Marcus H. wrote, in part:
color. I guess the answer is to live with it. Have any of you ever sent a frame back to the painter? How bad does it have to be before one can reasonably ask for a redo? When you see my Cinelli at Cirque, please tell me how nice it looks, so that I will feel better
Best regards, Marcus Helman Huntington Woods, MI
^^^^^^^^^^
This post from Marcus perfectly summarizes a number of issues we all have to deal with when we take a frame to a painter for a restoration...or just a paint-job. I've learned the hard way (that is, through my wallet, and my deflated expectations) that if I don't want to be disappointed after, I *HAVE* to know what I want--and in painful detail--before I spend the money on a restoration. And, sometimes, I don't know exactly what I want, and then I have to go exploring, with the painter, into exactly what would be most appropriate for a given frame.
Research, research, research. Copious note-taking. Talk to people who know. Ask your painter the right questions, and ask again. Any painter worth paying for the job will take their time with you to make sure you're happy with the final result. Insist the painter be extremely clear and detailed about what they're going to do, and what it'll look like in the end. That part is not rocket-science. I have a restoration coming up soon that will probably require test samples to get some colors right. It costs extra, but well worth it in the end.
Brian B. is right about Cinellis. They are deceptively simple. Done right, they look great in restoration. Done wrong, they're a constant irritant. In particular, the silver should always be tested first, so you know what it'll look like after. Joe Bell currently uses a very fine silver that looks as close to the original as I've seen. He used to use a car-paint silver used on Alfas... I dunno if that's the case anymore, though. I know Brian found the paint, and let Joe have some to do the original paint on a Rivendell I have now. Grant liked it so much he allowed Rivs to be painted that silver...it was the first Riv to get that color, back in 2000. I tell this little story to illustrate how involved it can be to get just the right finish for a given job.
Of course, different strokes for different folks. There are plenty of restorations out there that are not even close to right (whatever that may mean) that make their owners very happy... and since they paid the money, who am I to say what's right? That said, if that owner ever finds out what's not right about their restoration, they'll be forever unhappy with it. Been there, done that.
Charles Andrews Los Angeles
Anyone who believes exponential growth can go on forever in a finite world is either a madman or an economist.
--Kenneth Boulding