I bought this guitar from a pawn-shop with the express intention of destroying its resale value. It had some stress cracks around the neck and fingerboard, which I filled with wood crazy-glue. I paid $45 USD, which I think is quite fair. (So, no yelling at me about how I was "ripped off!" or how evil pawnshops are. This is the best price I was able to get anywhere.)

I basically sanded down to the finish, and buffed it to a nice mirror shine, then stencilled my design with a basecoat of aerosol model paint, in flat white. The hardest part was actually cutting the stencil--based on the standard Hawaiian hibiscus design.

The rest involved brushwork, adding whatever bits and details I saw fit, and glazing on layer after layer of different colors, sanding through, glazing some more, buffing, etc. I used Testor's model paints in white, pale yellow, metallic deep blue, red, rust (actually a flat color), and copper. The final glaze you see here is mostly the copper, mixed with hints of red and green. In between some coats (once dry) I also went over everything with red wood-stain. I did some extra embellishing, adding more fiddly bits to the design itself, but kept it simple overall.

The pictures don't really show off the copper, but I think you can get a feel for some of the color shifts. Also, at this stage, I still need to polish it up, and spray on the clear-coat lacquer.