Just finished it. I played it a little last night and actually love the tone. Very acoustic-like clarity and and very Strat-like chime, esp with the pups split to outside/screw coils.
So I'll take you from the beginning:
I bought a used Dean Vendetta a couple months ago, stripped the finish, rounded all the edges, big tummy relief and forearm relief.
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Then I sanded it smooth, applied about 10 coats of lacquer sanding sealer (wet-sanding smooth with 320 grit between every two coats) to get rid of any wood grain. This turned out to be alot of work and very time consuming. When I couldn't see anymore grain or irregularities I began color coating. I used clear lacquer tinted with opaque "Concentrated Pigment" from StewMac using white, yellow, and brown to get a nice warm cream/ivory color. A half dozen coats of base color coats with some wet-sanding in-between then on to the burst
I used Clear nitro tinted with "Liquid Stain", again from StewMac, and used antique Amber for the first (widest) layer. Then I added some Red Mahogany stain to the amber to get the second/outer (narrower) layer of burst. Finally, I used nearly straight Red Mahogany (with just a touch of Amber to keep it warm) to apply to the edges of the guitar with only a slight overlap onto the face and back of the guitar.
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Next comes the clear coat. I applied 6 or 8 coats, again lightly sanding between every two coats. After the final coat of clear gloss I began the finishing process. I wet-sanded, beginning with 800 grit and working through 1000, 1200, 1500, 2000, and 4000 grits (wet sanding with water and a bit of dishwashing soap). Then I used an orbital polisher using Stew Mac's "Fine Polishing Compound" and then their "Swirl Remover". It came out looking like glass.
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All hardware is gold: pickup covers, TOM bridge, three-way selector switch, thru-body string ferrules (front and back), jack plate, jack, strap locks, and Planet Waves Auto Trim tuners. Two CTS 500k vol pots and one CTS 500k tone pot with .015u cap. Knobs are gold Speedknobs. Earvana compensated nut. Bridge pup is C/59 hybrid with UOA5 magnet, neck pup is 59/Demon hybrid with UOA5 mag. Mounting rings are cream Triple Shots with reverse wiring.
Like I said earlier, this guitar sounds amazing. I've only played it for about an hour so I'll have to give it more time and compare it to my other guitars before I can really know what she's capable of doing.
This project was a lot of work and time and about $400-500 total investment (guitar, pups, parts, paint). If you factor in my time, she's worth about $6000. But it was a LOT of fun and very educational.
Some of the shots make it look kinda orangey...It's NOT. It's warm ivory base with amber to mahogany burst...it looks more like caramel. YUM!! It's tempting to take a bite out of it.
So I'll take you from the beginning:
I bought a used Dean Vendetta a couple months ago, stripped the finish, rounded all the edges, big tummy relief and forearm relief.
View attachment 29797
View attachment 29798
View attachment 29800
Then I sanded it smooth, applied about 10 coats of lacquer sanding sealer (wet-sanding smooth with 320 grit between every two coats) to get rid of any wood grain. This turned out to be alot of work and very time consuming. When I couldn't see anymore grain or irregularities I began color coating. I used clear lacquer tinted with opaque "Concentrated Pigment" from StewMac using white, yellow, and brown to get a nice warm cream/ivory color. A half dozen coats of base color coats with some wet-sanding in-between then on to the burst
I used Clear nitro tinted with "Liquid Stain", again from StewMac, and used antique Amber for the first (widest) layer. Then I added some Red Mahogany stain to the amber to get the second/outer (narrower) layer of burst. Finally, I used nearly straight Red Mahogany (with just a touch of Amber to keep it warm) to apply to the edges of the guitar with only a slight overlap onto the face and back of the guitar.
View attachment 29803
View attachment 29805
View attachment 29806
Next comes the clear coat. I applied 6 or 8 coats, again lightly sanding between every two coats. After the final coat of clear gloss I began the finishing process. I wet-sanded, beginning with 800 grit and working through 1000, 1200, 1500, 2000, and 4000 grits (wet sanding with water and a bit of dishwashing soap). Then I used an orbital polisher using Stew Mac's "Fine Polishing Compound" and then their "Swirl Remover". It came out looking like glass.
View attachment 29808
View attachment 29809
View attachment 29810
View attachment 29811
View attachment 29812
View attachment 29813
View attachment 29814
View attachment 29815
All hardware is gold: pickup covers, TOM bridge, three-way selector switch, thru-body string ferrules (front and back), jack plate, jack, strap locks, and Planet Waves Auto Trim tuners. Two CTS 500k vol pots and one CTS 500k tone pot with .015u cap. Knobs are gold Speedknobs. Earvana compensated nut. Bridge pup is C/59 hybrid with UOA5 magnet, neck pup is 59/Demon hybrid with UOA5 mag. Mounting rings are cream Triple Shots with reverse wiring.
Like I said earlier, this guitar sounds amazing. I've only played it for about an hour so I'll have to give it more time and compare it to my other guitars before I can really know what she's capable of doing.
This project was a lot of work and time and about $400-500 total investment (guitar, pups, parts, paint). If you factor in my time, she's worth about $6000. But it was a LOT of fun and very educational.
Some of the shots make it look kinda orangey...It's NOT. It's warm ivory base with amber to mahogany burst...it looks more like caramel. YUM!! It's tempting to take a bite out of it.
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