Members Johnny Two Tone Posted January 9, 2010 Members Share Posted January 9, 2010 For those who don't frequent the DIY forum I've been free-hand constructing a guitar over the last few months (as seen here) and I'm current on the second to final stage - painting graphics. Now that I have the black base coat on I need some idea for graphics design. My plan originally was to do a whine red burst pattern but I've since dropped that idea because it's simply far too hard for a paint noob like myself to try to achieve. So, what should I do: color the bevels; put a couple stripes on there? What? Here's a few shots of the guitar for reference. [And, yes, the guitar is a lot fatter than the original design planned for. But, that's just to compensate for my small penis ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Lump Posted January 9, 2010 Members Share Posted January 9, 2010 Swirl it. =) http://acapella.harmony-central.com/showthread.php?t=2522237 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Johnny Two Tone Posted January 10, 2010 Author Members Share Posted January 10, 2010 ^While that does look friggin' sweet I can tell right from the get go that it would be a run/drip nightmare that would create the need to hours upon hours of sanding. I would also need to leave my current main coat to dry to weeks if not month before attempting that, then that itself would require months of dry time. I don't think I'm ready for that extent of work for a first paint job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Johnny Two Tone Posted January 10, 2010 Author Members Share Posted January 10, 2010 ^Are you sure about that? I have the black lacquer base on and painting instructions for guitar in a book I have say that you have to let the base dry for 3 days then add 10 to 20 layers of clear coat - which you then have to let dry for 2 months before you can wet sand to a mirror shine. THEN it takes can take over 6 months after that before the lacquer is totally hardened (it can be used a played in that time but isn't technically fully hardened for months). So, if I have to do many clear coats before a swirl I'd have a 2 month wait before swirling. If you have to add clear coat after swirling I'd have X amount months wait after swirling. Then add the effort it takes to repair runs/streaks and it's quite the job. And this is all assuming I could do it properly in the first place. I actually really want to do a metallic wine red/metallic gun metal grey swirl on the black base. I guess what I need to know is: Can you do the swirl AFTER the guitar itself is completely finished with clear coat? Or, do you do the base coat then swirl, then clear coat? If I can finish the guitar with clear coat and swirl later than I will do that, otherwise it's not an option at this point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members PanaDP Posted January 10, 2010 Members Share Posted January 10, 2010 You swirl it over the basecoat. Why would you clearcoat it then do the swirl?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Johnny Two Tone Posted January 10, 2010 Author Members Share Posted January 10, 2010 ^That's exactly what I was wanting to know. Now that I do know that I will not be doing a swirl design. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members PanaDP Posted January 10, 2010 Members Share Posted January 10, 2010 ^That's exactly what I was wanting to know.Now that I do know that I will not be doing a swirl design. Why not, if you like the look? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Johnny Two Tone Posted January 10, 2010 Author Members Share Posted January 10, 2010 ^FINE, you win. I'll be doing a metallic wine red and metallic gun metal grey over black swirl. Happy now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Dougie.Douglas Posted January 10, 2010 Members Share Posted January 10, 2010 ^FINE, you win. I'll be doing a metallic wine red and metallic gun metal grey over black swirl. Happy now? Mmmmmmm! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Johnny Two Tone Posted January 11, 2010 Author Members Share Posted January 11, 2010 Some of you guys must not hang out at the DIY forum very often. 20 clear coats is standard for a guitar that has had extensive graphics done over the base coat. 10 coats is standard for over flat colors. Fender puts on over 20 coats of lacquer onto their guitars. And, also Gibson lets their guitars sit for 6 months before doing final polishing and buffing. Anywho, I went to several places today to find oil based enamel and I'm running into the same problem that I did with my original lacquer colors: I can find {censored} anywhere! One place did sell marine enamel, which is a high gloss oil based enamel, but only in white so that you can have them mix in any color you want. The thing is they only have standard flat colors. I need metallic dark red (whine red) and metallic grey/dark silver. Also, I don't need a liter of it. Does anyone know what kind of paint can be mixed into an oil based enamel to get a desired color? I read on project guitar that you shouldn't use Testors oil based model paints, which sucks since that {censored} is super easy to find in all colors, but I'm not sure why you can't use it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Orange Jackson Posted January 11, 2010 Members Share Posted January 11, 2010 Well, you can lead a horse to water. You can polish your guitar 3 days after the last clear coat. You need 4 to 10 coats of clear depending on weather or not you want a vintage finish or not. You can do 2 to 3 coats of clear a day with a light sand between finishes. Waiting longer is not going to hurt anything, but it's not going to help either. Good luck man!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Johnny Two Tone Posted January 11, 2010 Author Members Share Posted January 11, 2010 ^Thanks for the help, though I beg to differ on the technique. Even the book I have on painting guitars with lacquer affirms that at least 2 months of drying is necessary before finale wet sanding can be done if the guitar was painted with many layers of lacquer. Lacquer tightens a lot while drying so if you wet sand a guitar after only a few days the lacquer finish is bound to squeeze tight and look odd, which will force you to wet sand it again X many week later. Also, in my DIY thread the user CustomTele, who owns a paint business of sorts, confirms that it can even take months after the final polish before lacquer is 100 percent hardened. So, sure, if you are painting a guitar, say flat orange, it's not the biggest deal to layer a guitar over and over and let it dry forever, but with extensive graphics you need many thin layers of clear coat for leveling - which in turn ups the dry time. A common test for whether or not a paint job is done drying is if you can smell the finish any longer. I'm sitting over 10 feet away from my guitar, which I base coated 3 days ago, and I can smell it quiet a bit. Either way I'm looking forward to trying out this swirl thing. And, since I'm not going to do the typical colors I hope I get something fairly unique out of it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Carbohydrates Posted January 11, 2010 Members Share Posted January 11, 2010 Here's an idea for your finish. hope it helps~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members the_gunslinger Posted January 11, 2010 Members Share Posted January 11, 2010 Here's an idea for your finish. hope it helps~ I like that finish! Wish I would have thought of that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Johnny Two Tone Posted January 11, 2010 Author Members Share Posted January 11, 2010 Haha, that's awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members PanaDP Posted January 11, 2010 Members Share Posted January 11, 2010 Some of you guys must not hang out at the DIY forum very often. 20 clear coats is standard for a guitar that has had extensive graphics done over the base coat. 10 coats is standard for over flat colors. Fender puts on over 20 coats of lacquer onto their guitars. And, also Gibson lets their guitars sit for 6 months before doing final polishing and buffing. Anywho, I went to several places today to find oil based enamel and I'm running into the same problem that I did with my original lacquer colors: I can find {censored} anywhere! One place did sell marine enamel, which is a high gloss oil based enamel, but only in white so that you can have them mix in any color you want. The thing is they only have standard flat colors. I need metallic dark red (whine red) and metallic grey/dark silver. Also, I don't need a liter of it. Does anyone know what kind of paint can be mixed into an oil based enamel to get a desired color? I read on project guitar that you shouldn't use Testors oil based model paints, which sucks since that {censored} is super easy to find in all colors, but I'm not sure why you can't use it. Yeah, well you can do {censored} right or you can halfass it. 90% of the guitar projects I see around here are halfassed. Which are you? If you like the look of something, don't wuss out just because you're lazy and it will be a lot of work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Johnny Two Tone Posted January 11, 2010 Author Members Share Posted January 11, 2010 ^I'm definitely going to go the "take my time" route. I just walked over to my guitar and touched it - it's been sitting for almost 72 hours since it's last base coat - and it still seems a little on the soft side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ajympt Posted January 11, 2010 Members Share Posted January 11, 2010 Here's an idea for your finish. hope it helps~ That is the best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members slashfacepalm Posted January 11, 2010 Members Share Posted January 11, 2010 I'd recommend a Crimson Radiant finish. I can't find pics of it though. Warmoth stopped offering it, I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ΨWindingΨ Posted January 11, 2010 Members Share Posted January 11, 2010 Swirl it. =) http://acapella.harmony-central.com/showthread.php?t=2522237 Swirl and/or crackle is so 90s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Johnny Two Tone Posted January 12, 2010 Author Members Share Posted January 12, 2010 Well, God damn. I went to some places today and I can either get oil based enamel in plain {censored}ty house colors (no metallics) or EXACTLY the right colors but not in oil based enamels. {censored} THE WORLD! This is going to be another wild goose chase the same way my search for colored lacquers in non-spray form was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Johnny Two Tone Posted January 13, 2010 Author Members Share Posted January 13, 2010 Okay, now the swirl is most definitely out of the question. I phoned everywhere and looked at many places and no one sells oil enamels in the much to specific colors that I want (or metallics at all for that matter). And I'm loosing enthusiasm for it to want to go through the hassle of finding an internet distributor that would send me the stuff without charging insane freight fees. I think I may try a ribbon design using the two metallic colors I was referring to previously. Take a look at this picture here. Having many of those ribbon style twists crawling up the guitar from the bottom, in alternating metallic dark grey/whine red over jet black base, seems like it may be a cool idea. I'll have to draw something up to see how it looks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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