My current refinishing process...

Re: My current refinishing process...

Questions:

Can I shoot a lacquer onto Krylon Fusion?

Do you sand the lacquer after it goes down? Or does that shine up ok?

Was the Fusion old formula or new? If it's an egg shaped cap, don't do it. If it's an old fashioned spray paint cap, it should be ok. Test it first on a scrap piece of wood.

I don't sand these days, they seem to shine up enough for me. It's not a super high gloss, but I'm not picky enough to spend all that time buffing and polishing. I just throw it together and play.
 
Re: My current refinishing process...

I was expecting not to have to prime a guitar that's already painted, but you say we should. Even if the guitar is white, and I'll be doing it yellow?
I have white primer anyway that I bought before and never used, I just didn't expect to have to use it.
 
Re: My current refinishing process...

I was expecting not to have to prime a guitar that's already painted, but you say we should. Even if the guitar is white, and I'll be doing it yellow?
I have white primer anyway that I bought before and never used, I just didn't expect to have to use it.

You want to lightly scuff sand the current finish so the new paint will bite into it. The primer will then fill in the scratches from the sanding.
 
Re: My current refinishing process...

Hey Dominus, how many cans of clearcoat are you using? I was plannning on one, but I just saw a thread on the Jackson forum where the guy used SIX!
 
Re: My current refinishing process...

One tip on the drilling of machine/tuner holes is to either clamp or use carriage bolts, fender washers and a sacrificial board under the headstock - Drill as dominus says, top to bottom. With the sacrificial board under the headstock, so long as it's tight and flush, you will virtually never get tear-out in your drilling work.
 
Re: My current refinishing process...

No, no, no. Get a ream bit. It's the only way to ensure you don't split out the wood around the holes. They're expensive, but you'll be amazed how much you use one once you have it.
 
Re: My current refinishing process...

dominus, as far as you can tell how well does your method work for finish stability because I live in NY and the weather goes from extreme cold to vexing heat. Do you think it would be an issue?
 
Re: My current refinishing process...

I lived in Michigan, and they held up okay, but they never left the house. As long as you finish them in a low-humidity environment, they should hold up just fine. You'll never get a thick plastic like finish like on a "professional" guitar, but that just adds weight anyway. :D
 
Re: My current refinishing process...

Great work! I think I see a reverse headstock in there too! Love em in a Strat.
 
Re: My current refinishing process...

I just took a bus trip to my local Advanced Auto Parts store to pick up the stuff to do this. It's going to be my project after lunch, prepping the body. I've never owned a dark green guitar but I'm about to. It's the equivalent of a British Racing Green. I may post pics, I may not. Depending on how it turns out I may have to sacrifice my guitar in a fire ritual. ;) IE, burn the evidence...
 
Re: My current refinishing process...

Well it's done, the body has been sanded, primed, and had the first can of lacquer shot at it. it's a beautiful deep bluish green and if my e-mail ever coughs up the shot I'll post it here. There were some runs but mostly in pickguard areas and if I do say so myself, I feel accomplished for having tried something new in the world of working on my own guitars. Thank you dominus for your quickie finish, it opened up a whole new world of possibilities. I'm just sad they didn't stock yellow. :(

Here we go...

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I hope you can see my Jerry rigged outdoor spray booth. It's warm and sunny with 48% humidity, if today wasn't a good day to spray I don't know what is.
 
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Re: My current refinishing process...

I'm just sad they didn't stock yellow. :(

Is that Forest Green Pearl, or Amazon Green Metallic? ;)

Yeah, I had to have my local store special order the yellow for me. Advance doesn't stock it, but AutoZone might, you can try calling them and seeing if they'll bring in a couple cans for you for your next one. Be sure to use black hardware on that one. ;)
 
Re: My current refinishing process...

Deep Jewel Green Metallic. When you first started how did you deal with runs, I've got quite a few I want gone. I was a little impatient and didn't wait the full 2 minutes between some coats. And black hardware sounds sweet. I'm horribly broke right now though, I think I may have actually overdrawn my account buying my painting supplies. :P
 
Re: My current refinishing process...

Deep Jewel Green Metallic. When you first started how did you deal with runs, I've got quite a few I want gone. I was a little impatient and didn't wait the full 2 minutes between some coats. And black hardware sounds sweet. I'm horribly broke right now though, I think I may have actually overdrawn my account buying my painting supplies. :P

I think I used that color on this one:

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Actually wish I could find these guitars again. At the time I didn't bother buying a black bridge to replace the chrome one, I just sanded and painted the bridge and saddles. :D

Painting it flat rather than hanging it will help you avoid runs. Warming up the paint helps too, I've added to the first post about filling a tumbler with hot tap water to warm it up.
 
Re: My current refinishing process...

I may just have to do a second run of painting then. This first job was simply a test run to see if I could do it and I can. Of course having several different coats of colors could add visual interest if I ever wanted to do a relic but I never understood that concept. If you want a relic guitar buy a new one and play it a lot for 30 years, duh!!! I may have to build myself a 2.5'-3' painting table to do this on. With all these runs it looks like my poor guitar is melting. I must've got too close in some spots and it pooled and ran. But it's a good start. I figure with a yellow paint finish I can save myself $500 instead of buying a Warmoth body already painted and bored. And it's something I have the satisfaction of doing.
 
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