Charcoal Frost Jaguar Project
Posted: 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.
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
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.
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.
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!
I started off with a Vintera Sunburst Jaguar body I bought off reverb.
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
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.
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.
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!