butnut

Does that apply to the home-made ink jet films too? If so, I stand corrected...thanks Mike.

I like using acrylic lacquer for my paint jobs under a poly clear. It's getting hard to find as laquer is old tech. A lot of kustom painters are using Auto Air waterbased colors and shoot a poly clear over that. I have yet to try it, I got a lot of tech info from them, my friend who is a pro airbrush artist loves the stuff...insane colors, pearls and flakes too. Here's one users link, Goggle to find a lot more info.

http://www.customrodderweb.com/tech/0403cr_paint/

Great advise, I was gonna suggest a fix, but get ALL your money back before sending it back. A word about neg feedback, I got what was called a retalitory feedback after leaving a neg for scum who never paid and never contacted me...went through all the Ebay channels, so I neg'd him. Immediately he negs me, calling me a rip off. I can't remove his neg without paying Ebay for some legal BS, not worth it...it's a crap shoot at best, just beware for some **** if this punk is who he really is, a con man who got caught and just may have the last word...I hate punks like that. Good luck.

I say contamination probably.

Yeah, I'd guess that finger oils etc would have more of a fisheye effect, not wrinkling issues, but that top pic could be a fingerprint ...I use disposable glove to avoid that issue. If ya wait 2 weeks Southpa, that's more than enough...once my color coats start, I'm going after it flashes, I like to finish the paint in a day. So that rules out paint not drying under...think it's some contamination? You using gloves when you handle the body?

I love my Jimmie Vaughan Strat, the neck is the perfect shape and the satin finish is unreal...so I got one for my #1 Tele. The Strat heel has a rounded bottom, the Tele pocket is flat. So is the pickguard opening. Guitar tech guru Dan Erlewine mentions how critical the bottom of the heel to pocket fit is to tone. I carefully shaped the pocket using a dremel and hand sanding to get a tight fit. 2 of my other Teles have the extra fret and overhang...with the stock Tele shape.

The home-made ink jet ones have a thick film..I buried it under poly and I can still see a faint ridge, I doubt lacquer can bury those. The original NOS Fender and Gibson decals just melt under a few coats of lacquer...they are rare though, I just got lucky knowing a luthier who repaired those guitars.

The Reranch has all the kool Fender and Gibson colors in nitro.

I'm almost sure that guitar has a poly finish. I too would go with the 800 first and smooth it out with the Scotchbrite pad. Do your graphics. If you use a spraycan lacquer, it won't hold up well, lacquer is thin, and even if you build coats, it will wear. If you want a factory type poly finish but don't have the spray gear, take it to a auto paint shop or custom bike, airbrush shop and get a price for them to clear it. It will preserve your art. All those killer kustom show bikes and cars have several thousand dollar graphics and paint, you won't find lacquer clears on them...only poly, and not the rattle can poly either.

Nice pics...I've seen that guitar somewhere before...is the wrinkle from the color hitting the primer, or the clear hitting the color? My guess is the color hitting the primer...how long did you wait for the primer to dry...did you sand the primer smooth...looks like the primer did not fully cure, and the paint 'pulled' it as it dried, inside corners tend to get a heavier spray and the slight buildup could have slowed dry time in that spot...I usually let priner dry a day or two, and sand smooth with 400.

The poly sold in spray cans is not the same as those used on cars and guitar factories. I't's called poly(urethane) but the auto type which gives the deep hard gloss is catalyzed (2 parts) and is shot with a spray gun. Very toxic, but gives a killer depth and gloss when sanded and buffed. I like it for my repaints.

What kind of paint did you use for your primer and base color coat?

Yup, SD lil59...rockin' pup. My 'donut' actually sez Holy-Crap...I did that one a bit fancy with a creme edge and extra sprinkles... Here's the old donut...

'Real' relic'd guitars had the lacquer rub or flake/chip off to expose the bare wood, so that is what you want to achieve. I have lots of fun doing it and I take my time about it...each chip or wear shold look as close to happening naturally as possible..lot of pics on the net to kinda guide you. Have fun.

I used pinstriping tape to make a 'faux' white binding on my 'Goldie' Tele. It's buried under a few coats of poly. You could use that, but it's kinda pricey and you need a good respirator or fresh air mask...

The pinstripes were done after buffing by using One Shot lettering enamel and striping sword (brush). Freehand striping takes a while to learn, I'm not very good but have fun...the RR guitar's black pinstripes looks like it could be done with the black striping tape, but as LGM sez, you may have issues using lacquer as a clear over it...I know poly will work. Good luck.

Maybe because I don't like anything 'stock'...the switch moved to the back..or top of my Tele's, is just my way of being different...I like to call it kustomizing.

I love teles...

I just LOVE poly over lacquer. Killer gloss and depth. But, you can't shoot lacquer over it ....unless it's fully cured a few years, I just did an acrylic green with nitro clear over poly. Sorry to hear you found out the hard way. I've heard the Reranch guys like to use sealer and then stain...make the stain go on evenly, but I've never tried. Are you saying the catalyzed poly flaked off? That sounds wierd...

Anywho, my last paint job done over a scuffed poly Tele bod...acrylic silver base, clear acrylic and silver flakes, acrylic coppertone and poly clear with Aztek Gold pearl...

All of my repaints are poly over lacquer, I do a lot of kandies and I prefer lacquer. BUT the deep wet gloss of poly is a must. If you want to shoot lacquer over poly, scuff the body with 320 and shoot HOK or other brand, 2 part epoxy primer. It's awesome stuff, sands smooth as glass and no issues at all.

For flames, I like to freehand tape with 1/8" tape. But if you wanna sketch out something, art supplies carry Stabillo pencils, I use yellow and black. It will draw on paint, and if you draw light enough, you can paint right over it. A lot of pinstripers use it...I do when I have to pin a crazy layout and wanna keep things symetrical.

Hey Ace. I used a lacquer 'toner' spray...very much like RR neck amber. It's yellowish and I used a medium brown toner over that to darken up the yellow. Shot nitro and used my Xacto to scrape off the 'fret wear', using a light and medium wood 'touch up pen, I darkened the scraped areas. All hardware was aged using ferous chloride.

Canuk, a lot of Tele players like the 'suicide' switch....makes it easy to do volume swells with your pinky. All original Esquires and RI Tele's come wired with the 3 way...the positions are tone pot in, tone pot out, and a 'bass' setting through a resistor...slight differences in tone. I was gonna make a 2 knob plate, but I kinda like the 3way now.

Heres a Tele I did. I shot silver flakes mixed in clear lacquer on a silver base. Taped off the flames and shot kandy orange/red while masking off the silver outlines.

You can buy the flakes from auto paint shops...sometimes they will sell small amounts. I know painters who use the 'parmesan cheese' method. Shoot a heavy clear and sprinkle the flakes on the wet clear. When dry, it will feel like sand...be ready to do a LOT of clear poly coats to make it smooth. Big flakes require a bigger spray tip if spraying.

I prefer automotive catalyzed poly(urethane). It's ultra high gloss when buffed and very durable. It has to be or would'nt be on show cars and bikes. Very toxic but just a deep gloss and shine. You'll need to sand and buff though. Here's some I painted using auto poly. (JV Strat is stock paint, Musicmaster bass was cleared with lacquer and is really chipping badly..but I like it.)

http://community.webshots.com/album/70925377mhiCkf/0

Been busy working on my Esquire relic. I shot nitro and did the hot/cold finsh checking...if I had a better camera you could see the insane checking.

Just finished the neck...now I need a few more parts and wire it up.

I've used all sorts of stuff in my furniture refinish biz. For a low-end but decent finish, I liked the Homer Fornbys wipe-on poly satin finish. Looked real nice for something I applied with a piece of foam. I'm suprised you are'nt building the bodies from scratch Ed...

Indian Larry rocks! I saw that show...good stuff. Check your yellow pages for auto body paint suppliers. They always have the 3M blue fineline plastic tapes. I'm doing a fully flaked and flamed Harley soon...those shows just pump me up.

I'm guessing it has binding...just tape it off and keep the stripper away from the tape. Use a 1-1/2" paint brush to apply the stripper. If you hit the tape, just have a rag handy to wipe it off and work on the body inside the tape. You NEVER want to remove binding, unless you want to spend a ton of money to rebind it.