maika’i loa is hawaiian for excellent and man oh man it is.
Aloha Phil!!
Well, I finally finished my project based off of your kit.
I decided to do this project as a relic, both because I wanted to try different aging techniques, and because the price of aged guitars has gone through the roof!! It was really fun to do, but taking the first “cut” into the nicely finished guitar was a bit nerve wracking. Now that it’s done, I love the feel.
I started with Stewart-MacDonald nitrocellulose lacquer spray cans. Ever since I first saw Tom Wheeler’s “American Guitars”, I wanted a cherry sunburst that looked like the guitar on the cover of that book. I later came to find that that finish is called “Brockburst”. Over the amber, I had to sunburst a mix of cherry, red mahogany and tobacco brown, sprayed over each other. I was really happy with the results.
Next I did some checking with a razor, and also used compressed air to chill the finish. For the exposed maple top I used an aging trick involving tea and vinegar. For the aged mahogany I used stains, over which I applied gunstock oil and wax.
I still need to age the inlays and the pickup covers a little more, but overall I love this guitar. The quality of your kits are top notch, and I would put it up against any similar styled guitars made by any manufacturer.
Ryan I
Hawaii
