Congratulations to Chad Phillips from Guitar Therapy for being our April Guitar of the Month winner! Take a step behind the scenes with us as he goes into detail on how he crafted this beautiful PRS SE.

This is a PRS SE model guitar that I refinished for a customer of mine. He had tall order for this finish, he wanted a bright white that was transparent enough to show the figure and grain of this piece.

Close up of the slab prior to applying base coat stain

Why was it a tall order? Because of the slab. For starters this guitar is mahogany construction, so there is a lot of red, not so subtle undertones in the wood. Secondly, the grain is tight without much figure (more on that in sec). Third, every so-called OTC "white" stain looks more flesh colored than anything and in my experience, getting the opacity right is tricky. This is especially true if you're trying to get a bright white while maintaining enough transparency to allow any figure or wood grain to be visible.

In the case of this slab, red undertones and little figure usually mean that in order to keep the slab from having a pink hue, you have to really go heavy with your color. But you sacrifice what little figure you have in the process. If you try to go light, you get the opposite problem: The figure is preserved, but at the cost of color. What to do?

After applying the base coat stain, the slab is still too pinkish or flesh colored

I experimented with making my own white stain using ordinary flat white paint and water. I settled on a 3 parts paint to 1 part water mixture for my base color. I settled on this formula using trial and error on test slabs I had laying around the shop, which had the requisite red undertones. Next, I ordered three different toners from Mohawk to complete my stain tests: White Wash M101-0202, Antique White M115-2017, and White Innocence M115-0333. 

One test example of combining stain base coats and Mohawk toners

Both the Anitique White and White Innocence toners looked fantastic in my tests, but they didn't have the bright white my customer wanted. Mohawk's White Wash toner ended up being the perfect solution. It cancelled out the pinkish hue in the test slab with a bright white that wasn't so opaque as to render the figure invisible.

Final color after applying base coat and Mohawk White Wash toner

The paint/stain was applied by hand for the base color. The White Wash toner was the finishing touch, which not only resulted in a transparent bright white, but also resulted in color that was more uniform and consistent across the entire body. This could not have been accomplished with my color base alone. It was Mohawk's White Wash that ultimately made this color possible. Once staining was completed, the guitar was finished in Color Tone brand nitrocellose lacquer. I used high gloss for the body and peg head. The neck itself was done in satin. No traditional sealers were used underneath. Some folks might balk at this, but my customer wanted a thin skin on this guitar for reasons of tonality.

Lastly, when spraying with nitro, I usually shoot 2-5 coats and then will knock it down with 600-800 as a start. After that I just work on getting a good build of finish. I rarely sand between coats. When I'm done shooting the nitro, I'll let it cure for about 3-4 weeks before finish sanding. I graduate up through my grits, starting around 800 and going as high as 2000-3000, after which I will buff the finish out with an orbital buffer and Color Tone Swirl Remover. I feel like my method is pretty lo-fi as finishing goes, but I get good results with it and my customers are happy. Thanks Mohawk for providing the perfect toner to aid me in completing this project.

To see more of Chad's work visit his website or Facebook page!