VM becomes vintage 1963 Jazzmaster Classic (Pick Heavy)

[Spitfire7]

Have you ever seen those very rare OLY White vintage Jazzmasters with the faded orange tort guards? Well I have only seen maybe 2 and have always been intrigued by them for some reason. So I figured why not just make one myself, but had to do so on a tight budget. It started out as a trade. Two of my Spitfire guards for a Squire VM. Trade went smooth and awesome and he got himself some nice brand new custom Spitfire guards and I got a new Squire VM. Here are his Spitfire guards.






And here is what I want to do with my guitar. I want a vintage look with the matching headstock, aged decal, and a mild medium relic. I wanted to make the OLY White look aged yellowed from the nitro finish and I wasn't sure how I was going to do that. I hear the reranch tinted clear becomes way too yellow on a white finish. So I decided to use Dupli-Color Wimbeldon White which gives a perfect aged off white color.




So Jm arrived and right out of the box I was amazing. For a Squire VM this thing played just about perfectly without having to do much of anything to it. Was a thousand times better than my other VM's. A lot of work needed to be done with those. This one was perfectly playable right out of the box and sounded great. Never went out of tune even with my heavy tremolo surf songs. Was almost sad to tear it apart.







Now to disassemble.






Taping off the headstock.





For this I wanted to give that aged look, but like many vintage guitars when you pull the pickguard off the original bright white is still there. So I learned this trick from Chris (HNB) on here. I decided to just use the original pickguard since it is so hideous and taped off the cavities.





I used 600 grit to sand deep into the clear giving a nice roughed up matte surface for the paint.






Now for the paint. Like I mentioned earlier, I used Dupli-color Wimbeldon White. I did 3 very light coats and then 2 coats of clear.






For the headstock I had to do maybe 5 or 6 coats of color. Will apply decal and then do two or three coats of clear.






Its getting colder outside and I don't have a nice paint booth so I figured I would crank up the heater in our spare room and let it bake. I would spray a coat and would then let it sit in the room for 10/15 min each time. The color here is pretty much accurate to how it looks in person. Came out really nicely.



Headstock done and baking as well




Now to see how it turned out.






I am very impressed with these results. Will soon sand and polish and then do the relic stage. Stay tuned for more updates soon.

[Tibius Reynolds]

Very cool!

[soggy mittens]

yeah this is an interesting way of doing it, makes it look easy. What are the differences of doing it like this? not sanding back to wood.. does it feel heavier?

[Spitfire7]

Here is an update. I began to sand and buff only hours after painting. I couldn't believe how fast it cured. It does say wait for 10 minutes to dry before you spray the next layer. So the only issue I am having are these little tiny dimples in the paint that I will have to try and sand out. Does anyone know if maybe spraying another clear coat could fill those in? On a side note, the tan lines are looking amazing after sanding and buffing.





To answer your question, yes this is a super easy way to do it. It wasn't my idea though, so I have to give that one to HNB Chris on here. It doesn't feel heavy at all. I sprayed such light coasts that this thing feels like a thin skin. Since this was my first paint job I probably did the coats a little too thin, but it actually worked in my favor IF I can remove those dimples in the paint without taking off the color. While buffing I started the beginning faze of the relic process. I don't want to go super heavy, but just as if the top nitro coat was being rubbed off in the heavy played areas. Almost there. Needs a lot more work though.

[Mechanical Birds]

Oh man I thought you were able to get one with an already matched headstock? Cool you were able to do it yrself I guess without too much fuss.

[Spitfire7]

Yeah I actually enjoyed the learning experience.

On a side note, I am doing another repaint. I didn't do it thick enough to sand through the orange peel. Painting again tomorrow with maybe another 3 or 4 coats and then maybe 5 clear coats. This will give me more working room. The novice painter would probably know that, but this is a learning experience for me. Will have more updates soon.

[RollingJ]

This looks a really fun project. The dimples mean you haven't sanded enough. If you are worried about sanding down too far you could always do some more coats of clearcoat first.

[preservation]

this is wonderful - can't wait to see more

[CaffeineOrMe]

so that's the project you were talking about. looks absolutely great already. can't wait to see more progress pics.

[Shadoweclipse13]

First off, that faded olympic(ish) white is gorgeous! That's the color I'm using on my upcoming P-Bass project and I'm so glad it turns out EXACTLY the shade I'm hoping for. The trick for making it look vintage faded with the pickguard and covers is incredible. REALLY nice touch!

I'm curious about the heater you're using to bake it? Is it just a space heater in the room? What temperatures are you using and for how long?

[Spitfire7]

First off, that faded olympic(ish) white is gorgeous! That's the color I'm using on my upcoming P-Bass project and I'm so glad it turns out EXACTLY the shade I'm hoping for. The trick for making it look vintage faded with the pickguard and covers is incredible. REALLY nice touch!

I'm curious about the heater you're using to bake it? Is it just a space heater in the room? What temperatures are you using and for how long?

Good question. In my house each room has it's own heater for some reason, so I cranked it to max and it gets about 85 degrees or so when its really cold outside. I left it in there for the recommended 15-30 min between each coat. This cooked it rock hard within 15 min. Keep in mind I was using a very very light coat each time which I found out was too thin to get the orange peel out. So round two of painting to come.

[Spitfire7]

Painting round two. The reason I need to paint again is because I can't get the orange peel out without sanding the color right off and also I wasn't happy with the relic on the edges. I actually didn't mean to do those. I loved the wear spot near the arm cutout though and I will have to try to replicate that. So round two. I scuffed up the surface again with 600 and began spraying.




I was told by a few, the reason I was getting a rough sand paper like finish and tiny dimples after drying was because I was holding the sprayer too far away and it was misting instead of laying it on nice, wet, and thick. So I moved closer and....





Shoot. Bummer . Okay, now what? Learning learning . This was only on the back though, thank God. The front turned out perfectly and looks nice and somewhat smooth already without even sanding. I figured a razor blade would be best for those runs and then sanding the rest of the way down and starting over.






Third times a charm.






Very soon I will do the clear coat and I think I will do maybe 5-7 coats to give me plenty of working room to sand out the orange peel


While waiting for all that, I began working on the neck. Sanded and smoothed the headstock. It came out beautifully. I almost wanted that aged old decal discoloration so I got two of these vintage replica decals. I am very happy with the results so far. The headstock will sit for 24 hours and then I will cover it in clear.











Its getting there.



Stay tuned....

[Shadoweclipse13]

First off, that faded olympic(ish) white is gorgeous! That's the color I'm using on my upcoming P-Bass project and I'm so glad it turns out EXACTLY the shade I'm hoping for. The trick for making it look vintage faded with the pickguard and covers is incredible. REALLY nice touch!

I'm curious about the heater you're using to bake it? Is it just a space heater in the room? What temperatures are you using and for how long?

Good question. In my house each room has it's own heater for some reason, so I cranked it to max and it gets about 85 degrees or so when its really cold outside. I left it in there for the recommended 15-30 min between each coat. This cooked it rock hard within 15 min. Keep in mind I was using a very very light coat each time which I found out was too thin to get the orange peel out. So round two of painting to come.

I may try this for my next project. When I was spraying in the spring and early summer for my Strazz project, I'd hang the guitar outside in the sunlight. It cured nicely, but it did take it's sweet time. Maybe I'll try to find a little space heater for just curing guitar bodies and necks... Thanks!

Looks amazing man! Keep up the body porn

[HNB]

Nice work so far. It is a fun process trying things out and seeing what happens. andrewdoeshair is the one who showed me the cover trick. I used it on my custom Cyclone.

[Spitfire7]

Good to go! 5 coats of clear on the body and about 4 coats on the headstock. That should be good right? Now going to let it sit for a week. Than will begin the sanding, polishing, then relic process. Will be working on relicing the hardware as well. I am hearing vinegar will do the trick to rust and wear the chrome hardware. Anyone else tried that? I know there is that stuff at Radio Shack, but I have plenty of vinegar right here. So will give that a shot. HNB Chris, do you have examples of how the vinegar wears the hardware, and for how long do I keep the hardware in the vinegar contraption?