Official Luthiers Forum!

Just starting to think about finish options and I was wondering about the 'Black Cherry' finish used on Schecters for the wings. I do love my Black walnut but I feel like I need to spice things up a bit. I will be using Bloodwood knobs and tunning buttons with my bloodwood fretboard so I think it's a bit of a red theme comming through Also all the hardware will be black and it will be loaded with emgs. I have put up the youtube link to my build if it helps.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNzUTglqV_g

General wipe on polyurethane would really spice up the color of the walnut.
Use the Arm R Seal before.
It darkens walnut nicely!
Bloodwood too!
Or do whatever ya want!

Have you seen this thread??
viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=36022&start=0
One of the nicest black cherry finishes I've seen.

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Dave
Milton, ON

No I hadn't seen that one and your very right about that finish it is truly stunning! I would personally like it a bit darker but i still can't decide if it would ruin my guitar . I've put a picture of the front Nice N' Wet so you can see the natural colours.

The kind of look I was after.

Well, IMO the bloodwood changes everything & might cause the whole thing to look better in natural colours.
Your could always open your image in an image editing program (paint.net or similar), outline the body only & play the hue to see if you like it.

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Dave
Milton, ON

Yeah I might have a red overkill - Time for some photoshop mockups I guess?

I am seriously digging this guitar! The horns are a good shape and the carves on the horns are very Schecterish. And the control-area carve is cool.

Wow, thank you!

I'm 16 and i'm just getting started on building (properly) and this is my maiden voyage. Also I have decided against the black cherry on account of having a bloodwood fretboard, bloodwood tuning knobs and control knobs. I did a photoshop mockup and soon realised i have a bit of a red fetish. So thanks to everyone for all the postive input and I'm going to get a clear finish sprayed professionally so I don't 'cock up' all my hard work; I'll try and post a picture up on here when it's finished. Right now i'm radiusing my fretboard and palnning a LP themed triple/mini production line build.

Just a quick picture of my heel contour so far (I LOVE IT)

I like the design, nice job on the guitar.
I too am an early starter, I am 15 and I'm nearly finished my third and fourth builds.

Oil based polyurethane would be nice.
Great design btw,
and bloodwood looks really good with koa, and walnut.
It will tone down with an oil based finish.
Don't use water based!

Do lots of tests on some scrap walnut and mess with it a bit. If nothing else it's fun to experiment. Great looking guitar! Very impressive for a young builder as yourself! Keep up the good work!

Honestly, getting that kind of cherry translucent finish requires judicious use of stains and a light colored wood as a base (maple, alder, ash), or at the very least a wood that's in the same or complementary color family (reddish). Walnut is none of these things.

Wow, I didn't expect that much advice!

It's really nice for me to get so much help and to be complimented; it really made my day.

I'm going to go with a thin clear gloss nitro finish and I will Oil my bloodwood control knobs, tuner heads and fretboard.

In regards to the schecter-ish shape I really do love the look of schecters. However anything with pastic control covers and a 'photo-lam top' to me is just a complete insult with the extortionate prices they like to charge. This is the reason I build my own.