# Blackheart Loomis, Stage one



## SevenDeadly (May 19, 2009)

I finally got up the courage to change the finish on my loomis. Started with 120 grit sand paper for the heavy stuff, doing 200 grit today, tomorow, Dark Ebony stain. I think the ebony will take real well to the grains in the ash body.

If you see this Jeff, I'm sorry, the McDonald's color scheme wore off on me a long time ago

eta pics







more pictures inbound


----------



## kmanick (May 19, 2009)

cool!
man you've got balls, I'd be horrified to do that to one of my guitars.
should look great when It's finished.


----------



## synrgy (May 19, 2009)

w00t! I love seeing DIY projects! Can't wait to see how this turns out.


----------



## sheener19 (May 19, 2009)

cool idea good luck


----------



## Cypher (May 19, 2009)

Very curious how this will turn out!! Will look killer for sure, never liked the colour on the Loomis. This will make it look a 1000 times sexier


----------



## HumanFuseBen (May 19, 2009)

oh damn! you sir, have balls of brass. That will look amazing with the black stain, maple board, and black goodies. huzzah to you!

what about the back? since its a set neck and the neck is also that red finish, did you sand it, too?


----------



## SevenDeadly (May 19, 2009)

HumanFuseBen said:


> oh damn! you sir, have balls of brass. That will look amazing with the black stain, maple board, and black goodies. huzzah to you!
> 
> what about the back? since its a set neck and the neck is also that red finish, did you sand it, too?



It is sanded too. I did that part by hand cause I was worried about the sander heating up the glue in the joint. The neck is sooo sexy sanded


----------



## HumanFuseBen (May 19, 2009)

oh wow! how did you avoid hitting the neck binding?


----------



## Sang-Drax (May 19, 2009)

Dark Ebony stain ftw! That's precisely what I want to go after with my semi-custom 7... looking forward to seeing the result on yours


----------



## kmanick (May 19, 2009)

you should just gunstock oil the back of the neck


----------



## Ruins (May 19, 2009)

ohhh yeah this is going to be awesome!


----------



## SevenDeadly (May 19, 2009)

picture of the back as requested


----------



## Apophis (May 19, 2009)

nice idea, good luck


----------



## Erick Kroenen (May 19, 2009)

Apophis said:


> nice idea, good luck


 +1


----------



## vampiregenocide (May 19, 2009)

Hope this works out man, good luck.


----------



## Arminius (May 19, 2009)

It looks awesome I'm sure a dark stain will look 

i wish someone would decide to do this to one of their mahogany Schecters so i can see how it looks. I'm too scared to do it to mine.


----------



## Leon (May 19, 2009)

SevenDeadly said:


> If you see this Jeff, I'm sorry, the McDonald's color scheme wore off on me a long time ago.


----------



## Stealthdjentstic (May 19, 2009)

Cant wait to see the final product, i remember someone posting photoshopped pictures of the loomis in different colors. I wonder how similar it will be to those.


----------



## skinhead (May 19, 2009)

That's going to smoke


----------



## Thin_Ice_77 (May 19, 2009)

Haha, that must have been hard to start off!

Looking forward to it mate, keep us updated


----------



## HighGain510 (May 19, 2009)

kmanick said:


> you should just gunstock oil the back of the neck




+1 Gunstock oil that neck man!  Great idea, never a huge fan of the color scheme on the Loomis so it will be pretty neat to see what it looks like with a more sinister-looking color combo!


----------



## Gain_Junkie93 (May 19, 2009)

This is an Awesome idea. However I think if you oiled the body it would look pretty good as well.


----------



## HaGGuS (May 19, 2009)

Well done so far.


----------



## Raoul Duke (May 19, 2009)

With a dark stain this could look very cool 

I love the grain of the wood, anything to bring that out is a 

That first couple of goes with the sand paper would've been interesting to watch


----------



## ivancic1al (May 19, 2009)

excellent idea man!! i think the nice grain in the ash body will absolutely pop with that new finish! best of luck to ya!


----------



## SevenDeadly (May 19, 2009)

Raoul Duke said:


> With a dark stain this could look very cool
> 
> I love the grain of the wood, anything to bring that out is a
> 
> That first couple of goes with the sand paper would've been interesting to watch



better order some golf shoes!


pictures of stage one complete in the morning, goodnight guys


----------



## djpharoah (May 19, 2009)

When I had my Loomis the idea of refinishing it with a dark blue stain crossed my mind as I didn't like the stock finish.


----------



## Raoul Duke (May 20, 2009)

SevenDeadly said:


> better order some golf shoes!



Impossible to walk in this muck, not footing at all...



I await the new pics


----------



## Harry (May 20, 2009)

Looks interesting so far, cool stuff


----------



## EliNoPants (May 20, 2009)

cool man, i've always hated the look of the maple board and unfinished headstock when the body was that sexy sexy dark red, if that guitar came with an ebony board and matching headstock, i'd have probably crapped my pants the first time i saw it

good luck on this, i assume you're gonna match the headstock to the body?


----------



## Petef2007 (May 20, 2009)

This is making me want to do things to my satin black demon 7 FR. Can't wait to see the finished result, and yes, balls of pure steel it must have taken to sand down a loomis


----------



## darren (May 20, 2009)

Black stain on ash might make it look like that cheap particleboard furniture.

Maybe use black grain filler and a dark gray/charcoal stain.


----------



## S-O (May 20, 2009)

moar pics. nao.


----------



## Rick (May 20, 2009)

Good luck!


----------



## guitarbuilder93 (May 20, 2009)

what. the. fuck. you said it would be stained today! piks NAOW!!! 

 sorry, i'm really impatient!


----------



## lctdmf (May 20, 2009)

Pics, I neeed to know if I want to do this instead of the loomis stain on a custom I'm building.


----------



## Cadavuh (May 20, 2009)

Thats awesome! Im really looking forward to seeing it finished


----------



## SevenDeadly (May 20, 2009)

first coat just went on, give me an hour or two for dry time, then pictures inbound


----------



## Anthony (May 20, 2009)

But I'll be sleeps!


----------



## Raoul Duke (May 20, 2009)

I'll be here, at work, bored as bat shit 


BRING ON THE PICS!


----------



## Adamh1331 (May 20, 2009)

Get em up!


----------



## gatesofcarnage (May 20, 2009)

PICS! NOW!


----------



## SevenDeadly (May 21, 2009)

boy, last night was a learning experience! First top coat went on @ 7:30. The density of Ash is 670 kg/cu.m, compared to cedar @ 380 kg/cu.m. What this means is that the stain takes ALOT longer to fully absorb into the denser white ash. Only after sitting all night was the first coat not tacky. I'm still going forward, only I have to be more patient I think. Even if this doesn't turn out like a factory finish, i feel it will only give the guitar more character. Thanks for the input y'all

I decided to leave the front of the headstock maple, hence the tape






The grains in the wood are much darker than the flat parts on the rest of the body





I'm going to do two coats of the stain then a semi-gloss. More pics to come after second coat and rebuild!


----------



## guitarbuilder93 (May 21, 2009)

oh noes! its the red x of d00m! i hate the school server!


----------



## SevenDeadly (May 21, 2009)

guitarbuilder93 said:


> oh noes! its the red x of d00m! i hate the school server!



anyone else having trouble seeing them?


----------



## MFB (May 21, 2009)

No, I can see em fine. Needs moar staining.


----------



## SevenDeadly (May 21, 2009)

second coat went on much better than the first, I think I'm getting the hang of this-pics incoming 10 minutes


----------



## wannabguitarist (May 21, 2009)

That looks sick


----------



## willybman (May 21, 2009)

awesome!!!!!!!


----------



## SevenDeadly (May 21, 2009)

here's some more. Sorry for the bad lighting, my shop only has one fluorescent tube. I'll get another set outside once the second coat dries


----------



## Elysian (May 21, 2009)

I personally would sand it back so the black is only in the grain lines, and then do another coat so that the white areas of the wood are lighter than the grain lines. Thatd look pretty slick.


----------



## SevenDeadly (May 21, 2009)

thanks for the suggestion, I'll keep it in mind after this coat dries. I'll look you up next time I get up to Plano.


----------



## SnowfaLL (May 21, 2009)

Ahh, Thats a neat idea. The red finish is one thing that I really dislike about the Loomis honestly, as I just hate red as a guitar color.


----------



## SevenDeadly (May 21, 2009)

ahhhh, it's beginning to look better!


























and my biggest puppy


----------



## Rick (May 21, 2009)

Puppy approves.


----------



## daemon barbeque (May 21, 2009)

Puppy is happy LOL


----------



## Marv Attaxx (May 21, 2009)

SevenDeadly said:


> here's some more. Sorry for the bad lighting, my shop only has one fluorescent tube. I'll get another set outside once the second coat dries


This looks sooo cool 
Can't wait to see the final results!!
And Puppy looks really happy 
Happy puppy makes me happy


----------



## 777 (May 21, 2009)

You sir, WIN


----------



## Cadavuh (May 21, 2009)

Thats gonna look sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!


----------



## guitarbuilder93 (May 21, 2009)

shit, i can actually see 'em now! looks awesome! can't wait to see how it turns out!


----------



## Raoul Duke (May 21, 2009)

Looking very nice! I reckon the head stock left as maple will actually look pretty killer when its all done. 

Elysians idea might work pretty well too

If this works out i can see a few people following in your foot steps, if they have the balls ha ha


----------



## solarian (May 22, 2009)

That already looks insane dude! I absolutely love the Loomis guitars and to see someone with enough balls to sway away from the standard red = WIN!!! Refinish projects are always fun, so good luck with the refinish dude!!


----------



## HumanFuseBen (May 22, 2009)

oh shit man, you're going to have the most metal looking guitar out there. with that maple board, thats going to be the shit!


----------



## Groff (May 22, 2009)

Elysian said:


> I personally would sand it back so the black is only in the grain lines, and then do another coat so that the white areas of the wood are lighter than the grain lines. Thatd look pretty slick.



I thought of that too. But the solid black looks badass!


----------



## HighGain510 (May 22, 2009)

That is coming out awesome man, I like it all black like it is right now.


----------



## badger71 (May 22, 2009)

Awesome. I hope this thread ends up on a Schecter employee's computer....for a few ideas regarding 7 string, non-sig, guitar ideas. Let Loomis have the "red" and cross inlays...make something with ash body/board with different colors and no inlays for the rest of us.


----------



## AeonSolus (May 22, 2009)

I always thought loomis looked like a freaking vampire, and his guitar's the blood red finish with crosses didn't help much either...but sir...your guitar will look like major win


----------



## SevenDeadly (May 22, 2009)

thanks for the motivation y'all, went out of town to party last night, gonna get back to it tonight


----------



## Panterica (May 22, 2009)

this is an overall drastic improvement
i loves it!!! now...
MOAR PICS!!!!


----------



## Demeyes (May 22, 2009)

Looks pretty good so far. I think when it's all done and without the tape it'll look really killer.


----------



## CrushingAnvil (May 22, 2009)

^ Spammers aren't even bothering having actual names 

"Hello, My Name is fghfh, would you like some shoes?"

Looks good bro! can't wait to see it reassembled!


----------



## Wi77iam (May 22, 2009)

oil that bitch up with some tung oil


----------



## JPMDan (May 22, 2009)

that's a really nice way to spruce up a loomis, good job!


----------



## Metalman X (May 24, 2009)

Looks great so far....can't wait to see how this develops


----------



## yellowv (May 24, 2009)

How hard was it to get off the original finish? Your giving me some dirty thoughts. I think the Llomis would look bad in a green stain. Like the see through green SRC's.


----------



## Metalman X (May 24, 2009)

yellowv said:


> How hard was it to get off the original finish? Your giving me some dirty thoughts. I think the Llomis would look bad in a green stain. Like the see through green SRC's.



Dark green stain + black hardware would look sick, IMO! I'd love to see something like that!


----------



## SevenDeadly (May 24, 2009)

the finish was REALLY thick. After one good pass with the sander, the bright "red" was off, but there was really deep dark/black stains due the to the density of the wood. It took some long and hard sanding, but I used 120 for the first go at it because I was a little dubious.

edit-everything is back together, just need to get strings if the guitar shop is open tomorrow. pics in the morning


----------



## Cadavuh (May 24, 2009)

Gawd i cant wait


----------



## Meldville (May 25, 2009)

Can't wait to see the finished product!


----------



## SevenDeadly (May 25, 2009)

sorry for the bad photos, getting strings tomorrow!


----------



## reptillion (May 25, 2009)

I hate to say it dude, it was an awesome concept and could have looked cool, but IMO the black looks way too much like clay or matte, especially on the horns.
Lucky you though for having a unique guitar, and if you like it, thats all that matters. Also goes great with the inlays.


----------



## McKay (May 25, 2009)

Looks the wrong way round, would be better if the lines were darker rather than lighter.


----------



## possumkiller (May 25, 2009)

wow that looks absolutely horrid!! way to ruin a loomis there bro congrats!










































lol j/k


----------



## Adamh1331 (May 25, 2009)

Not bad..but to black IMO


----------



## gatesofcarnage (May 25, 2009)

That is fucking beautiful! congrats on making a loomis that doesn't make me want a big mac and fries!


----------



## CrushingAnvil (May 25, 2009)

SevenDeadly said:


> sorry for the bad photos, getting strings tomorrow!



If that were my guitar I'd probably change the finish again.


----------



## Oogadee Boogadee (May 25, 2009)

it looks like it's not done yet, that's all.

there are a ton of steps to doing it right (i don't know them though), but I remember watching a PRS shop tour on comcast On Demand, and the amount of care that went into sanding, staining, sanding, staining, etc. then buffing, clear coating, buffing, clear coating, etc. was insane. The key ingredient to all of this is time and patience.

i think it was PRS... i'm not too sure. Or it could have been Noodles' description of Rob (KXK's) process, or some DIY site I've seen..... whatever teh case... it's a lot more repetition than 2 coats of stain and 2 coats of clear.

I don't think you ruined it - but, IMO, it does look 'incomplete' thus far.

the beauty is that you can keep trying over and over again. Nothing is permanent.

this is hindsite.... but next time, do samples on scrap wood first.... many pieces of wood, and take notes on the process for each sample. then at the end, you'll have your fav to pick from and know exactly the steps you took to get there.

ps - leaving the headstock untouched was a stellar move. that black hardware on top of maple is a favorite color scheme for me.


----------



## Gregk (May 26, 2009)

I'm gonna have to agree with the others here and say do another refinish. It just looks really blotchy and whatnot.


----------



## Jeroenofzo (May 26, 2009)

Also the lines look way to round, you sanded alot off the guitar. It looks like it has dents in it.


----------



## Wi77iam (May 26, 2009)

yeah, looks like you've sanded it fairly unevenly.. and the stain/oil looks incomplete. IMO


----------



## possumkiller (May 26, 2009)

yeah totally dented. just sand it down and make a flat top loomis. nobody will notice.


----------



## Tristoner7 (May 26, 2009)

Cool concept and can't blame you for trying it out but I would get it refinished, not liking it too much, sorry bro.


----------



## Jeroenofzo (May 26, 2009)

However if you want it to look fairly cool again, sand off the stain, make it all perfect again, sharp edges 'n stuff, and just put a real pretty ash veneer on there, stain it alot more, maybe combine it with dark red, just to compensate for the maple, because i think it's incomplete with the maple parts.


----------



## HumanFuseBen (May 26, 2009)

^^it would be tough to put a veneer on top of that body, as it is arched and carved. you'd have to have a vacuum press and stuff....

most importantly, OP, how do YOU like the guitar? that's all that matters, really!


----------



## vampiregenocide (May 26, 2009)

Can't really say much from those photos man, they aren't very high quality. Perhaps some more? It looks quite nice in the first one, not so much the second two.


----------



## S-O (May 26, 2009)

I dig it.


----------



## nordhauser06 (May 26, 2009)

To be honest, I'm not liking it thus far. My advice would be to sand it down and try again. You have a lot more sanding ahead of you. Sanding is the most important process; no matter how long it takes and how much of a pain the ass it is, you get what you put into it. As others have said, you need to sand until it's perfect. That's true. The staining is the last thing to worry about. Speaking from experience, painting and staining just magnifies imperfections.


----------



## HumanFuseBen (May 26, 2009)

^yeah, i found that info out the hard way! my recently finished RG7421 project (green stain) has a few rough spots on it that are bugging me. i didn't spend a ton of time sanding on the inside of the horns and on the sides of the guitar. i figured the stain and poly would hopefully smooth it all out, and i was wrong!

although, i still stick with my original post: if you like it, fuck it!


----------



## Groff (May 26, 2009)

Oogadee Boogadee said:


> I don't think you ruined it - but, IMO, it does look 'incomplete' thus far.



This.

If you want a good resource for finishing a guitar, I have the "Paint your own guitar with spray cans" book, and it has VERY good information on the finishing process. Check it out!


----------



## SevenDeadly (May 27, 2009)

I am happy with it for sure. Stupid local shop doesn't have strings in yet, grrrrr


----------



## MF_Kitten (May 27, 2009)

i would definitely go over it with fine sandpaper to smoothen it out again. right now it's pretty dented and uneven.


----------



## Wi77iam (May 28, 2009)

can we get some better pics?


----------



## SevenDeadly (May 29, 2009)

Wi77iam said:


> can we get some better pics?



I'll get some up after work, glad to see people are still interested


----------



## Panterica (May 30, 2009)

i would have left it natural but thats me


----------



## psywaltz (Jun 2, 2009)

sorry dude, i love the red finish of the loomis. your "mainstreamed" black finish looks cheap and really unprofessional. i would give it i pro hands, save what is still to be saved!


----------



## redlol (Nov 2, 2009)

you mushroom


----------



## CrushingAnvil (Nov 2, 2009)

psywaltz said:


> sorry dude, i love the red finish of the loomis. your "mainstreamed" black finish looks cheap and really unprofessional. i would give it i pro hands, save what is still to be saved!



The proverbial 'soft-slap-to-the-face'


----------



## Xaios (Nov 2, 2009)

That there's an Epic Bump of Epic Epicness.


----------



## DevinShidaker (Nov 2, 2009)

redlol said:


> you mushroom



what? Great bump!


----------



## chips400 (Nov 2, 2009)

I think it looks kinda cool you gotta sand and smooth it down


----------



## SHRC7 (Nov 3, 2009)

it's a great idea, and gonna say for the billionth time,sand it down to make it smooth, but I can see what you're going for and you you do it right it will earn my most gaseous of GASes


----------



## cyril v (Nov 3, 2009)

awesome bump... 















I almost bought a loomis to do just this a long time ago... i don't know how the hell i missed this thread.


----------



## El Caco (Nov 3, 2009)

I missed this first time around which is funny since I have been thinking about doing similar to one of my Loomis's.


----------



## Wi77iam (Nov 3, 2009)

Updates?


----------



## audibleE (Nov 3, 2009)

Yikes... I did a DIY on my Omen-7 with the black stain and ummm.... it's doesn't look like that. Although I can't blame him. The Loomis red is boring and does remind me of ketchup and mustard. "Over One Million Notes Shredded!"


----------

