Paints and lacquers to use on a guitar?

Karl Hungus

Right, so I've finally got some sandpaper so I can start on my Samurai Project guitar, going to be starting that tonight, I think. Anywho, I've spied a nice ebony fretboard on stewmac.com but before that I need to sort some paints.

Now, first of all will be the undercoat, what will, or can I use? I was hoping to get it all done with spray cans, if at all possible, and I've already sourced a Satin Varnish for the clearcoat. So any advice here would be good.

LundiMardi

if you're sanding you'll probably need some sanding sealer/grainfiller etc..

Once you've done that, just start slappin on the coats of paint.... you doing a solid colour or...??

Karl Hungus

Solid colour.

LundiMardi

cool, in that case, afaik once your sanding sealer and all is applied, it just a matter of spraying on the layers of paint and lacquer, you can use aerosol sprays.. If you're looking to use anything then afaik you can use spray paint for cars, although don't go for the metallic look;)

Other than that, stewmac offer a wide variety, but won't ship aerosols to ireland, but will give you a clue of what you can use/look for..

Karl Hungus

Thanks. What kind of sealer would I be looking for?

LundiMardi

haven't a clue, i'm just kinda waffling,, heh heh.. Only looked it up myself not soo long ago because i was going to finish my own guitat, but then bought an already finished body..

You may not need sanding sealer, what kind of wood is the guitar?

I'm not even 100% sure of the difference between sanding sealer and actual guitar lacquer

LundiMardi

is this a serious project or just a bit of fun/experience?

Karl Hungus

I think it's alder, but I can't be sure. I'll have a look in atlantic homecare next time I'm out there, but I don't know if the gombeens there will have a clue.

LundiMardi wrote:

is this a serious project or just a bit of fun/experience?

This is a serious project.
Want to see what I have and what I plan to do with it?

LundiMardi

go for it...

if you want the best results i'd recommend really looking into, there's really small things that you won't even think about when refinishing. Like when using aerosols, if it's near the end of the can the spray can change slightly and force blobs/drips on the guitar, or even if you leave your finger slightly over the spray is can leave drips etc.. Who'd a thunk.. heh

Stew man have a couple of books about finishing that would probably be worth a look.

i'd say have a look through the project guitar forums, i'm sure you already know of them..

here's a painting tutorial,

http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.php?showtopic=1362

Stripping a guitar,

http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/sand.htm

Basic refinishing,

http://home.flash.net/~guitars/ReRanch101.html

Polishing

http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.php?showtopic=1723

Heh, man, am i glad i bought a body that's already finished..

Where abouts are you doing this stuff?

Karl Hungus

Yeah, I've already looked into a lot of the project guitar tutorials, they're quite handy.

Anywho, this is the guitar I got that I'm doing up:



And when I'm finished with it, it should end up close to this:



Project guitar had a very handy tutorial about removing fretboards, which will be a great help when I get around to doing that part, and replacing the manky star inlayed fretboard with a nice blank ebony one.

Ancient1

Do some reading here first, KH.

I can't remember what you told me about this project....is it the Assassin body you got from Chris?

Edit: damn slow - yes, you answered my question...

Karl Hungus

Ancient1 wrote:

Do some reading here first, KH.

Danke, that is bookmarked.

LundiMardi

ah yes i remember this, you posted it a while back. Cool, should be a good project, it'll be interesting to see how it pans out.. Be sure to take plenty of progress pics.

Will you be doing all the routing etc yourself?

That's the only reason i haven't built a guitar from scratch yet, because of the tools and space needed, i ain't got none:(

Replacing the fret board too? Very ambitious Karl:D Are you going to fret it yourself too?

Ancient1

What wood type is the body anyways?

Do you still have Chris' (always useful and entertaining) "historical explanation"?

Karl Hungus

LundiMardi wrote:

ah yes i remember this, you posted it a while back. Cool, should be a good project, it'll be interesting to see how it pans out.. Be sure to take plenty of progress pics.

Will you be doing all the routing etc yourself?

That's the only reason i haven't built a guitar from scratch yet, because of the tools and space needed, i ain't got none:(

Replacing the fret board too? Very ambitious Karl:D Are you going to fret it yourself too?

No, you see the thing is, I'm getting a Kahler from Neal Moser for it, so I'm sending it to him, and he's going to route it and do the fretwork for me. I've talked about this with him before, and I'll be doing all the sanding, painting, fretboard replacement, and filling in the trem cavity (The Kahler only needs a small surface route), then he'll do the route and fret job, send it back to me and I'll install the electronics and the rest of the hardware.

I've been planning this for a while now, I've just been too bust (Lazy?) to get a start on it, so I figure while I'm out of my head waiting for my Stealth, it would be a good time to get a start.

Ancient1 wrote:

What wood type is the body anyways?

Do you still have Chris' (always useful and entertaining) "historical explanation"?

Oddly enough, it seems to be Alder with a Mahogany Neck, so I'll be filling the trem cavity with a peice of mahogany.

No, don't have Chris' explanation though.

LundiMardi

jesus, how much will that set you back? sending it to the U.S?

Must be a really serious project!!

Ancient1

I think you have a winning combination there! Unusual maybe, but still great!

Karl Hungus

Well, it's unusual, certainly.

LundiMardi wrote:

jesus, how much will that set you back? sending it to the U.S?

Must be a really serious project!!

Not sure how much, but yeah, it is a very serious project.

feylya

First of all, don't even think about going near the guitar with any sort of sealer until you have the surface as flat as humanly possible cos every imperfection will be magnified when you start painting.

Quattroste

Jesus Karl, buying guitars, making guitars, playing guitars.... and all serious too. Can you send me a signed picture(dated so I can say I spotted the talent before you made it big time!! )

I'd love to try all that but I don't have the time. All my spare time(like now) goes into trying to learn to play. I'm doing basic lead patterns tonight!

Karl Hungus

feylya wrote:

First of all, don't even think about going near the guitar with any sort of sealer until you have the surface as flat as humanly possible cos every imperfection will be magnified when you start painting.

Aye, I've got a variety of different sandpapers, down to some really fine stuff, which I'l be using to make it smooth as possible.

Quattroste wrote:

Jesus Karl, buying guitars, making guitars, playing guitars.... and all serious too. Can you send me a signed picture(dated so I can say I spotted the talent before you made it big time!! )

I'll see what I can do.

DiamondJQuimby

Best of luck with it..

Would you not tackle the routing and the fret work yourself.

Routing is not that difficult once you get the hang of it, Like with everything if you take your time and do a litlle bit and check and then some more and recheck you will get very good results. As long as you have a sharp router bit and the right bit.

Maybe skip the fret work it is a pain in the ar&e I have done three fret boards now and it is the bit I really hate doing as it is so time consuming.

Not too sure about Sanding Sealer is that the same as Grain Filler??
Some woods need grain filler as they are more porous than others. They tend to soak up what ever finish you apply and can also leave marks in the finish.

I think Alder is one of the woods that needs a grain filler I will have to check.

D

Rancidmaniac13

feylya wrote:

First of all, don't even think about going near the guitar with any sort of sealer until you have the surface as flat as humanly possible cos every imperfection will be magnified when you start painting.

Usually paint covers up imperfections. It's varnish that magnifies them.

Beecher

How to paint your own guitar.

Useful link (allthough it seems to be down for me now). He sells an e-book on how to strip down a guitar and paint them with spraycans. Bought it myself and it explains everything well with clear instructions, plus you can e-mail him directly with any questions.