Jing Woo Posted August 11, 2003 Report Share Posted August 11, 2003 Fellows, Allrighty, so I have a Yamaha Tele that I purchased for 90 bucks at the Pawn Shop that I work at. My plan is to strip it, give it a camo theme (chosen because A: I used to be a Marine and I think it will look cool and B: Camo seems to me to be a fairly simple pattern to paint) along with stenciled letters spelling out "Born to Kill" and a peace sign ala "Full Metal Jacket". I bought a palm sander, a few cans of matte paint (shiny camo doesn't seem right) and a couple of cans of clear coat. I also saw an tutorial somewhere on here on how to make a custom decal for the headstock and since I have a Kinkos 2 blocks from my house, thats also in the offing. Anyway, I think I have it more or less figured out, and now is the time for me to learn, as this guitar doesn't mean a whole lot to me. I have a new strat on layaway, almost paid off, so if I screw up too badly, I am not totally screwed. Any advice or tips on achieving a more professional looking finish would be appreciated though, and hopefully at some point I will have a website up that will show the progress of the guitar. If nothing else, at some point you will see a end result (good, bad or awful). any advice is appreciated! Rock On Timbo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted August 11, 2003 Report Share Posted August 11, 2003 Hi Timbo and welcome to the forum Best advice I can give anyone is to take their time, practice on scrap if you feel the need and don't get frustrated if something goes wrong. Just back up and think it through or walk away for awhile till you figure out how to make it better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guitarfrenzy Posted August 12, 2003 Report Share Posted August 12, 2003 After taking Brian's advice... check out LGM's painting and polishing tutorials that are posted in this forum at the top.. They are really good tutorials... If your gonna use aerosol cans.. You want to look for acrylic lacquer products.. Plasti-Kote makes some good paint for the price.. but make sure whatever system you use.. use paints that's compatible... don't mix acrylic lacquer with nitrocellulose lacquer.. it doesn't bond well... if your not sure what type it is.. just go by the instructions on the back of the spray can.. it should tell you the exact type with number (ex: #629 clear coat) of the paints you need to keep consistant... Good Luck!! Matt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jing Woo Posted August 12, 2003 Author Report Share Posted August 12, 2003 Guys, Thanks for the encouragement.... I got about 98 percent of the top stripped yesterday, though it too forever. I did, in fact, go through and read the sanding tutorial which was valuable except that I read it AFTER I had bought paper, so I ened up taking it down with 150 grit sandpaper which was an exercie in patience. Today, I am going to go and buy 80 grit, and hopefully this will speed things along.... One question though... I noticed in the tutorial that you can use a dowl wrapped in paper for the horns (or, as in my case, horn) and the author said you could then hook this up to a drill.... is that effective? fast? more trouble than its worth? Timbo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jing Woo Posted August 12, 2003 Author Report Share Posted August 12, 2003 criminy, my spelling really sucked on my last post. All apologies to any english majors.... Timbo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.