The cherry red finish was applied over the gold. This is how they do candy apple red. It’s hard to show the real color in photos, but this is roughly what it looks like now.
Color!
Category: Guitar Stuff
Body Finish Finally Started!
This is the gold undercoat that the final color will be applied over. This has to set and dry and get sanded and whatnot before the color goes on, but at least the process is underway. Can’t wait to see it finished.
More neck pics
The neck and headstock have been polished and buffed and are looking great. Now I just need a guitar to attach it to!
More prep for applying the finish
Filler coats are being added to seal the grain. This involves spraying, sanding, and repeating that over and over until the grain is filled and the surface is smooth. After this process is finished, the base coats for the color finish will start being applied. I’m really looking forward to that part of the process.
First glance
Shin brought my sig guitar by for me to check out. It’s still very much a work in progress, but at least I got an idea of the weight and feel and could check out the profile on the neck. As great as it looks in pictures, it was much better in person. It far exceeded my expectations. I can’t wait for it to be finished. It will hopefully be done around the end of January.
Getting ready for finishing
The body and neck have been sanded, filler has been applied, and they were sanded again. It’s almost time to start the finishing process. It’s gonna be gorgeous!
Headstock
Shin has cut out the letters for the headstock and has started to inlay them. This is gonna look great!
Routed
The body is routed now and almost ready to start the finishing process. The pickup routs are angled slightly so that the tops of the pickups are parallel to the strings. This is the kind of attention to detail that you don’t see very often, but is typical of the amazing work done by Shin Ichikawa.
Coming Together
My new guitar is really starting to come together. It still needs some work on the neck and routing for the pickups, but it already looks like a guitar.
Neck Contour
The shaping of the neck contour is pretty much done. It’s roughly based on a ’59 Les Paul neck. It looks so comfortable, I can’t wait to play it.
