Guitar painting

Cpt.Nemo

Cpt.Nemo

Gravity Guru
Hey guys someone asked me to paint their electric guitar, and I told them I would. Not quite sure how to go about it. I figured I'd just scuff up the clear and apply an adhesion promoter, then primer, then paint and clear coat. Is there anything I'm missing? Do I need to sand all the clear and paint off before repainting? Also how many coats of clear do I use? I was thinking about 10 super light coats then buff to a shine. Any special clear I need to use or just my automotive stuff?
 
No need to use an adhesion promoter under the circumstances. Just scuff the clearcoat. If the background color is good you can shoot right on it. Ie if im doing a black helmet i likely will paint it like a black canvas. I use autoborne sealer on dramatic color changes.

As for clearcoat i generally do two tack coats and one wet. When you say automotive im assuming you mean urethane. Most guitars were nitrocellulose laquers. Some still are.

Painted probably ten guitars long ago... too bad i didnt airbrush back then.
 
Yeah I've been reading on here that most people just scuff it so I think that's what I'll go for.
I'm thinking of 2 part automotive clear but a is lacquer better for guitars?
 
Wow yeah he's got a ton of stuff on there! That should keep me happy for a while! Haha thanks. I see all these guys totally disassembling their guitars, but the guy who wants me to do his wants to leave the electronics in, and have me tape around them. Is that a bad idea or just harder to get smooth coats?
 
You can do it , It just adds to the final bill for the hours spent taping up every hole and the pickups . trimming all the tape so the art work looks good .
It should not mess up the clearing process .
Yes Svee has a lot of video and some product reviews But as you see he mainly does guitars .
 
Yeah that's perfect I'll definitely watch all his guitar videos. I'll try to get him to take everything off the guitar. I suppose I could do it but I don't really feel like adding another step to the prep.
 
What is he going to have painted on it ?
And saving prep time on your end is a good thing.
 
He wants different sizes of red stripes on the black guitar. Trying to talk him into some candy paint or something a little fancier. He said his budged was around 3-400, but I told him I could do plain stripes for 2-250. Probably should have just said ok 350 is good haha. But since I haven't tried guitars before I figure it will be good practice, fun, and pay for some new paints for me
 
Hmm, I suspect the time to remove the electrics is less than the masking... having said that some of those floating bridges can be a pain to get back right again. Make sure you speed mask the edge of the lines and remove the tape before it dries to make sure the paint edge heals nicely. The two pack clear would be OK just make sure you don't get a reaction with anything underneath... from memory NCA is OK but not the best under a two pack. And whatever you do, don't use an aggressive solvent to wipe the NCA down before you paint... it will strip it off. Not nice. But on the positive side, MEK takes it off really quickly so is a good hint for paint stripping!! Ahhhhh, MEk - solvent of choice...
 
If you can use the original base and just clean and scuff do, as stripping will be a nightmare and on top of that the wood swells (gutter timelol) and anything you put on top unless properly done will split also you might want to put some flexi addative in your 2K clear:thumbsup:
 
Flexi additive, will do! I DONT want this to split or crack. What do you mean by properly done @The dude ? Just well scuffed and cleaned, correct drying times for paint and even coats of clear? Any small details that would make it better? Also do you have a favorite clear brand for guitars?
 
Donrt use a nitro laquer. Never unless you are 100 percebt sure whats under it. It will wrinkle any other paint due to the agressive solvents.

I would likely not use a two stage on a guitar. Actually my preferred for clear on that would be water based laquer. It is used on cabinets these days and a few guitar manufacturers have gone to them. They spray easy, lay very flat and shine well. They are just finicky about temps. They do not do well spraying in lower temperatures or very high humidities.
 
Ohh i like enduro by general finishes. And thats an easy 250 bucks. I would be frothing at the mouth.
 
But this is going over whatever clear is on the electric guitar already so will a water based poly work on that? I'm not sanding back down to the wood. Why no two part clear? To thick and hard?
 
Its not water based poly. Its water based laquer. Which is going on top of your airbrush work. If its a black guitar already, you scuff it lay out your stripes with white sealer red over that and then clear and done.
 
Th
Cpt.Nemo said:
But this is going over whatever clear is on the electric guitar already so will a water based poly work on that? I'm not sanding back down to the wood. Why no two part clear? To thick and hard?
Click to expand...
And yes the two part clear can work but your asking a lot of it. It is also more expensive and i honestly wiuldnt wanna suit up and drive to the place i do my clears.
Being a guitar theres no need for chemical resistance. The water based laquer is made for wood so the expansion and contraction is not an issue
 
Ohhh and i would probably use an intercoat clear. But as Herb pounted out see what svee says. He is an amazing artist.
 
Ahhh ok got it, so the lacquer is just as hard as clear and all that but better suited to the guitar. I've been going through as many of SVEEs videos as I can while cramming for midterms ha. It's getting cold out so I don't feel like going through the whole clear coat process either so I'll check the lacquer out thanks! So much useful info ha, It would have taken me hours to sort through all this on Google
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

V
Intercoat or Adhesion Promoter recommendation
Replies
4
Views
133
Val33
V
L
Harley Real Fire
Replies
11
Views
292
Ltank
L
S
House Of Kolor Help Please
Replies
15
Views
562
skydbe76
S
SeniorXJ
Most Durable Paint For Metal
Replies
13
Views
759
Vaportrail
Vaportrail
DaveG
New Project: H&S Evolution meets tree frog
Replies
13
Views
251
Maryf
Maryf
Back
Top