Fixing/Adjusting Botched Color

I’ve read some prior related threads, but didn’t find any that address my precise question, so:

A board I’d custom-ordered was just finished but the color is way different than the reference color we’d discussed. It came out rather tangerine, when the intended color was bronze (ochre-butterscotch).

No one wants to be That Guy, but having sunk $$$ and waited months for it, my preference is for it to be the color I’d ordered. The shape is great and I know it’ll be a blast to ride regardless, but I want to have unadulterated joy from it–  I don’t want the color to nag at me and drive me nuts. (Self-knowledge here, YMMV.)

So, what is a reasonable fix for this in terms of best possible aesthetic outcome? From some research on here, it sounds like an additional bronze-colored resin tint with 2 oz glass may work (it’s a longboard so my hope is a little extra glass won’t alter its spirit too much). The board has not yet been polished.

But please advise: the more detail the better so I can respectfully learn in prep to converse with my guy. I respect and appreciate the work involved here so I want to make sure I’m informed of what’s possible and the best possible courses of action. (It may be just to leave it and live with it, if it can’t be reasonably altered.)

 

Thanks very much.

  The operative word here, is reasonably.       Leave it alone.      Whatever the builder charged extra for color work, should perhaps be refunded to you.       Ride it.

Thank you, sir! Comping the color work sounds like a reasonable compromise; hopefully he’ll be game. Thanks again.

Once you accepted the board, made final payment and took it home;  It became yours.  They might giveYou a few $$ to get you off their backs, but probably not.  If you took a car to the shop to be painted white and it was instead painted black;  would you wait until you got it home before complaining?

Got your point, but I didn’t take it home and then mention the color mistake. I paid before seeing it (oops) then there were some issues-- this nacho orange color included-- so the board stayed at the shop til I could speak with someone.

If a shop painted my car black when I’d requested white, I’d hope they’d catch their own mistake and set it right! :wink:

The hardest part about ordering a board from someone else is the disconnect between what you mean, which leads you to what you say, which leads to what they hear, which leads to what they understand.  Then when they’re outsourcing the glassing to a glasser who isn’t part of this discussion it repeats:  what they heard doesn’t necessarily equate to what you meant.  When you’re doing everything verbally the chances of them remembering all the details correctly 2-3 weeks later diminishes.   

Next time if you have a template or rendering in mind, provide a copy of it to the shaper.  If you have specific dimensions (ideally widths at 3 points, thicknesses and rockers) then provide those.   If you have a color in mind, provide an example of it.   After all that if they get it wrong THEN you can blame them for not following your instructions.   

 

 

Then when they’re outsourcing the glassing to a glasser who isn’t part of this discussion it repeats:  what they heard doesn’t necessarily equate to what you meant. 

Very true. In this instance, I placed the order with one half of the board-building team, who wrote down the specs we’d discussed on the order form-- including the color, for which we provided a reference and a term of his choosing that he thought characterized it best within their shop. I also provided multiple color references over email for them to have on file.

With the other half of the operation-- who wasn’t present at the initial discussion-- glassing it, a mistake crept in along the way. Sounds like it was due to differing digital displays of color-- though the color was still noted on the order form, and by name alone is very different than the tint applied.

So yes, I agree-- clear communication through the whole process is key! I’m less looking to allocate blame for their mistake than I am looking to be happy with the board I custom ordered, you know?

Nacho orange is an official Jeep Wrangler color , you have to pay extra for it , sounds like you are an ungrateful bugger that looks a gift horse in the mouth , Nacho orange is faster over the rough stuff and will keep you safe when you ride the board in treacherous wave conditions , tuck that board under your arm be proud be that guy , and FYI adulterated joy can be the best kind of joy . Aloha

I can think of exactly one custom which I ordered that came back exactly as I ordered it.   Some of that being due to my own limitations in understanding designs and such, and some being the result of communication issues on either my end and/or their end.  

It’s one reason I got into building my own; so I could get more control over what I was getting.  Which in turn taught me a lot more about designs and got me on the same wavelength as the shapers and glassers, even though I was no longer dealing with them.    I think building your own helps you become a more informed consumer.   

@gdaddy: Totally!-- it’s one reason I’m looking to go in that direction. Even learning more prior to trying shaping has been illuminating over the last few years.

To pivot to the hypothetical technical elements of my initial question:

hypothetically, if you were correcting your own color job whose outcome you weren’t satisfied with, what would be your preferred method? pure curiosity about folks’ techniques and methods here (as I’m already getting it sorted with my guy).

The board is finished.  I’d just surf it and enjoy it for what it is.    If the color bothered me that much I’d build and glass my own and sell this board to someone else.    

 

As Bill said:

  The operative word here, is reasonably.       Leave it alone.      Whatever the builder charged extra for color work, should perhaps be refunded to you.       Ride it.

There is no good way to change the color at this remove. If the color means that much to you, take it to an auto body shop and have them spray paint the thing. It will look like hell when it gets a scratch through the paint, as all boards should get scratched as they get used. Personally, I like either clear or opaque pigment light colors straight from the tube. The idea being that it’s then easy to match the color when you inevitably need to repair it. Odd custom colors? Royal pain to match, and really, you never really do get it right.

Me, I would be far, far more concerned with how well the board worked. And, if it doesn’t, as you speced the thing, presumably in some detail, that’s more a reflection on you than the guy who made it.

How would I change the color if I was making the thing? I wouldn’t. I’d make another one. Assuming I cared enough to bother. Again-

 

 The operative word here, is reasonably.

hope that’s of use.

doc…

Hello; I want to mention other points due to I deal with all that constantly (Yesterday was the last time…)

First; in defence of the glasser; botched work is one thing and other is a not so similar color work. One is technically done bad or with poor skills etc.

Other point is that some tints and pigments change when are mixed with the resin (also the glasser should be good at understand the increments of green added with the layers of fiberglass)

I ordered (bought) a champagne/caramel tint in a shop then when I mixed with the resin the color did not looked wrong, however, the final color was more on the tangerine side than on the caramel side. That board order did not specified any color (was for a surf shop) so no problem at all; but an example of a possible problem with some pigment brands.

Few weeks ago I ordered another caramel tint…but by phone call; when arrived the color did not looked caramel but more like to the maroon side of the spectre. It was in the need of yellow, but I did not have more…so I decided to mix with the resin and do the lamination; the result color was salmon. I really did not liked it; customer did not complained at all; 2 other people that passed by the workshop liked it! and want to order new boards with that color! Incredible. Then I told one of these guys that I preferred to not use that tint due to possible change in color etc but he was not liked that and di not put the order! He preferred the color than the functionality!!!

Also yesterday a gal asked to do another salmon color work…c mon.

 

Thanks for this perspective.-- gotta love it!