How DO you do a Gold top?

[Wayne Roy]

Hey guys -

I used to come here a lot, but haven't been around for a while. I recently have been doing mostly more assembly than real building. Lots of Fender and Fender-like builds. Not so much starting with plain wood and ending up with an instrument.

But I just got bored/intrigued enough to start another project and didn't want to skip as many steps this time. I'm still skipping some, sure. Just fewer.

This one will eventually be a PRS style guitar. I bought a body and neck that had already been CNC'ed into pretty much the right shapes and routed for pickups and controls. It just needs the neck glued in place, the bridge studs properly installed, a metric buttload of sanding, more of the same assembly-type finishing up as the parts guitars I've been doing...and a finish.

Notice how when you read the words "and a finish" it sounded deep and ominous and thunder rumbled in the background? Yeah. That's my fault.

I've never done one of the classic cool guitar finishes myself. Naturals are fine. Even somewhat amber tinted basically naturals are okay.

I've never done a sunburst. I just bought already 'bursted bodies if I wanted one before. This time I was gonna do it. I was going to do a sunburst and end up with one of those glorious looking PRS style amber-to-black-so-it-looks-like-a-cats-eye-marble finishes. I was terrified but anxious.

Then it arrived.

And, well...crap.

Technically I got what the vendor said in the ebay ad. It's a mahogany body with a maple top. And there is a separate mahogany neck with already fretted fingerboard. But my issue was with the body. The top isn't joined on the centerline. And it's flamed on one side of the top, but not the other.

Off centered and one side plain doesn't get a "Look at me!" sunburst. It gets a "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain." solid finish. At first I was thinking plain white. I could do that. I even considered something in the Sonic Blue/Seafoam Green range.

After a bit of thought, I got around to goldtops.

Gold tops are pretty awesome. But I always thought of them as a fairly advanced guitar finish, certainly beyond my abilities.

But is it really? How hard are they? Is a gold top doable for a finishing newb?

Where can I find a good tutorial? How do current PRS and '50's Gibson do the rest of the body with a goldtop? I went to my local guitar stores and the only goldtop Les Pauls I found had black backs. I don't think I remember that being the way on earlier ones I'd seen. Currently I'm thinking metal flake gold, like automotive paint for the top, masked off natural maple to serve as binding (Remember, PRS design.) and reddish brown stain on the mahogany of the back and neck. Maybe I'll put an overlay on the headstock. I haven't decided.

But the car paint, or however it's done part worries me.

Help, please.

[Dave Stewart]

Select MIMF Library forum & search the library for "Gold top" (with quotes).... several threads of interest ... sounds like metallic powder is the key.
Also, get a copy of Stewmacs "Guitar Finishing step by step"............. it has a recipe and instructions for the Gibson gold top finish.

[Michael Lewis]

The trick will be to get an even appearance in the metallic paint. The tiny metallic particles tend to flow with the medium they are in, and that means it can look different where it is thin, or dry, or in sags and runs too, and this effect can not be sanded out, only sanded off and start again.

Metallic particles in your spray gun will be rather difficult to completely clean out. Most shops use one gun just for metallic finishes and the other guns never get any metallic in them. Just a couple thoughts.

[Todd Stock]

1. Sand to 320
2. Seal with four coats of 50/50 gloss lacquer; sand between coats and shoot for a final coat that can be wet sanded to 400
3. Using a jam gun (Harbor Freight has one that - with 20% discount and on sale - can be dedicated to this one task), shoot four to six light coats of color...mix 2 ounces of Creslite #256 GreenGold bronze powder to 8 ounces of gloss lacquer, then thin 60/40... if the coat is not pretty much perfect, sand back to level and reshoot. Constantly agitate the lacquer in the cup to keep the powder from clumping, and empty/clean the cup after each coat, doing a good mix of the lacquer/powder mix each time.
4. Shoot two coats of 50/50 to set the toner and scrape the bindings when the lacquer has set up enough to give a clean edge
5. Shoot 90/10 gloss to 5 mil dry thickness, paying attention to getting enough lacquer on the binding area to allow a flush sand-out.
6. Dry 10 days in drying box/21 days ambient and sand out/buff

If a refinish, remember that any ambling of lacquer needs to be replicated on the edges of the bindings...usually a quick job with a good airbrush. I also shot two 75/25 coats of amber toner top to match the very amber remaining lacquer on this refinish.

[David King]

Hi Todd,
Great info there, just to be clear about your percentages, the proportions are lacquer/thinner?

[Todd Stock]

Yes...but keep in mind that different lacquers can require different thinning schedules, so adjust for what you see with your particular lacquer finishing system...Mohawk/Behlens and McFaddens/Seagraves work for me with the indicated lacquer/thinner combinations using a Harbor Freight or Buffalo (old) jam gun and my Fuji T-75G/MM-4 turbine.

[Peter Wilcox]

Pardon my ignorance, but what is a "jam gun" versus other spray guns? Is that for doing auto door jams? How are they different?

[Barry Daniels]

Yes, it is for door jambs (sp). They are about half to two thirds the size of a full size gun.

[Peter Wilcox]

Thanks Barry. I assume that means the spray pattern is half to two thirds the size, not the volume it holds. So this one I am using is probably a jam gun?

http://www.harborfreight.com/air-tools/ ... o-top-link

[Todd Stock]

Terminology is 'touchup gun' in the HF catalog...sorry! While an HVLP gun will work, high pressure (conventional) guns go a better job with this pigment. Try this for link to the HF gun I use for the job (I also have a pretty decent US-made jamb gun from the '80's, but hate to use that for the job, as you will never get the pigment completely out of the gun):

http://www.harborfreight.com/touch-up-a ... 66871.html