Any one on here paint guitars?

[Mrdarkmonkey96]

I have a friend who wants me to paint his bass with a transparent blue, so that the wood grain shows through. I plan on using a Kandy paint, with either duplicolor lacquer from the quart, or I might try 2K if I feel comfortable...

My question is What do I do to the bare wood so it takes paint?? Ive never painted anything porous...

Ive heard mention of Grain filler, but apparently this is an epoxy, and Im not sure on the compatibility of the epoxy filler, and urethane/lacquer color and clear. Obviously if i use urethane kandy I will use urethane clear, But Im fairly sure you can shoot 2K over lacquer. also, Is the grain filler clear? Basically once the wood is prepped and ready to go, I can take it from there..

Ugh, why cant the guitar just be made out of metal

Any one with advice on this please send me a message, or post it below!

Thanks!

[1930fordpickup]

My late brother would clear coat the tac boxes he made. The first two coats would be 1 part thinner 1 part urethane so that the last coats would not soak in so much.

I would grab a piece of wood(same type as the body) and give ( whatever you do ) a try on one side.

[Mrdarkmonkey96]

My late brother would clear coat the tac boxes he made. The first two coats would be 1 part thinner 1 part urethane so that the last coats would not soak in so much.

I would grab a piece of wood(same type as the body) and give ( whatever you do ) a try on one side.

normally thats what I would do, but its some exotic type Ive never even heard of.. Im mainly concerned with the long term, is the paint going to slowly soak into the wood, or peel off, if the wood sweats etc etc

[Craig Irwin]

Ask around at your local music store, I'm sure someone local does this no matter where you live.

[1930fordpickup]

normally thats what I would do, but its some exotic type Ive never even heard of.. Im mainly concerned with the long term, is the paint going to slowly soak into the wood, or peel off, if the wood sweats etc etc

This is good question to ask the Paint store. I would think that a guitar body would be dry before it was made. What Craig says also.

[High octane]

Try the "spoon test" only with wooden spoons.

[DPNM]

I've done some woodwork and I've made a couple guitars. I never tried to paint one to let the grain show. What you may want to look into is a dye stain. It comes in a variety of colors. You would need to seal then clear-coat. You may also be able to apply a sealer first then add the dye to the top coat. If you apply the sealer before the dye it should not soak into the wood.

http://www.mohawk-finishing.com/catalog_browse.asp?ictNbr=178

Edited January 30, 2014 by DPNM

[JohnU]

I've done some woodworking in my time and am comfortable with finishing. If you are planning on using urethane, building up several clear coats and sanding between should do plenty at filling the pores of the wood without using a filler. The first few coats will raise the wood grain and sanding will flatten and smooth the surface. The filler can sometimes hide the subtle features and beauty of the wood. Be sure the finish is completely dry before sanding. Then use the color and seal with more coats of clear. It's always a good idea to test your technique on a sample of your project wood. Hope this helps and good luck!

[Mrdarkmonkey96]

I spoke with some guys on a guitar refinish forum, and they said to shoot clear on the bare wood, then level sand, spray your candy, and then clear. Im curious if sanding the clear, as it fogs it as im sure anyone knows who works with clear, then spraying the cady over it, will it "re-wet" the clear so to speak, so that it turns clear again, and doesnt show the sanding scratches.

I would test this but the paints being used are Pricey, and my friend is on a very small budget.

[JTalmage]

Yes, you need to wetsand the clear with a block so as you dont create scratches and fog it really badly. Then you can shoot the color and clear.

Same as if you were doing stripes on a car, wetsand the clear, lay out the stripes, paint the stripes, re-clear the whole thing. You dont want to sand your color.

if you dry sanded it then you would really fudge it up.

[Nitro Neil]

I have painted a lot of guitars. My username is based on two things - I like dragsters that run nitro, and I only use nitro lacquer on my guitars.

Finishing a guitar not only requires understanding the painting process, but you have understand how the finish will affect the sound and tone of the guitar.

There are a few things to keep in mind.

1. Use nitrocellulose lacquers. Stay away from acrylic lacquers like DupliColor, because they will deaden the sound and take a lot longer to fully cure. Do Not use enamel or polyurethane. They are like putting a plastic bag over the guitar.

Minwax sells a great nitrocellulose lacquer that they sell at Home Depot and Lowes. It doesn't say "nitrocellulose" on the label, but it is. It comes in spray and in a quart can.

http://www.minwax.com/wood-products/interior-clear-protective-finishes/minwax-clear-brushing-lacquer

2. Stewart MacDonald sells pigments especially made for use with lacquers.

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Finishing_supplies/Colors,_tints,_and_stains/ColorTone_Liquid_Pigment_for_Lacquer.html

3. Minwax also sells a good lacquer-based sanding sealer. I would NOT recommend using a sanding sealer if you want to grain to show through because the sealers have silica in them which will dull the grain a little. Just put more lacquer on.

4. If it I was my guitar I would stain the bare wood with some dark stain - black or dark grey. That will make the grain "pop" more when you clearcoat it. Then I would put on some lacquer coats with the blue pigment from Steward MacDonald. Then cover with clear lacquer, wet-sanding every couple of coats until you have a nice gloss finish. Then hand polish just like you would a model car. I have a slow speed buffing wheel that gets the finish like a mirror. Don't use a regular buffing wheel because it will melt the paint.

Here is one guitar I finished a few years ago.

Feel free to PM about this. I would be happy to walk you through the process.

Edited January 30, 2014 by Nitro Neil

[JohnU]

Neil, would this technique apply to solid body guitars a s well?

[Nitro Neil]

John, yes it's the same process.

This is what I would do if it was my guitar and I wanted a deep rich color:

1. Stain the wood with a black stain, water based if you have it, oil based will work just fine if you don't. Let that dry and then dry sand the wood to bring the wood color back out. The result will be deep color in the grain and nice wood color showing around the grain.

2. Spray one coat of clear nitro lacquer on the guitar to seal that in and give it another light sanding.

3. Mix some of the StewMac Liquid Stain into some clear Minwax nitro lacquer, NOT the other stuff I mention earlier in the thread on the forum. The link is below. This stuff is VERY saturated with color so a little goes a loooooong way. You can use it as a wood stain and/or mix it with the lacquer. I would mix it with lacquer and make a candy color. Use that to spray your candy color on the guitar to taste. More coats means a darker color, but you probably know that.

Check out the pictures in the reviews for this stuff to get an idea on what the blue can look like. Some guys used it as a stain and others used it to make candy paint.

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Finishing_supplies/Colors,_tints,_and_stains/ColorTone_Liquid_Stains.html

4. Once you have the color you like seal it with clear nitro and polish.

Nitro lacquer will crack and craze on wood over time. That is normal and most guitarists like to see it because it shows other guitarists that you have the good stuff on your guitar.

You may be able to find the liquid stain cheaper, but I like StewMac. I have bought lots of stuff from them over the years. When less expensive will do, I shop elsewhere. But StewMac makes stuff just for guitars and sometimes they are the only ones who make a product that will do what I need. They are like the Snap-On tools of guitar making.

If you want a solid color, you can use an acrylic lacquer (like Duplicolor) for the color coats and then use nitro lacquer over that. Fender and Gibson have been doing that for a long time on their high-end guitars.

Here is my Fotki link to some, not all, of the guitars I have painted over the years.

http://public.fotki.com/NitroNeil/personal-stuff-1/guitars-and-gear/

[Nitro Neil]

And before you ask, I WISH that I played as good as I painted...