Painting question. (Repainting the same color.)

[Artie]

I have a cheap-ish Strat copy. Has nicks and chips and fading. I want to repaint it the same color. This is more of an exercise in learning to paint than trying to restore the guitar, but the latter will be a nice side benefit. Since I'm repainting the same color, would you take it down to bare wood, and start over? Or would you simply sand it rough, so the original color acts as a primer, so to speak, then respray it?

We're talking about "pinky", posted elsewhere, in case you're interested.

Thanks;
Artie

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: Painting question. (Repainting the same color.)

I wouldn't base my decision on the color of the paint. I would base it on how important it was to me to do a full on "proper" paint job on that guitar...i.e. "Is this guitar worth the large amounts of time and effort it will take to strip it, fill it, seal it, prime it, color coat it, and clear coat it?"

I've done it both ways. I refinished by bandmate's 1980 Fender by stripping it down to bare wood (even took off the Fullerplast synthetic sealer). It took forever. I don't even want to think about the hours involved. I also refinished a newer set neck Epi for him. But I simply scuffed up what was there and overcoated the factory paint job for that one. Stripping poly from a bolt neck is bad enough, but a set neck? Fergit it. Also, the factory paint was a fine filler and sealer, and saved me those steps. I put mint green over the factory black, which is quite a contrast. So again, the colors involved don't really matter (just use a primer in between them).

 

[kramersteen]

Re: Painting question. (Repainting the same color.)

Both ways work but yeah if its a cheapie dont bother taking it back to bare wood. All the hard work in prep has been done for you.

If you really want to learn the full process then maybe barewood might be better at this time? I guess it depends on how keen you are?

 

[Artie]

Re: Painting question. (Repainting the same color.)

Yeah, it's a cheapie. But a surprisingly nice cheapie. I bought one of these Johnson Strats over a decade ago. The sole purpose of buying it was to try some Duncan singles, but the original "EMG Designed" were excellent. So much so that it took me almost a year before I switched pups out. It was this one, that has morphed over the years:



Last year, I found this one at the flea-market for $25.



The photo isn't great, but if you look carefully, you can see the original pink where the pickguard was.

I purchased a compressor, (to run some staple guns/nail guns, for some home improvement projects), and yet another flea-market find of a nice paint sprayer. Not quite pro level, but slightly above an airbrush. I thought it might be fun to respray this thing, and bring back the "pink", so to speak. Mostly to get my feet wet in the world of painting.

So, thats the crux of it.

P.S. Not sure if I mentioned this before, but my luthier buddy did a complete fret level and setup of the neck. The neck is golden. He'll finish the setup after I do the repaint.

 

[dominus]

Re: Painting question. (Repainting the same color.)

Scuff sand and remove the gloss so you have a good base for the new paint to stick to, but I'd still recommend a coat or two of primer (or paint) to fill in any scratches from the sanding. I typically use white for solid colors or silver for metallic colors.

 

[Artie]

Re: Painting question. (Repainting the same color.)

Thanks dominus. That's what I was thinking. We'll see how this turns out.