Applause refinish

[mtdmind]

looking forward to the results!

[Dougrun]

latest, the rosette hangs over the ugly uneven edge so today i brushed the underside with clear to harden it before i start clear coating Wednesday. long way to go still.

[mtdmind]

Looking good. This has an aluminum fretboard?

[Dougrun]

yes, the action is ok but getting worse. I used to wail on it as a kid playing. they dont make fret covers do they?

[Dougrun]

latest. 3 clear coats in.

[mtdmind]

It certainly looks better. Makes a good slide guitar? I have a strat copy with action that is a little high. Can't seem to bring it down. It's awesome for slide.

[Dougrun]

i do have 2 shims in the saddle at the bridge i can remove, haven't tried that yet.

[mtdmind]

Would standard saddles fit in the bridge slot?

[Dougrun]

unknown, ive never played with tuning the action on any guitar. they are 3" wide and 3mm thick

[mtdmind]

Most I see are 72mm x 3 mm x 9mm

[Dougrun]

update: still applying clear coats. I'm re-masking after every 2-3 coats. My next strategy is to smooth out the edges where it meets the plastic binding. Not sure that if I brush it there, it will alter the metallic look versus the spray on the rest of it. Maybe brush to build it up, then spray to finish after ultra fine masking it? Can I lacquer the binding or will it not stick? I was planning on either leaving the binding plain or having an artist friend use acrylic on it.

[Cecil6243]

Dougrun,

For some reason I can't see your pictures?

Did the cracks in your applause originally look like this? This one is 35 plus years old .

[Dougrun]

hmm, pics work on all my browsers. no, mine were worse. you can view them by pasting this in browser and increasing the number.. ap2, etc..
https://www.phototiming.com/dl/ap1.jpg

[Dougrun]

latest. starting to fill in the area. will be a lot of lacquer but i'll wet sand and buff later. Maybe 2-3 more coats

[Dougrun]

final coat tonight. there were lots of runs and uneven coats it kind of lends itself to the "liquid metallic" look i was going for. I'll wait a month and then test it with strings, then decide whether or not to sand/buff, leave it, or make it a decoration.