How to paint a guitar with binding?

[LLCooLM495]

I saw an ancient thread (circa 2005) about this, but I figured it wouldnt hurt to start up a new one :P Anyway, the guitar I want to paint is a 2013 Epiphone Explorer Pro (my friend scraped off all the original TV Silver, except he left the sides for unknown reasons). Im a huge Metallica fan, so I was thinking into painting it Alpine White, like one of those 1984 Explorers. My questions are, how do i preserve the binding, and what kind of paint should I use? The binding is white so it probably isnt too important, considering the guitar will be white. Ive heard things about using car paint, but its about 50-50 whether car paint is good or not from what ive seen. I dont have any sort of atomizer or whatever its called, nor do i have a spray booth. Its probably gonna be on top of some cardboard on my lawn :P
Another issue is that he sanded down the back of the neck, so its just plain wood now. Im assuming hand oils or something will be bad for that, even though it feels really nice. How would i go about finishing the back of the neck? Thanks!

TL;DR: good alpine white paint for guitars? Neck finish?

[LLCooLM495]

Re: How to paint a guitar with binding?

Oh and the neck has binding too, if that matters

[Thundermtn]

Re: How to paint a guitar with binding?

If you call around to some shops with the guitar already masked off you might be surprised what they'll quote you if you can wait until they're already spraying white that day. Plus a paint booth will turn out so much better of a result. If there's any overspray just clean the binding up with a razor.

Do you know how to prep the wood the right way?

[Dave Locher]

Re: How to paint a guitar with binding?

Is alpine white a pure, bright white? If so, head to a local Lowe's or similar and buy some Rustoleum "furniture lacquer." Most stores only carry it in black, white, and clear. But the white is a pure white, not at all off-white or creamy.
It works really well. I built a guitar from scratch a couple years ago and sprayed it clear over black with expensive nitrocellulose lacquer. Then I changed the neck profile and resprayed it with the black rustoleum lacquer from Lowe's and it looks and feels exactly the same although the Rustoleum did take longer to dry/harden.
Otherwise, the best thing to use is some guitar lacquer from ReRanch or Ohio Valley. They are something like $20-30 per can. Warning, though: the "vintage clear" and "tinted clear" from both tend to be yellow and orange. I wouldn't spray either over a white finish.

Rustoleum lacquer is NOT regular Rustoleum spray paint. That stuff is enamel and it will look crappy on a guitar because you cannot sand it and buff it like you can with the lacquer once it has dried for a couple weeks.

The traditional way to deal with the binding is to paint over it and then very carefully scrape the paint off of the binding when it is dry but still soft. Personally, I would tape it off with some thin masking tape (1/4" or less) from an auto parts store and only scrape the very edge. Even then you run the major risk of scraping some bare wood right next to the binding. (Or cutting your fingers with the razor blade!)

[AlexR]

Re: How to paint a guitar with binding?

In some places you can find pinstripe tape. This will mean you can tape the guitar and do all your colour coats in on pass/session. You simply peel the tape off then scrape the binding with a razor or knifeblade to remove any overspray.
For the neck you simply get regular painters tape and overlap/fold over onto the fretboard.

If you can't find thin tape, then tape all the sides and do the front and back coats.....and scrape the top binding face clear.
You then do the sides by taping off the binding.....actually you have not said whether the guitar is doublebound or single?? Single is way easier as you can do front then back/sides and maybe even neck shaft.

As to paint, having a solid colour is a PITA to do as any slight imperfection gets magnified by the clear over the top. If you want some nice flat colour, you really need to be able to sand the colour. I think maybe only the lacquer types of paint can be sanded or touched up with extra coats without witness lines.
You can use spraycans if you want. But you can do a budget spraying setup quite easily. Budget compressor and budget gun will work well.......all my spraying is done with that type of setup suspended from a chain in the lean-to next to my shed.