Stuart - Yes, I did want to draw a fair amount from the 1959 burst, and I wanted the burst to look more like one did when new, not a new one made to look like a 50 year old guitar. I love the tea bursts and other variations, but that isn't what I wanted in this one. I debated about mimic'g the logo on the '59 headstock and actually got a decal for the Les Paul Model script. I put the script on, shot a coat of lacquer over it and asked myself, "Who am I kidding?" So I took it off. The headstock is fashioned on a Gibson, but has a nice two ply laminate rather than paint, and of course, it has my logo. The truss rod cover will be a replica of a '59, and the pickup switch, jack plate, and pup rings all have the vintage vibe. The knobs are not the bell knobs--another intentional diversion. So I guess it is a personalized version of a Gibson burst. Regarding the pups, I have quite a few electrics, but I have never swapped out pickups. Not sure why. So I can't say that I am that well educated on pickups. What I wanted was something a little clearer and brighter in the neck and something a tad hotter at the bridge than what I have in my 57R. I talked with Paul at Bluefish, local guitar shop owner, did some poking around the web, and decided to go with this combination, and had Paul order them for me. So far I am liking the combination. I'll probably get with my buddies to play sometime in the next few weeks, and I'll try it out with the band.
Filippo - Thanks! I have seen a lot of bursts where it looks like a big tear drop template was held a few inches off the body and the burst sprayed, which I am not a big fan of. I have also seen bursts where the dark colors go too far into the center for my liking. As I approached this one, my goal was to avoid both of those. I also wanted the color transition to be totally imperceptible, that is no visible line. I thought I had it until I took pictures. The pictures do show a bit of a transition line (most visible at the waist) that is very difficult to see in person. As I hadn't done a burst before, I dug out the flamed maple sides from the OLF SJ I cracked a couple of years ago and used those for practice. I used a technique I found on the Fine Woodworking site to lay down the colors by hand. I first applied Transtint Lemon Yellow to the entire top. After this I used Bright Red to get the top the orange color I was looking for while also darkening up the perimeter. I worked the Bright Red in from the perimeter, darkening the outer edges as I worked toward the center. I was very careful to keep the orange around the center from getting too dark. Lastly, I mixed some Bordeaux with the Bright Red and hit the very out edge of the perimeter. Once I was happy with it, I let it dry then shot a couple of coats of Targets EM1000 over the top. I then mixed some Bright Red, Bordeaux, and Black in the EM1000 and sprayed the perimeter. I actually used two color mixes, one being such a dark wine as to almost be black at the very edge, and a bit lighter version just inside that. I tried to keep the lighter side of the spray from extending much beyond 1.5 to 2" from the edge. When it was all sprayed, I thought the top was a little too brightly colored, so I mixed some Honey Amber with some EM6000 and shot two coats over the entire guitar, front and back (I did exclude the headstock laminate as I didn't want to tint the logo). That amber gave me the exact effect I was after! I had a pic of a guitar in The Beauty of The Burst (Page 75 of the book if you have it) that I was trying for. In the end I got close, but the Bordeaux I used gives my burst a bit of a red wine coloration not seen in the burst in the book. It is still a keeper, though!
Ken
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