Candy Apple Red Rules!!!

[darwinohm]

Just last week I posted pictures of my brown burst guitars. I am really liking them. Tonight, I did maintenance on my 2002/2003 Legacy. Some of you have seen this before but the G&L CAR is as good as it gets. Here are some pics. I fall in love with this one every time I wax it!-- Darwin

[Goat]

I used to have a Jag (car, not guitar) that had faded slightly to that colour - it attracted attention everywhere! Great colour.

[RampageFan]

Hi Darwin, Beautiful guitar! I love the G&L CAR finish.

Like you, I have been doing maintenance on my guitars. Just curious, what do you use to wax your guitars? I just started using the Dunlop System 65 on mine. It's a really good polish. It's a two step process.

But I really like how the fretboard and frets come out. The rosewood and Ebony looks great after using the conditioner, brings them back to life. The frets came out great as well, look brand new. Don't mean to sound like an infomercial for Dunlop!

But I was really impressed with the product. I also recenty bought a neck relief guage. I don't think I've ever done a setup this good before!

So between cleaning, waxing and the guitars setup to factory specs, It feels like I'm playing brand new guitars!

Dave

[darwinohm]

Thanks for asking Dave. On the poly finishes, I use a good quality car wax. I happen to like Mothers Carnauba paste cleaner and wax. I have also used Turtle Wax, Black Magic, Fender Gibson and probably some others over the years. I also use this Mothers on the Lacquer finishes, especially the necks as it makes them slippery. I use Formbys Lemon Oil to clean and oil rosewood necks. That also keeps the frets looking new. The mothers keeps the Maple fretboards and frets looking new. I have never used steel wool on a guitar as the steel particles can find their way into the pickup magnets. You are right on the setup tools. I purchased a basic Stew Mac setup kit a few years back and it is well worth it. I am always amazed by people who look down the neck and adjust by sight. I like to measure the relief, I set at .005 in and they require more frequent adjustment but do they play. Correct radius and string height adjustment for your playing style is essential. I think you have this figured out Dave. Look at what you save by doing your own setups. Enough to buy another guitar. I have used that one too! -- Darwin

[RampageFan]

Thanks for taking the time to answer Darwin, very useful info!

You are correct, being able to get an accurate relief makes a huge difference. I've tried for years looking down the neck to see if it's bowed. I could never see it unless there was a major problem with the neck!

Dave

[blargfromouterspace]

Totally agree. The metallic finishes are excellent. My dad recently bought a USB microscope, which I've 'borrowed' and taken a close up of the Spanish Copper finish. Its pretty cool!



And an extreme close up. The line is a crack in the finish that came courtesy of airline baggage handlers.

[darwinohm]

Jamie, those are cool pictures. I wonder if the flake particles are actually that many different colors or is it the light refracting from a particle at a particular angle? Bet someone here has the answer. The small crack compliments of the airlines is a bummer although it may almost be impossible to see. Thanks for posting Jamie.-- Darwin

[yowhatsshakin]

Jamie,

Those are pretty cool pics! In answer to Darwin's question, I believe there are indeed that many colors in the finish. Since it is an amorphous arrangement of metal flakes, each will reflect in its own color but the combined light coming off will be a mixture giving cause to the hue the guitar has when standing on the stand. The bottom picture seems to have more white particles but I also believe that is due to light saturation at high magnification. For every flake at the correct angle to reflect the light source into the lens, the amount of reflected light overwhelms the CCD so to speak. To see the proper distribution of colors, one would have to reduce the intensity of the light source.

- Jos

[blargfromouterspace]

You're right Jos. To get the extreme close up I needed to use the built-in LED lights on the microscope, which are white ones. I couldn't get a picture at that level with the LEDs turned off. I find the dark colour interesting, the base coat must be almost black yet when I've drilled into it (which I've done several times...) it doesn't show.