I'm kinda new to this forum after lurking around for some time.
I've never really been a 80's/shredder/w***er kinda guitarist, so I've sticked to my Fender's, but I've always wanted a heavy rock guitar, so here goes...
Just picked up this dreadful RG548 body. It used to have a natural finish, but some of it's previous owners really wanted a black guitar. Of course, the result is horrible, but I do think it's saveable.
The wood starts to appear pretty quickly, so it won't take that much effort to restore it to it's sort of original condition.
I wanted to paint it either pink or green (LNG), but seeing the grains in the trem cavity makes me think of 'root beer'....
First coat of pink, sprayed it 10 minutes ago. Looks good, I think
As always, photos doesn't show how it really looks. The color is more pink in person, and not something between pink and purple as the pictures wants it to be.
that is an amazing pink my friend,i say you do all the cavities in LNG, i hope im not too late for that suggestion haha oh and no pickup rings, make it more like a prestige
It's gonna have a black pickguard, and I've been thinking about painting the trem cavity green. That would've really done it. Green trem cavity, black pickguard and yellow pickups.
I'm getting there. Final coat of pink has been sprayed on (I think it's five coats, but they're really thin so I keep sanding down to the primer now and then, so it's taking a lot work covering up the blems I'm making) and the clear coat is just around the corner. Just have to do the final sanding/buffing (2000 grit paper and maybe even polishing).
I've given up on trying to get it all straight and even, so I'm just using sandpaper and fingers on the spots that won't straighten out using a sanding block. In my eyes it looks good enough.
I tried to paint the trem cavity green, but messed it up using a different brand of spray. Had to sand it down and paint it pink again.
Well, pictures...
I'm waiting for the postman to drop a black floyd rose special down in my mailbox.
To keep the cost down I'm thinking about going for white 'buckers from GFS (for all I know, maybe the guitar doesn't turn out any good?!?)...
....
I've given up on trying to get it all straight and even, so I'm just using sandpaper and fingers on the spots that won't straighten out using a sanding block. In my eyes it looks good enough......
Mhm. I have good experience with GFS ('59-ish humbucker, split humbucker and retrotrons) so I might go for them. At least in the beginning before the need for yellow humbuckers grows out of proportions.
Haven't done anything new, except for trying out a little polishing. Still got some work to do with the sanding (I stopped at the 1500 grit paper, but just had to try to polish it, just to see how it turned out).
Last time i gave a painter to wet sand my guitar, he only used 2000 grit and then buffed it out, i was surprised it came out really smooth and mirror like :|
The 'yes' is that it has got three more coats of pink. The 'no' is that the layers haven't been wetsanded yet.
Things are busy at school nowadays so I haven't got a lot of time noodling around with this project. I'm planning on getting the paint job finished (pink and clear coating) by Christmas and maybe get it all put together by the end of January. Still missing a lot of parts (pickups, pickguard, edge studs and locking nut), but I'll see what comes up next week (going to New York on Saturday).
Love how it looks so far, best of luck with your progress!! im debating doing this same sort of thing with an old rg470 im going to be picking up tomorrow. Not sure i am brave enough to try pink, but i might do a purple or super bright yellow lol
Things are going slowly at the moment, haven't done anything to it in about a month. Got some stuff from GFS yesterday and I did a mockup just to get an idea of how it will turn out. The pickguard is on it's way, but I might change my mind. I kind of like the look of it without the pickguard. It looks very 80's. Gotta shave of my facial hair and get a wig.
I still dig the body color. Not keen on the pickup colors yet--would look cool with the black/yellow neck AND bridge with a yellow single in the middle. Yellow knobs and switch tip would finish it off.
As for the pickups, I totally agree. I thought the zebra was white/black and not cream/black. What I had in mind (after leaving the idea of yellow pickups) was a double white in the bride, black single coil and white/black zebra in the neck on a black pickguard, making it look like a hum/single from distance, like a pickguard equipped 565 but without the reverse headstock.
I've also run across some issues with the pickups. I guess it's a well known problem. The screw polepieces on the humbuckers are somewhat in the way. Is it possible to shorten the screws (or put differently: will I ruin the pickups if I remove them, shorten them and then put them back in), or will I have to get the pickup cavities re-routed?
You could replace or shorten the screws, you shouldn't damage anything. You can also deepen the pickup cavity if you want. Either way you should be fine.
Got the pickguard I ordered for it today. A 2550 pickguard, fits like a glove. The holes for the potentiometers lines up 100%, so does the pickup routes.
It looks cool
you did a great job spraying that body. I was way to hasty when I did mine, so I got a few drips, but you look like you're really paying attention to detail. Oddly enough, I painted a friends pink RG black, and you're painting a black one pink. Must be black-pink karma or something.
Let us know how it plays when it's all built up! Nice work
This project has been tucked away for too long and it's about time to get things moving. I'm gonna start shooting it with clear coat today, after I've wet sanded a few areas that needed a little 'touch up'.
I put on fake vinyl tree-of-life decals from the 'bay. White pearl looks good, green pearl...., looks really cheezy, just the way I like it. I've changed the neck and middle pickups too. It will have GFS 'Crunch' both in bridge and neck and a rail single coil (6k I think) in the middle.
I'd love a monkey grip, but don't have the right tools to do one.
The sun is shining and the weather is nice. This projects needs to be finished, the sooner the better. The weather in norway has been terrible this summer, raining all the time so guitar painting outside has been out of the question.
After several layers of clear coat and more coming. Hopefully it will be ready to be tucked away this evening and letting the top coats maturing and getting ready for final sanding and buffing in the end of november.
Bought a box of rubbing compound today and had to try it.
This was taken after a little rubbing (with the rubbing compound).
(The clear coat was wet sanded with 800 and 1500 grit paper).
This is the same area after polish (w/flash). It's not factory quality, but looks pretty good.
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