Resto Project of 1987 Washburn Guitar

Hey any who might be interested in this type thing. Figured Id post in one place instead of sending odd pics to various people all the time.

I have a 1987 Washburn RR11V guitar I bought new after I got out of the Navy. Its been my fav guitar over the years and has taken the odd "Battle damage" as all guitars do. Its now 27 years old and I had inquired with the Washburn Customer Service department and was basically told the custom shop is too busy to do a restoration on one of their instruments just to repaint it.

After a few months of pondering it I have decided to take on the project myself. I know it will probably drop the value of the instrument but I don't really care about it as I intend to keep this and pass it on to my son down the road.

After starting the project I was told I should document the project just for giggles n ha ha's so I did just that. I missed the week of sanding off the original finish and getting all the battle scars healed. The pictures start at the priming and block sanding process to get it all smooth and straight to the best of my abilities or skills.

So without further ado I give you "The Project" in pictures

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The first is what it looked like to start, then all the pieces after disassembly, and finally the first heavy coat of primer after all the sanding.

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This is the various stages of block sanding to get the surfaces super flat and any minor imperfections filled in so the final painting is as close to perfect as possible.

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This is the last stage of priming before the finish painting process. This got wet sanded to further smooth out the base paint for final painting starts.

 

HELL YES! :hail:

 

K here is the next phase which brings the process current as of today.

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These are the first heavy coats of the base black finish. I used a high gloss paint here but not for the shine. It tends to build up thicker and create a harder base then many coats of a flat paint will.

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This is the first blocking of the finished color. again all of this is to get the surfaces as flat and perfect as possible. Black paint when polished really good will show every tiny dent , scratch or uneven area and make it look like a wave in the paint.


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This is what it looked like after the 2nd heavy base painting when I started the "polishing" or compounding phase after the initial wet sanding and blocking. Notice all the wet sanding swirls or scratches form the super fine 1500 grit sand paper. Couldn't get 2000 grit local in case the professional painters out there wonder why I didn't go finer.


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Figures. I took it outside to get some better lit pictures and guess what.. another New York cloudy day. But in the last two of this series you can see reflections starting to show more detail and no "wavy" areas so all that block sanding has paid off.

This brings us current to where the project is. Now its down to rubbing this all until all them fine lines disappear. Then I will clear coat it once. After that gets polished I will add the striping and detail work before the finished layers of clear get done and polished in stages. Hopefully when I am done oit will look like the entire thing is coated in glass.

 

wow.. looks awesome so far. Reminds me of the one James Hetfield played back in the days. Can't wait to see the finished product.

 

Actually this was modeled after the Randy Rhodes Jackson semi V. Brian May of Queen used the same model only the year after this one came out on the song I want it all. There are videos of his all white one he plays. Since Washburn did not want anything to do with the refurbishment I decided to do it myself and plan on going with a variation of another Washburn paint scheme seen here.


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I had this same model the year it came out but it was stolen on a road trip home on leave back in 1985. I loved that guitar so I decided to do the paint similar. Havent made my final decision yet though. I'm kicking the idea of the red / orange striping but am also thinking maybe painting the mounting rings as well and going gold with the pick up covers and knobs.
some variation of that combo I will do once I get past the base clear coating.



EDIT: correction is needed.. The song Brian May used the guitar for was not "I want it all" but "Princes of the Universe" instead.

 

Quick update... Think Im done with the compounding.. picked up the clear. waitin for a day that aint raining or 80% humidty to shoot a coat of clear on before I add the striping details.

I have 2 idea what to do with it.. I can go with the scheme above with the orange border. or after looking at the advertisement for it do the striping the used on the RR12v that was on Brian Mays guitar in the vid with black base and orange stripes in that formation.

Got a while til I hit that decission point so if any have any opinions on which one toss em in the thread.

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These pic show the two ways I am leaning to go... Black with red border and maybe gold pick up mounting rings. That or black body with the striping pattern in the ad for the RR12V only black with orange stripes like that.

 

Ok spent some time messing with paint to get me ideas in print. This is what my two ideas will look like


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Ok I have decided to go with the stripes. This has been confirmed the way to go by many friends as well as the 6 people in my head who started this project to begin with. So here is the first stage of the striping process with the first two of seven to go on by hand painting and taping for smooth lines.


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K time for the days effort.. we are now up to 5 stripes. Two more to do then I can sand the edges smooth and maybe finally move to clear coating.


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Thank you good sir much appreciated.


Just for that Ill post the final pics of the striping process I just got done pulling the tape and snapping some pics for.

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Give all that a few days to cure. Then Ill light sand the red to knock down the high edges and its on to the clear coating and reassembly of the electronics.

 

Ok While I have internet back again.. Ill get out some progress pics.. I got the striping done got the clear coat finished, sanded and polished. It is also put back together with all the hardware. I just need to do all the wiring in the back. I also got the neck sanded down. I did nto want to try and reproduce the Washburn name on it as people could say it was a replacement neck so I left the head stock face as is. I just added a red stripe for emphasis and will be clear coating that the next few days.

so without further ado...

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If you look closely you can see what is called the orange peel effect where the finish looks all bumpy from a heavy coating of clear with a sub par spray rig. It took a week to cure then I started sanding and polishing to make the surface smooth and very clear not just shiny like it was still wet. I will have to do this again in a month or so as the coating will be still curing over that time.

Here is what it looks like currently with all the electronics and hardware mounted in their places.

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and last but not least progress on the neck reconditioning.

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And as a last minute thought a teaser to show what I will be playing this through once it is finished.

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looking damn cool!

im currently working on my 1st strat build its awesome fun

can i ask about the striping? i see u are doing it a stripe at a time, how many coats of red are u using and did u have any probs removing the masking tape? im so scared of leaving the tape on too long and either pulling chunks of paint off or the nitro drying on top

thx

 

All the striping was done by hand with a brush in one coat. I basically flooded some testors enamel model paint between the tape lines I made. That is why I did one stripe at a time on this. I used what is called Frog tape for this project. It says it can be left on surface up to 30 days. But normal practice with any taping either using spray paint or brush painting you need to remove the tape immediately after applying the paint other wise you do end up pulling up the paint and cracking edges. Also the edges kind of ooze out just a little if you do it when its wet and cures that square edge effect from the tape damming the paint vertically.

I will admit I do like the frog tape over standard masking tape I used way back when working on cars. It did leave a mild haze on the black paint but I think that was due to my impatience in not letting the black full cure for 30 days. The haze buffed right out once all the striping was done and I sanded the red to get it smooth and thinner on the surface.

Hopefully you are documenting your project like I am in some way. If not for public viewing for your own satisfaction of seeing the progress. Specially for those times you have doubts or are frustrated with waiting between stages.

 

Awesome thanks for the info!

I have seen the frog tape down at my local DIY store so will give it a go. Ah makes sense to use enamel to get it done in a single coat, i was thinking of several nitro coats and having to re-mask for each coat.
I guess a lot of it is experience, and for me i gotta make a few mistakes to learn what not to do hehe Might try a few stripes out on a test board and see how it goes

Am keeping a few pics but think i need to step it up as i tend to stop taking pics as soon as i make a boo-boo (which is quite regular)

Thx again and good luck on the rest of the project View attachment 9742

 

well just for general knowledge.. I sprayed the whole thing with enamel not laquor. That is actually all done with spray bombs and a lotta elbow lovein. Not sure its a good idea to mix media in this case. I could be wrong so doa little reseach on the specific product you plan to use and see what they say about mix n matching

 

Well wind died down and the sun was out today so I clear coated the neck finally. I was pleasantly surprised to see the golden color the natural wood turned out to be without any type of staining at all. Normally you have to use a stain to get that coloring.

Another few days and I will be able to reassemble the entire project after wet sanding and polishing is finished. Then I get to play it again after set up and intonating is done. Hopefully the few days with the wood exposed to open air didn't trap too much moisture in it that could cause the neck to warp a little.

Anyway heres a few more pics to look over.

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The project is coming along nicely and I am starting to get excited about its completion. This was a LOT of work with all the hand sanding and polishing. Its not bad for a one time project but I suggest to anyone trying this to get an airbrush set up and as a must have some kind of motorized polisher / buffer.

 

OK got really impatient today.. finished sanding the neck. played a little NW til my internet pissed me off. Went back to it and compounded the neck. Got bored again and put the parts on the neck. After that it was all down hill. I HAD to get it all back together and strung up. I am EXTREMELY happy as it seems there will be very minimal set up that needs done once I do the electronics.

With out further delay here she be!!!!

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Im glad this is done for now. Will let all the paint and clear coat cure for a few months then repolish it all one last time.
Ill probably do the electronics after supper this evening so hopefully tomorrow I can finish getting it all ready to play.

Then I got to find a place to host a vid so you all can hear what it sounds like.

EDIT (SNAPE): And here is the test run video!

[video=youtube_share;djFxyOiaYr0]http://youtu.be/djFxyOiaYr0[/video]