That Ol' Time Sunburst Finish.

[Gilbert Fredrickson]

I am wondering if I can do a two color sunburst finish on a 00 sized guitar with two spray cans of Tobacco Brown, a can of Vintage Amber, a can of clear, and an undercoat of Zinzer Sanding Sealer. Wrote a song about it. Wanna hear it? Hear it goes. "Got some cans of lacquer, gonna paint up my ol' guitar, yeah,yeah, yeah-ah-ah. Thank you, very much." Oops, I seem to be channeling Calhoun Tubbs again.

[Mark Swanson]

I think you'll have enough of the amber and brown, but you may need more clear. And more cowbell, too.

[David King]

At least it's not all blues yet...

[Gilbert Fredrickson]

Indeed. With the shrinkage of the lacquer on the fairly well filled porous Khaya, I have needed two additional cans of clear. I need to follow the manufacture's recommendations more closely. However he burst is very nice. Like auto body and paint work, it is all in the preparation.

[Gilbert Fredrickson]

The pores are showing after many, many coats of lacquer. Maybe that vinyl seal coat was indeed needed after all. I have a can of the stuff ready for the next project. Perhaps I should use it over the finish on the sunburst and apply more lacquer of it. Maybe just another 5-6 coats of clear?

[David King]

What grain filler did you use? Once the grain is filled there shouldn't be much sinking of the finish.
Are you cutting back to the bottoms of the sunk areas when you sand before adding more coats?

[John Catto]

Probably closer to one can of Vintage Amber (or just straight yellow, this can be wiped on with a cloth full strength) 1/2 of a can of Tobacco brown (would be 1/8 other than the neck) and 3 cans of clear. Wipe the yellow, then seal, then spray 2 coats of lear then shoot the brown. Clearcoat to finish.


If you've got an airbrush shoot the brown with it.

[Gilbert Fredrickson]

Ah, the lacquer learning curve. Good, so far.