• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Color mixing help! Antigua!

WillyW

WillyW

l’art pour l’art, fonction de baise
Dec 10, 2019
8,175
36,976
#1
I can open a bottle and start painting, but I’m not good at mixing and getting the color I’m expecting.

What colors would I need to get Antigua?

I would also like a darker border/burst color, would black be best or some other shade?

The refrigerator is actually the perfect color and I would like a darker burst, but I would be happy to get something between it and the guitars..

In my mind I’m thinking I need yellow and green, am I thinking correctly?


FCB0C668-503E-496F-B880-7310FB878CE4.jpeg
67E94B0F-AE23-4E6F-BB04-FB0EB4885D0E.jpeg
C14A037C-16B6-4C8E-8A20-A17E413D6F8F.jpeg
 
  • Like
Reactions: ICM
#2
That refrigerator color, my friend, was known as avocado green back in the Day, we had a whole kitchen full of appliances in that color, but rocked Harvest Gold Shag in the living room carpet. Think Brady Bunch re-runs and plaid polyester slacks. If there is a God, he will not allow you to antigua-ize your walnut Ric that color. If you must, your best bet is to find a rattlecan color close to that, its more like a modelers military color like Olive Drab or Desert Tan. Maybe one of the Testors enamels? Mixing that from scratch is going to be a challenge.
The Ultimate Model Paint Conversion Chart
 
  • Like
Reactions: kentiki, T_Bone_TL, LBS-bass and 2 others
#4
In terms of color mixing, the fridge is what I would call light neutral green. It isn't green-red or green-blue. It's green that's been lightened up by adding white. The edges are also a neutral green, but darker, maybe by adding a bit of black.

The Teles are mostly yellow-green; yellow with a small amount of green added. The edges are green with a bit of brown added, mixed transparent and sprayed on in light fogged layers.
 
  • Like
Reactions: WillyWonka
#5
WillyW said:
I can open a bottle and start painting, but I’m not good at mixing and getting the color I’m expecting.

What colors would I need to get Antigua?

I would also like a darker border/burst color, would black be best or some other shade?

The refrigerator is actually the perfect color and I would like a darker burst, but I would be happy to get something between it and the guitars..

In my mind I’m thinking I need yellow and green, am I thinking correctly?


View attachment 4109404 View attachment 4109405 View attachment 4109406
Click to expand...
So that's where my childhood refrigerator went. Our washer, dryer, and bathroom sinks were this 70s avacodo.
 
  • Like
Reactions: LBS-bass, John_Nicholas and WillyWonka
#6
Bruce Johnson said:
In terms of color mixing, the fridge is what I would call light neutral green. It isn't green-red or green-blue. It's green that's been lightened up by adding white. The edges are also a neutral green, but darker, maybe by adding a bit of black.

The Teles are mostly yellow-green; yellow with a small amount of green added. The edges are green with a bit of brown added, mixed transparent and sprayed on in light fogged layers.
Click to expand...

Thanks so much, I’m almost finished with my Ric project, and should be able to test mix some colors tomorrow. I am going to go for the avocado...
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: ICM
#8
Those late '60s early '70s fridges/appliance finishes were known as "avocado green" and "harvest gold”. Edges of an aged Fender “Antiqua” finish needs burnt umber mixed with the yellow/white (translucent) colour of the main body. Getting it right is not only how the paint is mixed, but how it's applied/sprayed. Good luck.
 
  • Like
Reactions: WillyWonka
#10
JIO said:
Note - there was also a red-hued variety of appliance finish similar to harvest gold and avocado green - but it was less common.
Click to expand...

I think that was “harvest sunset” or something similar...

I knocked out another project tonight, and am in the homestretch on my shell pink Ric..

I need to fill the “roadworn” dings and dents on my jmj mustang, and she’ll be ready for “avotigua”
 
  • Like
Reactions: JIO
#12
I'm finalizing supplies tonight!

Could still go either way on the more yellowish or more greenish... depends on how I like the mixed shades.

And I still have body and headstock prep, I'm going to plug the mim cnc hole so I can go pickguardless if I choose.
 
#14
Jeez, almost a year has gone by and I haven’t avotigua-ized anything yet.

I still have the JMJ Mustang, but I also have a Gibson Flying V treble guitar that needs a different color.

The biggest reason I stalled out on the project is Gibson released an olive drab (I know like gag me with a pitchfork)

I am thinking the avocado may not be the right colour for my first Antigua, I may do the traditional….

I’m not doing both geetars the same, maybe avocado on the mustang and traditional Antigua on the V?

still pondering….

DD8D429D-5C90-4A58-9E22-26941C1842C3.jpeg
 
#16
JIO said:
This is true aged vintage Antigua - hints of pea-green emulating from tobacco over butter cream. Like a tobacco stained white ceiling in a bar.

View attachment 4509945
Click to expand...

That’s probably the best example I have seen.

I even like the difference in the pickguard and body.

I have decided to sell the mustang, so the Flying V will most likely be the candidate for the traditional Antigua
 
#17
WillyW said:
That’s probably the best example I have seen.

I even like the difference in the pickguard and body.

I have decided to sell the mustang, so the Flying V will most likely be the candidate for the traditional Antigua
Click to expand...

The difference between the pg and body is simply because they sprayed a halo (possibly the same as on the body) on a white pg which doesn't amber like a white lacquer over time. You'd have to find a '70s Fender ad photo showing an Antiqua finished guitar/bass to determine if it looked closer to matching when new. The 'butter cream' majority of the finish was originally a pale off-white that yellowed over time.

Tried to retrieve this from the book; Fender : The Golden Age 1946-1970. You can still see the difference in body/pg, but more brown than grey as the pic I posted first. This was the CBS years, so basically they couldn't be bothered by matching the pg to the body.
upload_2021-12-18_18-33-39.jpeg
 
  • Like
Reactions: WillyW
#19
WillyW said:
That’s probably the best example I have seen.

I even like the difference in the pickguard and body.

I have decided to sell the mustang, so the Flying V will most likely be the candidate for the traditional Antigua
Click to expand...

JMJ Mustang did get sold, and the Flying V went a whole nuther di-reck-shun…


 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back