Dino

With all due respect, I only commented on this thread to try to help. Everything I've stated is based on my own personal experience, and is not "based on supposition" or made up scenerios. For those interested, I have photos to support my comments but I'm not here to "prove" anything and I certainly have nothing to gain by sharing my experiences. If painting guitars with spraycans works for you, then great! A typical rattlecan paintjob would take me roughly 6-8 months to do. Most of those paintjobs were my own personal projects, but for those that weren't, I would wait a full year for the paint to cure before making it available for sale because I was always concerned about it getting damaged in shipping. So at that pace, you can probably figure out on your own exactly how many Krylon paintjobs (or guitars) were actually sold ... not many. I've had no complaints from anybody I've done work for so far. I've always been honest about the paint I use, good or bad, but if someone purchased a guitar or paintjob that I did with Krylon and would like a full refund, please contact me and I will arrange it. I'm not sure why you feel the need to personally attack me or my business aidlook, but I hope I answered your question.

I'm confused ... Wouldn't the thickness of the finish all depend on the number of coats used? I disagree ... The "good stuff" is no thicker than Krylon. In fact, I believe it's just the opposite. You have much more control over the amount of paint that comes out of a spraygun as opposed to a rattlecan and the reason you don't need to use 30+ coats of clearcoat is because the finishing process is a little different. With Krylon, the wetsanding process begins with a much lower grit sandpaper (600grit maybe?) and then gradually work your way to 1200, 1500, or 2000 grit before compounding and buffing. That process alone requires you have much more clearcoat. With the "good stuff", you begin the wetsanding process with 1200 or 1500 grit, therefore it doesn't require as much clearcoat to protect you from sanding through the finish. A Krylon finish, if done "by the book", needs to be much thicker because of the process used to finish it in order to achieve the so-called "factory finish". That's not to say someone can't pile on just as much acrylic urethane if they wanted to, but I really don't see the advantage to doing that.

Absolutely. Spraypaint can be made to work. So can magic markers and crayons. Just be realistic in your expectations and don't expect a "factory finish".

Thanks again for posting that link marksound. My apologies to all involved with that embarrassing thread.

i would not even take that into consideration...i used to worry about that...but several guitars later both bought and built,i realize that the difference is so small between finishes that it isn't even worth mentioning... I thought the same thing for the longest time. I was wrong. When using rattlecans (especially on multi-color paint schemes such as stripes, camo, etc..), ALOT of coats of clearcoat are required in order to level out the different levels of paint and to provide enough substance in order to complete the wetsanding.compounding and buffing process. It's an unbelievable amount of paint. I never realized just how much the paint affected the sound until I took one of those spraypainted guitars, stripped it, and repainted it with acrylic urethane. Though the graphics on the guitar were painted exactly the same, the amount of acrylic urethane I needed to use was a considerably less amount. For example, approximately 30 coats of clearcoat was needed to level out and wetsand those striped guitars painted with Krylon. When clearcoating the same guitar using acrylic urethane, only two coats were needed. I'm no "tone freak", but the difference in 30 coats of Krylon versus 2 coats of acrylic urethane is very noticable to my ears.

Thanks Mark. That's a perfect testimonial to show that I've "been there, done that". No offense to anyone doing rattlecan paintjobs, but most who use spraypaint to paint guitars are beginners who are enticed by the ebooks and the thought of producing a "factory finish" at such a low cost. That was me. As you can see from the pics of my work, I achieved my goal ... I produced what appeared to be a "factory finish" with spraypaint. What you don't see in those pics is what that same guitar looked like soon after. I've since purchased a compressor/spraygun rig and have painted several guitars using 2-pak acrylic urethane with alot of success. Curing time with this stuff is hours, not months. The paint is much more durable and I no longer have to worry about silly things like impressions being left in the finish from putting a guitar in it's case or allowing it to rest on the carpet or on a guitar stand. So to answer your question, "what happened to change your mind?" ... Experience

Sanding or scuffing the finish will work, but areas that you come into contact with (upper bouts, belly cuts, etc.) will eventually become more shiney with normal wear. For the best results, I'd suggest shooting 2-pak acrylic urethane clearcoat with a flatening agent.

Most of the pics you see online or in e-books were taken immediately after compounding and buffing out the finish. I agree you can paint a guitar with spraypaint and make it "appear" to be as good as those paintjobs done with a compressor/spraygun rig, but westhemann is right ... that look won't last a week. Even after waiting 3-4 months for the spraypaint to cure and going through the whole wetsanding, compounding and buffing process... the paint is still not fully cured and will be extremely soft. You will find that any hardware (pickgaurds, pickup rings, neckplates, etc.) that comes into contact with the body will actually sink into the finish overnight. Not to mention how all those coats of spraypaint will effect the sound of your instrument. Do what's best for you. I just thought you should know all the facts before making your decision.

Neither ... There are far too many disadvantages to using spraypaint. 1) It will take up to a year for the paint to fully cure. The more paint you use (multi-color paintjobs, stripes, camo, ect...) the longer it will take. 2) Even then, the paint is not durable enough to use for guitars. The paint is soft and leaves "impressions" from things like putting the guitar in a case, resting it on the carpet, lay it on a towel, and even from your clothing (especially jeans if you rest it on your lap while you play it). 3) The rubber from guitar stands will eat right through the finish. 4) It's very suseptable to chemical reactions that cause wrinkles and/or cracks in the finish. Yeah, spraypaint is cheap but just remember you get what you pay for.

What type of paint are you using? For rattlecan paintjobs, I've used Minwax sanding sealer and have achieved pretty good results. It can be found at Lowes or Home Depot as well. When spraying acrylic urethanes, I use a Dupont epoxy primer/sealer. Sealer and primer all in one application. Works great for me.

22 gauge is pretty standard

+1 ... I'm glad someone else said it.

Dude, no offense but that is an incredible amount of work and will no doubt look like ass.

Good tips. Also, you don't have to necessarily route it directly to the control cavity. If it's easier to drill diagonally to the pickup cavity, you can then route it to the control cavity using the existing routing holes.

I've used those little Dremel router bits in a drill press before, but only for small jobs when I didn't feel like breaking out the router. For what you want to do, I really think a router is your best bet. Much quicker and much more precise than any alternative that I can think of.