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Japanese American Warmoth JM - Painted with Fire

Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2017 8:35 am
by blurthelines
Thought I'd share my project Jazzmaster. This was heavily inspired by Copeland Guitars incredible work. The body was "painted" with a propane torch per the Shou Sugi Ban method. Finished with just 3 coats of Tru-Oil. This gives it a nice Semi Gloss finish but still feels like satin. This doesn't offer a ton of protection from dings but I play out once a month at the most. I am also inpatient and given the time of year I didn't want to have to wait a month for 10+ coats to cure.

Warmoth 1 Piece Alder Body
1984 (the year I started playing) MIJ Neck and Tremolo with customized Trem Arm
Warmoth Guard (of course)
Pickups and wiring from a TVL JM (minus the larger toggle)
Stay Trem Bridge

This was a ton of fun to do. Can't wait to do it again on a different body. Maybe tele next. Let me know what you think.

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"Painting" Complete

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Finish Complete

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Complete Complete

Re: Japanese American Warmoth JM - Painted with Fire

Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2017 11:11 am
by mcjt
VERY NICE!

Re: Japanese American Warmoth JM - Painted with Fire

Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2017 11:29 am
by hpr_hpr
Like it . . . I have been playing with the idea but the wife tells me that it'll have to be done outdoors . . . and the rainy season is starting here so maybe next year?

Re: Japanese American Warmoth JM - Painted with Fire

Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2017 12:42 pm
by Deed_Poll
Looks fantastic! Do you think with sanding in between "coats" (flame coats!) and a nitro finish you could get close to a "true" jet black? Or would the sanding go through the carbon, then would further burning bring back the relief in the wood grain?

I've been wondering about this as a subtle alternative to a solid black finish. I love the way yours looks.

Re: Japanese American Warmoth JM - Painted with Fire

Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2017 1:30 pm
by kosta
Good stuff! White pickup covers would look killer on that too. Really nice work!

Re: Japanese American Warmoth JM - Painted with Fire

Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2017 2:47 pm
by antisymmetric
Very cool idea, looks great. Thanks for sharing! 8)

Re: Japanese American Warmoth JM - Painted with Fire

Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2017 6:51 pm
by blurthelines
Thank's everyone, sincerely. I'm very pleased with how it turned out.
hpr_hpr wrote:Like it . . . I have been playing with the idea but the wife tells me that it'll have to be done outdoors . . . and the rainy season is starting here so maybe next year?
It's getting cooler out here too which is why I rushed the finish. I should've done more but it'll be fine through the winter. I may add a few more layers next year. The first thing to do is to get some scrap and get a feel for it. Don't need to wait till next year for that.

Deed_Poll wrote:Looks fantastic! Do you think with sanding in between "coats" (flame coats!) and a nitro finish you could get close to a "true" jet black? Or would the sanding go through the carbon, then would further burning bring back the relief in the wood grain?

I've been wondering about this as a subtle alternative to a solid black finish. I love the way yours looks.
Thank you. Well what I did was burn it pretty much black with a propane torch and then steel wool the char off. You could probably leave more of the char on or maybe wet sand it to push the soot into the grain. I originally wanted it much darker and I considered an ink based stain in the oil but the grain looked so good once the first layer of oil went on. I never noticed how much my forearm sticks to gloss finish until this. It's feels so much better. I want to sand my neck down to match it.

Re: Japanese American Warmoth JM - Painted with Fire

Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2017 6:53 pm
by blurthelines
kosta wrote:Good stuff! White pickup covers would look killer on that too. Really nice work!
Got some I thought about trying. I also have matching white witch hats from the TVL I might try on there with the white covers.

Re: Japanese American Warmoth JM - Painted with Fire

Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2017 7:40 pm
by ThePearDream
This looks awesome! I've seen a few other guitars finished this way, but none of them have looked this good.

Re: Japanese American Warmoth JM - Painted with Fire

Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2017 8:49 pm
by Embenny
blurthelines wrote:
kosta wrote:Good stuff! White pickup covers would look killer on that too. Really nice work!
Got some I thought about trying. I also have matching white witch hats from the TVL I might try on there with the white covers.
Oh, hells yes. That would look amazing!

I've never seen a guitar done like this. Really really cool!

Re: Japanese American Warmoth JM - Painted with Fire

Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2017 5:11 am
by blurthelines
ThePearDream wrote:This looks awesome! I've seen a few other guitars finished this way, but none of them have looked this good.
Thanx so much! Again, I have to give credit where credit is due, I never would have thought of doing this if I hadn't seen copelandguitarstx.com incredible work.

Re: Japanese American Warmoth JM - Painted with Fire

Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2017 7:26 am
by jjones
Very nice! Can't wait to experiment myself with this technique.

Re: Japanese American Warmoth JM - Painted with Fire

Posted: Sat Oct 21, 2017 9:40 pm
by Rgand
I like this finish a lot. Nice work. I'll have to check into that method.