Refinishing a Emmons PP D-10

Peter Leavenworth · Post by **Peter Leavenworth** » 7 Oct 2016 3:38 am

I'm in the process of having my early '70s Emmons D-10 overhauled and I have the opportunity to do something with the deteriorated finish. It's always had a dark green lacquer that has chipped off significant sections on the front and the top, as well as pretty much disguising the beautiful birds-eye maple. I'm hesitant to pay a lot, and take a lot of extra time, to have someone else restore the finish - which would always be a restored finish anyway. So I'd like to strip the rest of the lacquer off and have a natural finish. I'm not excited about using lacquer again either, any suggestions for a clear but mellow finish?

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 7 Oct 2016 7:18 am

I have refinished quite a few p/p's.
Strip the guitar down to the bare cabinet and then use paint remover. It make take several applications to get the old finish off. Then you need to do a real good job of sanding. After that I use a sander sealer.
I then use nitrocellulose lacquer for the finish coats.
I get all my stuff from www.reranch.com in rattle cans.
After you have your finish on, you go progressively finer with sand paper until you're down to 1800.
Good luck and take your time!

PS: Here's an example of some of my work:

Wayne Ledbetter · Post by **Wayne Ledbetter** » 7 Oct 2016 8:20 am

Erv
Nice job on that Emmons. I use to have a D12 about like that but little darker brownish color.

Damir Besic · Post by **Damir Besic** » 7 Oct 2016 12:13 pm

that Emmons is gorgeous Erv...

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 7 Oct 2016 12:42 pm

Thanks, Damir.

Damir Besic · Post by **Damir Besic** » 7 Oct 2016 12:47 pm

rattle cans?? I can't believe that...you got any more pictures? do you have to buff it every time you spray a new coat of lacquer on it?

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 7 Oct 2016 1:32 pm

Damir,
No, you really don't.
That's what I like about nitrocellulose lacquer, the new coat blends right in with the old coat.
The only time you really need to do any sanding and buffing is when you're through applying lacquer for the final time. Then you need to go through a series of different grades of sand paper until the final sandpaper is actually smother that a sheet of paper.
I've refinished quite a few different guitars.
I'll see if I can find some more pictures of this guitar.

Damir Besic · Post by **Damir Besic** » 7 Oct 2016 1:35 pm

thanks bud, very interesting, was always interested in restoring and refinishing instruments, but don't have knowledge, equipment or place to do it...ha well, maybe one day...

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 7 Oct 2016 1:40 pm

This guitar wound up being quite a project. It originally came with metal necks. I had some ugly black necks with no inlay that Emmons would put on their guitars. I located some inlay that matched the inlay on the cabinet and I routed that into the necks and refinished them to match the rest of the guitar.

Damir Besic · Post by **Damir Besic** » 7 Oct 2016 3:15 pm

well, you did a great job my friend... gorgeous guitar...

Peter Leavenworth · Post by **Peter Leavenworth** » 8 Oct 2016 4:25 am

Yeah, that's what I'm talking about, Erv. I think I may have seen that picture on Tommy Cass's site. Very nice. Am I right in seeing that you've gotten a mild sunburst effect? In the first picture I thought it was light glare but I see it in all the other shots. How did you do that?

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 8 Oct 2016 7:31 am

The center is pretty much natural or maybe just a touch of tinted clear coat. At www.reranch.com you can get the sunburst shades.
To get the sunburst effect, you just start out light and then you gradually give it heavier coats to make it darker, really not that hard.

This is a ZB that I completely refurbished. It started out as all black and I refinished it in natural and black. On this guitar I had to bleach the parts I wanted natural to eliminate the black:

Henry Matthews · Post by **Henry Matthews** » 8 Oct 2016 8:06 am

Erv, that is out of this world, great job. I've got no talent whatsoever to do that.

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 8 Oct 2016 8:31 am

Henry,
It doesn't take a lot of talent, just a lot of patience.

Bill Ford · Post by **Bill Ford** » 8 Oct 2016 10:21 am

Erv Niehaus wrote:Henry,
It doesn't take a lot of talent, just a lot of patience.

Loooooooots of patience..2 thumbs up Bro Erv

Peter Leavenworth · Post by **Peter Leavenworth** » 8 Oct 2016 1:59 pm

Erv, thanks so much for your advice, pictures, and beautiful work. I visited the lacquer supply site and they look like just the right people to buy from. Can you remove a tongue oil finish substantially enough to do a lacquer finish over it? I have a nice 1966 Guild T-50 hollow body electric that was refinished with tongue oil. I, too, didn't know you could spray lacquer from a can and guitarist friends told me that a spray job costing less than $400 probably wasn't worth doing.

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 9 Oct 2016 6:12 am

I don't know much about tongue oil. I had to bleach the ZB before refinishing and you might have to do something similar to a guitar that was finished with tongue oil to get it out of the wood.

Bill Ford · Post by **Bill Ford** » 9 Oct 2016 10:24 am

Google.........rattle can lacquer

Lane Gray · Post by **Lane Gray** » 9 Oct 2016 2:34 pm

Silly autocorrect. It's "tung oil." Great stuff

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 10 Oct 2016 7:32 am

Well, bite my tongue!

Lane Gray · Post by **Lane Gray** » 10 Oct 2016 7:36 am

BTW, I didn't post that for being pedantic, but because searching on tongue oil can turn up different results....

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 10 Oct 2016 7:44 am

Well, bite my pedantic!

Rex Thomas · Post by **Rex Thomas** » 10 Oct 2016 3:25 pm