I want to make a sparkle top....

[Kolbenschlag]

I recently came into an extra harp cover for my MK1 stage 73.  I really love the look of the silver sparkle top, and I'd like to have one of my covers look like that.  What do I do? Has anyone done this? Or do I need to wait until I find an actual sparkle top already done?

[The Real MC]

Find an auto paint shop or a boat paint shop.  They know how to paint on fiberglass.

I looked into doing it myself, but I wasn't happy with the silver sparkle spray paint out there and they are $$$ for the little cans of paint.

[kitchen]

Check Spookyman's posts.. he had it done beautifully...pics included !!

Kitchen

[Spookyman]

Right...i did it !

Looks so :



Mine is gold-sparkle, and not silver. Silver is also very nice.

But if i could choose, i would take an original Silver Top (from the 60's). Mine is "only" a Mk1 from 1975, stage model.
My dream is an original Silver Top, with the speaker cabinet. But they are not easy to find in Switzerland. I would even say, impossible to find.

So i made a "gold sparkle" top more for the funky look.

The best thing to do is to go to a car painter that have allready worked with sparkles on plastic ! Sparkle are available from Delmar USA (http://www.delmarproducts.com/).

[Kolbenschlag]

Wow, I am very much humbled...
Beautiful rhodes.

So you're reccomending I buy the paint myself and take it to a shop?

How much should I expect to pay for this work?

I just don't want them to rip me off.

[Spookyman]

Certainly, it's not cheap. Because, there are a lot of layers to obtain a good quality and result.

I would say, between 150 and 200$. It depends who is doing the work.

[Ben Bove]

This is also how it was originally done.  Next door to the fender factory in Fullerton was a boat shop, and they contracted them to paint the tops.

[axg20202]

The delmar products look like plastic sheets with a sparkle finish. Is that what people should use as opposed to applying flakes?