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Hi Everyone,

I'm pore filling this mahogany OM at the moment and did herringbone purfling and backstrip. I'm going to shoot a rattlecan sunburst (from ReRanch).

I'll be shooting two colors: amber and very dark brown.

Should I mask the backstrip before I shoot the brown edge? Should I mask it before I shoot the amber?

In other words would it look better to have the sunburst cover up the backstrip at the edge or not?



Thanks
Linus

I would mask it.

_________________
Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from poor judgement.

+1 for mask it

After looking at this for a while and thinking about it I would NOT mask it. I don't think it would look right.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Mask before both amber and dark brown? Or shoot the amber, then mask?

be careful how much you spray to sunburst if you mask, its easy to get ridge lines that are difficult to work in with the clear top coats, my suggestion would be to try it on a scrap piece first, it takes a little practice to shoot a burst and best done with very light coats in my limited experience, which has included sanding it back down to the wood more the once

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MK5acoustics.com

Can I ask why you are wanting to sunburst the back? If the top is going to be sunburst I would just go with a walnut color on the back and sides. Lots of old Gibsons were finished this way and IMO they looked great. Personally I don't think having a backstrap cut through the middle of a sunburst would look all that good, just my opinion.
C~

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Remember, there are no stupid questions, only stupid answers!

I've seen some nice sunbursts with the back strip like that. Have a look at some websites of guitar manufactures you'll see some good examples. I Don't have much experience executing sunburst finishes but I know what I like when I see it. I think the back is already pretty dark so its not going to take a lot to just darken the edges maybe just using the darker color you wont have to worry about making a ridge when taping the back stripe. Or as Cal suggested just doing the top would look good too.

I agree with Cal. That's nice looking wood on the back. I do love sunbursts


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Linus,
I don't think I can help you decide, but I'm going to tell you for certain that is one pretty back in the making. It's not mine. It's yours and you will have to decide. But, if it were mine, I'd mask the center strip and bindings, then fill and color the back and sides overall to bring out a bit of warmth and then I'd clear finish on top of that. I have a real nice but cheap old Gibson with a mahogany back and sides and a sunburst top. It's pretty. There's nothing wrong with a burst on the top alone.
Patrick

Thanks everyone. The back and sides were cheap martin factory 2nds. There are some ugly defects along the edge of the sides that need to be hidden by a burst so I feel committed to bursting the back as well.

I've stained it with Potassium Dichromate (mask/gloves) and am close to done with pore filling (zpoxy/cabosil). So far so good. I think I'll mask the backstripe. I'll post pics as I go.

I would mask it. You can easily fill in the edges left when you clear coat it by just spraying those spots lightly before giving it a full coat. After a few coats block sand them and hit them and repeat.

Since you have such nice perfling you will probably be masking those as well so just treat them the same.

I would also suggest using 1/4" or 1/8" 3M fineline tape on them and you will get very nice crisp edges with no bleed through. You can find it at most automotive paint supply stores.

Bob

Excellent. I have the 3M tape in those sizes so I should be set.

Good luck!! I think doing a sun burst is my favorite part a finishing!!! Its easier than I thought before I tried it.

I would not mask it....having done a bunch of bursts

i wouldn't mask it, but instead tape it off and apply a couple of sealer coats
(thinned lacquer or shellac) to the back strip only (maybe the herringbone too) in order to control things better and to keep the lighter wood (holly?) from absorbing too much color.
If you burst the back then the inlay should be affected as with all the rest but you don't want it to disappear.

Can anyone share some photos of examples of burst'd backs with a backstrip? Taped/non-taped?

Agree with all that is a very nice back taking shape! I was going to vote for not sunbursting the back, like a few others, but your reasoning is compelling! With that in mind, I would not mask--in my experience of looking at a lot of guitars , the few backstripes I've seen that were not sunbursted at the edges, seemed to jump out too much.