Dean RC7x refinish.

[mikeshallperish]

so i bought an rc7x a while back when thy first where available, and they where only available in metallic black or metallic white. naturally i bought the black model. but then dean released the rc7 which i believe is only available through custom shop and comes with a natural finish. i had to have one but wasn't willing to cough up the cash. most of the spec of the rc7x are the same as the higher end models except for some carves on the body and the frets. [i think the usa comes with dunlop 6000's] and i can always get new frets. so i decided to refinish mine.



the autopsy.




i used a power sander to rip off the clear coat, paint and sealer. i should have used a hand sander instead of a belt sander. that was a mistake in that i couldnt really maneuver around easily with out tearing chunks out of the body.




those angles are tough


while i was already sanding i took the liberty of sculpting the bottom horn to the usa model spec. it was already cut back, but not enough. now it's good for the "massive shredding" on the high frets as rusty says.


the sides of the body are a pain in the ass. cant really get to em with the sander so i gotta do it by hand. getting through the sealer is the toughest part.


that's as far as i got this evening. more updates tomorrow.






nice and sanded. i used 50 grit to get the big stuff off the 80 then 120. and 220 before the stain.





i repainted the head stock but decided to leave a little extra touch with my stilletto. but i decided it was tacky plus my buddy jace [thejaceless420]
told my to leave it black, so i did.



the stain.




the mock up.


finished product



sorry for the angle. damn photobucket.





the stain i used was a latex deck stain from ace i already had laying around my garage [im broke]
i used a rag and applied as much as i desired and let it dry for a couple of hours. i didnt like the top so i sanded and restained. i then used a polyurethane varnish that i used on the floors of my kitchen. again im broke. but it turned out pretty nice. the color reminds me of skwizgar's chirst's cross guitar. "i'd stand on it."

ill be taking some hi-res pictures soon after i restring.

[blister7321]

edit:
sweet refinish dude i personally would have left the headstock alone but still it looks killer

[Metalus]

Looking sick dude

[synrgy]

I can't tell if you have already done this or not, but if you haven't, I recommend *not* sanding any of the paint away from the neck joint, or you may end up having to put shims in later to get the neck to sit right. I learned that the hard way when I refinished a Jackson a while back.

[geofreesun]

i like this. i might do the same thing with my rc7x~. btw how many pieces of wood is that body made of?

[BenInKY]

Looks cool, wish I could refinish guitars. Unfortunately I have no "shop" skills, nor the tools to do it

[mikeshallperish]

geofreesun, to answer your question it looked to me like a 4 piece alder body.

[Josh Geohagan]

The headstock throws it off a little. It would look a bit nicer if it wasn't quite as dark, so it could match with the Ebony board a little better.

Other than that, it looks sick.

[vhmetalx]

Awesome man. Am jealous. What stain did you use? Thats what i wanna do to the ibby when i get it. Also, are you gunna clearcoat it?

[geofreesun]

nice~ more details on the stain plz?? i ll do it to mine if it doesn require too much skill

[mikeshallperish]

i'd go for it. basic shop skills are all you need. if your unsure go to projectguitar.com thats where i read on on my skills, "nun chuck skills, computer hacking skills"

[MaKo´s Tethan]

great job!looks way better now

[geofreesun]

i would interested to hear if you notice any change tone-wise

[vhmetalx]

I just looked at pics of the rc7 mahogany then pics of this and its a pretty dead on match. Freakin schweet. I think imma get a stain like this on my ibby when i get it. Thank you for the stain color idea!

[mikeshallperish]

oh yea blister7321, i changed the headstock cause i didnt want the big dean logo mucking up my guitar.

[Anthony]

Dude get an ebony veneer for the headstock.

[Jontain]

Looks awesome man!

[mikeshallperish]

i should. im not really liking the plain black. ebony would look amazing.

[blister7321]

Originally Posted by mikeshallperish

oh yea blister7321, i changed the headstock cause i didnt want the big dean logo mucking up my guitar.

ah i see
to each his own

[whammybarofdeth]

this is awesome! good job dude

[vansinn]

You did a great job at the refinish, but I have to comment:

The upper horn doesn't fit with lower horn; I believe you should either have trimmed the lower not as pointy, or trimmed the upper just a bit slimmer to match.
Also, with such a small lower horn and the neck pup slanted, I believe reshaping the end of the body (from armrest and back) to make it slightly asymetric would make the whole design fall more in place.

While at it, I would've trimmed the heel slightly more sexy for better high-fret access.

The black headstock doesn't quite fit.
An idea: Slightly sunburst the body from natural to transparent semi-black/antrasit around the edges, and the opposite on the headstock, i.e. natural edges and transparent black towards the centre.

[Floody_85]

Good job man. That looks really sweet!

[Mindcrime1204]

[QUOTE=vansinn;2163246]While at it, I would've trimmed the heel slightly more sexy for better high-fret access.
QUOTE]

First person I've met who thinks there isn't enough fret acess on a Cooley


OP: Very nice work

[Alexdeliverance]

i really like it but i would have sanded to headstock to wood for sure. only the headstock is throwing off that natural look i like but, nice job man! you made me wanna refinish my cow7 ( and add a pickup )

[mikeshallperish]

well, I didn't change the shape of the lower horn at all, just took wood off the back, and i like how they look different personally, and yes the headstock doesn't really match, but i would have gotten an ebony veneer to match the fretboard. but i wont be doing any of that cause I'm selling the guitar now.