turbo411 Posted October 13, 2006 Report Share Posted October 13, 2006 I have a couple questions on finishing my guitar. I appreciate all help! 1.) I was thinking about using automotive paint because I like a certain color of green, are there any problems with this? 2.) I have the previous finish removed to the bare wood, do I need to do paint anything before the automotive primer? 3.) what grits should I use to sand the primer? 4.) what grits to sand the color coat? 5.) what grits to sand the top coat? I've done a lot of searching and have found only bits and pieces about the sanding process. Also, since I do not have a spray gun I assume I can use a fine roller brush and just sand the brush marks off, is this true? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted October 13, 2006 Report Share Posted October 13, 2006 Depending on the wood you're using, you may need to fill the grain else your paint will never sit still, and will sink into the wood forever. I sand primer to 400 wet and dry. Sand the top coat through the grits as far as you can before going to polishing compounds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted October 13, 2006 Report Share Posted October 13, 2006 Oh yes, you don't need a "top coat" unless youre clear coating a metallic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oz tradie Posted October 13, 2006 Report Share Posted October 13, 2006 Also, since I do not have a spray gun I assume I can use a fine roller brush and just sand the brush marks off, is this true? Not the preferred method to get a great finish at all. But if that's all you got to work with, You can give it a crack. Just expect a lot of time spent on the wet and dry. With Auto paints (2 pack I'm referring to) there is no substitute for a spray gun when it comes to producing a great finish. Cheers, Stu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roddey Posted October 18, 2006 Report Share Posted October 18, 2006 I have a couple questions on finishing my guitar. I appreciate all help! 1.) I was thinking about using automotive paint because I like a certain color of green, are there any problems with this? 2.) I have the previous finish removed to the bare wood, do I need to do paint anything before the automotive primer? 3.) what grits should I use to sand the primer? 4.) what grits to sand the color coat? 5.) what grits to sand the top coat? I've done a lot of searching and have found only bits and pieces about the sanding process. Also, since I do not have a spray gun I assume I can use a fine roller brush and just sand the brush marks off, is this true? I'm not sure if you have ever heard of it or not, but Dupli-Color automotive paints work great for refinishing guitars. They make some awesome colors and they look fantastic when done. I am currently using 2 of their products. The first one is called Effects. It comes in black and clear. I am using both the black and clear on one guitar. The Effects type has color-changing metalflake in it. The flakes change colors in the light, especially sunlight or stage lights. It has a rainbow effect. I sprayed about 15 coats of the black, wet-sanded, wiped it all down, and I have just started spraying the clear, which has the same rainbow effect flake in it. I have sprayed about 4 coats of the clear and have dry sanded with 1000 and 2000 grit wetsand paper. I have no shiny paint spots left, and will wipe it down lightly with mineral spirits, and then spray about 4 more coats of clear. Depending on how it looks after those last 4 coats will determine whether I sand again and reapply more clear. This will be a "working guitar" and needs a LOT of protection from the stage abuse. I am building it for a semi-famous friend who is on stage and touring more often than not. She's hard on her guitars, so I sure hope this automotive paint holds up. The 2nd guitar is one of my personal guitars and the Dupli-Color paint for this one comes in a 3-stage kit. It's called Mirage, and it's the red/blue kit. It comes with the base-coat primer in flat black, the red/blue mirage paint, and the clear coat. The paint changes colors under the light from a red to a purplish to a green/blue. Really kinda cool. It looks better on the guitar than it does on the kit. Here's the link to the Dupli-Color site http://www.dupli-color.com/ I hope this helps someone. I'll post pics of both guitars when they are done and put back together. Roddey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vade Posted October 27, 2006 Report Share Posted October 27, 2006 My bass teacher "back in the day" bought a lot of secondhand guitars and redid them to sell at a profit. He would do his own pickups and hardware, but everytime he did a painted refinish (which was almost every single time) he would mask the body off and take it to a local automotive paint shop where they would do the job for him. He said it was actually really cheap since they use so little paint (compared to a car) and since those guys REALLY know how to handle a spraygun, the results were absolutely astounding. I say if you don't know what you're doing and you want a top of the line paint job... do what he did. He sold some of the most gorgeous guitars I've ever seen this side of a natural finish! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted October 27, 2006 Report Share Posted October 27, 2006 Same as what I'm considering Vade. I can't justify the cost of a clean room or the preperation for one so I'm going to be using a local custom bike painter and airbrusher to do my solids and perhaps a few effects. He's up for it and the quality of his work is awesome. The example piece he showed me was a crazed effect gunmetal bike tank with a light blackburst and pinstriped tribals around the filler cap. Those were in turn bursted with twelve coats of clear over the top before baking. If I could get that finish on a guitar, I'd be happy as hell. Twelve might be a few too many for maintaining detail and angles on a more defined body design I reckon, but hey. The overall cost of somebody else doing it *professionally* vs. the actual cost of doing a few jobs on a hobbyist level isn't that different. As you say - the quantity of product used is tiny. Time is the cost factor, and finding somebody who would do it out of pride reduces that most of the time :-D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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