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I've gotten alot of help from you guys lately, so I wanna give back a little knowledge, so Im gonna write this up and hope it makes it easier for at least one person who attempts this. and if you have anything to add, feel free to.
ALL MENTIONS OF SANDING ARE ASSUMING YOU ARE USING A SANDING BLOCK. DO NOT SAND WITHOUT ONE
First, obviously you want to strip the guitar to bare wood. Refinishing over top of another finish will hurt your tone and will most likely peel and flake in time. DO NOT use anything more aggressive than 160-180 grit, unless you want bondo on your guitar. IF YOU USE A CHEMICAL STRIPPER BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL!! Not for the guitar's sake, but for yours. I have had some nasty chemical burns from that stuff. It eats through latex gloves in a heartbeat. So if you decided to go chemical, you MUST wash the body with a good medium stiff bristle brush and dish soap. After washing, Sand with 320 grit until you get a uniform scratch pattern. THis will help the primer adhere, and the 320 scratches are filled in by the primer. Get a clean clean clean rag, and pour just enough acetone on it to make a wet spot, then wipe the body down. look at the rag...see all that nasty dirt? that will cause your paint to flake. repeat until you get no residue on the rag. Also, I wanna point out that I mean pure acetone. Not nail polish remover. it has other chemicals in it that will seep into te wood pores, then on a hot day when your guitar breathes, will begin eating your finish from the inside out. all of the sudden, you got a big ugly flake. Ask me how I know. But, hey, its part of the learning process, and Im here to save you the trouble.
Second, you want to use sandable primer, lighter primer for lighter coats, vice versa for darker. Another point is NEVER cheap out and use flat spray paint. Painting with spray bombs is fine, but never ever ever use a flat paint as primer. it will not adhere properly and can wick up through the color coat. Apply 1-2 light coats, waiting about 5 minutes in between. Then apply 1-2 heavier coats making sure you get full color and full coverage on both coats. Allow to dry 4 or so hours before the next step. once your primer is dry, you'll notice that it has a rough texture to it. Dry spray. Now, personally, I prefer wet sanding, but dry sanding is fine here. You want to LIGHTLY sand the primer with 600-1000 grit. only sand until it is smooth and texture free. be extremely careful on corners as you will burn through immediately with no warning. OK, so the primer is smooth now, so get another clean rag, and wash off the sanding residue if you wet sanded, then repeat the acetone step. if dry sanding, just repeat the acetone step, BUT make sure you only use a finite amount, because that shit will eat paint in heavy doses. ask me how I know...
Third step COLOR TIME!!! Ok, so here we go, you've found THE color and think your guitar is gonna be bad ass right? Well, right, it will be if you do this properly. Whether youre using a can or professional gun, you need to spray 1-2 light coats, allow 15 minutes to tack up, then spray 1 heavy coat, making sure you get full coverage, then allow it to tack up for 20 minutes, then spray another heavy wet coat. Spray as many as you want, but be advised that the tack time will increase with every coat. Now, I HIGHLY recommend waiting at least 2 days for the color coat to fully cure before moving further. The glosses and pigments in color coats are much different than primers and take much longer to dry. Once dry, this time we're gonna use 1000-1500 grit paper, WET sanding. THe color coat has the same dry spray texture and stray dust particles in it as the primer. Make sure the paper stays wet, and use a tiny amount of dishsoap in the water, to help the paper keep from loading. Grits this fine load quickly and run out of use when used dry. Now, lightly sand the color coat until all the texture is gone, again being careful on edges. Clean off all the residue with plain old water. Then repeat the acetone step again.
Last step Clear Coat. This is purely a matter of taste, but even if i paint a guitar with spray bombs, i still like to spray my clear through a gun. The cheapies at walmart do a fine job if set up correctly, and can be had for $20. Set up on them is straightforward and there are trillions of sites to teach you how. But basically, you want a good spray pattern that is a pretty wide fan. You dont want to hose it on, but mist it on. Now, another matter of taste is the actual clear. once again, personally, I use Minwax Polyurethane on anything but white, as it sorta makes white aged looking, and polycrylic on white. whatever you choose, just do not ever use the bargain barrel .97c a can junk. itll never polish out and is so solvent laden it may eat your paint. If you use spray cans, rustoleum, krylon and duplicolor make decent clears. It takes a lil more work to buff em up to gloss, but they do get fairly glossy. Which is why I like the minwax stuff. It buffs to a gorgeous deep gloss with minimal time investment. Now, on to business. Im assuming that you went with the gun scenario, so we will focus on this. If using a rattle can, just follow the steps outlined for the color coat. Once you get your first coat on you MUST wait for it to tack up to a point that its almost hardened. Then you apply your second coat. Apply as many as you like, but I dont recommend going over 4 coats. Let it cure for 72-96 hours. Then, get out your trusty spray bottle, sanding block and some 2000-2500 grit. and a single edge razor blade. Now, before we go into the process of buffing your paint to a gloss, I want to share a little tip that made life so much easier. If you have a run in your clear, dont worry about it. Take your razor and bend it into a slight U shape. Now gently scrape over top of the run until its flat. thats it. such a simple fix for such a major headache. make damn well sure that clear is cured though. ask me how i know.... Also NEVER try to cut the run off. Itll destroy the paint job. Ask me how I know... now, on to buffing this sucker.
WET sand with the 2000 or 2500 until the finish is smooth all over. I know it seems crazy to attack a mostly shiny paint job with abrasives, but trust me. Now once the finish is glass smooth all over, get a buffer, or a low speed drill with a buffing attachment, and some polishing compound. not rubbing compound. I like turtle wax, but again, matter of preference. Apply the compound with a soft foam applicator, and then buff until you feel a slight resistance on the pad. do not use alot of pressure, you want the buffer to build its own heat. when you feel a slight resistance, check progress, and add more compound if necessary. if you run the pad dry, it will heat up, turn abrasive and burn the paint. and that can never be buffed out. once the whole guitar is buffed, apply 3 to 4 coats of carnuba wax. all done. go reassemble your axe and play it. just dont chip the paint huh?
ALL MENTIONS OF SANDING ARE ASSUMING YOU ARE USING A SANDING BLOCK. DO NOT SAND WITHOUT ONE
First, obviously you want to strip the guitar to bare wood. Refinishing over top of another finish will hurt your tone and will most likely peel and flake in time. DO NOT use anything more aggressive than 160-180 grit, unless you want bondo on your guitar. IF YOU USE A CHEMICAL STRIPPER BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL!! Not for the guitar's sake, but for yours. I have had some nasty chemical burns from that stuff. It eats through latex gloves in a heartbeat. So if you decided to go chemical, you MUST wash the body with a good medium stiff bristle brush and dish soap. After washing, Sand with 320 grit until you get a uniform scratch pattern. THis will help the primer adhere, and the 320 scratches are filled in by the primer. Get a clean clean clean rag, and pour just enough acetone on it to make a wet spot, then wipe the body down. look at the rag...see all that nasty dirt? that will cause your paint to flake. repeat until you get no residue on the rag. Also, I wanna point out that I mean pure acetone. Not nail polish remover. it has other chemicals in it that will seep into te wood pores, then on a hot day when your guitar breathes, will begin eating your finish from the inside out. all of the sudden, you got a big ugly flake. Ask me how I know. But, hey, its part of the learning process, and Im here to save you the trouble.
Second, you want to use sandable primer, lighter primer for lighter coats, vice versa for darker. Another point is NEVER cheap out and use flat spray paint. Painting with spray bombs is fine, but never ever ever use a flat paint as primer. it will not adhere properly and can wick up through the color coat. Apply 1-2 light coats, waiting about 5 minutes in between. Then apply 1-2 heavier coats making sure you get full color and full coverage on both coats. Allow to dry 4 or so hours before the next step. once your primer is dry, you'll notice that it has a rough texture to it. Dry spray. Now, personally, I prefer wet sanding, but dry sanding is fine here. You want to LIGHTLY sand the primer with 600-1000 grit. only sand until it is smooth and texture free. be extremely careful on corners as you will burn through immediately with no warning. OK, so the primer is smooth now, so get another clean rag, and wash off the sanding residue if you wet sanded, then repeat the acetone step. if dry sanding, just repeat the acetone step, BUT make sure you only use a finite amount, because that shit will eat paint in heavy doses. ask me how I know...
Third step COLOR TIME!!! Ok, so here we go, you've found THE color and think your guitar is gonna be bad ass right? Well, right, it will be if you do this properly. Whether youre using a can or professional gun, you need to spray 1-2 light coats, allow 15 minutes to tack up, then spray 1 heavy coat, making sure you get full coverage, then allow it to tack up for 20 minutes, then spray another heavy wet coat. Spray as many as you want, but be advised that the tack time will increase with every coat. Now, I HIGHLY recommend waiting at least 2 days for the color coat to fully cure before moving further. The glosses and pigments in color coats are much different than primers and take much longer to dry. Once dry, this time we're gonna use 1000-1500 grit paper, WET sanding. THe color coat has the same dry spray texture and stray dust particles in it as the primer. Make sure the paper stays wet, and use a tiny amount of dishsoap in the water, to help the paper keep from loading. Grits this fine load quickly and run out of use when used dry. Now, lightly sand the color coat until all the texture is gone, again being careful on edges. Clean off all the residue with plain old water. Then repeat the acetone step again.
Last step Clear Coat. This is purely a matter of taste, but even if i paint a guitar with spray bombs, i still like to spray my clear through a gun. The cheapies at walmart do a fine job if set up correctly, and can be had for $20. Set up on them is straightforward and there are trillions of sites to teach you how. But basically, you want a good spray pattern that is a pretty wide fan. You dont want to hose it on, but mist it on. Now, another matter of taste is the actual clear. once again, personally, I use Minwax Polyurethane on anything but white, as it sorta makes white aged looking, and polycrylic on white. whatever you choose, just do not ever use the bargain barrel .97c a can junk. itll never polish out and is so solvent laden it may eat your paint. If you use spray cans, rustoleum, krylon and duplicolor make decent clears. It takes a lil more work to buff em up to gloss, but they do get fairly glossy. Which is why I like the minwax stuff. It buffs to a gorgeous deep gloss with minimal time investment. Now, on to business. Im assuming that you went with the gun scenario, so we will focus on this. If using a rattle can, just follow the steps outlined for the color coat. Once you get your first coat on you MUST wait for it to tack up to a point that its almost hardened. Then you apply your second coat. Apply as many as you like, but I dont recommend going over 4 coats. Let it cure for 72-96 hours. Then, get out your trusty spray bottle, sanding block and some 2000-2500 grit. and a single edge razor blade. Now, before we go into the process of buffing your paint to a gloss, I want to share a little tip that made life so much easier. If you have a run in your clear, dont worry about it. Take your razor and bend it into a slight U shape. Now gently scrape over top of the run until its flat. thats it. such a simple fix for such a major headache. make damn well sure that clear is cured though. ask me how i know.... Also NEVER try to cut the run off. Itll destroy the paint job. Ask me how I know... now, on to buffing this sucker.
WET sand with the 2000 or 2500 until the finish is smooth all over. I know it seems crazy to attack a mostly shiny paint job with abrasives, but trust me. Now once the finish is glass smooth all over, get a buffer, or a low speed drill with a buffing attachment, and some polishing compound. not rubbing compound. I like turtle wax, but again, matter of preference. Apply the compound with a soft foam applicator, and then buff until you feel a slight resistance on the pad. do not use alot of pressure, you want the buffer to build its own heat. when you feel a slight resistance, check progress, and add more compound if necessary. if you run the pad dry, it will heat up, turn abrasive and burn the paint. and that can never be buffed out. once the whole guitar is buffed, apply 3 to 4 coats of carnuba wax. all done. go reassemble your axe and play it. just dont chip the paint huh?