Thinline Cabronita: Wired and Making Noise!

Well, she's finally finished - the Ash Surf-abilly Thinline Cabronita. I'm very, very happy with the final results - much better than I ever imagined that they would be. The seafoam green flames over the Bali green base work really nicely, and give a nod to the rockabilly set. All that chrome hardware from GFS also works nicely too, as does the retro Cabronita pickguard.

The seafoam and Bali greens are very difficult to photograph. Depending on the light, the photo you end up with is either a washed out olive green, or a light blue like the photos below. You'll just have to take my word for it - this baby looks seafoam in the flesh. That is to say, really bloody awesome!

As usual, the acrylic clear coats came up beautifully. The White King spray cans of gloss acrylic really are the easiest way to get a beautiful gloss finish on your axe - I cannot recommend them highly enough.

While the Thinline retains the classic lines of the Telecaster, the semi-hollow body removes most of the weight, resulting in a guitar that is very easy to handle. The body resonates really nicely too and you can almost play it like a hollow body (almost). Certainly there's a deal more noise coming from the guitar than a straight solid body Ash Telecaster.

All in all, I'd have to say that the Thinline Cabronita is very nearly the perfect guitar. Doing away with the control plate, it's got super-cool looks, it feels nice and light in the hands while remaining balanced on the strap, and it sounds really great unplugged. And with a couple of GFS Mean 90s on board, the package is even better!

These pickups sound really nice in clean mode - delivering just enough single coil twang for surf and rockabilly riffs. When you crank up the distortion, the pickups meet the challenge head on and really live up to their "mean" moniker. These babies rocks as hard as the best of them! So too, the xTrem tremolo from GFS is a really nice addition. It has a nice fluid feel, and combined with the roller bridge and roller string trees, doesn't seem to create any tuning stability problems. All in all a great little package that I'm having a hard time putting down!

Cabronita Thinline: Clear Coats & Assembly

After a few sessions baking under the IR lamp, the chemical smell has finally gone from the White King Acrylic clear coats and my Surf-abilly Thinline Cabronita is finally ready for its final cut and polish! As usual I started the process with a good wet-sand with 1500 grit, wet and dry paper. It took a while, but finally all the orange peel was removed and the surface was nice and matte with no shiny low spots. With this complete, I moved up to 2000 grit. After all the effort required to level all the orange peel with 1500, the 2000 took no time at all and the surface really started to take on a shine.

With the wet-sanding completed down to 2000 grit, it was time to cut and polish with Meguiars Ultimate Compound. This is when the shine really starts to deepen! After two passes with the compound - rubbing it in with small circular motions and then wiping it off - the surface looked amazing. There's no visible height transition between the flames and the background colour (the surface is completely flat) and the shine is awesome.

First pass with Meguiars Ultimate Compound.

With the polishing complete it was time for the long awaited assembly. The pre-drilled screw holes made it a snap to re-attach the neck and get the bridge and tremolo locked down without marring the finish at all.The pickups required a bit of finagling to get them lined up and screw holes drilled, but it was finally managed.

Hardware went back on like a dream.

Neck is still straight, with the strings running nicely from the tremolo,
over the bridge to the nut.

All that is left for me to do now to get the body finished is to cut a new pick guard out of plain white 3-ply material (the kit came with black) and to finish the wiring using shielded wire. Even with the bridge flat on the deck the strings are a good 5mm away from the 22nd fret, so the neck will need a shim before I do a fret level and complete the other setup tasks. First though - get this bad boy making noise! Can't wait to hear these GFS Mean 90s in action.

Cabronita Thinline: Hot Rod Flames

OK, it's decided - subtle hot rod flames it is for the Thinline Cabronita. Here's how I go about adding simple flames to a paint job. Caveat: please remember that I am an amateur who knows very little about the art of spray painting, airbrushes or anything of the like. This is a very simple approach that I have found that I can handle with my limited skills and the tools at my disposal!

Enough of the caveat, let's get to it! The first step it to take my design and transfer it on to a sheet of artists frisket. I have found that it's a good idea to trace it as thin as possible to avoid any errors during cutting.

Tracing my original flames design onto a piece of artists frisket

The next step is to cut out the design using a combination of scissors and a craft blade. This is the toughest part of the process and it can be very hard at times to create a nice smooth line. There are many places on this effort where my blade work was not up to snuff, but we can only do out best!

Cutting around the outline to leave the flames only.

Once the design is cut out, the backing is removed and the design is stuck down to the surface. There's not much danger of the frisket removing the original paint as it's usually very low tack (sometimes too low tack!).

The front design is peeled away from the backing and stuck down.

The back design is exactly the same as the front.

Once the frisket is stuck down on all 4 sides, any remaining areas are masked off with painters tape and butcher's paper. Be careful not to stick the tape to the original paint (it usually isn't low tack!) and also make sure you don't miss a spot! Taking the masking off only to reveal a spot of paint you didn't intend is a real prick let me tell you!

Additional areas are masked with butchers paper and painters tape.

With the additional masking complete, the new colour can be put down. This colour will become the new background colour - leaving the existing colour for the flames. I find that 2 coats should be more than enough to get even colour coverage but not create a large height difference between flame and background.

For my new background colour, I'm using MTN94 Bali Green. It's the next grade in the turquoise (seafoam green?) colour chart. I think it looks pretty good and will provide a subtle contrast to the MTN94 Luminous Green used for the flames.

The flame colour (left) is the original MTN94 Luminous Green.
The body colour (right) will be MTN94 Bali Green.

And so, after two coats of Bali Green the masking was ready to come off. I'm pretty happy with the results! The actual colour isn't quite as blue as it appears here. I managed to get all the frisket off without tearing the new paint. Gently does it!!

The front and under-edge with the frisket removed.

The back and top-edge with the frisket removed.

The body is now hanging in my bathroom under the IR lamp, getting ready for Acrylic clear coats. I can't wait to see this baby all assembled. Once the paint is cured I might do a sneak peak assembly to see how she is looking!

Postscript 08/04/2015:
Got the hardware on to the body for a quick peek - I just couldn't help myself!

A sneak peak with the chrome hardware. Looking great!

 

Cabronita Thinline: Hot Rod Flames?

I've been looking hard at the Thinline Cabronita build over the last few days with its large expense of seafoam green and only a very small pickguard.

That's a lot of green maybe?

Of course there's lashings of chrome to go on there too, but maybe, just maybe, there's a little too much seafoam. My Surf Monster Telecaster, which I absolutely love, used exactly the same shade of MTN94 paint, but nearly half is covered in pickguard! I'm slowly coming to the conclusion that this Cabronita might need something else.

So the question is what? I've been browsing the interwebs looking at racing stripes and other simple paint modifications, but nothing in that area seems to speak to me. Really, given the decided rockabilly-surf-crossover vibe of this build, wouldn't hot rod flames be the go? If you're not a fan of the rockabilly scene and the style it brings, then maybe flames might seem a bit tacky, but I kinda have a soft spot for them. To be honest, I think they worked really well on my son's BC Rich Avenge build - even if I do say so myself. Maybe I could give them another go?

Here's my first go at a concept for the paint job. I've sketched around the pickguard, but have ignored the placement of pickups, bridge and tremolo.

Hot Rod flames concept art ready for frisket if the mood takes me.

In terms of colour, I'm not thinking of anything nearly as drastic as with the Avenge paint job. I was thinking that this time around I could do a a very subtle flame made up of the current body colour, with a background colour only one shade darker.

Here's some colour quickly splashed over my concept art using photoshop. Of course the black edges around the flames would not be there in the final paint job. What do you think?

White or black pickguard? Black looks good with the outlines flames but..

I'm liking the idea, but I'm still not sold. I'm going to ruminate on this for a few days and see how I'm feeling after that.. I've got some MTN94 Bali Green in the post, so maybe a test or two with that will make my mind up for me.

BC Rich Avenge - The Beast Roars!

Well, Eben and I put the finishing touches on the BC Rich Avenge kit today. The chrome hardware looks awesome against the blue metallic paint, and the whole genre crossover lends this guitar a much more engaging look than just your standard black metal monster etc.

For those about to rock..!

Eben couldn't be happier with his new axe. I must admit that, while the whole BC Rich metal thing is not really my style, the finished guitar looks absolutely spectacular hanging with my others. Unbelievably so. The hot-rod flames came up a treat, and I think the colours that Eben chose were perfect for the design. I can't think of any other combation that would have worked as well.

   

The Entwistle HBX pickups sound absolutely awesome through my overdriven Fender Reverb amp, and I would again recommend Entwistle pickups to anyone in the market for an affordable option to their stock offerings. Surrounded by chrome rings, these pickups look the shit and sound it!

On the negative side, I must say that I'm not too impressed with the Minwax wipe-on poly, at least for guitar applications. It may have been because we didn't allow adequate curing time, or that we simply didn't put enough coats on (although we did close to 20 by my estimation), but the poly seems to chip at the slightest bump, an lifts when drilling through it. Not at all what I had expected.

In conclusion, I am very happy with the build. The original kit from Pitbull was of high quality and fit together perfectly without the need for neck shims, or any kind of body or cavity modification. Whilst we had to do the paint job twice, (maybe one day I'll have a build with no do-overs) it came out much better than expected for a noobish first attempt at flames. With a fret level and re-crown the action on the guitar is sweet. The only thing it is lacking is a new bone nut.

To be honest, the result is so damn good (not to blow my own trumpet or anything ;) ), that I'm now planning a future telecaster build for myself with exactly the same flame paint job. Keep your eyes peeled for that one!

BC Rich Avenge - Hardware Going On!

We got most of the way with the hardware today on Eben's monster. We chose flat chrome humbucker rings (my favourites as regular readers would know) to compliment the existing chrome hardware, and to increase the amount of bling given the large expanses of blue we have created here.

All that's left now is to string it up, set the action and intonation, and let her rip. Stay tuned for completion pictures and an assessment of the Entwistle HVX pickups!

BC Rich Avenge - Shielding & Pickups

A little more progress on the BC Rich Avenge build with my son Eben this weekend. We managed to get the top and back wet sanded and buffed (although not as nicely as I would have liked - this poly is not behaving itself, and patience is not a 9 year old's virtue) and also got the pickup cavities shielded.

After shielding, we grounded the bridge and installed the pickups with their chrome surrounds. The pickups are the Entwistle HVX which I have read rave reviews about. I was looking at some Entwistle soapbars for another project a few weeks ago, and my son saw the HVX's and had to have them (go figure). Anyway they look great and I'm sure will sound awesome. I would have preferred Entwistle Darkstar pickups on this particular project (given the thrasher motif) but I was overruled.

 

Anyway, things are nearing completion. Just the neck to go on and the control cavity to do. We have already had plenty of fun soldering up the wiring harness, so that can just drop in now. Sounds like next weekend's project!

BC Rich Avenge - The Custom Decal

Still getting the layers of poly onto the BC Rich rockabilly death metal thrashmeister. The poly is taking roughtly 24 hours for each coat to dry, so it's a long plodding process with few results to report. In the meantime, Eben could not wait to put his custom decal on the headstock. So, executive decision made, we went ahead and applied the sucker!

The result is not quite centered - it's a tiny bit off to the right - but it still looks awesome. Eb is very happy with the result. A couple more coats of poly over the top and the headstock will be ready for a rough wet-sand and polish. This bad boy is going to look awesome when it's finally assembled!

BC Rich Avenge - Poly, Poly, Poly

Slow progress on the rockabilly death metal beast that is Eben's hot-rod flamed guitar. We are in the process of applying layers of Minwax wipe-on poly in between homework, music lessons and other after school activities.

I gotta say though, this wipe-on poly is the shit man. It's basically idiot proof - goes on easily with a piece of old tshirt, doesn't seem to run or misbehave, and dries in 24 hours ready for the next coat. A little 0000 steel wool gets rid of any little greebles that may have settled on the surface in between.

We are trying to get to about 10 coats before we finally wet-sand and polish this bad-boy with Stewmac polishing compounds. More updates to come!

BC Rich Avenge - Respray with Drop Shadows

To fix our little issue on the back of the guitar (damn you frisket sheets!) we basically had to do a complete re-spray of the guitar from the primer up. This included the tracing and cutting of  new frisket sheets, spraying new colour coats, and for the first time - I overcame my fear of the airbrush to create black drop shadows for the flames.

Front

Back

The fix is definitely a big improvement in the paint job, and the drop shadows really make the flames pop! My son couldn't be happier with the result. Now it's time to get out the Minwax poly and get some layers of poly on this sucker.

BC Rich Avenge - The Frisket is Off

Owing to a skills shortage (mine), my plans to paint a drop shadow behind the flames using an airbrush fell by the wayside today. What that means is that with mounting excitement we could remove the frisket from the body to reveal the flames underneath.  

 

All went smoothly until we realized that the frisket on the back did not meet. There was a tiny gap left between the sheets, and a line of blue paint was visible. I dragged out the light blue paint and attempted a touch up. You can see the small strip of wet paint where the line was. if this doesnt work too well, i'll have to mask it off and attempt a better patch using the spray can.

Anyway, even with this little setback, my son is very happy with the results. Hopefully it's on to the Minwax wipe on poly tomorrow, unless I have to patch the aforementioned stuff up. To be honest, I don't think there's much chance of avoiding it. Oh well, them's the breaks.

BC Rich Avenge - A Splash of Colour, A Lick of Flame

Today we got the base colour coats on both the neck and the body. Both colours look great - very well chosen by my young assistant. We had a couple of lumps to contend with between coats (a result of uneven pressure on the nozzle from small fingers) but these were easily sanded off with 800 grit. Final coats look great.

After the first colour was dry on the body (this light colour will become the colour of the hot rod flames) it was time to cut out our frisket sheet and mask off our flame pattern.

The mask went on easily (not sure how easily it's going to come off however) and we re-sprayed over the top with our dark blue base colour. Remarkably, this coat went on without incident and looks like we'll have a nice single coat of paint from which to extract the frisket. I've used frisket before to mask off inlay, and let me tell you, after 4 layers of paint, the frisket becomes all but irretrievable! 

All that is left now is to airbrush a black drop-shadow on the edge of the flame mask to complete the effect. That's tomorrow's job after the blue coat is completely dry.

I have very high hopes for how this bad boy is going to turn out. My son can't wait to start wiping on the Minwax poly!

BC Rich Avenge - Sanding, Pore Filling, Grain Raising

More holiday fun yesterday as my son and I sanded the Avenge kit through successive sand paper grades from 260 through 320 to 400. This was all done primarily with the orbital sander. The old sanding block was only trundled out for the sides. It was then time to fill the pores. We used a slurry of Timbermate - a good Australian product - after the first round of 400 grit to achieve this.

The entire surface was covered with the mixture and pushed into the pores using t-shirt material rubbing in small circles against the grain. Excess was squeegeed off and allowed to dry.

A second sanding with 400 grit (now with sanding block only) returned the surface to its former glory. It was then time to continue on the sanding block to lightly go over the body first with 600 and then 800 grit. The final preparation before primer was to raise the grain using methylated spirits to soak the wood. Once dry, we rubbed the now stubbled surface against the grain with coarse weave cheese-cloth. The result was a guitar top that feels like glass :). The end-grain was a little more stubborn, requiring a lick of the 800 paper to smooth it. Can't wait to see how this baby comes up with a little colour sprayed on her!

BC Rich Avenge - A 9 Year Old's School Holiday Fun

Thinking ahead to the impending winter school holidays for my 9 year old son, I proposed to him that we tear him away from the xbox with a guitar finishing project of his very own. After perusing the pitbull guitars website for a few minutes, he immediately zeroed in on the Avenge style kit. Ok, so it isn't my cup of tea, but is there any better guitar to spark the interest of a 9 year old boy?

In no time the kit was here, nicely boxed and having survived the journey from Perth to Holgate NSW without dents or marks in the solid basswood body. Looks great and it's shaping up to be a great project.

First discussions over possible colours and other finishing options revealed a desire to paint the already out-there guitar with hot rod flames. Thinking outside the box - I like it!
Here is his original concept art - looks pretty cool if you as me!

A bit of searching the internet revealed this article from Moniker Custom Guitars with a reasonably straightforward approach to providing flames using two paint colours and a little masking. Sold! Perfect for our low-tech, no-skills approach. So with that decision out of the way, I dove straight into creating a flame mask for the Avenge guitar shape. Very excited to see how it turns out.

First step though, sanding - lots and lots of sanding. We plan on starting with 260 grit and then moving up through 360, 400 and 600. At 400 we'll grain-fill for maximum smoothness using a slurry of Timbermate. To combat the limited attention span of my young assistant's age group, I'm proposing we use the orbital sander on the top and back of the body to minimising the sanding time. He's pretty psyched, and I'd like to keep it that way!

We've got a whole 2 weeks to get done what we can, so better get going while interest is at its peak!