# Snap,CRACKLE,F**k



## Omzig (Sep 28, 2018)

So been out of thing for a while the job i was doing with my bro's company ran over and on the last day working there i tweaked my back,blah blah blah anyways a back crack/fix/meds later i thought it was time to start messing in the shop again (i'll get around to updating my other build/refinish threads over the next few days)

So anyhows the point of this thread......Ive been on the look out for a 80/90's crackle finish guitar for a while now,but even lower end stuff like the vesters have started to go for stupid money....

So i found a few bodies/guitars i took apart a while ago but never gotta around to refinishing & grabbed so Montana colours and a can of there Crackle spray to do some testing 

First up a Vester (manic II i think) body that was never used (vol/tone switches aren't drilled) 

This i started with base coat followed by a few overcoats streaks of orange/red












​FAIL......Yep it Has some Cool looking sections (rear heel is pretty cool) but the crackle is far to tight on the front and it's a bit Steel Panther/leopard print rather than Metal 

This body has an epoxy sealer coat so this one's coming off (rubbing alcohol/mess pad does the trick to remove the Montana stuff) 

Well as i had 60% of the crackle paint left and most of the red (chili) i decided to slap it on an old Yamaha body that's been a bit of a paint test dog for about 5 years (i had prepped it to try some hydro film dipping but getting this right was bugging me  )








​Much much better. I did manage to get it to crackle back to the base coat in a few places on the front,but as the splits are opened up i should be able to get some thinned out red dripped in to cover the white.....Keeper i think.

Its a bit of a mad finish to try and predict lots more testing inbound.

Shorting though my Crackle guitar pics folder i think i found the finish im going to work towards for the vester body




Time to reorder some more paints......


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## NateFalcon (Sep 28, 2018)

Lol, crackle finishes almost never come out right the first time...but you’re getting it! Just an idea if you’re experimenting anyway: maybe try the soap method instead of actual crackle paint- it has a more “drastic” effect if that’s what you’re going for


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## Omzig (Oct 3, 2018)

DING DING Round 2.......

So got my 2nd batch of paints and used the following method

Key body and undercoat with all colours in there various places 

Dry/Cure for 24 hours 

Repeat with 2 lighter colour top coats 20 mins apart blending and making sure everything has a fresh coat of paint to react with the crackle coat,that got me here (looks like a mad Ice pop,montana white/gloss colours really do POP)









leave the final coat of colours to vent 45 mins the apply Black Crackle top coat.....






And FAIL......LOL

Seems at every point (front and back) were i have overlap of the colour coats the crackle top coat refuses to react and just leaves behind a sooty charcoal powder..... (id just rubbed some away in the above pic)

Im going to fire Montana an email and ask them if is an expected result......there blurb doesn't say you can mix base coats but it also doesn't say you can't....

So as the weather is about to take a turn for damp and nasty here in the UK ive decide to give it one more try tomorrow as it should be clear ,this time im going to go for just the Tropical blue base coat with a black crackle topcoat from the heel section above.

Might have lost this battle but the war goes on  will wait for a reply from montana about mixing/blending....hummmm


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## Omzig (Oct 4, 2018)

OK 3-4-5 time lucky 






Love this blue,reminds me of how my HM strat would have looked 30 years ago!






Looks pretty cool sofar and was still cracking somewhat when i left it this afternoon,i'll see how it looks tomorrow but atm i like it so PASS.

Will return to this if the weather stays OK and i can get hold of a few more SS bodies to test on,i want to try a few different spray caps as the fan type the crackle coat comes with is a bit to wide imo...TTFN


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## TedEH (Oct 4, 2018)

I kind of like all the results so far. All em of.


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## NateFalcon (Oct 4, 2018)

If I could get paid for failing on custom paint jobs I’d have the greatest job ever!


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## Omzig (Oct 5, 2018)

TedEH said:


> I kind of like all the results so far. All em of.



Yep i did kind like the results of the tests so far but i wasn't quite happy with the over all effect so they got wiped  good job this stuff comes off so easy with thinners




NateFalcon said:


> If I could get paid for failing on custom paint jobs I’d have the greatest job ever!



Haha yep would be cool to mess about with paint effect all day and get paid for it (i still want to try so sarren wrap-Urea/crystal and i have some hydro films to mess with in coming the post) 

not so cool when its costing you £8/10$ a fail though lol 

Tinypic seems to be down atm so i will rehost if its still off in a day or 2 so here's and attached picy














IMG_20181004_163545



__ Omzig
__ Oct 5, 2018



Crackle tests


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## pondman (Oct 6, 2018)

Try putting a coat of clear over the multi colour before the crackle.
The blue one looks great.


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## budda (Oct 6, 2018)

Thats awesome.


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## MaxOfMetal (Oct 6, 2018)

This thread is awesome. That is all.


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## Omzig (Oct 6, 2018)

pondman said:


> Try putting a coat of clear over the multi colour before the crackle.
> The blue one looks great.



Thanks PM i think your onto the secret sauce part of this effect.

I was just watching the Vreeble crackel video on YT and they also place a clear coat on 45 mins after the base (they use 2k but fk 2k im not going near that stuff it will kill you dead lol) which is left to flash for just 5 mins before they use there crackle and the top coat splits almost instantaneously! 



So i think the 45 mins min wait montana suggests might be a little long for the degree of split im looking for (i see more tests to the horizon)

Ive had a quick poke about there website but i can't see a clear coat that is compatible with there "white" range of colours i have atm,thought there is one for the "Black/Gold" range which still has some great colours and are also compatible with the crackle top coats,next time im ordering i'll throw some one or two on to test with 

as i have about 1/3 of the black crackle left i'll do some passes with just a base coat at 5/10/15/20 mins flash off to see what the reaction is like,i guess montana are expecting ppl to use this stuff on some art and craft projects not trying to turn back the clock to the late 80's  



budda said:


> Thats awesome.





MaxOfMetal said:


> This thread is awesome. That is all.



Awesome waste of time and money lol  but thanks guys you make the modding and building all the worth while !


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## MaxOfMetal (Oct 6, 2018)

Omzig said:


> Awesome waste of time and money lol  but thanks guys you make the modding and building all the worth while !



Too bad you're not in the US. You're knocking these the fuck out.


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## Hollowway (Oct 6, 2018)

It’s all about who you know, and I know Crackle.


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## budda (Oct 6, 2018)

Hollowway said:


> It’s all about who you know, and I know Crackle.



High five.


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## electriceye (Oct 6, 2018)

That red and black one is amazing!!!! I love crackle. I have two axes with that (BCR & Jackson) and am building my own V that will have the red/black.


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## Omzig (Oct 9, 2018)

Hey guys 

Thx for all the feedback and thread likes  

So had a nice warm clear day today so i thought id carry on with my Dr stein testing & have a bit more of a mess with this crackle finish 

All colours have x2 mediums coats @ 20 mins apart,if you slap anymore of this montana stuff on than that it will run,but it has masses of pigment in it so x2 coats give very good coverage

Blue crackle was sprayed over after 45 mins vent (i did some tests with wait times under 45 mins but the effect it gives is very thin lines like glass spider webbing cool but not what i want so i thinner wiped it)







Yellow : standard Crackle fan cap/x2 mediums coats of blue crackle

Light blue: standard Crackle fan cap/x3 medium coats of blue crackle

Green : standard Crackle fan cap/x1 medium coats of blue crackle

Pink: standard colour cap/x2 overlapping medium coats of blue crackle

And as i thought replacing the crackles "fan" type spray cap with the more focused cone that comes on the colours allows more of the paint to go down in one place and resist the breaking from the venting gas in the base coats

In case anyone is wondering this body is from a Maverick X1 that i keep around for testing metallic sprays on (no doubt it will now get stripped and fully crackled  )


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## Omzig (Oct 10, 2018)

Did some cavity area testes first and no lift/peel so i got x2 coats of Solarez on today (just did front /back didn't get chance to do the sides got called out)the Black crackle coat is now black not just sooty black should be able to get the sides done tomorrow then on to....flatting clear coat oh joy!


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## budda (Oct 10, 2018)

Damn.


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## Omzig (Oct 12, 2018)

budda said:


> Damn.



A man of few words  i like that,say what you mean & mean what you say hehe & thx for the feedback

So got around to flatting out the top/back today and noticed that there'ed been some shink back of the clear into the blue (somewhat expected due to the thickness of the crackle coat)






Totally shitty weather here in the UK today so no sun shine UV and i need to add another coat of solarez so time to get Macgyver 






Rebuilt from 30W UV insect killer from my local curry house (they've not to long had a refit and i found this in the skip,it just needed rewiring and re-jigging !)






3rd heat thinned coat has leveled things up nicely,Still lots to flat out but a test on the upper horn 1200>1500>T-Cut>Wax & polish






Oh joy onto flatting out all weekend lol, im sure like a lot of you here i have a love/hate thing with flatting out clear coats,hate to do it but love the end result.

Laters
Giz


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## Omzig (Oct 18, 2018)

So im getting this flatted out,i can only stand doing an hour or so a night as its so mind Numbing lol

Looking at the clean maple FB/Headstock today and decided it needed to match the Blank-N-Blue body....






Much much better (mav x-one body underneath/back slowly getting stripped for a multicolour/icepop crackle coat)


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## electriceye (Oct 18, 2018)

What company makes this paint?? And did it flatten just with HEAT? Or did you sand it down and buff it out?


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## Omzig (Oct 18, 2018)

electriceye said:


> What company makes this paint?? And did it flatten just with HEAT? Or did you sand it down and buff it out?



Montana (german company) make there crackle/base sprays,not sure if they have a US distro,they also have a lot of other cool spray effects (i might try mixing the UV/glow in the dark clear coat under the crackle soon)

https://www.montana-cans.com/

Ive seen a few other company's that do a Crackle base/top coat such as Plasti-kote & Dupli Color but they have very limited base colours and seem more aimed at Shabby Chic kinda of crackle than the large lava crackle 

I heat the UV solarez epoxy in a water bath to get it to flow out/self level better while brushing to room temp its pretty thick and takes a while to self level (got some foam pads on the way to try to see if they give a flatter finish than the brush) 

once it's UV cured (about 2-3 mins under good UV/Sun light) you can flatten/buff it out like any other clear coat,fantastic stuff + if you need to drip fill with it it blends seamlessly! 

ATM ive found some good 1200/1500 wet and dry that flattens it out really well and doesn't leave a massive amount of sanding marks,Ive then been buffing with automotive T-Cut and Carnauba Wax,the T-cut take out pretty much anything under 1500 so no more working upto 6000/8000 micro mesh


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## soldierkahn (Oct 19, 2018)

Omzig said:


> So im getting this flatted out,i can only stand doing an hour or so a night as its so mind Numbing lol
> 
> Looking at the clean maple FB/Headstock today and decided it needed to match the Blank-N-Blue body....
> 
> ...



Im completely in love with your color choice here, reminds me so much of Tron.....


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## Omzig (Oct 24, 2018)

soldierkahn said:


> Im completely in love with your color choice here, reminds me so much of Tron.....



Ha now that you mention it yet it does have that Tron vibe (time to add some GITD blue side dots me thinks)

So staring to get some gloss on this Solarez clearcoat (that's a sky light/window refection btw) still getting the odd surface Pitt here and there that will need to get pin drop filled,i can only think that the paint is still moving/curing a little under the epoxy,next one gets a longer cure time. 






Not bad for a first pass,still needs a higher cutting compound+wax,i'll let it sit for a few days while i refret the neck with SS and take a look at flatting the red/black yammy.


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## electriceye (Oct 26, 2018)

Omzig said:


> Ha now that you mention it yet it does have that Tron vibe (time to add some GITD blue side dots me thinks)
> 
> So staring to get some gloss on this Solarez clearcoat (that's a sky light/window refection btw) still getting the odd surface Pitt here and there that will need to get pin drop filled,i can only think that the paint is still moving/curing a little under the epoxy,next one gets a longer cure time.
> 
> ...



Not BAD??? Dude, that’s astounding!


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## LiveOVErdrive (Oct 26, 2018)

Holy shit. So that solarez stuff really works huh? 

What kind of health/fire/safety warnings are on that stuff?


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## Omzig (Oct 26, 2018)

Why thanks for the kind words electriceye 

What you can't see is the micro pitting im getting on the surface of the Solarez (i think this is down to the foam brushes) you cant see this from even 5-6 inches away but i know it's there so it's got to go lol
here's a pic of the problem.






Im going to crack out my hobby spray kit and see if i can heat thin the solarez enough to spray a few light passes,i'll report back how it goes,great thing with the solar is within 5 mins you know if it's worked no waiting days for it to cure!

BTW any luck locating a montana spray distro out in the USA?


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## KnightBrolaire (Oct 26, 2018)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> Holy shit. So that solarez stuff really works huh?
> 
> What kind of health/fire/safety warnings are on that stuff?


depends on the particular mixture. some are more straightforward uv cured epoxies and stink to high heaven, others are low voc/odor. Using MEKP catalysts makes them possibly explosive (moreso because of the mekp than the epoxy). they have all the health warnings/etc on their website.


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## Omzig (Oct 26, 2018)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> Holy shit. So that solarez stuff really works huh?
> 
> What kind of health/fire/safety warnings are on that stuff?



There site is pretty good with info/usage spec ect ect (might have found out why i have micro pits...static/dust)

https://www.solarez.com/support/solarez-uv-resin-faq/

you need to request a data spec sheet via there support site 

I can't say ive had any issues using it TBH,yep it stinks a bit (much like rubber glue) but no where near as much as the Rustins plastic coat i had been using,i haven't needed to used an MEKP catalysts to cure it as ive had enough Sun UV (the lamp i built also works just as well) 

Ive sofar only used the polyester-gloss-resin and i think it's a little thick a room temp but heating it a little gets it to flow out much better,Chris at highline says he had to drop to 400 grit to get it to level but ive had no problems flatting it out with 1200-1500 and compounds 
that said the Solarez we have here in the UK/EU might not be the same as the US stuff due to EU environment rules.


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## Neilzord (Oct 28, 2018)

All looking cool but that first tight crackle finish is so f'ing good imo haha!


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## Alex79 (Oct 28, 2018)

Wow, looks really cool (all of them really). I'm wondering if this stuff would work on a wooden speaker cabinet. I recently bought a very old (80s) Laney cab that I want to do something with, but not sure what. Maybe gold/black crackle.


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## Bonded By Blood (Jun 17, 2019)

Wow some amazing results here they look great! Been thinking of doing a finish like this. How did the blue/black one finish up? Did you have a go at spraying the Solarez instead?


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## Omzig (Jun 18, 2019)

Bonded By Blood said:


> Wow some amazing results here they look great! Been thinking of doing a finish like this. How did the blue/black one finish up? Did you have a go at spraying the Solarez instead?



Hey thanks for the feedback and sorry for not updating this thread 

The blue black one finished up OK thx (will update these pics if it ever stops raining here in the UK!)









I decided not to try spraying in the end,my hobbie spray setup just isn't upto the job TBH and there FAQ advises against spraying,something to do with it rebounding to self level....

It's all leveled out and glossed up put together but not 100% finished as i've been having a hard time finding a trem that fits Vesters org routes,atm i have a PING FR in there and it's a very tight fit on the right side (about 0.5mm) but 5-6mm on the left ! 






seems the org vester trems have wing type base plates 






Ive tryed a few other plates i have kicking around & but all but the PING result in missaliged strings or they just don't fit the post spacing....Im sure one will pop up on evilbay/reverb sometime in the future,but if anyone here has one laying around in a box give me a shout 

Cheers


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## Bonded By Blood (Jun 18, 2019)

Looking awesome! Really makes me want to give this a go now, the blue/black is a great combination. Did you go any further with the red/black body? 
Where abouts did you buy the Solarez? I'm also in the UK and can't seem to find a supplier.
Will keep a look out for one of those vester plates 

Cheers


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## Omzig (Jun 18, 2019)

Bonded By Blood said:


> Looking awesome! Really makes me want to give this a go now, the blue/black is a great combination. Did you go any further with the red/black body?
> Where abouts did you buy the Solarez? I'm also in the UK and can't seem to find a supplier.
> Will keep a look out for one of those vester plates
> 
> Cheers



I got my SR via Ebay but the seller has there own site @ surfdome & the Montana paints i got from fatbuddhastore.com who were far cheaper than other places for the effects sprays (£5 del kind sucks but evens out if you buy a few more cans for testing + they give 10% off first orders)

I had some issues with the yamaha Red/Black body,i left it hangging in the workshop during the winter & when i came to take it down for flatting out in spring it had blisters all over the back that shattered on touch,i guess the paint hadn't fully vented before i clear coated it and the gas got trapped,kinda sucked by was only a 2nd test

if we ever get any summer this year i'll have a 2nd go at the multi colour/blend effect already got a guitar lined up for that.

And cheers for the offer of parts lookout,never hurts to have another set of eye on things  GL


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