Paint And Lacquer Finish For A Solid Body Guitar Project

[newbieUK]

Hi,

I'm gathering as much information as I can before starting my first guitar project. I'm UK based so if there's anyone out there who knows where to buy good quality finishes (in cans) for guitars in the UK (especially on the high street/retail park), please let me know. Some questions:

1) Can I use an acrylic paint/lacquer such as Plasti-Kote?

2) Are all car spray paints usable?

3) In the forum's experience have any brands (in cans) proved better than others?

4) Any other thoughts ideas that might help a novice builder with finishing?

Hope there are some experts out there!

Thanks

Dave

[Batfink]

Hi,

I'm gathering as much information as I can before starting my first guitar project. I'm UK based so if there's anyone out there who knows where to buy good quality finishes (in cans) for guitars in the UK (especially on the high street/retail park), please let me know. Some questions:

1) Can I use an acrylic paint/lacquer such as Plasti-Kote?

2) Are all car spray paints usable?

3) In the forum's experience have any brands (in cans) proved better than others?

4) Any other thoughts ideas that might help a novice builder with finishing?

Hope there are some experts out there!

Thanks

Dave

Personally:

1) - I'd avoid 'craft' type paints like the plague.

2) - Mostly, although if you've got any 'enamel' in the back of the shed leave it there. The thing to do is always use the same 'type' of paint, don't try to mix cellulose with acrylic with enamel with blah blah blah...... Saying this you can overcoat a cellulose colour coat with an acrylic clear coat but not the other way round. If you're buying fresh simply make sure it's all the same paint type and always test on a scrap piece first.

3) - Professional one's - i'll re-iterate in a second.

4) - Hey, don't finish before you start

You could wander into your local Halfords and use their off the shelf car range - it's all single part acrylic nowadays so easy to use but the solid content is very low meaning that you'll have to put a lot of coats on to get any depth at all. I'd suggest going to your local automotive paint factors as firstly, they'll be able to stuff just about any colour you want into an aerosol and secondly the solid content tends to be much higher meaning you'll use less paint.

Jem

[newbieUK]

Thanks for the advice, I'll check out the local auto paint factors as you suggest.