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Guitar chord forum - chordie → Electric → Guitar , finishes ?
What is Nitro, and is Polyurethane the same or an equivilant, and is it OK, to apply clear laquer over one or the other, for a final finish ? A guitar Hot- Rodder attempting to rebuild a few from the ground up. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks, FiveO
Way back in the 50s/60s all guitars were coated in nitro-cellulose, this was nasty stuff to spray and wore off over the years. In the seventies came poly coatings, which were much tougher. Relic fetishists like nitro because it's vintage and shows the patina of use, poly coats take a real ding to scratch (although they can develop cloudy patches over decades).
If you want to redo your hot-rod guitar the first thing is to strip it, otherwise you may get paint interactions sooner or later, having said this stripping agents are nasty stuff so may you could spray round the back and see how it holds. The base coat is usually white (yep even when the colour desired is black) and then you build up; Base, colour and several 'lacquer' layers. At each stage you need to wait for proper drying (unless you have a paint oven) which takes weeks and 'cut back' with auto abrasives to make sure each layer is as smooth and flat as possible. It's alot of work so look to do something special if you are going to attempt it, otherwise you may find guitar shops (and even friendly auto spray shops) can do it at a good price compared to all your hours of wet/dry sanding...
Thanx, Sounds like very good advise. FiveO
cytania,
I'm thinking of building a tele. I've done too many hardwood floors to want to go through that wet/dry sand cycle.
my cousin has an auto body shop and therefore, a paint oven. What is the general process so I know what to ask him?
Here's a helpful web page;
http://www.manchesterguitartech.co.uk/kitpaint.html
The paint oven just cuts down on the wait time.
That page only shows 3 coats base, colour and clear which is the basic minimum. Getting a real nice finish just comes down to building up with more coats at each stage and more sanding at each stage. Your enemys are muck in the air (auto-shops usually have clean zones for this) and drips. Drips usually come from spraying too much too quick to one area, keep the sprayer moving, remember you can always do another coat if you spray too light but drips have to be sanded out :-(
I just used regular Acrylic paint on mine. As long as you use an Acrylic varnish over it it'll work fine. Much easier to paint complex patterns with too.
thanks guys. Pretty much like any wood refinishing job. I was thinking I might use a cherry stain and varnish/laquer.
And thanks for the link.
thanks guys. Pretty much like any wood refinishing job. I was thinking I might use a cherry stain and varnish/laquer.
And thanks for the link.
If you sanded through the sealer the wood will suck up all your clear and leave open pours (learned by experience). Make sur to reseal it after you do your staining.
Bootlegger.
Hi five o you got some good advice above,but keep in mind that if you use an auto paint dryer,you should be real carefull with the temp that you use.A wood surface can be warped or destroyed if you dont do it right. I have seen cars painted and the damage that can happen if temp is not correct.
Guitar chord forum - chordie → Electric → Guitar , finishes ?
