Painting a Guitar

[naz_nomad]

Have you ever done this, and what methods did you find successful.

Please dont cut & paste URL's, I want personal experiences please.

I'm building a Telecaster to keep my Strat company, and need painting advice.

Cheers ... Naz x

[Hellion]

Have asked my musician husband who also epairs guitars professionaly :

For a solid colour

1. Spray body with grey car primer filler as this fills the grain in the wood.
2. Needs to be warm and dry 'clean' atmosphere.
3. When dry ,cut back with 800 -1000 grit wet and dry paper
4. Be careful of the edges as it is easy to go through to wood - if this happens prime again and repeat.
5. Clean with damp cloth and let dry
6. Apply finish colour - again spray car paint works fine - apply thin coats in wide sweeping motions, about 7 coats.
7. Cut back with 1000 grit wet & dry paper
8. Finally T Cut and apply a good polish (car polish is fine)

For a Clear finish that just shows natural colour of wood.

1. Make sure body is well sanded and smooth.
2. Apply clear car lacquer
3. Lots of thin coats leaving it to completely dry in between coats
4. This takes time as it takes ages to fill the grain and could be 10 -20 coats.
5. Leave to dry then cut back with 1000 grit wet and dry and soap
6. T Cut and Polish.

Hope this helps

[naz_nomad]

Superb Hellion ...thank you

p.s. you don't happen to live near Aberystwyth do you?

(long shot, but worth a try).

[naz_nomad]

p.s. what are hubbys thoughts on metalflake .. is it a nightmare to spray? ...

Cheers ... Naz x

[samuel23]

Years ago I played in a band and had several really nice guitars (ah ~ those were the days!) Somewhere along the line I acquired a pre CBS Fender bass. Now we are talking the punk era here and this poor bass was painted in lime green and luminous yellow. I dont know what the base coat was but when the guy sold me the bass (for �35 - I was nearly running out the door with it, couldn't believe my luck) he gave me some various coloured paints and uttered the immortal lines - if you don't like the colour you can just spray it wiv this (it was car spray paint) and varnish it wiv yacht varnish when it's dry. The lime green and yellow was a complete b@stard to get off. I had to strip it right down, take the machine heads, bridge, pick ups ~ everything ~ off and eventually used paint stripper and then a very fine grit wet and dry to get it back to the original wood. However, before I got round to cleaning it up I lent it to our bassist. I remember watching him practice and thinking that the effect (from a spectators point of view) when the spotlights hit the colours was very striking, and seeing as how it was just your average common or garden spray paint, and there wasn't any cracking or flaking, it had proved to be a successful way of vamping up a plain wooden bodied guitar. The moral of this is, If you're going to paint it, naz my friend, ensure that you are completely happy with the colour first, because stripping it down again is one of the most tedious jobs known to man.
P.S. bought a wine red Strat in America in 2003, and was surprised at the tonal and neck difference between it and the one I'd got here in 1997 ~ turns out the American one is actually made in Mexico, but the one I got here was USA built.

[naz_nomad]

samuel ...thanks for that, I'd have liked to see the lime-green / yellow paint job (only kidding).

My Tele isn't going to be in front of an audience, but I'm guessing the longest part of my build will be deciding on a colour, as I'm the one that's got to look at it forever.

It's entirely possible that I may get someone else to paint it for me ... no sense ruining it for the sake of pride.

[Hellion]

Sorry Naz we're nowhere near Aberystwyth - on the South Coast.
Metal flake is a bit trickier. It's probably best to stick with a plain colour if you've not done it before.
If you're really not sure contact local guitar shop and ask if they no anyone or a car sprayer as the priciple is the same, in fact car sparayer will proably be able to do the metal flake. Or what about the chameleon colours like the TVR's!

[naz_nomad]

Thanks again Hellion ... I do know a car sprayer, so he may get the job ...

I'll try on a piece of scrap wood ... got an old chopping-board that I can use to practice on.

Thanks to hubby again ...

p.s. don't want it to look like a TVR ... can't stand them.