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Need some advice on painting a guitar


SuperStrat1977

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I just purchased this Strat body from Guitar Fetish for my first guitar building project and need some advice on how to go about painting it. It has a satin black finish on it and I want to paint it white. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

ab1af6aa0e5683820686c0ec8d80fe81.jpg.1cf0f4f0149bc8fadd5837bd162b01dc.jpg

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I just purchased this Strat body from Guitar Fetish for my first guitar building project and need some advice on how to go about painting it. It has a satin black finish on it and I want to paint it white. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

Beats the heck out of going to Guitar Fetish and buying one of these in the first place

(Or am I missing something? )

st_wh_sp.jpg&maxx=0&maxy=300

 

http://www.guitarfetish.com/METALFLA...e-_p_8873.html

 

Is it too late to exchange the black body for a white one ?

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I use Dupli-color. Rough the body up with some 300-400 grit and spray with the Dupli-color white primer.

Sand with 300 grit and do your color coats. Thin coats you can do a coat every 10 minutes. Just read the can.

 

If it looks good after 3 coats and 30 minutes dry time, you can start your clear coats if your goiing to use clear. Again just read the can.

 

This is one of mine with primer ready for paint. I always do mine outside on a clear day.

Olympic001-1.jpg

I don't wet sand polish mine after. I just use rubbing compound by hand. Not really looking for that new guitar shine.Olympic011.jpg

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Beats the heck out of going to Guitar Fetish and buying one of these in the first place

(Or am I missing something? )

st_wh_sp.jpg&maxx=0&maxy=300

 

http://www.guitarfetish.com/METALFLA...e-_p_8873.html

 

Is it too late to exchange the black body for a white one ?

 

It appears the body is from the "factory buyout" clearance section. Less than half the price of a finished one plus the fun of doing it yourself.

 

I have a lot of confidence in anything Dale H says so there's your plan IMO

 

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I found this body in the factory blowout section for $25 plus I was able to get a 15% discount so I figured "why not?"

 

Cool philthumb

 

So your choice is to strip it or find some good dense primer to mask the black.

People suggest automotive like duplicolor , I have also had success with Plasti kote

Not sure if it is available in the US .

I don't find duplicolor very durable compared to factory finish, Hammerite smooth white spray is a fairly tough paint designed for metalwork which might be worth a try.

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Dale has a few tricks...some he said and some in the pic. But I guess you really only learn by doing. Being fearless and lucky.

 

 

You can see Dale put a "handle" on the guitar. Nice. And a "clear day" is fine...most importantly make sure it's not too windy. Blown dirt or sand or whatever can kill your finish. Be sure to go easy on the coats. Start light on your first coat....don't let it run or get orange peel. If it were me I'd wait a bit longer than 30 minutes. Clear coating is tricky!

 

Patience and detail are key!

 

Did I mention I would rock the black? Looks great. But if you are dead set....just take your time, use your instincts. Patience. It's a bit of work...the sanding and the soft painting and sanding and inspecting and painting and sanding....and good luck with clear coats. That's even harder.

 

Keep us updated!

 

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Dale has a few tricks...some he said and some in the pic. But I guess you really only learn by doing. Being fearless and lucky.

 

 

You can see Dale put a "handle" on the guitar. Nice. And a "clear day" is fine...most importantly make sure it's not too windy. Blown dirt or sand or whatever can kill your finish. Be sure to go easy on the coats. Start light on your first coat....don't let it run or get orange peel. If it were me I'd wait a bit longer than 30 minutes. Clear coating is tricky!

 

Patience and detail are key!

 

Did I mention I would rock the black? Looks great. But if you are dead set....just take your time, use your instincts. Patience. It's a bit of work...the sanding and the soft painting and sanding and inspecting and painting and sanding....and good luck with clear coats. That's even harder.

 

Keep us updated!

 

The dupli-color primer is thick and sands nice. Take your time and get that right and the rest is pretty easy..

 

Dupli -color is dry to the touch in 10 min. If you wait to long one coat will not bond into the other. Just follow the can instructions and you will be fine.

 

The stick is a handle and there is a hole in the other end to hang it up to dry. Dirt, sand and bugs are a bitch..alright.

 

Never tried that Plasti kote.

 

No clear coat, just buffed the paint a little.

 

Picture147.jpg

 

 

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How easy is the Plasti kote to do?

 

Oh and I don't think I would strip the body. Up to you but I don't know how many hours or days you want to put into a $20 body.

 

Plasticote is enamel. I don't suggest using enamel on a guitar. I did it once and it was the worst mistake I ever made. I put several costs on and it took a good year to completely solidify. The stuff dries from the outside in so it builds up a skin and it seems like its dry. Then you stick it in a guitar stand and the stand leaves marks on the paint. Even three years later, I had it hanging on the wall and there was a mic cord resting against the body for a month or so. The cable's vinyl insulation must have caused some kind of reaction with the paint and glued itself to the guitar body. You might expect that if its been freshly painted, but 3 years later?

 

I went back to using either Lacquer, Polyurethane or Tung oil only. Lacquer is the best because each cost melts into the previous coat to make one thick coat. Poly goes on like layers of an onion and its a bitch to work with and clean up. Tung oil is the easiest but for colors you can only add oil based stain to darken it (or stain the body) Lacquer is the easiest to repair if you ding it later or you screw up applying it. It can be buffed to a mirror finish and is very durable.

 

I have tried rattle can lacquers for cars. My results weren't the best. The Car stuff is designed for metal that doesn't breathe the same. Its very hard and if you crunch a car body it shatters like glass and flakes off in chunks. I've had that happen to the guitar I finished with it and lost chunks after it was dinged. If you use it on a guitar body you need to use a good shellac base coat and give it enough time to dry hard, then sand it baby ass smooth. It will be rock hard and the body expansion and contraction should cause minimal issues with cracking and checking. Afterwards you use between ten to 30 thin coats of clear lacquer clear coat. You can sand between coats and remove any flaws.

 

Like I said, lacquer melts into the previous coats so any sandpaper scratches are completely erased. You do need a clean environment that's bug and dust free and around room temp. If its outside and its high humidity the finish will trap moisture and fog up and turn white. That's especially hard to see doing a white body.

 

I'm not sure how much you saved on buying the black body over a white one but expect to spend a good hundred bucks on chemicals and supplies to do it right. If you're inexperienced it may require do overs which makes it even more expensive, Trick is take your time and use very light coats.

There's three reasons for this. One it dries quicker, two, its easier to fix a botch if there's only a light coat, three you avoid having drips and highlights that require stripping it back down. You also want to do some reading up on the topic. You can visit the reranch site which has good info and google up furniture restoration.

 

Refinishing seems like a simple thing before you actually give it a shot and see how your work compares to a factory finish. I've done at least a hundred guitars and I still consider it to be the nastiest job of all. With my builds I usually use natural finishes now so I don't have to deal with the issue with paint compounding the problem. If I can use Tung oil its a great finish because you can build it up thick like lacquer and its really durable.

 

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^^^ That sounds about right.

If you count your time and money spent on painting a body to factory finish it's cheaper to buy painted by far.

 

With spay equipment you can add hardener to the paint that makes the paint much more durable than any can type spray can achieve.

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They may do it if you have it primed ready to hang for paint. Don't think they will want to screw around with any prep work when they can make $500 an hour in the paint both. Be sure not to touch it with your bare hands before paint.

Any prints will leave spots.

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I have also had success with Plasti kote

Not sure if it is available in the US .

 

 

Yes, various sorts of Plasti-Kote rattle can paints are available in the USA.

 

 

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I have often considered asking a car body shop to spray a body for me with 2 pack paint left over when they finish a suitable color car repair. Should give a very durable finish.

 

 

A friend who does trick paint jobs on motorcycles is painting a guitar for a friend - pearl white with blue ghost flames - it will cost him about 600 bucks. Here is an example of what can be done with quality materials and a good painter

 

p1030019.jpg

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^^^ That's definitely Purple Haze.

 

I do have a compressor at home but I do need a dryer attachment if I'm going to use it for spraying. The only reason I haven't used it in the past id I just don't do enough spray jobs to justify it. I'd think one of those self powered air brushes would do a better job on a single guitar body but again, You still have to buy enough chemicals to get them at a lower price, a good deal of it gets wasted if you don't use it, You have to know when to add dryers and gradually thin your clear coats down till its almost 100% lacquer thinner, then you got to clean all the stuff up and make sure the stuff doesn't harden up in the tips and all.

 

I've used them but you really got to be using that stuff on a daily basis to stay in shape and have the right touch. I may do one finish job a year now. Most of it like I said is natural finishes so I can get away with using a couple of rattle cans for a body, or even easier just use Tung oil. Last one I did I put about 12 coats on and you'd swear it was a lacquer finish except its allot harder.

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He's not refinishing. He is just polishing it out. That's what you do after you have painted and it has cured.

 

 

 

Geez, man. If you look though his videos you'll see that he does refinish guitars and that he does a really good job. I just posted the link the one of his videos. Carry on.

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^^^ That's definitely Purple Haze.

 

I do have a compressor at home but I do need a dryer attachment if I'm going to use it for spraying. The only reason I haven't used it in the past id I just don't do enough spray jobs to justify it. I'd think one of those self powered air brushes would do a better job on a single guitar body but again, You still have to buy enough chemicals to get them at a lower price, a good deal of it gets wasted if you don't use it, You have to know when to add dryers and gradually thin your clear coats down till its almost 100% lacquer thinner, then you got to clean all the stuff up and make sure the stuff doesn't harden up in the tips and all.

 

I've used them but you really got to be using that stuff on a daily basis to stay in shape and have the right touch. I may do one finish job a year now. Most of it like I said is natural finishes so I can get away with using a couple of rattle cans for a body, or even easier just use Tung oil. Last one I did I put about 12 coats on and you'd swear it was a lacquer finish except its allot harder.

 

I have a full on spray booth available where I work - that is the only way to do nitrocellulose. Otherwise it is simply too toxic, explosive and otherwise nasty for a home painter - if you shoot outside you have a hard time controlling temperature, humidity and dust. I did finish a couple of my early guitars in my garage with rattle cans of nitro - I'm lucky I didn't kill the cat, blow the place up or destroy even more brain cells. My wife complained that the leather in her car stunk for weeks.

 

When I want to shoot nitro I take it to the booth, but for home finishing I now use water born lacquer (specifically KTM-9) which I shoot with a little HPLV gun and a yard sale 8 gal 1/2 hp compressor. Filter and water trap for sure - I've probably got 50 bucks in my whole outfit. I can shoot tints and bursts, wear only a dust mask and it doesn't stink up the garage. The finish buffs out to near pro quality - I'm satisfied.

 

IMG_0741-1.jpg

 

Hard to photograph but here is my attempt at a '57 'burst

 

eede829b-4946-4df6-b9b1-af6aba4c30af_zps867ac584.jpg

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I didn't mean to hijack the OP's question - he asked about painting his guitar which I consider different from "finishing" wood. They involve the same basic steps, however. Start with bare wood unless you know for 100% sure that what you are putting on is completely compatible with what is already there. Otherwise strip it and sand to bare wood. Strippers will damage plastic binding, decals, etc - use with caution.

 

Sand to 320 or 400 and fix any imperfections in the wood - drop fill or putty. Pore fill open grained wood or prime with a primer compatible with your final finish. Sand the primed guitar to 320 or 400.

 

Apply your final finish/paint. Spraying is obviously best if you have the space and equipment - a gun and compressor are better than rattle cans, but they can be OK. Brushing is last choice, but can be used with some finishes. There are hand applied finishes (French Polish, TruOil, etc) that can give good results - I don't know if anything equivalent for paint. Put on enough coats with total drying between each (lacquer can be applied three coats a day, each one melts into the previous one). Paints need to dry thoroughly between each coat. Sand lightly between coats - just enough to take out imperfections and supply a little "tooth" for the neck one. With pigment paints you might put on six or so coats, with lacquers I'll put on 20+.

 

Many people hang guitars to finish, I like to put them on a stool in the middle of my shop and walk around, shooting from side towards the center. This lets me do any shading or 'bursting and minimizes runs and sags. Of course you can only do one side at a time this way but I get a lot better control of the application.

 

IMG_0754.jpg

 

Now we digress - some finishes (lacquers mostly) require "color sanding" (wet sanding with progressively finer grits starting about 600 and going to 2000 or higher). Each step removes the sanding scratches from the last grit - don't skip any step. Finally you buff with different grades of compound. I wait at least 30 days after the last coat is applied before color sanding.

 

With poly finishes and most paints the final coat should dry to the final gloss, you don't need to buff them. Paints are often clear coated to give depth and gloss - again, you use a compatible product. This also means that your application needs to be dead nuts on - any dust or orange peel or runs or sags are really hard to remove.

 

Last but not least, whatever product you choose use the appropriate safety measures - any solvent based finish requires a respirator and some, like lacquers, are highly explosive.

 

I'll add my disclaimer - I am not a professional finisher but I get acceptable results. However, as has been said previously, finishing is probably the hardest parts of home building and it is almost impossible to get the same results that a pro will get. Keep that in mind as you approach this project.

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^^ Good tips. Its obvious you've done this a few times.

 

The only thing I'd add which I didn't see is using shellac as a primer will allow most paints to be applied over it.

 

Also, if you If you haven't tried to paint or refinish and instrument before and want to learn how, find a Junker and learn how to do that one well first.

If you take an otherwise good guitar and are just board with the color, just remember all your resale value comes off that guitar when you strip it. I'd also like through the graveyard of bodies on EBay where people get half way through a refinish and discover how tough it actually is then sell off their botched jobs. I used to pick up great deals for $10~20 all the time there and undo the screw-ups people have attempted.

 

Here's a few examples.

 

This one used to be red and someone decided to strip it. It looks like its a plywood body and they didn't shellac or sand it smooth and left all that wood grain behind. Paint doesn't hide faults, it makes those faults blatantly apparent. Bet you this guy had wished he had just left the thing alone. Instead of getting $25 for the body and the same for the neck he may have gotten $150 for the guitar.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/80s-Vantage-...item540a30fee5

 

Here's another fugly mess someone will have to undo. He may have gotten $250 for it and is lucky to get $85 for the neck and body them make people go scrounge for all the other parts. Did he really think he could grab a can of black paint and get a factory look? He's not only out the time and effort and cost of supplies he shot his resale value all to hell.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Epiphone-Got...item338f79a531

 

This one was allot better. There is some ripple on the front side though. I don't know who likes that puke green color but maybe someone will.

Still $80 for a refinished body? if it was vintage and original it may have brought $200+ for a reissue body

 

Refinished PBass body $28 http://www.ebay.com/itm/Squier-P-Bas...item27e5248973

 

How bout a botched Les Paul for $399. This guy probably lost $350 on that screw up.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2013-Gibson-...item540a302e4a

 

It goes on and on. If you know how to refinish you can get some good deals, But I hate seeing guys attempt this and not knowing what they are in for.

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Best advice I can give is to practice on scrap - every step of the process - until you get it nailed. Then do the real thing. Unfortunately few people will follow that advice.

 

FWIW - here is a thread on a guy putting together (and painting) a Guitar Fetish kit. Making many of the usual mistakes - you can learn a lot by watching how others try to do things.

 

http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10122&t=43603

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