George Harrison Rocky Replica

[Stratmaster458]

Hey,

 

I realized that I want a replica of the Rocky strat and I happen to have a full set of model paints and a strat pickguard complete with pickup covers and knobs. So I'm gonna do it. My mom is wicked at painting so she is gonna paint the pickguard for me and probably the rest of the guitar when I get that far.

 

for the pickguard I'm using Testors model enamel cause its made of plastic but what should I use for the body?

 

I want to have a base coat of sonic blue nitro as thats what Harrison stated with but what pain to use to paint all the trippy graphics?

[Stratmaster458]

also I want to know where I can get an unfinished strat body for cheap?

[Johnny Two Tone]

^Warmoth is probably your best bet for a cheap strat body. USA Custom Guitars will have that too.

 

For painting a guitar here's what you need to keep in mind:

 

The body of the guitar MUST be completely leveled before you can paint it. I don't know how well places like Warmoth finish the wood they use for their bodies but let's assume for a sec that the wood is not well finished. You must first sand the body to a 400 grit level smoothness. Then coat the wood several times with sanding sealer (can be purchased for very cheap at most paint stores), the sanded to a 400 grit level again. Then you must paint the body with lacquer based primer (which can be found as some paint stores but more likely at either an automotive/boat paints place or specialty shop), then sand it to a 600 grit level. Then coat the guitar with an opaque colored lacquer as many times as needed to get a nice solid job, then sand it to a 1500 grit level. Then apply a few coats of clear lacquer, then wet sand it to a 2000 grit level. Got all that?

 

For the lacquer itself I'd recommend getting water based lacquer. It's almost as good as solvent based lacquer (like Nitro) but it's far, FAR safer to your health, it dries far quicker (nitro can take months to fully harden), it's cheaper, and it's now more easily found since solvent based lacquer are basically dying out due to their environmentally unsafe nature. It's also much better to use a spray lacquer (no, I don't mean a spray can) with a compressor and gun so that you don't have to deal with brush stroke unevenness. Spray can paint is okay if you get a good brand but don't expect the same level of quality as you'd get from a gun.

 

Lastly, for specific colors, for designs and fancy binding and what-not, go to an auto parts/paint store and find their acrylic-lacquer paints. Acrylic-lacquer is compatible with straight lacquer. Of course if you're just going to spray the whole guitar with spray can paint then I suppose you could just get all acrylic-lacquer all from the same place, but I haven't heard of too many people use entirely acrylic-lacquer for a guitar. Don't use enamel, btw. That stuff is brutal and takes for absolutely ever to dry. It's not worth using at all. It would be hard as all hell once it did dry, though.

[archiemax]

 

also I want to know where I can get an unfinished strat body for cheap?

 

 

Fifty bucks'll get you a raw Strat body at guitarfetish.com--For ninety bucks you can get a whole kit. If you haven't checked 'em out yet, you should.

[Stratmaster458]

thanks so much guys. I was actually planing to finish the guitar sonic blue with reranch then have my mom paint all the George Harrison graphics on it. I have read a great deal on lacquers and all cause I've been wanting to build a guitar for quit some time. Tell me more about this water based lacquer? is it lighter than ploy like nitro is? and after I do the base finish and all the graphics I want a good finish to seal the whole paint job but I don't want the finish to be really heavy like poly, it doesn't have to be nitro just enough to protect the graphics and seal the whole thing.

this water based lacquer intrigue's me

 

How well made do you think the unfinished guitar fetish bodies are? guitar fetish is headquartered in my town so shipping wouldn't be too expensive.

[Johnny Two Tone]

^Even if a pre-made body isn't all the well done it doesn't take an insane amount of work to get it good enough to start painting. You simply have to go to a hardware store and get the following sand paper grits (approximations are okay): 150, 220, 320, 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1500 (wet/dry), 2000 (wet/dry). Don't worry, that much sand paper costs very little. The higher grits will be harder to find but an automotive or specialty paint store will likely have them. Just slap each grit on a sanding block and have at it.

 

Once you get to 400 grit, with the bare wood, it's time to start spraying on the sanding sealer (or brushing it on SUPER SUPER lightly). After an appropriate amount of coats and sanding you move onto the lacquer primer. After the same deal with the lacquer primer you move onto the lacquer. Once you've done that you add the fancy graphics, then you finish things up with the clear coat top layer which will seal everything in (and sand thing with wet sand paper up to 2000 grit for that mirror shine).

 

Water based lacquer really is the new standard for lacquer use (maybe not the standard strictly for guitars but lacquer in general). Like I posted previously solvent based lacquers are becoming rare because they are horrible for the environment and the fumes are highly toxic and therefore dangerous to use without a really well ventilated setup. Water based lacquers MAY not get you the quality level of finish that nitro may but unless you're willing to make orders for the nitro and then can deal with it, and want to live with the potential yellowing and drying times, it's not the best route to go. I'm not sure if solvent based lacquer is compatible with acrylic-lacquer but I do know that acrylic-lacquer is compatible with water based lacquer, and acrylic-lacquer can be found basically everywhere so you never have to worry about not being able to find the right graphics color.

 

You can follow my guitar build (from scratch) that includes the painting process (which I'm currently in the middle of) right here.

[Stratmaster458]

thanks again.

I think I'm gonna go nitro from reranch as I need sonic blue for the base coat and they also carry all the nitro based sealer and primer I 'll need.

 

do you have to used nitrol for the clear coat or can u use Poly? I think it might be a good idea to make the clear coat a thin poly layer to really seal it.

all the graphics are gonna be hand painted with Testors model enamel so I think i should pick a finish that won't mix with them or cause them to dissolve.

 

thats my biggest concern.

 

the point of this guitar is to look great like the real Rocky and play great.

not looking to make something really highend just a great looking/sounding player.

 

so heres what I think I want to do

 

Nitro sealer > nitro primer > nitro color (sonic blue) > testors model paint graphics > thin poly clear coat to seal the deal.

 

are there any flaws in that plan?

 

could I use water based lacquer for the sealer and the primer then do the nitro color and the rest on top of that?

[Johnny Two Tone]

^If you can get everything, in nitro than go ahead and do that. Since I live in Canada my paint type selection is pretty brutal as the US does not ship liquids across the boarder with personal orders. I had to drive to every last place that sells paint in my city to find anything at all.

 

Finding out if the poly clear top coat will be compatible with the nitro should be as easy as asking a customer service rep over the phone at any paint distributor. I don't know how well it works off the top of my ahead. I'm a little hesitant about that enamel, though. I've just read many places that quite harshly recommend staying away from enamel for guitar painting.

 

I'm not exactly sure if you can use a water based lacquer over nitro but I know for a fact that nitro lacquer will slightly dissolve anything below it. So, if you make really specific graphics then spray on nitro you COULD run into a running issue. The main thing when painting, of course, is to spray very thin layers. Lot's and lots (over 20 in some cases) of super thin coats is far better than covering everything quickly. The first few coats may not even cover up the surface below. I guess that is to say that if you can't find the paints you need in spray-cans it be worth renting a compressor, hose and spray gun (or buying the gun cheaply off of eBay). Proper spraying with a compressor is the only way to get a truly professional looking paint job and it makes painting far easier (though messier) than brushing.

[WRGKMC]

Plain laquer is available at any Home Depot in the US, In fact Its pretty hard to find the water based in most hardware stores. You can buy the acrylic and regular laquer paints at most auto parts stores. You can put regular laquer over acrylic and vice versa, bit in no way want to try putting poly over laquer. It will just peel off like sunburned skin. (been there and done that)

 

I know the auto and other industries changed Formulas to enviornmentally safe stuff but its no way banned for home. Cannada does have many enviornment extremists living there but I dont get it. Laquer has an Alcohol base and uses denatured Alcohol as a dryer. I dont know how bad that is for the enviornment, but I know Cannada has no problem making regular consumable alcohol and sending it over the boarder here to the US.

[Johnny Two Tone]

Solvent based lacquer isn't illegal in Canada or anything, it's just hard to find now because of the move to water based. You really could never export chemical liquids out of the US without a dangerous goods permit, so that's why I mentioned that - I can't order liquids from places like Stewart Macdonald. I actually found ONE place here that sold clear solvent based lacquer in gallon cans. The price was 117 dollars, though. Compare that to the 47 dollar price for the same amount of water based lacquer. In fact out of every last paint selling store, big box or small specialty place, only three sold lacquer not in spray can form. And, even the ones with spray cans only had white, clear, black and for some reason red. And the places that sold lacquer in drums (liter and gallon) only had clear. Even auto parts stores that sold lots of acrylic lacquer and enamel paints didn't have solvent or water based lacquer. ONE... ONLY ONE place in this entire city sells colored lacquer not in spray-cans, and that is Canadian Tire (an automotive/hardware/tools/outdoors equipment big box store). And, of course they charge $25 a liter for it. Plus, it's in "ready to spray" form which, while convenient, means you are actually getting less than a liter of actual paint. If it wasn't thinned out "ready to spray" you could thin an actually liter yourself and therefore have more. Oh, well. It doesn't take even a liter to paint a guitar.

 

I assume by "plain lacquer" you are referring to solvent based lacquer.

[MahaloVision]

I would just caution you to not spray nitro in a cold, closed space. Regardless of what the laws are where you live, it's just not good for you.

 

For water-based, I've had good luck with some of the Target Coatings materials. They seem to be pretty popular with the kids over at the MIMF and with GAL members that I've talked with. It's reasonably cheap, works well, mixes with colors well, and can be relatively easy to level and buff. I did have some bad experiences with their Premium Spray Lacquer going soft and gummy on necks (as others have, too), but that product was discontinued a long time ago. The USL has been much more durable, and the 9000 stuff that I've used on a couple guitars is rock-hard, but you will get witness lines with it if you don't buff it out thoroughly.

 

For colors, I use a few different things. The TransTints from Target coatings (also sold as ColorTone from StewMac) work great both in the finish or as a stain. I've even used them with Formby's Tung Oil with good results. For solid colors, I usually mix in some FasKolor paints that I got from a hobby shop - they're designed for painting RC car bodies. The FasKolor stuff mixes well with the water based, shoots easily with a cheap detail gun using a 50/50 mix, and takes the water-based topcoats very well as a result. For the handpainted stuff, you won't have any problem with using acrylics from your local art supply store or Michaels craft stores.

[cptnitty]

Wait till it gets warmer and drier outdoors , unless u got a place u can keep warm and dry 24/7.

[Stratmaster458]

 

Wait till it gets warmer and drier outdoors , unless u got a place u can keep warm and dry 24/7.

 

 

I'm just planing this project atm

and doing the pickguard (well my mom is lol)

[PanaDP]

When you use the testors, make sure it's thinned way down. If it's not, it will dry quite thick. In turn, you'll have to clearclat quite thickly over it and do lots of sanding to level the lacquer.