Can you paint a Floyd Rose?...We're sure as hell going to find out

[XBIGJIMX]

I through this in a seperate thread becaus ei know a lot of people were interested if this will work. I knew on the new build I did not want the black FR and being its metal I didnt see any reason why it could not be painted.

So i started with a black FR and took it apart. Now on floyds the fine tuners do not back out all the way so you have to "cut the thread" so it will back out all the way.

After disassemble its on to the scotch bright pad. All paint has to have something to grab on to. So you start by roughing up all the parts. Now you would be surprised how easy you burn though the paint even with a scotch bright pad.


After the rough up I covered the open parts of the tuners and and made sure the parts I didn't want painted were masked or laid flat. ( the bottom of the tremolo arm, the bottoms of the saddles. You would be surprised how much a layer of paint will cause something not to fit any more or screw up action.

I placed all the pieces in a pizza box which worked out really well to hold things at angles i needed. I installed the floyd bar in the box to hold it as well.



Then I put on a layer of adhesion binder. It helps paint to stick to anything you put it on. Then 3 coats of yellow. The only reason i did 3 was to make sure it was all covered .
coat 1

coat 2


Now at this point you could be done. But i think clear will not hurt. I usually use a 2 part clear, but i think it will be to thick when done so i am just putting on a light rattle can clear. now waiting for the drying

[killemall8]

I can guarantee that is going to flake off or peel off, even though you scuffed it. I have tried that before on other metal parts.

[XBIGJIMX]

I can guarantee that is going to flake off or peel off, even though you scuffed it. I have tried that before on other metal parts.

Well if it does its worth a shot and then spend some quality time in the sand blaster

[Jackyl]

Use a soda blaster, it won't damage the metal. If you have access to a dry ice blaster those are the best.

[Prostheta]

Good advice.

Powder coating isn't that expensive if you know who to ask (and how!).

[XBIGJIMX]

Well I let the clear coat fly last night with 3 coats.
Now this was the only spot i made a mistake. The clear coat only takes about 10 minutes to set up, so I flipped the tuners to get the underside. Which was dry but the box was not it was tacky so it actually pulled some paint. So then will take some touch up. So no big deal

Next was i had a brass block lying around that did not fit any tremelo own. So I marked out the holes for the floyd (btw this pretty much the way to make a big brass block upgrade as well.)


Then I tapped a center dot in each mark so the drill bit would not drift. Then 3 holes with the drill press


Then a few twists of the tap


So then it was just a matter of a reassembly and its done.

[Prostheta]

Good work on the block.