$100 Local Materials Challenge, Eddie McRae, Grand Auditorium Cutaway Acoustic

[Eddie McRae]

Thanks. I finished up with the spraywork on them a few days ago so after a little cure time, they'll be ready to setup. I decided to go with a 2-tone tobacco-ish burst finish on both of them. I was very happy with how they turned out. This is a pic of one of them.

[Steve Senseney]

They looked nice before, and it looks even better now!

I always have trouble making one guitar look good, and you did 2!

[Eddie McRae]

Thanks Steve. In all reality, I actually built 3 guitars during the challenge time frame....the 2 acoustics and also a custom LP-type that I started on April 7. I used the same finish on the LP as well so I sprayed them all at the same time. This picture doesn't do the finishes any justice at all as my digital camera doesn't do well under flash but here they are.....hanging to cure.

[Mark Swanson]

They look Great Eddie! You have a tight edge to your burst, what type of gun do you spray it with? By "tight" mean that you are able to darkly burst the edges of the neck while leaving a light section in the middle of the neck.

[Eddie McRae]

Thanks Mark. I've actually got somewhere around 10 guns in the shop. Coming from an automotive paint background, I've accumulated quite a few over the years. The main ones that I use though are as follows:
Sharp Cobalt Gravity HVLP (1.4 needle)
Binks Touchup Gun (non-HVLP)
Binks #7 (non-HVLP)
Binks Wren Airbrush setup

For the majority of my burst finishes...including the guitars here.....I mainly just use the Sharp and the Binks Touchup gun. I can dial the Binks down to a very tight pattern and when spraying the bursts, really concentrate tightly on the very edges to build darkness before I actually open it up a bit and allow some inward blending overspray for the burst. When I need a really tight and small burst around the very edge such as a very thin black edging, I'll use the Binks Wren most of the time. It's slower but provides the small, tight pattern that I need for that purpose. From there, it's really just a matter of gun angle. To get a very dark edge, alot of times I'm angling the gun outward and the majority of the spray material is actually missing the guitar. But since I'm almost dry-spraying in these cases, it's not a big waste. One other thing I'll mention that helps to give me good results......when I'm done with my bursting, I don't allow any drying time. I immediately burn it in with several heavy coats of reduced clear. Doing this helps to melt the blending in before it's had time to cure/harden and leave a textured finish.

[Mark Swanson]

Wow, you have got that down!

[Patrick DeGreve]

These are just beautiful! Thanks for the new pictures and the discription of your burst tecniques. I havn't done a burst on a guitar yet, something to try. I love the design, and the execution is flawless. Simply wonderfull guitars They are the BEST!

[Eddie McRae]

Thank you Patrick! You did a great job yourself. I absolutely love the back on that acoustic you built for the challenge! Beautiful!

[Ron Daves]

Eddie: I'd love to see more pics of your project. Looks like you used local woods and did not worry about whether or not they were quarter sawn? More pics, please. Love all your jigs and fixtures. I've built a bender, templates, holding fixture, scarf cutter and all kinds of other "shtuff" for building the three instruments I've made. All that stuff was fun. Making mistakes on the final product wasn't.

[Eddie McRae]

Thanks. Here's the link that shows the two of them after they were finished.
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set= ... 318&type=3