What colour should I paint my Tele?

jonnyburgo

Thinking of doing a relic refin on my Tele, it looks great as it is but I fancy a project, Ive stripped the poly off ages ago and waxed it.

So I'm thinking of a vintage colour but probably not blonde as its a bit too obvious, what do you guys think would go with the maple neck?

octatonic

Shell pink, of course.

jonnyburgo

Now i do like that very much

BigMonka

Leave it as just waxed wood, it's a beauty as it is!!

streethawk

50's custom colour....

Copper!

usedtobe

One of those pale blue shades. I like it as it is, though.

DarnWeight

Milk paint is good if you want to keep it rustic...plus it goes onto bare wood without any priming malarkey.  They used to do little tester bags from here which were just enough for a few coats of a Telecaster.  I did one in a Teal-ish blue/green shade, and one in an almost-Seafoam-green shade.  Several coats of Danish Oil over the top, and it's tough-as and good to go.

ThePrettyDamned

DarnWeight;671849" said:

Milk paint is good if you want to keep it rustic...plus it goes onto bare wood without any priming malarkey.  They used to do little tester bags from here which were just enough for a few coats of a Telecaster.  I did one in a Teal-ish blue/green shade, and one in an almost-Seafoam-green shade.  Several coats of Danish Oil over the top, and it's tough-as and good to go.

Wow! Definitely going to try some on a guitar sometime, not necessarily for distressed but as a simple to use finish. Bookmarked!

Octahedron

Butterscotch blonde. 

Deadman

Two colour sunburst.

DarnWeight

ThePrettyDamned said:

DarnWeight;671849" said:

Milk paint is good if you want to keep it rustic...plus it goes onto bare wood without any priming malarkey.  They used to do little tester bags from here which were just enough for a few coats of a Telecaster.  I did one in a Teal-ish blue/green shade, and one in an almost-Seafoam-green shade.  Several coats of Danish Oil over the top, and it's tough-as and good to go.

Wow! Definitely going to try some on a guitar sometime, not necessarily for distressed but as a simple to use finish. Bookmarked!

Haven't got a pic of the seafoam-ish one, but here's the Tealycaster.  Not the best photo, but you get the idea.

You can apply it very carefully with a brush, or as I did, with a sponge, and it doesn't leave too much in the way of application marks.  The grain does show through a little, but I actually quite like that.  Not tried it, but I imagine it would relic quite nicely...I'm just letting time take its toll unaided.  Here's a close up where you can see the texture of the finish...

Not everyone's cup of tea, but I hate rattle cans with a passion, and I like how easily this stuff goes on.

xmrchi

Paint the words for sale on it in bright green, then buy a proper guitar :P   .....Joking of course, just burn it

ThePrettyDamned

DarnWeight;671886" said:

ThePrettyDamned said:

DarnWeight;671849" said:Milk paint is good if you want to keep it rustic...plus it goes onto bare wood without any priming malarkey.  They used to do little tester bags from here which were just enough for a few coats of a Telecaster.  I did one in a Teal-ish blue/green shade, and one in an almost-Seafoam-green shade.  Several coats of Danish Oil over the top, and it's tough-as and good to go.

Wow! Definitely going to try some on a guitar sometime, not necessarily for distressed but as a simple to use finish. Bookmarked!





Haven't got a pic of the seafoam-ish one, but here's the Tealycaster.  Not the best photo, but you get the idea.





You can apply it very carefully with a brush, or as I did, with a sponge, and it doesn't leave too much in the way of application marks.  The grain does show through a little, but I actually quite like that.  Not tried it, but I imagine it would relic quite nicely...I'm just letting time take its toll unaided.  Here's a close up where you can see the texture of the finish...





Not everyone's cup of tea, but I hate rattle cans with a passion, and I like how easily this stuff goes on.

Not kidding, looks like an alternative to wudtone.

It's water based though - so probably less protective. I assume you have top coated with something else? I reckon wudtone top coat would work great!

DarnWeight

ThePrettyDamned said:

Not kidding, looks like an alternative to wudtone.

It's water based though - so probably less protective. I assume you have top coated with something else? I reckon wudtone top coat would work great!

Danish oil, about 4-5 applications, I think.  Gave it a good waxing once the oil had cured off enough.  It's holding up very well.

ThePrettyDamned

DarnWeight;671901" said:

ThePrettyDamned said:

Not kidding, looks like an alternative to wudtone.



It's water based though - so probably less protective. I assume you have top coated with something else? I reckon wudtone top coat would work great!





Danish oil, about 4-5 applications, I think.  Gave it a good waxing once the oil had cured off enough.  It's holding up very well.

Very exciting. I'm going to do a single pickup guitar over the winter made from pine (as my strat is so damn good) so I'll likely give one of these kits a go.

57Deluxe

looks perfect for the green furniture stain fimish that Francis Rossi did to his Tele

http://www.tonyrockettguitars.co.uk/Replica Pics/PICT6474.JPG

dickieguitar

I would strongly advise against using that milk paint on a maple-board Telecaster.

Because it's not available in shell pink.

Iamnobody

Daphne Blue.

hobbio

I'm totally going to use that milk paint on my tele kit build, but really thin like a wash. Dunno what colour yet, but at a fiver for the sample pack I can't go wrong.

EDIT: I'm going for Luckett's Green.

Roland

So you've got a perfectly good "road worn" Tele, and you want a more relic'd appearance?  Personally I like to see wood grain, so I wouldn't paint it.  Just keep playing it as it is.

ICBM

I would normally say paint it black because that's always the right answer, but in this case…

It looks fine as it is, and if you've waxed it it may not take paint very well unless you can be *really* sure you've cleaned all the wax out. You most likely only find out for sure when you're halfway through the painting process and the paint is blobbing up in some areas.

So save yourself the bother and leave it alone .

But if you really want to improve it, get a white pickguard and put the control plate round the right way .