1960 Duo Sonic inbound!!! (edit - HAS LANDED, more pix, p2)

hwestman · Post by **hwestman** » Mon Aug 17, 2009 11:26 am

Why do you think that it's a bummer that the frets are replaced? Sounds like good news to me

...

drasp · Post by **drasp** » Mon Aug 17, 2009 11:30 am

hwestman wrote:Why do you think that it's a bummer that the frets are replaced? Sounds like good news to me ...

Oh certainly, but the fret job is only 'okay' with harder edges (none extend past the board, but I cheat with my thumb a LOT & can feel them as I slide up & down). Totally not a big deal - I'm already using this guitar as my first experience w/ a refin - may as well learn to shape/dress frets too, right?

drasp · Post by **drasp** » Sun Jan 31, 2010 6:50 pm

UPDATE:

I've been playing it for the last ~6mos. and REALLY love this guitar.

It was a hard decision to come to, but I finally decided to strip off the pink/purple & refinish it in ReRanch Shell Pink. I love Shell Pink, plus I think with the rosewood neck & darkened brown p'up covers, it will be quite a nice fit. Got my paint in the mail last week & decided to use some Aircraft stripper to remove it - stuff was TOUGH, even hard to sand through. I stripped the back side on Thursday last week & on Friday decided to give it a little extra time to soften before attacking the front. Sprayed it down, laying on the stripper pretty thick & went in to heat up a bowl of noodles. Came back ~10min later to see how it was doing and, to my surprise, I found an image starting to peek through the paint!!!

About 30min later, I had enough removed that you could clearly see the drawings:

Pretty cool, 'eh?

Well, I love the drawings & the way they fit into the whole 'Easter Egg' nickname. I'm not the first person who found this guitar special! I've been thinking hard about the drawings & how to handle them for the last few days & was really split over whether I should change plans & go for some kind of trans/tint finish that would preserve & display them, or if I should continue with my original Shell Pink plan. Decision was made for me today when I sat down to finish removing the old paint & get the surface ready for some sand & sealer. As soon as I started to sand the drawings (which appear to be felt-tip marker) just got worse - edges blurred, etc. SO I decided to get some better pictures & let them fade into the guitar's history. They're not GONE, but they don't stand out enough to be worth preserving. Here are the last pix of them from before I did the final sanding:

Contrast is boosted in the pix to help the drawings stand out:

So, the next chapter in this guitar's life will be pink. I'll update the thread when I've got more pix. ;D

frorangejuice · Post by **frorangejuice** » Fri Feb 05, 2010 2:57 am

Ty wrote:I think the finish is cool, reminds me of a Van Gough styled painting of the sea. Great score though.

Yeah the finish is totally awesome. Drawings are cooler though.

hotrodperlmutter · Post by **hotrodperlmutter** » Fri Feb 05, 2010 3:09 am

as tacky and hodge podge as they may be, i like them and appreciate the preservation question. at least you got it photographed, because you couldn't really see yourself gigging that, could you?

suffice it to say, i've loved the first two incarnations, and cannot wait to see the next. pink makes me wet.

cur · Post by **cur** » Sat Feb 06, 2010 5:52 pm

I think it looks cool, but I would probably want to refinish is as well.

artofcourtney · Post by **artofcourtney** » Wed Mar 03, 2010 4:48 pm

Amazingly awesome..

drasp · Post by **drasp** » Wed Mar 03, 2010 5:28 pm

Thanks!

Well, I've got my ReRanch sand & seal, and I've got my ReRanch Shell Pink, but what I DO NOT have is the time or place to do this right. Any re-fin wizards here? I'm not excited about shipping the body away, but I really want to get back to playing this thing. . .

hotrodperlmutter · Post by **hotrodperlmutter** » Wed Mar 03, 2010 6:46 pm

* does my best not to direct attention to recent rodvonbon wizardry. *

robroe · Post by **robroe** » Wed Mar 03, 2010 6:53 pm

Amazingly awesome

hotrodperlmutter · Post by **hotrodperlmutter** » Wed Mar 03, 2010 7:49 pm

drasp · Post by **drasp** » Wed Apr 21, 2010 12:59 am

Time for an update (thanks for the reminder Mike!!!)

Apologies again to those who felt I should keep the tattoos - they're gone now. . .

1x can of sand & seal

1x can of BIN's white shellac primer

2x cans of ReRanch Shell Pink

Two days in on the clear,. . . (not shown in above pix)

CAN NOT WAIT TO START PLAYING IT AGAIN!!!

Post by **Mike** » Wed Apr 21, 2010 7:28 am

Like I said on HC - it looks balls to the wall. Great job and lovely photos.

Thom · Post by **Thom** » Wed Apr 21, 2010 7:55 am

Shell Pink - YES!!!! Looks bloody great.

Ankhanu · Post by **Ankhanu** » Wed Apr 21, 2010 3:24 pm

Man, that thing is a gem all around isn't it!

The swirly finish was uniquely awesome... somehow it actually looked good.

The drawings are like finding buried treasure, sweet find. Glad you at least were able to document them. Gotta agree with perlmutter, though... couldn't imagine actually gigging that.

The shell pink is looking fucking awesome!

hotrodperlmutter · Post by **hotrodperlmutter** » Wed Apr 21, 2010 4:36 pm

that looks fantastic. am mucho jealouso.

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Wed Apr 21, 2010 4:41 pm

put tattoos on in white! hhmm be a helluva job to do well though. Shell pink is looking great and thats a super neat spray job mate. Kudos.

Post by **dots** » Wed Apr 21, 2010 5:47 pm

PANK!

drasp · Post by **drasp** » Mon Jun 07, 2010 6:36 pm

Alright, I'm a very weak man.

I sprayed the clear way back when I last posted to this thread. All seemed great. ReRanch 101 suggests 4days to cure before finish sanding & polishing. I gave it like 10days IIRC, but it got all shitty & this weird sort of texture/orange peel. SUCK_ASS. Well, all the guys on the ReRanch forums suggested I needed to wait more like 30-60 days for it to cure, so with the very best of intentions, I sanded it flat again. Of course, I went through in a few places. D'oh! And now I'm out of Shell Pink & Clear, so I'll have to order more, and I'm about to be out of town for a while, and blah-blah-blah. . .

SO: I put it back together. The finish is matte (sanded to ~800) but has been curing for several weeks & seems plenty hard(ish). Actually looks & feels really nice. At some point, I still plan on taking it back apart, sanding a little further down & adding a few coats of pink + some clear. For now, its time to RAWK THE F_CK OUT!!!

Charlie says, "Its all good Dad!"

Thom · Post by **Thom** » Mon Jun 07, 2010 7:09 pm

Great photo! Love the guitar too.