cheapest way to finish a guitar

[Edgecrusher]

Re: cheapest way to finish a guitar

You mean..."nobody is hiring you for the job or pay you'd like to get". But there are thousands of jobs out there that require NO experience at all. In your position you don't have the luxury of pride.

This is true... gotta start somewhere... Even if its busing tables or changing the toilet paper roll.

Even for getting your foot in the door these sort of jobs are important. Even if they are in an unrelated field they show you have some responsibility and some gumption that someone might give you a chance on later.

 

[Edgecrusher]

Re: cheapest way to finish a guitar

as much as i agree i think ive derailed this thread far enough and will now bow out...

carry on in your search for cheap finishing options.

 

[Securb]

Re: cheapest way to finish a guitar

I don't see what anyone's job situation has to do with finishing a guitar. Andrew if you want to be a Luther you have to drive the first screw at some point, it seems like you are at those beginning stages. Just keep working at it and you will get progressively better. If you don't have cash for clear even a solid top with no clear can be buffed out to a high gloss finish. A clear coat will give it more depth and sparkle. Personally I have been on a polyurethane kick lately, I like the way it catches the light. You can pick up a spray can of poly for around 10 bucks at Home Depot. If you dont have the 10 bucks PM me your email address and I will PayPay Gift it to you.

 

[Big Flannel]

Re: cheapest way to finish a guitar

It looks like Yoda woke up on the dark side of the bed.

Good lord, man.

If the kid wants to follow his dreams, let him. Better to be happy than stuck in a miserable situation because you never took any chances.

 

[ehdwuld]

Re: cheapest way to finish a guitar

Plus one


*(Sent from my durned phone!)*

 

[GilmourD]

Re: cheapest way to finish a guitar

You mean..."nobody is hiring you for the job or pay you'd like to get". But there are thousands of jobs out there that require NO experience at all. In your position you don't have the luxury of pride.

I hope he doesn't live in New Jersey like me or an area like it... Cuz that's all we've got these days. I have plenty of experience in management, purchasing, and have been a certified PC technician. Yet jobs are difficult to find period. I have the job that I have through nepotism, not through my own merits... It bothers me constantly and it uses none of my prior skills.

Back to the guitar in question... If it has a good quality color coat on it don't worry about a clear coat. Fender used to ship guitars without clear coats all the time back in the '60s. Leo Fender was looking to save a buck. The guitars still looked good.

 

[Cdwillis]

Re: cheapest way to finish a guitar

Depending on how much finish was applied you could buy a pack of sandpaper and get it down to bare wood with a little elbow grease. Then spend five bucks on a bottle of Tru Oil and a couple hours you'll have a decent natural finish. The quality of the wood under the paint may not be the best though.

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: cheapest way to finish a guitar

If the kid wants to follow his dreams, let him. Better to be happy than stuck in a miserable situation because you never took any chances.

+1 This!

 

[ginormous]

Re: cheapest way to finish a guitar

Depending on how much finish was applied you could buy a pack of sandpaper and get it down to bare wood with a little elbow grease. Then spend five bucks on a bottle of Tru Oil and a couple hours you'll have a decent natural finish. The quality of the wood under the paint may not be the best though.

Hard to tell the wood quality with an Asian BC Rich. Many Fenders were sprayed with a hard (opaque) finish, because the wood had flaws. A friend of mine had a early '70s Jazzmaster that he stripped down, and he found that someone at the factory made a smiley face with the filler underneath the color coat.

 

[formula73]

Re: cheapest way to finish a guitar

Guitardoc, are you really being a d*ck to a guy with Asperger's?

 

[Securb]

Re: cheapest way to finish a guitar

Guitardoc, are you really being a d*ck to a guy with Asperger's?

My nephew has Sotos Syndrome a form of autism. I know what my reaction would be if someone blasted his dreams and told him to go out and get a real job.

 

[formula73]

Re: cheapest way to finish a guitar

My nephew has Sotos Syndrome a form of autism. I know what my reaction would be if someone blasted his dreams and told him to go out and get a real job.

If somone acted towards my autistic son in such a fashion the retaliation would likely be physical.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: cheapest way to finish a guitar

Guitardoc, are you really being a d*ck to a guy with Asperger's?

Are you really surprised by that?

Glad I don't see it unless I choose to.

 

[andrew96]

Re: cheapest way to finish a guitar

i've applied guitar center, walmart, lowes ect, and everytime i put i'd like minimum wage. i live in ct, and the city is a decaying piece of crap. most businiuses don't hire, there family owned, or i've aplied at them. i am in a program to help me get a job, and learn the things i need to to be on my own. i'm still doing paper work for them but will be done very soon. in fact, tomorrow i'm going there.

last time i filled out the referral to be sent to the program to help me get a job, so hopefully soon they will start helping me get one. the thing is, i always do terrible in interviews because certain type of questions i have trouble answering and understanding. like, they ask me "tell me a time you helped someone". well, i've done it a million times but can't think of an example, because i live in the now. if someone asks me "how have you been lately" i can only answer how i am right now, not overall.

 

[andrew96]

Re: cheapest way to finish a guitar

o and its not the guitar i'm painting i'm selling. i'm selling my bc rich, which i got in a trade. the one i'm painting and rewirring is a behringer strat model. its going to be awsome. thanks you guys for sticking up for me, i apreciate it.

 

[kramersteen]

Re: cheapest way to finish a guitar

If you can get by without a job and do the things you truly love than i support that. Money is the hard part of that lifestyle.

 

[St_Genesius]

Re: cheapest way to finish a guitar

Jesus, this thread took a turn, didn't it?

 

[Brandenburg]

Re: cheapest way to finish a guitar

If you can get by without a job and do the things you truly love than i support that. Money is the hard part of that lifestyle.

the only reason I can pull myself out of bed most the time.. My job is boring but im reasonably well paid and left alone.. I keep telling myself.. "you have been bored and jobless before.. have we forgotten".. Jobs are indeed hard to come by.. I volunteered 2 weeks at my job before I was put on the payroll.. just past my 3 year mark a month ago.. BTW.. i have 2 A.A.S's one in programming the other in electronics and it took me over a year to land a steady job..some of that could not be helped as im slightly disabled..

andrew96.. on guitar projects I have done in the past.. I set a budget and a timeline and try to stick to it..and if i dont have enough money to do the job the way I want to, that will give me acceptable results.. ill save until I do or do it in stages if possible.. just my thoughts and good luck with your refinishing project

 

[andrew96]

Re: cheapest way to finish a guitar

the only reason I can pull myself out of bed most the time.. My job is boring but im reasonably well paid and left alone.. I keep telling myself.. "you have been bored and jobless before.. have we forgotten".. Jobs are indeed hard to come by.. I volunteered 2 weeks at my job before I was put on the payroll.. just past my 3 year mark a month ago.. BTW.. i have 2 A.A.S's one in programming the other in electronics and it took me over a year to land a steady job..some of that could not be helped as im slightly disabled..

andrew96.. on guitar projects I have done in the past.. I set a budget and a timeline and try to stick to it..and if i dont have enough money to do the job the way I want to, that will give me acceptable results.. ill save until I do or do it in stages if possible.. just my thoughts and good luck with your refinishing project

i set a budget and timeline too, and on products like bridges, pickguards and knobs and even once paint markers. i buy from china pretty often. this project to rewire and re paint will cost 16.98, and i already spent 1.02 on paint and have 3.95 plus like $2 in bottles, because i just spent most of today at my grandmas helping her with what i could. she saves her bottles for me. no one else at her house returns, because my cousin and his kid moved out so they go right to me plus my mom and brother drink nothing but bottled water so i get 2-4 dollars per return. i always save and make sure my budget is reachable, and i have a bunch of extra parts for when i do projects, so sometimes i don't even need anything, like i had to swap out a bad capacitor, i had a few extras, and got a new soldering iron for my birthday, so first thing i did with it was swap it.

when ever i'm not sure of something i have to do with my build i make sure i talk to a local luthier, like at guitar center or something, so i understand it and can do it myself. i wastched a couple videos on soldering and figured it out without a teacher. i can easily combine multiple diagrams and i havent even been doing this for 2 years. this summer it will be two years, because the first guitar i put together was in tribute to my dad after he passed. my dad never got to see how serious i was about being a musician. when he died he thought it was just another phase, but i know he would of been proud of me, because he loved music but never got to learn an instrument.

 

[formula73]

Re: cheapest way to finish a guitar

I am in no way trying to be a d*ck but your posts are hard to read without any punctuation.

Good luck. I was in a similar situation as a teen except back then, most cheaper guitars were pure garbage.