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Guitar refurb (sorry!)


RichardH
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Yes, I know it's a skinny stringer, but thought I might as well document my meanderings...

The guitarist aske me to look at a kill switch he'd (wrongly) installed on a guitar of his a while back, which I sorted out fine. So he asked if I could swap the pickups in an old PRS 24 SE of his. He bought it secondhand, and someone had done a horrible job of stripping the original finish and then varnishing it an unattractive brown.

You can really see the quality of the finish in this first pic....

IMG_20210116_081858.thumb.jpg.e5d84adbabb73df1905a8e51856a933d.jpg

IMG_20210117_104055.thumb.jpg.7a7674b32a5dd9e0ea966fbb61e8d76b.jpg

 

IMG_20210117_104123.thumb.jpg.542a8ad6ce1a328c378611f82c696427.jpg

...so I have offered to have a got at refinishing it with stains and oil.

 

 

Edited by RichardH
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Used some paint stripper first, and then sanded a lot.... thought I had done pretty well:

IMG_20210126_151836.thumb.jpg.20a887120813ec8337c859574fb931b8.jpg

 

IMG_20210126_151935.thumb.jpg.c6421f5ece75422f450a28626beabf90.jpg

Bit of a funny pale patch at the corner of the belly cut on the back, but should be ok....

IMG_20210206_132011.thumb.jpg.26a169640d6d369675e872f0e54b2444.jpg

Nope! Looks like there is a lot more finish to get off yet!

 

 

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....so a hell of a lot more sanding later, I tried some black stain (Crimson's water based Stunning Stains) as a reveal coat

IMG_20210206_144837.thumb.jpg.e76c33f6bee5dbd3b608fa18aaa86bdf.jpg

 

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Quite an interesting purply hue to it, but that then all came off again...

IMG_20210207_161315.thumb.jpg.d09cb16adeb91d70f4c692bc43ae558a.jpg

The yellower patches are where the panel wipe hadn't dried off yet. Either that it was my nose dripping in the cold :D

....and then a fresh coat of stain

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IMG_20210207_162346.thumb.jpg.a4b041bd9b8b7b62f9124e5ddb6cbeec.jpg

...so that's where I am now. Am leaving that to dry/cure fully, then will be attempting a gentle sanding back to give a burst finish, then overlay some blue stain.

 

 

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42 minutes ago, LeftyJ said:

Nice job, I like the new colour so far! 

Was this a Standard 24, or did someone accidentally sand through the flamed maple veneer? 

Ah, I don't know the proper nomenclature of these things - I thought the SE just meant the far east models.... no, the top is definitely maple, so it is probably a plain one.

I have a (slightly) mad idea to try and create a binding effect - once the stain is all on, go round with a sandpaper block and knock the edge off round the top - sanding it back has left it very "sharp" anyway, so I suspect it will wear - so I thought I could knock off enough to go through the stain.... might be a challenge at the bottom cutout though...

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3 minutes ago, RichardH said:

Ah, I don't know the proper nomenclature of these things - I thought the SE just meant the far east models.... no, the top is definitely maple, so it is probably a plain one.

PRS differentiates between the Standard 24 (I just looked it up, those are solid mahogany) and the Custom 24 (flamed maple top on the US models, flamed maple (or other exotic wood) veneer over a plain maple top on the SE's). By that logic, the one you're working on should be a Custom 24 that has lost its flamed veneer. 

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OK, did a bit last night...

Sanded back the black to try adding a burst, but don't think I left enough black round the edges

IMG_20210212_174446.thumb.jpg.b12aed7dc6776644ae1bee1819c00087.jpg

Thought I would do the back first, as it will be easier to hide the mistakes - so here it is immediately after the phthalo blue was applied. The black round the edges a bit feeble...

IMG_20210212_175052.thumb.jpg.91580f079e0613f94ebccc3ad37b9658.jpg

This morning after it had cured (and in different light/exposure of course)

IMG_20210213_080038.thumb.jpg.7d30318e54c9d5ac02327f3cfaf89731.jpg

....then I added some black round the edges, using a separate cloth to merge the black and blue as well I could

IMG_20210213_080758.thumb.jpg.18f1aa794f870b306886694b50b3891f.jpg

I found that I needed to apply a fair bit of pressure to get the colours to blend, which burnished things a bit. I am leaving it to cure now, then depending on how it looks, I will probably apply a bit more of the blue over the black to catch any gaps.... may need a bit more black in places to improve the fade up near the neck.

Edited by RichardH
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Decided to have a bit more of a bash... second application on the back

IMG_20210213_094555.thumb.jpg.d1a0a0b7668ae13cac9c2e771b7021d6.jpg

View from the workshop!

IMG_20210213_094634.thumb.jpg.bb08a8931d8763d4e5350661c5d2f662.jpg

...and a first application of the blue to the front. My sanding of the initial black coat seems to have been more successful... we'll see how it looks once cured.

IMG_20210213_094915.thumb.jpg.93165a4f53544db14e123f166a57d464.jpg

 

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  • 3 months later...

All done, finally. Kept going with the oil, then finished with a few coats of renaissance wax. I added indicators to the wooden knobs with a bit of cocktail stick. The guitarist had given me some Seymour Duncans to install in place of the original PRS pickups, so had to re-jig the wiring, but that went OK - the single coil settings on the push/pull knob sound decent, and the volume is pretty even whichever pickup(s) are selected, so job done!

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image.thumb.png.37cbad8ff592ea98192c4848ecef7e8d.png

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