Does spray paint sound better than polyurethane?

taphappy

New member
I know nitro sounds better than poly and it seems that spray paint is a laquer and the paint messes up when it touches rubber, so could these two paints be similar in tonal quality?
 
Re: Does spray paint sound better than polyurethane?

thin nitro "breathes" kinda like old violin varnish. my only comment is that spray paint is not made for musical instruments. would you paint your car with interior latex? Ithinkit would be better if you leave it ufinished ad give it a good soakig with boiled linseed oil. i use that on my knife handles and it makes for a very durable fiinsh that won't peel off.
 
Re: Does spray paint sound better than polyurethane?

I should of put the "breathing qualities". So far this laquer based primer I'm using is working well. Also, I dont think the wood this guitar is made out of is any good, it sounds kinda dull, just after reading the les paul post it made me start thinking.
 
Re: Does spray paint sound better than polyurethane?

jdm61 said:
my only comment is that spray paint is not made for musical instruments.

Eh ... not quite.

Any guitar painted with a solid color is essentially done with the same paint as a car. Are you saying that solid colors don't belong on guitars?
 
Re: Does spray paint sound better than polyurethane?

ratherdashing said:
Eh ... not quite.

Any guitar painted with a solid color is essentially done with the same paint as a car. Are you saying that solid colors don't belong on guitars?

Probably got the same idea I first had that since spray paint is cheap, it sucks. BTW your sig is hilarious.
 
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Re: Does spray paint sound better than polyurethane?

well.........yes, i am saying that:friday: the only cars that have laquer finishes are old very expensive cars and modern customs. Modern automotive laquer is Lucite or similar.....plastic. the wood on the classic natural or translucent guitars are dyed. i do the the same thing to curly maple.....leather dye....works great. Old high quality solid color guitars would have been painted with colored nitro. Real Goldtops are made with bronze powder. Remember.......the experts now conclude that what made a Stradivarius better that even the exact copies is the varnish, which hasappretly been almost imossible to reproduce
 
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Re: Does spray paint sound better than polyurethane?

so would you paint your guitar with Rustoleum? lol
 
Re: Does spray paint sound better than polyurethane?

Remember guys, a certain striped guitar that helped produce the brown sound was painted with Schwinn bicycle paint. ;)
 
Re: Does spray paint sound better than polyurethane?

taphappy said:
I know nitro sounds better than poly and it seems that spray paint is a laquer and the paint messes up when it touches rubber, so could these two paints be similar in tonal quality?

Some spray paint is enamel some laquer some polyurethane some acrylic.
 
Re: Does spray paint sound better than polyurethane?

Or maybe that thick poly finish on my Rg570 masked this awesome tone it contains?
 
Re: Does spray paint sound better than polyurethane?

taphappy said:
I know nitro sounds better than poly and it seems that spray paint is a laquer and the paint messes up when it touches rubber, so could these two paints be similar in tonal quality?
Spray Paint is a Broad term. Polyurethane is available in a spray can as well as Guitar specific Nitrocellulose Lacquer. As far as a sonic difference? Now where really splitting hairs. The general idea is the thicker the paint is applied the wood becomes less resonate. If someone can hear a difference from .050 of Nitro to .050 of poly...Than they have better ears than me. Nitro does have some sonic advantage's already mentioned in that it allows the wood to breath. The General idea here is the more the wood breathes, The more it is able to dry. The drier/older the wood it tends to become more resonate.
 
Re: Does spray paint sound better than polyurethane?

taphappy said:
Or maybe that thick poly finish on my Rg570 masked this awesome tone it contains?
Doubt it? That body is most likely made from Basswood. Basswood was never considered a suitable tone wood in guitar manufacture mainly because it is to soft. But since they started using what I call Bionic Urethane finishes over in the orient (If you ever had to strip one... You would know what I mean by Bionic) Basswood is now acceptable as a tone wood. Mostly because the finish acts like a outer shell to protect it.
 
Re: Does spray paint sound better than polyurethane?

Does bionic mean hard to strip because stripper was like water to the finish. It did nothing. The only thing that worked was hours of sanding. That was just wishful thinking about the awesome tone.
 
Re: Does spray paint sound better than polyurethane?

taphappy said:
Does bionic mean hard to strip because stripper was like water to the finish. It did nothing. The only thing that worked was hours of sanding. That was just wishful thinking about the awesome tone.
YES !! On some of those finishes all paint stripper does is polish it up a bit.:crazy:
 
Re: Does spray paint sound better than polyurethane?

and if you asked him today, EVH would probably confess that he regretted painting those guitars almost as much as he admittedly regrets taking the chainsaw to his korina Ibanez explorer copy. Notice that once he got a compay to make him a sig guitar, they both had translucent burst finishes? co-inki-denk???????i tink naught!!!!!!!!!:p
 
Re: Does spray paint sound better than polyurethane?

To be quite honest, I don't think he really gave a rats @ss back in the day when he originally painted the frankenstrat with the bicycle paint. It was a cool red, easy to get, came in a spray can, and cheap. What I was trying to get across in my original statement is that it doesn't matter what you use to paint it to a degree.
 
Re: Does spray paint sound better than polyurethane?

Couple things…. First, “nitro” is a lacquer (nitrocellulose lacquer). Second, a number of paints are available in spray cans (epoxy based enamels, enamels, acrylics, polyurethane, several kinds of lacquer, etc). Some are more suitable for certain applications. You can buy guitar quality lacquer in a spray can from reranch.

I see nothing wrong with using a high quality poly finish on a guitar. In fact, doesn’t Fender spray North American models with the same PPG automotive mixes that many finishers are using? I believe the finish is applied solely to beautify and protect the wood. While lacquer may allow the wood to breathe and dry out over time, I dare anyone to hear a sonic difference between a freshly painted lacquer body and a freshly painted polyurethane body.

FWIW, I’ve heard people refer to import finishes as sprayed polyethylene. I don’t know if this was a joke, or if imports really are spraying plastic onto their guitars. I do know that shell around my RG only came off with lots of sanding. It sanded like plastic, not like paint. Regardless, I think it's really a polyester paint used on imports.
 
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Re: Does spray paint sound better than polyurethane?

Thin is the key!

I would rather have a well done thin poly finish than to have a not so well done thick nitro finish! The truth is the BEST sounding guitars are done with an oil finish and nothing else.

And just to through this out there so you guys know this, there are NO Fender guitars being made with a 100% nitro finish except the Eric Johnson model...ALL of the other Fender guitars you see with a nitro finish have a nitro colour coat and a nitro top (clear) coat but they have a poly base coat!
 
Re: Does spray paint sound better than polyurethane?

taphappy said:
I know nitro sounds better than poly and it seems that spray paint is a laquer and the paint messes up when it touches rubber, so could these two paints be similar in tonal quality?

Most spray paints (rattle can) are either polyester or polyurethane based, so it´s essentially "the same paint" as most guitar finishes.

Nitro in spray cans I´ve never seen but I won´t say it doesn´t exist.

There are also many acrylic and water based paints and lacquers available in spray cans.

In other words: WHICH spray paint? Krylon? Duplicolor? PPG? DuPont?

But either way, the chances are very good that that´s also poly ;)
 
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