy mist.

Not exactly a "thin" finish, but I wanted to try and replicate the finish from the sparkle VI thats at songbirds.





Lighting is everything with these finishes.

Hardware and electronics are getting a major facelift too.

I am curious if musikraft make some VI necks if the order was large enough. I definitely would like to build some accurate replicas at some point.

[snarf]

reference images from musicradar:

https://i.imgur.com/tikKifO.png

https://i.imgur.com/zjl2TRx.png

https://i.imgur.com/wSDXleW.png

https://i.imgur.com/snK59F5.png

Edit: changed references to links

[RIORIO]

That looks insanely good

[smjenkins]

Wow, you did a great job matching the color. What type of VI is that? One of the Squiers?

[snarf]

Wow, you did a great job matching the color. What type of VI is that? One of the Squiers?

Thanks! Yup I got a classic vibe body from stratosphere and ended up scoring a vintage modified neck off eBay. I tried really hard to find someone to build a neck with no luck. I might ask musikraft if they will consider making it.

[Lost In Autumn]

Looks good, but only 10 coats? I had to spray 40 coats of lacquer to level my burgundy mist sparkle baritone; I shot my last 2 in 2k poly, they only took 16 coats

[snarf]

Looks good, but only 10 coats? I had to spray 40 coats of lacquer to level my burgundy mist sparkle baritone; I shot my last 2 in 2k poly, they only took 16 coats

I tried to spray the sparkle as flat as possible and tack off any standing flakes. Plus I sprayed the clear on very thick and wet so it might be more like 30 coats. I wasn’t counting and it took forever so 10 does sound low in retrospect.

[Strango]

Looks great, wow! Some day I need to do that to my VI.

[eggwheat]

I've been experimenting with metal flake again. Trying to figure out my spray gun settings for this application. I can never get enough flake on at once, so I have to put a ton of coats on to get coverage. Not to mention the amount of clearcoat needed to bury the thing was insane. Probably a good 10 coats of lacquer. I used shell pink for a base coat which probably contributed to void spots popping out more than the usual burgundy mist.

Nozzle size will be the issue. Needs to be big for flake. Always need a ton of coats to cover flake and make the substrate thick enough for sanding/buffing without exposing flake edges.. Sometimes you have to leave it for an hour to dry off then apply the final coats if you get pooling around a flake edge..

[ARAMP1]

Man, it's beautiful! I'll be following this build. Thanks for sharing!

[snarf]

Man, it's beautiful! I'll be following this build. Thanks for sharing!

THANKS! I'll share more info too. Here is the final product. The only thing left to do is get something on the headstock.

[snarf]

In case anyone wants to try to replicate this finish:

I used metal flake from an ebay seller named "addictedtoengines". It's pretty decent and the price is about the same as TCPglobal.

https://www.ebay.com/usr/addictedtoengines

I used their champagne pink mixed with their rose gold about 3:1 ratio. The champagne pink is more like the vintage gretsch drum sets so it needed a little more pink to match the reference image I wanted to replicate. I used the modern gloss clear nitro from stewmac about 3 quarts of the stuff and a very light shell pink base coat.

TCPglobal has a decent pink metal flake that could be mixed with silver to get something similar, maybe even more accurate to what Fender uses today.

[Norrin Radd]

Wow!

That’s just spectacular! I envy you guys who can do finishing work - well done, man.

[repoman]

What size tip is on your airgun? I think you have to use 1.8mm or larger for flake this large. Probably would be easier with some high grade urethane since the build with that stuff is crazy.

G&L just shake their flake over misted bodies with a sifter, I did it that way on a XII Telemaster a long time ago and I didn't have to put a huge amount of clear on to bury it.

I learned recently the sparkle tops on Gretsch's are drum wrap not paint.


The VI looks awesome.

[snarf]

What size tip is on your airgun? I think you have to use 1.8mm or larger for flake this large. Probably would be easier with some high grade urethane since the build with that stuff is crazy.

G&L just shake their flake over misted bodies with a sifter, I did it that way on a XII Telemaster a long time ago and I didn't have to put a huge amount of clear on to bury it.

I learned recently the sparkle tops on Gretsch's are drum wrap not paint.


The VI looks awesome.

Thats right. I used a 1.8mm tip with 0.015 size flakes. I definitely will consider urethane intercoat clear next time. I've been having a good experience with the mohawk classic instrument lacquer and stewmac modern clear. The stuff has a very unique feel to it too.