|
I've been testing new finish products for the past 8 months or so(It
is now January 8th, 2004). Last night, we saw the temperatures drop to
-38, so I tossed this guitar outside to test what is looking like the best
of the new finishes.
Here's the headstock, showing heavy frost on the tuners. The guitar was
brought in from the cold after 10 hours, and quickly brought back up to
room temperature.
In the real world, this would be considered heavy abuse, but I'm
pushing the envelope to see if the finish will crack or craze when going
from one extreme to the next.
|
Here, we see the frost on the sides and back. I had to brighten the photos
in order to better show the depth of the frost.
I made no attempts to wipe the frost from the guitar. I left it on its
own.
You can, however, see my thumb prints on the sides!
|
In this shot, the guitar is beginning to thaw, and we can see how
the frost is still heavy around the end block, where the extra mass will
hold the cold a bit longer. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
And here it is, all thawed and pretty! No visible damage so far. A very
good sign. This finish is very hard, and I was afraid it would be too
brittle. I'll repeat this test again at another date, but it does look
promising!
Nitrocellulose lacquer would have cracked and/or crazed in this
test by now. |
Looks pretty good, but it's only the beginning. I sanded and buffed it out
rather quickly, and there's much more gloss to be had. This is a very deep
shine, and very clear, and we're only half way there.
|
Even the larger surfaces of the top and back(the top proved to be
rather difficult to photograph, so I gave up) show no signs of any damage.
Cool!
(My apologies for the out of focus photos. We are in dire need of a new
camera. Ours' is still great up close, but for some reason, it refuses to
focus from a few feet away half the time)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Here we are, 9 months later.....Some of
the shots are of one side that has been re-polished, and the others of
the side that hasn't been toughed yet. The durability is great, but the
surface won't hold the gloss as well as I'd like, and needs to be
re-worked. But, in its defense, it has been much abused(see the above
photos <bg>). Perhaps a well cared for example will fair better.... |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
