moy

Sound advice! Well I'm going to sand the guitar down (again) this weekend to get it nice and smooth. Then I'll prime the guitar. When spraying the colour on, you mention the "not-wet not-dry not-obscuring-all-at-once approach" (love that), If I went from top to bottom of the guitar, with a light coat (not covering everything). How long should I leave it until another coat, just as it says on the tin? Also, how long should I leave between the primer and the coat of paint? Thanks again for all the help!

Thanks I'll try that hot water tip! So whats the deal with the enamel, is that a totally different finish to a 'normal' black spray paint? Is it a bumpier/gritty finish or should it be just as smooth in theory?

Thanks for all the help. I'm going to sand down the finish then paint it again. I have been using Halford's for my spraypaint supplebanana and its been working great! But your right Prostheta, though mine haven't 'spat' too much. I've noticed more inconsistent colouring and it seems a bit more 'patchy'. Quick question, would black matt en enamel paint make a different? I gather its harder wearing or would it really not make a difference - or would it wreck it! That "2k in a can" looks interesting! Maybe once I've painted it again I'll give it a look, unless people think the enamel will give a hard enough finish?

Can't believe how difficult its turned out to be to get a selection of higher grit wet and dry paper. And because there isn't any 'mix' packs, to buy each grit in a pack could turn out to be costly for what its for - and mightn't give the desired look. If I can't get sheets of wet and dry individually I think I'd be best of going at it with what I have until its smooth, then just respraying it. A quick question. What would happen if I just sanding it with 600, then 1500 - I know its a jump and would take much longer but would it still leave the marks. Or are all the other grits purely there as it would take forever otherwise? Thanks again!

Thanks for all the advice! Sounds like there nothing wrong with just spraying the matt paint finish on and not varnishing/lacquering at all. Out of interest, I applied another coat of varnish spray over the finish in the picture I attached in my original message - which did get rid of the scratches so I can start again. But I took another picture (at the bottom of the reply), which will show you the finish the Dulux clear matt spray leaves on the finish - lots of spots! Crazily I can't seem to get anything higher than 400 grit wet & dry in Newcastle, total lack of DIY shows - no idea where they've all gone! But seeing as I've varnished it again I may as well buy some different variations of wet and dry paper online and give it ago sanding through 600 > 800 > 1000 > 1500 > 2000. Failing that ....buy another can of matt black spray paint, redo the paint job and just leave it alone?

Thanks for the responses guys. Sounds like I need to get myself to the DIY shop and get some more wet & dry paper with varying grits as the stuff I have (although it says "fine"), is much too heavy. What would you recommend for buffing and polishing compound - so I can take a look. Scott, I was half thinking of just spray painting it again and leaving it without varnish/lacquer. Obviously it won't be as protected without a lacquered finish but it should hold up pretty good - is there anything else I can do after the spray painting for the surface, or should I just leave it altogether? I think I'll give it a shot with the higher grits to see if it gets any better first, as I'll need to re-paint it aways. If nothing else it will be good practice for any future projects I do. Thanks again for all the help so far!

Hi and thanks! Yeah thats right. I'm not against using another method just it worked ok on my last guitar (mind I was burning it so it didn't really matter ). When I brushed on varnish on the last one I ended up with hundreds of tiny bubbles with every brush stroke covering the guitar after a fair bit of time they hadn't disappeared so I was worried this would set into the guitar so I rubbed it all out and someone recommended Plastikote spray. It could well be 400 grit wet & dry is a bit to harsh, I'll check it is 400 when I get home, but when I was buying some its packaging did say "fine" :/

Hi there, First up and I'm a bit of a novice, thought I have previously done a paint job on a les paul to make a replica of Zakk Wylde's Rebel guitar (burnt, bottlecaps n'all) - which looks pretty decent! I've now acquired a Danelectro DC59 which was maroon and came with a nasty hole in the body. I repaired the hole in the body and have resprayed the guitar matt black (nice and smooth) and now I've got to the stage where I need to varnish/lacquer the guitar - which is proving a bit trickier than I'd hoped for! When I did my previous guitar, which was red/white/blue. After painting, I applied several coats of Plastikote clear acrylic (matt) spray to the body, which seemed to do the job really well. But the finish on this guitar doesn't appear as smooth and there seems to be a bit of an 'orange peel' effect on it. This guitar is a matt black finish (Halfords spray paint) which I guess is a lot less forgiving and shows up any blemishes a lot more. As well as the Plastikote, another varnish I have and have tried is a can of Dulux clear matt varnish spray. This seemed to leave more of a speckled finish. Note: between using the Plastikote and Dulux, I have sanded back and even respray the guitar so I wasn't mixing the two. From what I've read the trick to get rid of this is after applying the lacquer/varnish, sand the body with wet & dry paper and then use steel wool to smooth it out. And repeat a few times. I've done this with 400 grit wet & dry paper, then wiped down/dried the body and then went over it with some fine steel wool. The finish does feel lovely and smooth but it does have lots of small scratches on the body (image attached). I'm going to buy some 0000 steel wool from town just incase what I have is a little too heavy but I'm not sure if I'll end up with the same result? The scratches do look worse in the attached image, the spot light really emphasises them. In reality you do have to have it in your hands to see the find marks. I'm not apposed to sanding down the finish and applying another coat of matt black paint and varnishing again ...but I've already done this! And I'm a bit concerned I'll end up with the same result and it'll be a never ending circle and I'll never get it finished! I'd really appreciate some help on this if anyone can and I'll get back to you with any extra information you need. Thanks in advance, Ste