Finish opinions please: The ThunderLull!!!

[PWV]

My Bicentennial Bird is almost done.  Mike Lull took off the neck with the "obliterated" truss rod, and has a great maple neck on there now.   Here's what she looked like:




Originally my plan was to pimp it out 1976 style and go for the Buck Owens acoustic scheme:




But then I thought this would be even more *HEY LOOK AT ME* attention-whorish with the metal flake:




But now it appears that sparkle-flake may be too much $$$.  So I'm back to contemplating again.... obviously a solid color all around would cost less, and I'm waiting to hear the cost of the flat-gloss-Revel-model-like finish that the BO acoustic has.   Maybe just black?  Thoughts?

[ramone57]

I'd go for a non-traditional finish, maybe a deep red wine?

[Nocturnal]

Well the Dark Lords may strike me down for this but...I wouldn't do it in black. As much as I love my blacked-out Bird I also love the non-traditional path that Fraulein Mark and Uwe (and anyone else that just isn't coming to mind at the moment) have traveled. Do something daring with it. The pic's you posted would be an unusual finish for a Bird, but thats what would be great about it! I wouldn't do a traditional sunburst or the off white. Hell, a better version of the paint thats on it now would look pretty damn cool to me.

[chromium]

The coarse metalflake like on that tele cn sometimes take a lot of passes of clear to bury it.  That can get pretty labor inten$ive.

You might check out House of Kolor or PPG Kandy paints for some really vibrant colors.  Local auto paint suppliers that service the custom car auto-body segment will carry that kind of stuff.  These usually go on with a silver or gold base, a translucent color coat, followed by clear.  Sometimes they tape-out patterns and graphics (flames, etc..) under the color coat for added effect.  It's popular on the street rods and lowriders in my neck of the woods.  I found a few examples here:

   http://www.layitlow.com/forums/lofiversion/index.php/t344149.html

Like Andy said, you can't go wrong with Mark's muscle car color strategy either!  I agree - bird's take well to non-traditional colors.

...and I still like that ice blue on yours

[Dave W]

Black. 

[TBird1958]

Metallic Orange.....it'll look really good with the CHROME PARTS! A very deep yellow would be cool too, and Coral Pink comes to mind. I don't think the shape of a 'Bird lends itself to multi-color ideas very well. One color, plus the the pickguard and hardware.  Mmmmm............... yeah Purple and 7up green are taken Dave. 

[EvilLordJuju]

I'd say save up and do the metal flake. It's the finish you want, and what's a few dollars in the long run. It would certainly be something different.

How many more dollars are we talking anyway?

[PWV]

How many more dollars are we talking anyway?

Not sure yet but it looks close to a grand for metalic-flake Red/white/blue...

Thanks for opinions guys, I'm thinking....I'm thinking.... 

[TBird1958]

Dave,
Just so you know anything he does is gonna cost a grand..........Mine were that and more.

[Barklessdog]

Micheal Dolan charges about $500 for a neck & body refin, last time I checked.

Does great work as well.

[gweimer]

I'd go for a deep wine color, personally.  Either that, or a dark Royal Purple.

[chromium]

If you're shopping around, you might ping Krishna (bostonguitarrepair).  He did a mean metal flake sparkling-burgundy-ish job on an old Melody Maker Bass.  The photos singed my retinas 

[pamlicojack]

How about a different Buck Owens paint scheme...?

[Barklessdog]

Sublime Green!

[chromium]

...or soylent green!