After another hiatus from this project doing other things, I’ve finally started the painting of both the soundboard as well as the case and ‘furniture’.
The first step is to paint the black stripes all around the perimeter of each of the mouldings, nuts and bridges. Narrow automotive pin-striping tape is used to mask off where the lines will go. This is a very long process, but the painting itself goes fairly quickly.
After completing all of the striping and squiggle painting it is time to plan the layout of all of the decorative soundboard elements that will be painted. This is just the beginning of the process and will take some time.
Next comes the case painting. I am using a color called Rittenhouse Blue. It is a high-quality oil based paint from Old Village, a company that specializes in historical colors. Each coat takes a couple of weeks to cure before sanding and applying the next coat.
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- Old Village Rittenhouse Blue
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- Painting the bench
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- All of the components
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- All of the components
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- Priming the case
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- Case primed
Confessions of an Amateur Luthier 