MM Blues after paint strip

[melp]

All,

Had some discussion off-line about my MM Blues refinishing project, so thought I would share it with the group.

I am in the middle of engraving right now, the designs are 'evolving' and growing in scope, but should be finished soon'ish.

But this is what one looks like after paint strip.


The nickel plated surface is quite good, I was pleasantly surprised, given that the surface was plated to create a key for the paint.

The paint stripping was easy enough to do, I will write this up, along with the complete refinishing project, and post a link when I am done in case others are interested. Which I hope will be in a couple of weeks.

Thanks to Robin for all the advice and guidance!

Mel

[thebluesbear( al)]

Hi

ill look forward to this with interest

al

[Michael Messer]

Me too - I am looking forward to seeing the back of this guitar!!!

Shine On
Michael

[andys]

Melp and myself have been corresponding over stripping the paint of our MM Blues, and I give credit to Melp for inspiring me to do a similar thing to mine.
My guitar was a matt grey-burst 14 fretter, which has a brass nickel coated body. I had a spare day off unexpectedly, and after corresponding with both Melp and Robin at Busker, I deceide to do a similar thing to my own guitar, which was gaining a few chips due to over-enthusiastic strumming and sliding.

The resulting shots were taken just after doing the deed, no polishing save for a wipe down with a damp kitchen roll, and I am pretty happy with the way its turned out.


one more;-


Unlike Mel, I'm not going to engrave it, and I cant wait to see his.

[melp]

All,

That's easy, its finished! Its the front and sides that I currently fighting with.

The idea for the back is my personal Blues 'Hall of Fame'. People I have learned from, been inspired by and caused this wonderful guitar to exist.

The tough bit is getting it down to a few names, I needed to keep the scale quite large as it is my first ever engraving project and bigger is easier. That's why the front is taking so long its more delicate.

I spent quite a while editing to get the list to 17, incredible how many had to be left out. Some because of the length of the names - oh yes I tried to get a sort of chronological order, which meant that some long names turned out or narrow parts of the back. So I compromised a bit, but its basically correct'ish at least according to the Library of Congress web site.

The type face is adapted from work by Art Deco master Alphonse Mucha, and using a technique from art college in the 70's of making patterns with letters, sort of pop arty thing, so you have to look twice to get the name.





What started as a project to slightly personalise my Blues guitar has turned into a bit of a monster project, but have had lot's of fun doing it. I am starting to get a bit more confident with the engraving tool, hence the enhanced detail on the front of the guitar.

More when I have it.

All the best

Mel

[Stevie]

What a lovely finish!
That is exactly what I was looking for- the sound of the steel body coupled with the nickel finish.
I was recently very lucky to become the owner of a distressed MM Blues model which addressed my feelings about the greyburst. What you have done is, for myself, very tempting but I'm going to leave well alone (for the time being)
I know that Michael and Robin put a great deal of thought into the specifications of their current models so perhaps it is wrong to change what they have achieved but I can't help but prefer your finish to the painted one.
The engraving is very professional as well which is icing on the cake. Well done Mel and Andy,
Stevie.

[andys]

Wow Mel, thats great.

On a slightly related topic i sometimes go to a Blues club near wher I live www.bronteblues.com and when they put on gigs, they put up thesewonderful hand painted wall hangings a local artist has done that reference blues players and singers, both well k.nown and obscure. Some of those names appear on the back of your guitar I can add.
Tell you what, if you had the slightly bigger body of my 14 fretter you could have fitted a couple more.

[snakehips]

Hi there !

I'm a bit confused ! Are you guys saying the "Blues" model is all steel bodied, then nickel-plated ?
Perhaps that is why the paint finish came off so easily ?
Personally, I think the sunburst looked lovely.
I don't understand why everyone is selling and/or refinishing their MM guitars !
The grass is always greener on the other side ?

Very nice engraving though !
Looking forward to seeing what you do with the front and sides

[andys]

Snakehips,

Some MMs were steel bodied, with nickel plating.

My 14 fretter was brass bodied with nickel plating. Mine had a shiny finish with a matt grey burst finish. I liked the finish, but it was a prototype and for some reason it started coming off. So, inspired by Mel I stripped it off. It came off really easily.
I still enjoy my MM Blues, it is the guitar I play the most. I have no intention of selling it.
I think that folk are selling their MM Blues guitars for a variety of reasons, some often financial in these times. Many Nationals were sold with a painted finish, and players stripped them also. They also swapped fingerboards, tuners, added pickups etc.
Same reason why some folk are selling their NRPs/Custom Shop Teles/etc
Some of us are not selling them, we're customising them. Same reason I customise Squier /Fender teles. I am just making them "my own". My MM Blues is the same. Its still the same guitar, without its original paintjob.
I love my MM Blues, I just like it even more now.

How many 1950s Teles/Les Pauls are all original with no mods/changes/upgrades?

[melp]

Snakehips,

As I understand it the 12 fret Blues is steel, like mine, all or some of the 14 fret are brass, like Andy's. I also liked the blue/gray burst but my guitar was one of early ones and had a specific paint defect - I knew this when I got it, Robin was very clear it was a 2nd from the viewpoint of finish and whatever comes above a 1st for sound!!!

So I got mine knowing that if the paint started to come off I would re-finish it.

Nickel plating, apparently, goes onto brass much easier than steel. My guitar has a very thin layer of copper - wafer thin - between the steel and the nickel. When this is done it has a slight texture on most of the guitar, which is good if it is to be painted as it provides a key for the paint. On brass Nickel is very smooth and produces a mirror finish, like Andy's.

My guitar has a fantastic sound and is very playable, I would not part with it, its just as good as it gets.

After all the time I spent playing, re-finishing and now engraving it I seem to have a very personal connection with it

regards

Mel

[smoochimoto]

melp, looks great !

[Michael Messer]

Hi Mel,


WOW >That looks fantastic! Well done. For a first attempt at engraving I think you have done a wonderful job. I like your Alphonse Mucha typeface, it looks like a folk blues festival poster from the late sixties! Cool. I am quite touched by what you have done.

If you can get me some really good head-on photos of it, I would like to post it on my website...please?

Personalizing and doing up MM guitars doesn't offend me in the slightest. Quite the opposite. You have made something that one day will cause much discussion among collectors. Long after we are all gone it will probably turn up in a book somewhere.

Lots of steel bodied Nationals were stripped and plated in the sixties when everyone wanted a shiny 'Lawdy Mama' as they were often called by the British blues players of the time. My first Duolian was a 14 fret model that had been chrome plated. What about my blue Dobro for a custom job!

The nickel is not going to be on many more runs of MM BLUES guitars. They will eventually be primed and then sprayed. Due to the problems with the finish of some of the first MM BLUES, it is a way of getting a smooth base to spray on.

My own MM BLUES is a steel bodied 12 fret model and after 30 or so concerts and being played by anyone who wants a go, none of the paint has come off.

I still love the greyburst paint finish of MM BLUES guitars and I have no intentions of changing it. However, you are entitled to do whatever you like to a guitar that is your property. I think it's all wonderful!

'Shine' On
Michael.

[melp]

Michael, All,

Happy that you like it and approve. You have done a great job on the MM guitars, as has been said before not just the smart commercial concept, which is impressive enough, but to execute it and deliver instruments of such quality for the price is a most significant achievement.

Once I decided to refinish it seemed a good idea to personalise it somehow and create something unique, even if the quality of the engraving would never approach 'the real thing'. To me the cosmetics are secondary the sound is what really sets this guitar apart,
but I might as well have something that I liked.

Part of the idea was to create a sort of 'time capsule' effect. I will leave it to my son when I am no longer so who knows how far down the line it will get.

I am engraving the top done at the moment which will likely take a week or so, after which I will take it outside and take some decent pictures. Once I have these I will send you and Robin some high resolution copies. Happy for you both to use them.

regards

Mel

[wolvoboy]

Hi Melp
you have made a fantastic guitar in to a work of art i think it looks amazing, when i had my tricone rebuilt i thought about engraving it but lacked the courage to do it, you have inspired me to have a go, any advice you could give me would be appreciated, what engraving tools did you use
wolvoboy

[melp]

Wolvoboy,

Happy to help. I am writing up the whole refinish project with pictures, as much for myself so I can remember what I did, that will be on-line in a couple of weeks.

I started from scratch, with next to nothing on engraving, not so much the what, but the how. So I had to work from a standing start. Over the last couple of months I have built up a technique, of sorts, for instance no way I could have done the engraving on the front I am doing now at the start, the design - the wall of fame - was done the way it was done so it was low risk to begin with. The "Blues' was the first word on the back. the engraved lining of the letters are 3-4mm wide, I figured if I could do that what was to follow would be impossible.

So I developed bit by bit. But its not just the engraving, its developing the design and working out how to mark it out and scale it, the curved back of a guitar is a challenging work surface.

Anyway, rather than go on too much now I will upload the write up, from blank paper to finished guitar, onto my site and post the link here. Then if you have questions we can arrange a chat or email or whatever.

Oh yes, the engraving tool I used is a Record Power Professional Engraver (about £35 on the internet). I found a couple on the market, but this one has multiple tips for different depth and width of line. Having said that I have only used the finest tip so far, that may change next week!

Give me a couple of weeks.

Cheers

Mel