Tips, color suggestions, links for painting guitar?

[Top Jimmy]

My girlfriend just bought a house with a killer workroom with workbench so finally (I live in a condo) I get a chance to monkey with my guitars. This is my first project ever, I want to refinish and rewire my Peavey Predator Plus.

This is the exact model and color:

I'll have to sand it down. Do I go to the wood, or just take off laquer and prime it, then repaint? Is a high quality spray paint good enough or what type of paint do I need to use?

Also, I have no idea what color to paint this thing. I have a metallic grey 7 string, a gold quilted maple Ibanez sz520, a dark red petrucci music man, and a dark blue washburn.

I was thinking a tangerine or a dark purple , or maybe something more classic. No clue.

 

[devilfish]

Re: Tips, color suggestions, links for painting guitar?

If you want to do it properly...or at least as porper as you can get in some people's opinion. Do a nitro finish using the proper nitrocellulose lacquers you can get in aerosol form.

I refinished my strat body by sanding down to the wood with anj extremely course sandpaper, then when you start to reach the wood go to a finer sandpaper to avoid grooving the wood.

I used 1 primer, 2 colours and 1 clear can nitro lacquer and my finish turned out amazing! not that i'm great at spraying, just i am really happy with how proffesional you can get it with aerosol cans of lacquer.

I'm sure there are sites in the US you can get these from really cheaply but im in the UK so i wouldn't know any sites for you to get lacquer from.

If you value the guitar enough to re-spray it i'm guesing youd want a really nice finish and i wasnt dissapointed with mine at all.

 

[pinto79]

Re: Tips, color suggestions, links for painting guitar?

www.paintyourownguitar.com

 

[DazH]

Re: Tips, color suggestions, links for painting guitar?

sandpaper will take forever to remove the finish, use some nitromors stripper on it & just wait for it to crack.

 

[Fresh_Start]

Re: Tips, color suggestions, links for painting guitar?

Go to the Guitar ReRanch forum and you can learn everything and anything you want to about finishing a guitar properly. Plus they sell almost everything you need: http://www.reranch.com/

I could be wrong but suspect that you do not want to use a chemical stripper. You do need to either get down to the wood or find a primer that can go over your (polyester?) finish and under your new (nitrocellulose?) finish.

Hope this helps,

Chip

 

[devilfish]

Re: Tips, color suggestions, links for painting guitar?

Yeah i didnt wanna risk a chemical stripper so i took the hard way but it was worth it...a belt sander or similar will take too much off aswell and you will regret it...instantly

 

[Top Jimmy]

Re: Tips, color suggestions, links for painting guitar?

What's the risk of a chemical stripper?

Thanks for the links and advice guys

 

[scottish]

Re: Tips, color suggestions, links for painting guitar?

Im about half way through a refinishing project just now. Been making a thread out of it so you can check it out if you like.

https://forum.seymourduncan.com/showthread.php?t=131308&highlight=MIA+tele+refinish

I would recommend using guitar reranch spray cans and then clear nitro lacquer from either stewmac or reranch, i actually like the stewmac colotone stuff

 

[MikeS]

Re: Tips, color suggestions, links for painting guitar?

Sanding... ugh. First body I ever sanded was an Ibanez with your typical 1/16" plastic shell of a finish (polyester). I used a palm sander with 60 grit for as much as I could and used good old fashioned elbow grease for the rest. Even with 60 grit a finishing sander is s l ow going. Second body I sanded was an Aria strat. Again, thick plastic-like clear shell, but not as thick as the Ibanez. This time I had proper tools - an orbital sander for the top and back and I set up a drum sanding station at the drill press. A little hand sanding on the edges and tummy contour were all that remained. I attempted to use a chemical stripper on both bodies, but I think the blood from one of Sigourney Weaver's aliens is the only substance that can eat that stuff. Regardless of the type of finish I would spray I'd sand the old off to bare wood. That plastic shell isn't doing you any favors in the tone and resonance department. Even a thin finish is going to further worsen it.

For resprays, I've used acrylic lacquers (available at any hardware or autoparts store), polyurethanes (hardware store), and nitro from ReRanch. The ReRanch stuff is by far the best product, but you can get fine results with acrylic lacquers or polyurethanes. The acrylic seems to go on a bit thinner, but seems to have a slightly longer cure time.

For sites... Chip has you covered. ReRanch is where I got my start, and I filled in the gaps with tidbits here and there on the internet and most importantly actually getting a few spray jobs under my belt.