# Land of contusion (Strandberg refinish thread)



## KnightBrolaire (Feb 5, 2017)

I picked this guitar up a month or two ago and didn't like the way it looked (there was no contrast to the top- it was just super blonde), plus I wasn't a fan of the EMGS that were installed. The previous owner had pickup rings installed and managed to break off some of the screws in the wood, which is disheartening. A pretty annoying detail on an otherwise super nice guitar. I decided to refinish it and throw in some Instrumental SFTY3-8 pickups. I also changed the knobs to bocote. I've done a purple to red fade before and loved the way it looked so I decided to do it again. I give you the contusion fade.
Specs: pau ferro neck/fretboard (IPNP profile)
swamp ash body
Flamed maple top
28-26.5" scale
Instrumental SFTY3-8 pickups with 3 way toggle/ coil split on volume.
*Before:*
How it looked when I bought it. BORING





My collection of headless guitars




*After:*
Working on the contusion fade








All done.


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## cwhitey2 (Feb 5, 2017)

Looks great! I like the subtle color transition.


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## narad (Feb 5, 2017)

The color looks well-done -- quite similar to my own .strandberg*, but for some reason I like it pre-stain. I can't put my finger on it -- did you not stain inside the pickup cavities? Something just doesn't feel consistent. But yea, those original pickup rings/pickups had to go -- I think so far it looked best in the top left box of the 2x2 grid.

Actually looking back on it, that one seems to have by far the best lighting.


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## KnightBrolaire (Feb 5, 2017)

cwhitey2 said:


> Looks great! I like the subtle color transition.


Thanks, it was a lot of fun to do.




narad said:


> The color looks well-done -- quite similar to my own .strandberg*, but for some reason I like it pre-stain. I can't put my finger on it -- did you not stain inside the pickup cavities? Something just doesn't feel consistent. But yea, those original pickup rings/pickups had to go -- I think so far it looked best in the top left box of the 2x2 grid.
> 
> Actually looking back on it, that one seems to have by far the best lighting.



No I didn't stain the pickup cavities.I was originally going to just do a walnut stain so the flame would pop better but ended up sanding it off because it didn't offer as much contrast as I wanted. I'll try to get some better lit pictures up soon.


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## KnightBrolaire (Feb 5, 2017)

*Here's some pics taken in the sunshine.*


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## narad (Feb 5, 2017)

Yea, the middle shot looks great.


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## pondman (Feb 5, 2017)

Nice one, it looks great


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## KnightBrolaire (Feb 5, 2017)

narad said:


> Yea, the middle shot looks great.


thanks, those 3 shots are probably the most accurate to how it looks irl



pondman said:


> Nice one, it looks great


>when pondman likes your work


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## Zhysick (Feb 5, 2017)

KnightBrolaire said:


> thanks, those 3 shots are probably the most accurate to how it looks irl
> 
> 
> >when pondman likes your work





Best meme ever!!!

Great work KnightBrolaire... that Boden looks fantastic now.


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## KnightBrolaire (Feb 5, 2017)

Zhysick said:


> Best meme ever!!!
> 
> Great work KnightBrolaire... that Boden looks fantastic now.



thanks


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## MrYakob (Feb 9, 2017)

This looks amazing! I've got a used OS7 on its way to me with some of the finish wearing off so I'm thinking of doing something like this. What did you finish it with after the dye?


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## KnightBrolaire (Feb 9, 2017)

MrYakob said:


> This looks amazing! I've got a used OS7 on its way to me with some of the finish wearing off so I'm thinking of doing something like this. What did you finish it with after the dye?



Thanks! I used minwax wipe on poly. Too cold for me to spray it with poly like I wanted to so I had to use the wipe on stuff.


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## KnightBrolaire (May 5, 2017)

Wasn't entirely happy with the poly finish, plus I wanted an excuse to try tru-oil. I tweaked the fade a bit and coated the whole body in tru-oil. I prefer working with this stuff to poly 
















basically just made everything a bit darker. I'll post some indoor shots later to give you a better idea.


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## Kyle01 (May 6, 2017)

Wow, definitely liking that fade. It looks really cool with more contrast. 

I agree about the tru oil, that stuff is awesome. So much easier to work with than polyurethane to me. Plus it seems to really accentuate the wood grain in way that poly can't quite replicate.


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## KnightBrolaire (May 6, 2017)

Kyle01 said:


> Wow, definitely liking that fade. It looks really cool with more contrast.
> 
> I agree about the tru oil, that stuff is awesome. So much easier to work with than polyurethane to me. Plus it seems to really accentuate the wood grain in way that poly can't quite replicate.



thanks, i just wasn't entirely happy with how it looked before. i really dig the tru oil, will definitely use it more in the future.


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## IGC (May 6, 2017)

KnightBrolaire said:


> thanks, i just wasn't entirely happy with how it looked before. i really dig the tru oil, will definitely use it more in the future.



Nice job KB . I like the latest rendition with the truth oil.


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## KnightBrolaire (May 6, 2017)

IGC said:


> Nice job KB . I like the latest rendition with the truth oil.



thanks


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## diagrammatiks (May 6, 2017)

what kind of heartless bastard would add pickup rings to anything that didn't have one already


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## LiveOVErdrive (May 6, 2017)

Wow. That looks great. Way better than before, way better than original. 

How did you do the refinish without destroying the strandberg logo by the neck pocket?


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## KnightBrolaire (May 6, 2017)

diagrammatiks said:


> what kind of heartless bastard would add pickup rings to anything that didn't have one already



exactly.


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## KnightBrolaire (May 6, 2017)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> Wow. That looks great. Way better than before, way better than original.
> 
> How did you do the refinish without destroying the strandberg logo by the neck pocket?


thanks.
the logo is actually engraved into the body and I didn't have to sand much to remove the old finish/poly so the logo was never in any danger of getting sanded off.


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## LiveOVErdrive (May 6, 2017)

KnightBrolaire said:


> thanks.
> the logo is actually engraved into the body and I didn't have to sand much to remove the old finish/poly so the logo was never in any danger of getting sanded off.



Oh cool. I just assumed it was a waterslide decal.


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## IGC (May 6, 2017)

Would you dare try the melting of lead free or silver solder into the strandburg logo and sand flush? Not trying to give you risky ideas or anything... even safer that metal dust and sand flush in the strandburg logo! Oh that could look fancy!


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## KnightBrolaire (May 6, 2017)

IGC said:


> Would you dare try the melting of lead free or silver solder into the strandburg logo and sand flush? Not trying to give you risky ideas or anything... even safer that metal dust and sand flush in the strandburg logo! Oh that could look fancy!



Not a bad idea, minus the fact that i'd have to sand off the tru oil i just put on lol. I'd probably just use aluminum powder or something, not the solder. Besides, i'm pretty happy with how everything looks right now. I'll probably do it on a future build or something.


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## KnightBrolaire (May 6, 2017)

how the fade looks indoors.










As you can see the look of it varies pretty heavily in the lighting.


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## KnightBrolaire (May 6, 2017)

threw a couple more coats of tru oil on it. It looks amazing when it's in the right light.


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## JSanta (May 7, 2017)

DAMN! I'm not usually into those colors, but that looks incredible.


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## KnightBrolaire (May 7, 2017)

JSanta said:


> DAMN! I'm not usually into those colors, but that looks incredible.



thanks


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## Thringer09 (May 7, 2017)

Wow, looks great dude! A lot better with the tru oil. Congratulations!


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## KnightBrolaire (May 8, 2017)

Thringer09 said:


> Wow, looks great dude! A lot better with the tru oil. Congratulations!



thanks


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## getowned7474 (May 8, 2017)

How much did the Tru Oil affect the color of the stain? I'm thinking about using when refinishing my Epiphone Les Paul but I don't want it to mess up the color of the stains.


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## Dumple Stilzkin (May 8, 2017)

Looks good, nicely done. How do you like it compared to the Vader?


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## KnightBrolaire (May 8, 2017)

getowned7474 said:


> How much did the Tru Oil affect the color of the stain? I'm thinking about using when refinishing my Epiphone Les Paul but I don't want it to mess up the color of the stains.



it'll pull a bit of color off on the first coat but after that it doesn't affect it. Same thing happens with too much poly or shellac ime. It's really not a problem as long as you do a thin coat to begin with.


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## KnightBrolaire (May 8, 2017)

Dumple Stilzkin said:


> Looks good, nicely done. How do you like it compared to the Vader?


 thanks.
vader is hands down more comfortable/better for me. More pronounced forearm contour compared to the strandy (makes it more comfortable than the strandy imo), better strap pin placement that doesn't dig into my chest like the strandberg(tip of horn vs back of body respectively), hipshot tuners are smoother, high fret access is superior due to the neck through build vs bolt on.
If Kiesel didn't have .... customer service I would have ordered at least one more 8 string from them. As it stands if you can find a used vader that has specs you like, buy it, they're excellent guitars.


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## KnightBrolaire (Jun 5, 2017)

All set up again. Swapped the sfty3 bridge for the elysian. this guitar kills.


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## KnightBrolaire (Jul 6, 2017)

since photobucket is garbage, here's the most recent pics:
https://flic.kr/s/aHsm42aL3g


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## Grand Rabbit (Jul 6, 2017)

I gotta say, that looks lightyears ahead of how it started and I already liked it then! Way more interesting and pleasing to the eye.

You should do the same fade on the electronics cavity cover ^-^


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## KnightBrolaire (Jul 6, 2017)

Grand Rabbit said:


> I gotta say, that looks lightyears ahead of how it started and I already liked it then! Way more interesting and pleasing to the eye.
> 
> You should do the same fade on the electronics cavity cover ^-^


thanks! I might dye the control cover in the future. Also thinking of dyeing the back in trans black, but leaving the faux binding alone. Gotta finish some other builds before I start messing with this one again lol


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## DistinguishedPapyrus (Jul 7, 2017)

KnightBrolaire said:


> thanks! I might dye the control cover in the future. Also thinking of dyeing the back in trans black, but leaving the faux binding alone. Gotta finish some other builds before I start messing with this one again lol



Man that's a great looking fade. Good color choices too. Are you gonna leave the knobs as they are?


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## KnightBrolaire (Jul 7, 2017)

DistinguishedPapyrus said:


> Man that's a great looking fade. Good color choices too. Are you gonna leave the knobs as they are?


thanks. Yeah I'll probably leave the bocote knobs since they tie into the fretboard/neck's colors. I tried black knobs but just felt like it was too boring since that's how most strandbergs come.


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## Grand Rabbit (Jul 8, 2017)

Are those the original tuners, the strandberg hardware?


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## KnightBrolaire (Jul 8, 2017)

Grand Rabbit said:


> Are those the original tuners, the strandberg hardware?


yes


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## LiveOVErdrive (Dec 10, 2018)

You said in the other thread you were gonna re-dye this thing, right? Any idea what color?

Because it would look great in seafoam


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## KnightBrolaire (Dec 10, 2018)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> You said in the other thread you were gonna re-dye this thing, right? Any idea what color?
> 
> Because it would look great in seafoam


this is what it currently looks like


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## LiveOVErdrive (Dec 10, 2018)

And you're redoing it again? 

Love the binding BTW.


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## crackout (Dec 10, 2018)

At some point in time this Boden gave up.


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## Malkav (Dec 11, 2018)

That is a pretty cool refinish.

Also KnightBrolaire has the coolest avatar on this site cause Dark Souls is life <3


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## KnightBrolaire (Dec 11, 2018)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> And you're redoing it again?
> 
> Love the binding BTW.


I just slightly tweaked the fade. otherwise it'll be basically the same


crackout said:


> At some point in time this Boden gave up.


gotta put a strictly 7 to some use


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