Petrified Teisco Del Ray EP-7

James · Post by **James** » Mon Jul 20, 2009 10:13 pm

silly_rabbit_band wrote:I would shell out some money to have you petrify one of my guitars.

Fran will do it for some knee ointment and a 6 pack of lager. Or just have the guitar wake him up to offer him a glass of whiskey.

Narco Martenot · Post by **Narco Martenot** » Tue Jul 21, 2009 8:32 am

silly_rabbit_band wrote: This is beautiful, your a brilliant artist, even the cat play area you made is class! I would shell out some money to have you petrify one of my guitars.

Thanks. If you, or anyone else are interested in having something modified or built, send me an email; I would be happy to work something out. I added a biography to my website that lists most of the things that I do, but I am always open to trying something new.

I am unemployed at the moment, and I would like to be able to take this a lot further and built up some clientele.

Narco Martenot · Post by **Narco Martenot** » Fri Jul 24, 2009 5:37 am

The copper body binding is almost done. I used .25", 30 gauge copper stripping that is normally used for stained glass.

The polyurethane based glue that I had to use expands, and is a bit messy. I have some cleaning up to do, although it will be topped with a thick coat of clear, so I am not sure how much it will matter.

Narco Martenot · Post by **Narco Martenot** » Fri Jul 24, 2009 5:41 am

Teisco is dominating the first page.

Mo Law-ka · Post by **Mo Law-ka** » Fri Jul 24, 2009 9:02 am

wow. splendid work.

Mityushikha · Post by **Mityushikha** » Fri Jul 24, 2009 10:45 am

Narco Martenot wrote:

This is fantastic, I don't think I've ever seen a finish like this before... The copper looks a lot better than I originally thought it would, too.

Did it take a long time to get the petrified finish? It looks quite difficult. Good work!!

mezzio13 · Post by **mezzio13** » Fri Jul 24, 2009 5:53 pm

This is an amazing project!!!! really awesome!

Narco Martenot · Post by **Narco Martenot** » Fri Jul 24, 2009 10:05 pm

Mityushikha wrote:
Narco Martenot wrote:

This is fantastic, I don't think I've ever seen a finish like this before... The copper looks a lot better than I originally thought it would, too.

Did it take a long time to get the petrified finish? It looks quite difficult. Good work!!

Yes, it is very difficult. Most of the actual hand painting took a few weeks or so. Overall, with the clear coats, it takes about a month and a half to three months to complete because there are so many layers.

For future projects, I think I am going to switch to a polyurethane clear -- I just need to figure out which one to use. The reason being is that I would like these finishes to be as durable as possible. Not to mention that stuff dries a lot more quickly, so it would make things go a lot more smoothly.

In the last photo with the binding, the paint is actually flat from wetsanding, so it looks lot more dull and depth-less than it will when it's finished.

Ninja Mike 808 · Post by **Ninja Mike 808** » Thu Jul 30, 2009 8:18 am

I really like the sides of it, for real.

Narco Martenot · Post by **Narco Martenot** » Sat Aug 01, 2009 6:53 pm

A photo I took at the request of my girlfriend.

I've been experimenting with copper patina. I was able to get some really great blue colours that I will use for some of the parts of this guitar.

I will post some new photos of parts soon. I've been busy applying clear coats and things like that, so there has not been much to show, although a lot of work has been going on.

Mo Law-ka · Post by **Mo Law-ka** » Sat Aug 01, 2009 11:05 pm

all the photos you take with you in them remind me of "a clockwork orange" for some reason.

keep up the good work.

jamc_89 · Post by **jamc_89** » Sun Aug 02, 2009 12:41 am

those patinas are beautiful, they remind me of satellite pictures of lakes.

Gavin · Post by **Gavin** » Sun Aug 02, 2009 8:16 am

Yeah, goes great with the petrified finish.

Mo wrote: all the photos you take with you in them remind me of "a clockwork orange" for some reason.

I think it's more like NM lives in a Wes Anderson film and somehow manages to post in our reality.

Mityushikha · Post by **Mityushikha** » Mon Aug 03, 2009 12:10 pm

Narco Martenot wrote:
Mityushikha wrote:
Narco Martenot wrote:

This is fantastic, I don't think I've ever seen a finish like this before... The copper looks a lot better than I originally thought it would, too.

Did it take a long time to get the petrified finish? It looks quite difficult. Good work!!
Yes, it is very difficult. Most of the actual hand painting took a few weeks or so. Overall, with the clear coats, it takes about a month and a half to three months to complete because there are so many layers.

For future projects, I think I am going to switch to a polyurethane clear -- I just need to figure out which one to use. The reason being is that I would like these finishes to be as durable as possible. Not to mention that stuff dries a lot more quickly, so it would make things go a lot more smoothly.

In the last photo with the binding, the paint is actually flat from wetsanding, so it looks lot more dull and depth-less than it will when it's finished.

Yeah I'd definitely agree with using a more durable finish, I'd hate to take a chunk out of that... I hope we get to see the finished guitar soon

Narco Martenot · Post by **Narco Martenot** » Mon Aug 10, 2009 5:16 am

Some updates:

Control knobs -- the photo turned out poorly, but the tops are VERY smooth -- they look really nice in person:

Neck after a fresh coat of paint:

Ankylosaurus engraved pickguard:

gaybear · Post by **gaybear** » Mon Aug 10, 2009 5:21 am

i really like the knobs.
wonder about overall weight of this stuff?

Narco Martenot · Post by **Narco Martenot** » Mon Aug 10, 2009 5:53 am

I just piled everything on the digital scale, minus the tuners, screws, and control pots, it weighed in at 3.8 pounds.

I think stock, the guitar was less than 3 pounds.

Ty · Post by Ty » Mon Aug 10, 2009 7:17 am

This is turning out beautifully! I love the overall vibe of the guitar.

Narco Martenot · Post by **Narco Martenot** » Wed Aug 12, 2009 8:14 pm

Disaster has struck... somewhat.

It was about 85 degrees here yesterday. I had a bad feeling about applying a clear coat to the body and neck while it was that hot and sunny. I've never, ever had any issues before, but something told me to not paint... But I did anyway.

The neck bubbled in a very strange way, and left craters all over the neck that melted down to the very first coat.

I couldn't believe it. I mean, it kind of looks neat, but I obviously don't want something like that on the neck. It is going to require a lot of work to fix this. Oh well, I guess.

jamc_89 · Post by **jamc_89** » Wed Aug 12, 2009 8:20 pm

shit. that's terrible. the same thing happened to me this summer when i was working on a refinish. hot, humid day and i was a bit too eager to get everything done. my paint cracked and turned to rubber all the way through. its especially sad because the thicker the paint is, the worse the effect. the body had to be sanded all the way back down and restarted from scratch. such a bummer.