PAINT, OR NOT TO PAINT

[chrisplaysmusic]

I think you should give it your best shot. Just do your research, plan everything out carefully, take your time, and do it right. I'm sure will be a great experience for you. You can buy a professionally finished guitar any time you want...

[Lewguitar]

Another change. I’m doing lacquer now. Lol. I talked to a guy that used to spray for heritage guitars in Kalamazoo. He convinced me that lacquer was the way to go.

Now that the grain fill was dry, I put coat of shellac on it this morning to seal the oil in. I’m going to wet sand with 800 next and then spray the first coat of lacquer.

Good call. Lacquer dries much quicker so you can apply multiple coats in less time. Poly doesn't do that. It just sits there collecting dust all day while while you're waiting for it to dry. lol!

And when you spray nitro lacquer over nitro lacquer it "melts" into the coat you're spraying over so it all kind of fuses together.

I'm a furniture designer and builder. Sprayed a lot of finishes.

[brentrocks]

What brand of lacquer will you buy? Don't forget you'll need thinner, and retarder. A clean, dry place to spray is nice, but my first lacquer job back in the 70's was in a dirt floor horse barn. It came out great, until a bug flew into my last coat of clear. Had to sand his sorry ass out, and touch up.

I’m using aerosol lacquer. Automotive grade. Not Home Depot crap.

[ICTGoober]

What brand of lacquer will you buy? Don't forget you'll need thinner, and retarder. A clean, dry place to spray is nice, but my first lacquer job back in the 70's was in a dirt floor horse barn. It came out great, until a bug flew into my last coat of clear. Had to sand his sorry ass out, and touch up.

[brentrocks]

You decided to finish it in Poly? Not Lacquer?

Another change. I’m doing lacquer now. Lol. I talked to a guy that used to spray for heritage guitars in Kalamazoo. He convinced me that lacquer was the way to go.

Now that the grain fill was dry, I put coat of shellac on it this morning to seal the oil in. I’m going to wet sand with 800 next and then spray the first coat of lacquer.

[brentrocks]

You decided to finish it in Poly? Not Lacquer?

Yeah I’m gonna do poly. I don’t have a spray setup. I feel I can control the poly a lot better with a brush. I’m going to wet sand between coats and should be able to achieve a smooth high gloss finish in the end.

[Lewguitar]

The guitar is at our shop, which is 30 miles from my house. I went over and checked on it yesterday. The oil is drying slowly. I'm thinking at this point, i may let it set until Wednesday or Thursday before i do final sanding and apply the first coat of poly.

You decided to finish it in Poly? Not Lacquer?

[Snake Aces]

The guitar is at our shop, which is 30 miles from my house. I went over and checked on it yesterday. The oil is drying slowly. I'm thinking at this point, i may let it set until Wednesday or Thursday before i do final sanding and apply the first coat of poly.

This is actually a nice thing. When I finished my korina body, it was as easy as walking out to the garage. I might have been more patient if it had been 30 minutes away...

[brentrocks]

I finished my Korina explorer. Will need a lot of grain filler to get it level. That’s not really complicated, just time consuming. I did reranch tinted amber finish and it came out great. You just have to be super patient

The guitar is at our shop, which is 30 miles from my house. I went over and checked on it yesterday. The oil is drying slowly. I'm thinking at this point, i may let it set until Wednesday or Thursday before i do final sanding and apply the first coat of poly.

[AlexR]

^ Or simply put a bit of tape over the area.

[ItsaBass]

You should take the truss rod nut and washer off before you proceed with your finishing project. Brush white glue over the exposed threads to mask them. Chip it off when you're done.

[brentrocks]

IMG_3525 by brent HENDERSON, on Flickr


IMG_3529 by brent HENDERSON, on Flickr


IMG_3530 by brent HENDERSON, on Flickr


IMG_3531 by brent HENDERSON, on Flickr


IMG_3532 by brent HENDERSON, on Flickr

[brentrocks]

I decided to take the plunge and finish it myself!! I did the first round of grain filler this morning and have a backplate almost completed for it. I’ll post pics later.



I’m doing the linseed oil and sandpaper method to grain fill. I got the idea from this woodworking magazine.



https://www.woodmagazine.com/materia...fect-finishing

[ICTGoober]

Best of luck with it. Hope it rocks when complete.

[Chistopher]

That looks more to me like it'd prefer to be stained.