PAINT, OR NOT TO PAINT

[ICTGoober]

I have another luthier friend here in town who swears by Duplicolor. I don't use it, but he has gotten outstanding results.

[Lewguitar]

If you haven't bought the lacquer and sanding sealer yet, why not go to ReRanch and order it from them? I like their stuff. Works great.

I wouldn't use Deft. Wrong product. It's ok for do-it-yourself finishing of some door casing or crown molding (or maybe a home made coffee table) but it won't have the right look on a guitar.

https://www.reranch.com/

[GuitarStv]

I did this guitar with rustoleum rattle cans (primer/colour/clear) earlier this year:



It was my first time painting an instrument and turned out reasonably well.



Just take things slowly. Make sure you have a clean, well lit, relatively dust free area to do the spraying. Do multiple thin coats. Wait longer than the can says for everything to completely cure. Prime/paint/clear coat is going to take you several weeks probably. I recommend Meguire's Ultimate compound followed by meguire's ultimate polish . . . rubbed in by hand to do the final finishing - it's pretty idiot proof.

[ArtieToo]

I did this guitar with rustoleum rattle cans (primer/colour/clear) earlier this year:

That looks great. It's funny: typically, you'd think of Hot Pink as a "girl" guitar. But it's funny how many guys go for it too. I, myself, have a Hot Pink Strat. (Not an HK.) It's a kool color.

[ItsaBass]

Crap I was referring to was actually the quality of the nozzle. I should have clarified. I’m using Dupli color. The nozzle is awesome.

Yup; that’s an acrylic lacquer.

[ErikH]

Th Dupli Color stuff is really good. I used it on my SG Junior build in 2011, Oxford White. Came out better than I expected with the "Faded" style finish I was going for (no grain filler, just a few coats of sanding sealer). If I could find Army OD green in Dupli Color I'd use it for my LP Jr DC project. My wife reached out to an auto repair guy we've used and he has a pint with clear coat waiting for me to pick up. I have a spray gun and ready to make part of the garage in to a spray booth. Still need to apply the grain filler and get it all ready for paint first.

[ItsaBass]

Th Dupli Color stuff is really good. I used it on my SG Junior build in 2011, Oxford White. Came out better than I expected with the "Faded" style finish I was going for (no grain filler, just a few coats of sanding sealer). If I could find Army OD green in Dupli Color I'd use it for my LP Jr DC project. My wife reached out to an auto repair guy we've used and he has a pint with clear coat waiting for me to pick up. I have a spray gun and ready to make part of the garage in to a spray booth. Still need to apply the grain filler and get it all ready for paint first.

Check out Tamiya hobby spray paints for classic military colors like Olive Green and Panzergrau. It has been decades since I’ve used them, but they are alcohol-solvent acrylic lacquers IIRC. Maybe lacquer-thinner-solvent acrylic lacquers...but I don’t think so. I used to thin my bottled versions with denatured alcohol for use in my airbrush. But whatever they are, they look good, and will be available at any good hobby shop that sells armor model kits.

[ErikH]

Check out Tamiya hobby spray paints for classic military colors like Olive Green and Panzergrau. It has been decades since I’ve used them, but they are alcohol-solvent acrylic lacquers IIRC. Maybe lacquer-thinner-solvent acrylic lacquers...but I don’t think so. I used to thin my bottled versions with denatured alcohol for use in my airbrush. But whatever they are, they look good, and will be available at any good hobby shop that sells armor model kits.

Thanks. I actually reached out to them about using it on wood since they formulate it for plastic and was told it would not bond well to wood. Don't know the truth to that but I kept looking. The paint is ready from the auto shop, I just need to go get it and pay the guy.

[GuitarStv]

That looks great. It's funny: typically, you'd think of Hot Pink as a "girl" guitar. But it's funny how many guys go for it too. I, myself, have a Hot Pink Strat. (Not an HK.) It's a kool color.

Thanks!

It's actually a neon colour . . . kinda glows in regular light. Really tricky to capture on camera as it ends up looking dark pink when you shoot the photo in low light, or bubblegum pink if you take the pic in bright light. But yeah . . . pink is a *****in' colour. I ended up swapping the pickups for an SSS configuration with white pickup covers and it's even more awesome looking now!

[brentrocks]

Coming along nicely!




IMG_3615 by brent HENDERSON, on Flickr




IMG_3616 by brent HENDERSON, on Flickr




IMG_3617 by brent HENDERSON, on Flickr




IMG_3618 by brent HENDERSON, on Flickr




IMG_3619 by brent HENDERSON, on Flickr




IMG_3620 by brent HENDERSON, on Flickr




IMG_3621 by brent HENDERSON, on Flickr




IMG_3622 by brent HENDERSON, on Flickr

[ItsaBass]

Thanks. I actually reached out to them about using it on wood since they formulate it for plastic and was told it would not bond well to wood. Don't know the truth to that but I kept looking. The paint is ready from the auto shop, I just need to go get it and pay the guy.

You wouldn't normally be spraying color coats over wood. You'd seal/fill, then prime first. Tamiya sticks fine to any lacquer-compatible sealer or primer. I like to use aerosol dewaxed shellac as my sealer, over a clay-like pore filler. Then I prime, with either black or white cheap acrylic lacquer, usually. White for light colors, and black for dark colors. I don't prime if it's a translucent color, or if I want the finish to wear down straight to the sealer without a primer color in between. In the latter case, I just use another pass of grain filler and sealer over the first application of those two steps.

[brentrocks]

Well... I failed miserably. I'm sanding it down and taking it to a pro.

[Top-L]

You wouldn't normally be spraying color coats over wood. You'd seal/fill, then prime first. Tamiya sticks fine to any lacquer-compatible sealer or primer. I like to use aerosol dewaxed shellac as my sealer, over a clay-like pore filler. Then I prime, with either black or white cheap acrylic lacquer, usually. White for light colors, and black for dark colors. I don't prime if it's a translucent color, or if I want the finish to wear down straight to the sealer without a primer color in between. In the latter case, I just use another pass of grain filler and sealer over the first application of those two steps.

Where do you get this? I've sprayed it with an air gun, but ddidn't know you could buy a spray can of it.

[Top-L]

Well... I failed miserably. I'm sanding it down and taking it to a pro.

Let the pro sand it down. He may want to chemically remove what you did.

[brentrocks]

Let the pro sand it down. He may want to chemically remove what you did.

He told me to strip it before I take it to him