artwork on my guitar...

[iskim86]

I'm refinishing my guitar as my art project. it will go into my art portfolio, too. however, I need some tips first. right now I'm priming my body. after I prime it, I'm gonna spray it metallic blue. and over that, I'm gonna paint on it.

what equipment should I use? I've thought about just painting things on using a paintbrush and acrylic paint, but that'll leave lots of bumps on the body. I've thought about making stencils for everything and spray painting it, but that'll take too much time. recently when I was browsing this forums, I came across airbrushing. will airbrushing work? I haven't airbrushed in my whole life. what do companies like Jackson or ESP or etc use to make custom graphics on the guitars (other than printing on paper and pasting it!)??

thanks a lot.

ps. or is printing on paper and pasting it the best/easiest way???

[westhemann]

don't worry about the "bumps"...i would just paint the design on..sand it as thin and even as you can without removing it,and build up a thick clearcoat to cover it and level the clearcoat

[iskim86]

don't worry about the "bumps"...i would just paint the design on..sand it as thin and even as you can without removing it,and build up a thick clearcoat to cover it and level the clearcoat

but acrylic is like rubber. when I sand it, the whole thing will probably come off because of the tackiness with the sandpaper.

[asm]

thats why you would put a thick layer of clearcoat over it, so even if the actual paint texture is a little uneave the clear will make it appear as it has a mirror finish. and the clear is like epoxy in a sense, your sand it away until you get it smooth, then just use a fine grade sandpaper and wet sand or a polishing compound and give the clearcoat a mirror like finish.

i would say do the stencil route though, how elaborate is the design? at stores now they sell aeresol cans that can spray mostly any type of paint, primer or oil, it uses a refilable hopper, so you could buy primary colors in small quantites, mix your colors up, spray them, then just run some paint thinner between different colors thru it to clean it out, and keep going.

youll have a nice smooth finish and sharp lines.

but yes, that will take alot longer than hand painting.

t

[skibum5545]

Maybe you could use the texture to your advantage. Do a cool textured finish, then clearcoat over that, so the clearcoat would be smooth, but it would have a cool textured look underneath. After all, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em!

$.02

[iskim86]

thanks for the replies.

how elaborate is the design? it's not gonna be a still-life painting or a fantasyscape - it's gonna be abstract, cubist, dada, whatever, like Picasso's or Salvador Dali's.

[skibum5545]

A copy of Dali's "Persistence of Memory" would make a truly wicked guitar...

or just some cubist stuff would be cool too.