How To Custom Paint An Acoustic Guitar

Tin can I Pigment a Guitar Myself?

I'll evidence yous how to paint an electric guitar at home without a spray gun and compressor.  Information technology'due south not difficult, only it can exist a little boring, and an eye for detail goes a long way. Let'due south increase your odds for a successful first project and gear up some basis rules. We'll talk virtually painting a solid body electric, something similar a Strat, Tele or Jazzmaster (because these styles of guitars typically don't have any edge bindings that complicate the process). We'll paint it a solid color, preferably in a classic Fender color. Information technology will be a fresh new build equally opposed to a refinish, and we're going to apply minimal tools and the most practical materials. Permit's go.

But I Desire to Refinish My Guitar!

If you have a modern Tele/Strat type guitar and you want to refinish it primarily to modify the color, I encourage yous to think twice.  It would be far easier (and likely cheaper) to sell your guitar and buy the same guitar in the color you want.  If you're interested in a simple DIY guitar project, then dis-assemble the guitar, sell the trunk, and buy the body in the color yous desire and re-assemble information technology.  If you're interested in actually doing a painting project, then buy a fresh body that is unfinished and follow the steps below.  I don't recommend you lot endeavor to paint a terminate over your existing "poly" finish.  Nitrocellulose lacquer has some desirable characteristics, merely it's cocky-defeating to paint over the modern poly finish that is much thicker.  Okay, now let'southward get.

The Body Wood

You may non exist sure of the type of forest in your trunk. No worries, information technology's probable to be hardwood, just the about important gene is the openness of the grain. Maple, for example, is a very closed-grain wood. Finishing is as simple as sanding polish and applying your finish. Most body woods, however, take some caste of open grain. If yous have oak cabinets in your kitchen, they are an example of open up grain. Even after sanding, the stop shows the grain; catch it in the light, and you tin can see information technology's not as smooth as glass.

Grab it in the Low-cal

Here'southward the best tip I can give you for all aspects of finish work: use a calorie-free! That is, when you motion your calorie-free source at extreme angles on your surfaces, it exaggerates the texture of the surface. That'southward how you lot should evaluate your surfaces: use the calorie-free to reveal defects. Surfboard builders are masters at this. They work with white foam, which hides defects until a light source at the perfect angle reveals them. Plough off the shop lights and smooth a lamp across the height of your guitar, and yous'll learn a lot about that surface.

Prep the Body

Since our goal is to have a shiny, cogitating pigment chore, we'll probably need to fill the grain. The paint we'll use is very thin, and information technology will hide nothing at all. Yous need to prep a perfect surface. In that location are several ways to practise this, and yous should experiment with different methods with different forest. Regardless of the arroyo, the first step is to sand the torso. Get-go with 220 grit. Don't just sand with your fingers, always have a backing cake of some kind. The block tin can be foam or something flexible, only you want to promote flatness, which your fingers through the sandpaper won't practise. Sand with the grain, not across. If you accept a quarter canvass electric sander, that's fine, but there'due south a technique to acquire. Don't motion it as well fast, or you encounter distinctive sanding marks.

You'll have to practise some spots by hand. After sanding and things are feeling smoothen, motility on to 320 grit. When you call up you've washed a practiced chore, it'due south time to go out the lamp and check your work at all the angles. If you can encounter whatever 220 grit sanding marks nether your 320 grit marks, you lot take more piece of work to practice.

Seal the Body

When yous're satisfied with your work, it'due south time to apply a coat of shellac. The purpose of the shellac is to seal the wood and provide material for the other finishing products to adhere to. Shellac is easy to piece of work with; it dries fast, is not dangerously toxic (in fact, a version of pure shellac is used on hard candy and other foods to give it that shine), and it smells skilful. We're going to use a specific kind, yet: 100% wax-free. It might be sold under the proper name "seal coat" equally a sanding sealer. Check the label for 100% wax-free shellac. You can paint it on with a brush, wipe it on with a cloth pad or spray information technology if yous have a compressor and spray gun. With a little luck, you tin discover shellac in a spray can. Let's practise one glaze, and so a light 320 sanding an 60 minutes or and so after, then echo. No demand to mask anything off; yous can over-spray into the pickup cavities and neck pocket.

Fill up the Grain

Now nosotros're going to put some grain filling material on the guitar that volition fill the grain flat to let a drinking glass-like finish. Hither are some options:

Plaster of Paris

Plaster of Paris is a bit messy, only it works. It is mixed from powder into something similar in texture to pancake concoction and spread it on with a credit menu like a body human being working with Bondo on a car fender. You'll have lots of sanding dust. It's water-based and dries fast. This approach is not suitable if y'all want a transparent cease or sunburst.  Another version of plaster of Paris is to use drywall patching joint chemical compound; it'south stronger and harder than straight joint compound.  Y'all can detect it in pulverization form and already premixed and fix to spread.

Epoxy and CA Gum

Epoxy and CA glue(brusque for "cyanoacrylate," otherwise known equally "super glue") are like in application. Epoxy will be a two-part glue and pay attention to the instructions in mixing it, or information technology tin exist permanently tacky. Epoxy cures chemically; it doesn't "dry." CA glues come in different levels of viscosity, so for filling grain, stick with the thicker stuff. Cascade it on and spread effectually with a credit card or squeegee. This system works, but it'south very hard to sand.

Auto Primer

Auto primer works pretty well, especially to hide tiny imperfections. It sands well, as the stuff is fabricated for simply that purpose in painting cars. You can buy it at machine parts stores or auto paint shops. The "high-build" variety is amend at filling the grain.

A tele body in car primer, set up for sanding.

Wood Fillers

There are lots of commercial wood grain fillers, merely I recommend Aqua Glaze. It's a clear, h2o-based production that works great. You'll smear it on and spread information technology around with a credit carte du jour or rub it in with a cotton wool pad fabricated from an old T-shirt. Work information technology into the grain with the textile, wipe off the backlog and permit information technology dry out. Sand with 220/320. Then do information technology again. And again. And probably once more. Distressing, only it might take that many coats. Generally speaking, finishing is the process of applying the material and then sanding most of information technology off to create a flat surface. If y'all're lucky, the wood yous're working with won't need much grain filling, and a couple of coats volition suffice.

Aqua Coat grain filler.

Vintage Tip

Here's a tip: vintage electrics painted with nitrocellulose in the 1960s will often evidence a trivial of the grain texture through the stop that has shrunk over the years. It's a cool look, and yous tin can have a niggling of that if y'all stop a picayune short on your grain filling steps. It's more often than not desirable that the final end is as thin as possible, and this grain effect emphasizes that look.

Kinds of Paint

Until recently, paints used on guitars over time sort of followed the development of automotive paints. Polyurethane is a common option among less costly instruments because it solves a lot of manufacturing issues. It's thick, so there's less grain filling, it's hard, and it wears well. It'southward the same stuff you would use on hardwood floors. Considering it'due south a thick finish, nosotros're going to pass.

Ii-part Urethanes

There are new automotive paints called "two-office urethanes" that are extraordinarily difficult and shiny. They crave both paint and an activator to cure chemically. These are super hazardous materials, so don't fifty-fifty think about information technology until you've got some feel and have done your research. The merely way to use these materials safely is with a full adjust and respirator inside a proper paint berth with commercial ventilation. These paints are also very expensive.

UV Finishes

Many loftier-end guitar manufacturers have moved to ultraviolet-cured finishes that harden instantly and look terrific. Unfortunately, they are not only a chip hazardous, but they require expensive UV lights to cure the stop. The finish is sprayed in a fairly conventional manner but will remain forever gooey, that is, until exposed to UV rays, which instantly harden the finish permanently. This technology is finding its way into surfboard construction and repair, where the surfboard can be prepped in a garage and then moved into the sunlight and completely harden in 45 seconds or then. Some guitar builders are trying this process for grain filling with decent results. Interesting, simply not for a first project.

These guys have come out with new UV guitar finishes.

Nitrocellulose Lacquer

All this brings us to nitrocellulose lacquer; the same stuff factories used to brand the vintage guitars people require today. "Nitro" is like shooting fish in a barrel to use, it dries fast, offers good protection and shine, is piece of cake to repair, and the overall finish can exist kept thin. It dries through solvent evaporation, so we're going to apply it outside and always apply a breathing mask, even when sanding information technology. It'southward not legal in all states for environmental reasons. Subsequent coats "melt" into existing layers so that makes information technology easy to do time to come repairs.

Nitro is best sprayed, and you can buy information technology in original Fender colors from a company called ReRanch Guitar Refinishing. Fender in the 1960s used about 20 colors that all came from American auto manufacturers. Guitar ReRanch has them all. The ReRanch rattle cans have a fan nozzle that works quite well. Considering we're going to spray on the finish and so sand most of it off, expensive spray equipment is a convenience but not necessary.

I painted the Strat at the tiptop of the page in "coral" with a can of Guitar ReRanch.

Guitar ReRanch makes it possible to go great nitro finishes at home.

The rattle can is fine, merely the goal is to make the paint "menses out." This means not spraying as well far from the surface, so it'due south dry and dusty on the torso. Spray too shut and the paint pools or runs. If that happens, you'll accept to sand it out and try again, which is non the terminate of the earth. Exercise on a piece of cardboard. Overlap your spray pattern past most l%.

Someday you lot're spraying or dry sanding nitro, wear your respirator mask.  You lot don't want whatsoever of information technology in your lungs, either by vapor or dust.

Belongings the Beast

Life will be easier if you manner a one-human foot stick that screws into the neck pocket of the guitar body so you tin agree it and move it around more easily while you spray information technology. Hang information technology up to dry by the handle likewise. I besides utilise a cheap plastic "lazy Susan" (a plastic dinner plate on a ball bearing base that tin spin). I identify the trunk or neck on the lazy Susan so I can spin it around easily to become to all sides. Information technology makes the task much easier.

Hither'due south a "lazy Susan" covered in overspray…only even so spins the neck around easily while spraying.

Temperature and Humidity

Temperature and humidity will impact how well yous can get the paint to flow out. Painting a guitar is not a cold-weather project, nor a rainy mean solar day project. You want comfy temperatures and reasonably low humidity, 35% if you could be and so lucky. Super depression humidity is more workable than a muggy Midwestern 24-hour interval.

How Many Coats?

Enough to have compatible coverage and a surface that is absolutely flat. Think, flat = shiny. Spray a glaze and moisture sand with 400 grit. Moisture sanding requires "wet or dry" sandpaper and a drop of dishwater soap in a bowl of h2o. Do it by hand, not with a sander. Wipe it dry out with a soft cloth. Wet sanding is washed in small circular motions, no longer just with the grain. Piece of work your way upwards to 600 grit, and so 800 and 1,000 grit is not too loftier.

Sanding through the finish is the number 1 bummer, and then watch it. When you wet sand, the pigment will expect a little dull; don't worry, that will buff to a high shine. If yous can accomplish all this in three color coats, that'south great. If you're on the tenth coat and still have imperfections, you lot probably didn't do enough prep work.

Once you lot're satisfied with your color coat finish, spray it with a clear coat. Once again, the goal is to get the clear coat to "flow out." Aim for two or three coats where you'll have minimum moisture sanding starting at around 600 grit. Exist extra careful to not sand through to the color glaze.

Tack material

Clean the finish in between coats, lightly removing all dust and tiny particles on the cease, and then y'all don't spray over them on the adjacent application.  Use a "tack cloth," which is a gauze blazon of fabric treated with a waxy, slightly viscid substance that picks upward the dust.  You'll discover them at any paint shop or hardware shop.  Proceed them in a sealed baggie between uses.  Don't wipe the surface hard, go with very low-cal contact with the cloth.  This attention to detail becomes more important as you go to the cease of the finishing process and final coat.

Buffing

When you've got a perfectly flat terminal coat and have wet sanded information technology at 800+, it'due south going to showtime having a little shine. But await. Nosotros're going to utilize some automotive products to shine up the finish. Liquid buffing compounds come in lots of dissimilar grits like sandpaper. Be careful; the more than ambitious ones will cut through a finish in a hurry. You tin use foam buffing pads in an electric drill if yous don't have a pocket-size electric buffer. It's also totally cool to do this by hand. We're going to go through 3 grits of polishing compound. Meguiar's polishes #3, #seven & #9 volition get out a mirror finish, follow their instructions.

Finishing the Neck

The neck on your project is probably maple, and so you caught a suspension: no grain filling is required. The procedure is pretty much the same as the torso, except now you're going to spray clear nitro instead of a colour. Seal it start with shellac, sand, and yous'll exist amazed at how fast the neck volition build up with the nitro terminate compared to the body. Sand and polish the same way. Exist extra conscientious to not sand through the finish considering the neck has more than curves and sharp edges. Mask off the fingerboard through the process.

Decals

If I apply decals on a headstock, I like to take one smooth coat of nitro first. Y'all can buy decals pre-made, or impress them yourself with special waterslide decal newspaper in your printer. A few seconds in a bowl of h2o and the decal separates from the paper backing; apply it to the moist headstock (or torso). If the surface is wet enough, y'all'll be able to position the decal and then blot it dry with a soft textile. When dry, spray your nitro and be careful not to sand through.

Every old electrical guitar should take a decal or 2. What child could resist decals?

A "Relic" Terminate

If y'all're edifice a "relic," that is, a guitar that is made to wait like a vintage guitar from the 1960s or earlier, you take some extra steps. One time the finish is essentially done and looking new, y'all demand to take steps to make information technology look former. At that place's no magic in this, merely there is common sense. Introduce wear patterns in the terminate that make sense; ones that occur in places that the guitar would naturally encounter the about wear. Dings, dents, chips, etc., are done with razors, screwdrivers, rough concrete, whatever it takes. Pigment is "worn" via sandpaper. Discoloring is done with Guitar ReRanch yellow tint nitro. Finish smashing can be accomplished by dramatic changes in temperature. A warm finish can exist coaxed into cracking past spraying Freon on it. Hold a can of compressed air (like the stuff sold to blow off your computer keyboard) upside down and watch your fingers, it's cold!

Honestly, a relic end is a fleck of an advanced projection, in part because all the parts on the guitar will have to be "relic'd." It's a off-white amount of work.

Beautiful spider spider web checking in nitro.

What Can Go Wrong

Iii bad things oft happen to a first-time guitar painter. 1) It's like shooting fish in a barrel to sand likewise aggressively, sanding through the finish. The fix is to spray more than finish. two) Inadequately prepare the surface. Poor preparation results in spraying and sanding but still having tiny divots or low spots instead of a perfectly smooth surface. 3) "Orange peel." This is where the lacquer doesn't lie down perfectly flat, but is bumpy and looks a bit similar the surface of an orange. There are a variety of causes, but the solution is to sand it out. In the automotive world, this is called "color sanding." It volition still buff to a perfect smoothen.

Conclusion

Painting a guitar isn't difficult. Unfortunately, there'south a lot more sanding than painting. Employ precaution when working with flammable and hazardous materials, and utilize a respirator when sanding. If you make a fault, nothing in the world of finishing is permanent, just sand information technology out and start once again.

Source: http://customguitarbuild.com/how-to-paint-a-guitar/

Posted by: ayerseurgentlem.blogspot.com

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