Monday, 21 April 2014

DLP Mandolin - 13 - Spraying a Sunburst

After chiseling the pickup I filled some of the edges where the laminate had chipped.  I could have used binding around the edges but I consider this a prototype so I decided not to bind the edges.  I had a large piece split between the pickup cavity and the neck but I was able to glue it back in place.


After a couple of rounds of filling I sanded the whole body with 180 grit and then 400 grit sandpaper.  I had put a couple of coats of sanding sealer on the whole body a few weeks ago.


My plan is to paint the pine on the sides and the neck black and then apply a sunburst on the front, back and headstock veneer. I want to leave the layers of the laminate showing on the side of the body so I carefully masked them off.


To make the sunburst effect I cut a piece of card and trimmed it slightly smaller than the body.  I then raised it above the body with several small nails pushed through the top of the card making it stand high enough to allow some overspray underneath to give a nice smooth transition.  I masked the neck and the face of the head.


After the front had dried I repeated the same thing on the back of the body.  The grain still shows through on the sides under the black spray.


After leaving the body to dry overnight I removed all the masking tape before the paint set too hard, hopefully avoiding the paint chipping on the edges.


I made a similar card mask for the head a gave that the same sunburst effect as the body.  I will leave this to dry thoroughly for a week or so before I mask the fretboard and apply lacquer.


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