Calling all paint and body guys (Guitar project)

[Kwik_Cutty88]

I ran some errands today and luckily my local napa had everything I needed. I was able to find 3M 3/4” yellow masking tape, and 1/8” fine line tape.

I got the makeshift paint booth set up in our 24’ car trailer.

Using a home air filter to try to keep the dust down, and a ton of plastic.

The blue blower is set up to vent through the roof.

I also got a cheap little thermometer that also shows humidity. I’ll keep and eye on it, I’ll use my space heater if I need to.

Also, here are some starting photos of the guitar. I played guitar when I was younger, and was given this guitar from my uncle. I played it a few times, but kinda lost intrest in guitar. I figured it’d be better to re-purpose it and give it to someone who will really enjoy it. My girlfriend plays guitar and bass, and she’s been wanting an electric gutiar for awhile now.

It is a 1985 Ibanez Roadstar II

It was in decent shape. I’ve had to source a few missing parts, but it plays pretty well. The paint had a few love marks from over the years, but nothing some sanding and primer can’t fix.

Here’s what the final color will be

I also picked up a piece of basswood. I need to get that in primer so I can shoot the base over it to see if everything will play nicely. I’ll also try out my masking tape.

 

[joesregalproject]

That paint booth is way overkill for what you're doing, you should have no problems with it. True story- I painted a buddy's Dodge truck while it was parked on a city street in front of his house. Used Tractor Supply Majic brand paint in gloss black. That was 3 years ago. Its no show job but from 10 feet it looks great.

 

[Kwik_Cutty88]

I sprayed a couple test peices today. This was just me playing with masking tape. Also experimenting with how far away to spray, and how thick to lay on the candy and base coat. It looks awesome in the sun. The left stick is the color I’ll be shooting for. It is very vibrant. I didn’t bother laying any clear on this, I didn’t want to waste a whole can. Once you “activate” a can of 2k clear, you only have a 24 hour time period to spray.

I also got the guitar in (what I thought would be) final primer. I saw a few things I wasn’t happy with, and they’ll need a skim coat of filler and some attention. Not a huge deal, but delays my progress quite a bit. I’ve been coming home from college on weekends and trying to get as much done as possible, I’m trying to have this finished by the 28th.

 

[Kwik_Cutty88]

All painted! I was able to get all the paint laid down today. It all went pretty smoothly. The only thing I’m concerned about is that when I sprayed the clear, it didnt really have a “wet look” it almost looked satin. But that could be an illusion with my eyes/flourescent lighting. I’ll know better when I pull it out in the sun tomorrow. Until then I’ll keep you guys in suspense to see what it looks like all cleared

I changed up my masking plan a little bit as well. I decided to mask off the 10 dots individually. It was tedius, but I think worth it. I put down a piece of tape on my test peices. Then used the end of a spade connector to cut out the circles. Then just transfered them over to the guitar neck.

I’m gonna let it cure in the house until next weekend. If the sheen isnt to my liking I’ll try to polish by hand and see what happens. Then reassembly. But either way I’m happy with it!

 

[melloelky]

nice! looks like you're on your way brother.polishing any part by hand isn't much fun.let alone a small part.forget with a machine.a lot of times when i'm not happy with the way clear has layed down i find it easier and way more efficient to scuff it by hand and re-clear it.it's much much less time consuming and the results are far better.w/any candy finish it always looks better with re-clearing as metallic/candy is a coarse three stage system by design and requires a lot of clear to give it that deep look.that's why it looks rather grainy.in the past w/candy's I've done four coats and scuffed and put four more on.it doesn't look wet because the clear is sitting in the low portions of the surface.

 

[1evilregal]

looks great! I'm sure she'll love it!

 

[Kwik_Cutty88]

melloelky You were exactly right. It needs more clear. Unfortunately I’m all out. I think I’m gonna leave it for now and see what she thinks. It has enough clear on it that it shouldnt wear through.

Thanks for the compliments guys. The color is blinding in the sun. I think i could have sprayed it a little more evenly, but it looks good for now! I think it’ll really pop once its all assembled.

 

[ed1948]

Nice result -

My guitar came in mustard yellow --ugh!
-stripped it to bare wood and using only rattle cans
-dusted black spray paint to highlight the grain and wiped before drying.
-couple of coats of translucent green with a mist of aluminum color at the edges
-lacquer clearcoat -this pic 10 years later

 

[Kwik_Cutty88]

It came out pretty good all assembled. Definetly some things I’d do differenly. I’m not 100% happy with it, but I tend to pick things apart. I know she’ll love it though!

 

[1evilregal]

came out great! let us know how she liked it, or a vid of her rockin it out!