Refinishing an Orville Thunderbird

[OldManC]

Fantastic gallery, thanks George!

My pleasure! I have more but they're at home on my computer. I should do a thread of all the various bird pictures I've collected over the last few years...

[TBird1958]

The B.C. Rich purple with black polka dots.......did that belong to Kelly from L.A.Guns?

[OldManC]

The B.C. Rich purple with black polka dots.......did that belong to Kelly from L.A.Guns?

Yeah. I'd like to have a bird from everybody who made one in the 80s, though the Gibsons are the best!

[Bass VI]

Well..................
The only problem I see with sunbursts ( or any transparent finish for that matter ) will be disguising the holes when you go from the three point to two-point with tailpiece. You can replace the raised center section from the bridge pickup route to to the edge as I did when I "Pelhamed" my Orville http://bassoutpost.com/index.php?topic=102.msg1387#msg1387 and probably get it to look right, however without some clever work you won't be able to recreate the "look" of the plys that run down the middle of a Gibson 'Bird. Having said that I agree with the Dr. that sunbursts are not as difficult to do as they may seem.

I would have voted Cardinal Red, if you would have wanted that.  I think the sunburst may be difficult when changing the bass to an original two piece bridge from a three-dolt.  You will have to do a lot of work to fill and mask the 3 holes.  It can be done, but it is difficult.  An opaque color would mask that better.  You could also take a piece of mahogany veneer and lay it down the middle strip to cover the mess, so it would look original and look nice with a sunburst.  That is the way I would personally do it, but it depends on your skill level and how much you want to mess around.

This is what happens when I post at 2:00AM............................well said eb2

             BLACK goes with everything, especially Chrome  Uwe!


S.

[drbassman]

Laying veneer down ain't so hard with a little bit of woodworking skill and lots of clamps/weights.  In fact, a strip down the middle is much easier than doing the entire top.

[Barklessdog]

How is the LP progressing?

[drbassman]

How is the LP progressing?

Waiting for warm weather so I can spray the top and sides.

[Barklessdog]

If NY is anything like Chicago you have a long wait. Winter refuses to go away and on the few days it gets to 40 degrees, it's been rainy!

We get about three months of spray time here

[drbassman]

Ditto!

[Bass VI]

If NY is anything like Chicago you have a long wait. Winter refuses to go away and on the few days it gets to 40 degrees, it's been rainy!

We get about three months of spray time here

Ditto!

But do you have to contend with a constant 40 MPH "breeze" !?!

[drbassman]

But do you have to contend with a constant 40 MPH "breeze" !?!

Mostly in the spring for a couple months.  We get winds in the 30-40 mph range.  Doesn't usually affect my garage which faces east.

[Chris P.]

A bit late, but Pelham Blue is nice. The more powder-ish blue's great too!

[Barklessdog]

If you doing it yourself pelham/lake placid blue is supposed to be an easy finish to do.

[Bass VI]

If you doing it yourself pelham/lake placid blue is supposed to be an easy finish to do.

From my experience, Pelham and Lake Placid are "easier" metallic colours to work with, however any colour with a metallic component can be prone to " striping " if applied incorrectly.

Having said that any of these colours ( with a " U " ) would look great...............

You really could do anything you like... 

I'm waiting for someone to do " Heather Poly "

Cheers,

S.

[chromium]

I'm waiting for someone to do " Heather Poly "

I was kinda eyeballing that for one of those BachBirds (fingers crossed).  Here it is on an NR:



decisions... decisions...