Baja Tele Refinish Experiment

[itchyfingers]

As you may be aware, Fender tried to compete with Gibson back in the 60's by introducing the pink paisley and blue floral finishes on Teles and Strats, thinking the hippies would go nuts. Most didn't and guitar shops ended up having too much inventory of these types and in many cases wound up painting over the original finish in something more palatable / sellable.

A few days ago, I saw this insane Tele that came out of the Fender Custom Shop. Lake Placid Blue (my second favorite Fender finish) over Blue Floral (my favorite Fender finish) relic. Insta-boner. Man, I have to have this guitar. Unfortunately, they want close to 5 grand for it. So in a moment of weakness/stupidity/bravado, I though to myself "self, you can make one just as good at home!" So I finally bought that Floral Tele Body from Stratosphere that has been in my watch list for over a year. Got some ReRanch primer and LPB nitro rattlecans en route to the house. I've got a 3 way switch wiring harness also en route from Emerson Custom. Trying to win some auctions on a mint guard. The rest of the parts and pieces will be scavenged from my Baja; its got a good bit of natural wear, so it will make the relic process simple if I can figure out how to get the body right...

My plan is to sand down the new body - down to the wood on some edges, but I think I'll just rough up the top n back with 600 grit sandpaper so the primer has something to grip, and definitely not wanting to sand through any of the floral print on the top or back. Essentially, I'll be spraying nitro on poly, which shouldn't have any unwanted effects from my limited research, but we'll see! At that point I plan to prime it, wait for it to cure, then spray it with the LPB. Once that's cured, I'm going to throw some tools at the edges to get some chipping, sand in a bit of forearm wear. Then I am going to try doing some freeze-thaw's using the -80C freezer at work. I don't know if the finish will check, nitro on wood will certainly check, but I'm guessing that the poly basecoat on the floral body will adapt to the temp changes. If it is possible then this method is the way to bring the checking out. At that point, I am unsure whether to hit it with clear coats or just leave it exposed to introduce some honest wear.

I'm pretty much just stream of consciousness writing this post at the moment. Any experience, tips, or suggestions you have would be awesome.

Oh, here's what we're aiming for...

[ajaxlepinski]

Good luck with the project! That actually looks pretty cool

Don't forget to post like of pics as you progress. Should make for a good thread!

[Walt]

Fuck....good call on the objective.
Sick guitar.
Like Ajax say, would like to see pics of this progress.

[mortatone]

[Ostinato Rubato]

Oh my. That is particularly cool.

[Tortuga]

holey fuck, man - this gonna be awesome to watch

[clipless bumper]

good luck with the project!!!


where do you work that you have an -80°C freezer???
(-112°F?!?!?!!!!!)

[ajaxlepinski]

where do you work that you have an -80°C freezer???
(-112°F?!?!?!!!!!)

Sperm Bank?

[itchyfingers]

Thanks GABbronies.

I will definitely do another build thread like I did with the Esquire. In the meantime, I have a great reason to clean up my workbench as these parts begin to roll in.

[fretless]

want

[itchyfingers]

where do you work that you have an -80°C freezer???
(-112°F?!?!?!!!!!)

Sperm Bank?

That's my "other" job, Brian.

mams, its an IVD company. We need to keep blood samples frozen at that temp to keep the specimens stable.

On a related note, the floral body came in last night. Unfortunately, the floral print is not the original wall paper that Fender used and doesn't have the reflective silver in it. Its like a photo transfer to some blue cloth, but no shinies... Le sad. Oh well, I'm just gonna cover most of it anyway.

[itchyfingers]

A few parts have rolled in.

The body. Got this from Stratosphere, its an AllParts licensed body. Not real stoked about this, tbh. It appears that the pattern is correct, but instead of being on metallic silver wallpaper, the print was placed on blue cloth. Here it is up against my Japanese Fender Floral Tele bass, way too blue!


I'm going to need to figure out a way to green this thing up in the end.

Here is the organ donor, aka the Baja Tele. I've been playing the hell out of this guitar since at least 2010. Really dig the Twisted Tele and Broadcaster pickups, not a fan of the 4-way S1 switching. It has some decent wear on the neck, and some nice pitting / discoloration to the metal parts, but that poly body is basically bulletproof. With the exception of the body, pickguard, and wiring harness - I'll be scavenging everything off this guitar.


Next up, deconstructing the Baja and some experimentation with nitrocellulose lacquer.

[mortatone]

Hmm.., I'm thinking that if you take a clear coat of some kind and add a little odd green color to it until it gets just the right amount of tint and then spray all over the guitar before doing your top coat color. That might also serve to give an extra layer of relic effect. Like in the areas where the top color is worn through you can have the tinted green color showing and then in some places chip it all the way back down to the original body print or even all the way to wood. Just thinking out loud...

[itchyfingers]

Hmm.., I'm thinking that if you take a clear coat of some kind and add a little odd green color to it until it gets just the right amount of tint and then spray all over the guitar before doing your top coat color. That might also serve to give an extra layer of relic effect. Like in the areas where the top color is worn through you can have the tinted green color showing and then in some places chip it all the way back down to the original body print or even all the way to wood. Just thinking out loud...

I like where you're headed with this line of thinking, Jeff. I was thinking that some ReRanch Neck Amber (yellow clear) sprayed over that blue should result in some type of greenish hue.

As I said, I have lots of experimentin' to do!