Bengal finish on my Dinky

[quadperson]

Here goes, I've wanted a Lynch Bengal all my natural life. I have been planning to DIY my JDR, since I don't have alot of money tied up in it...anywho, evertime i start to do it, I run into someone who discourages me on one part of it or another. Car paint is the way to go, and I have a compressor and a cheap gun...but ya gotta have this expensive respirator thingy and its really dangerous...so then I was gonna use spray paint, gasp!!!! No, No, can't do that.
Long story short, I go down to the local auto paint shop with a picture off the net of one of bigheadguitars bengals and ask 'em if they can do it. Guy says, "yeah, no problem, prolly cost ya about $130 bucks." I asked him what i needed to do to it...he says, just take it apart and leave it painted, he didn' want me to strip it, said I'd only mess it up. Sounds too good to be true. Anyway, i took it apart tonight and will be dropping it off tomorrow.
I'll post pics when i get it done. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[Axe Chemist]

Re: Bengal finish on my Dinky

Yeah, keep us informed. I was thinking about doing something similar except with a snakeskin finish. I'm sure there is some local talent in my small town that won't charge an arm and a leg for stuff like this.

[DonP]

Re: Bengal finish on my Dinky

Sounds cool.

FWIW, I've done the Bengal many times. Krylon at WalMart is all you need to make a great finish.

[Bengal65]

Re: Bengal finish on my Dinky

That's a killer deal they will do that for $130! It would practically cost that in materials alone if the job is done right.

[quadperson]

Re: Bengal finish on my Dinky

Don, can you post some pics of your DIY bengals...I KNOW I can prolly pull it off myself, but man I'm scared to try! [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[Davey]

Re: Bengal finish on my Dinky

paintyourownguitar.com sells a book for DIY finishes. the lynch bengal, zakk camo, EVH 5150 etc

going to buy it one of these days.. mu epi SG SCREAMS for a new paintjob.

do it. the worst that can happen is you will have to sand it off again


here is one DIY
http://www.paintyourownguitar.com/im...M1complete.jpg

[DonP]

Re: Bengal finish on my Dinky

[ QUOTE ]
paintyourownguitar.com sells a book for DIY finishes. the lynch bengal, zakk camo, EVH 5150 etc

going to buy it one of these days.. mu epi SG SCREAMS for a new paintjob.

do it. the worst that can happen is you will have to sand it off again


here is one DIY
http://www.paintyourownguitar.com/im...M1complete.jpg

[/ QUOTE ]

Agreed. It took two or three tries to get mine right. You start learning real fast that stripping and re-painting is not real fun.

I had pictures posted here but I changed ISP's recently and haven't had a chance to figure out how to upload with the new ISP yet.

I have a few of those books. They are great for a beginner, but for an old hack like me, I found fewer tips that were useful. Most of it is just common sense. I have a couple of painting projects still to do. These I will do a very good job on.

In fact the reason I mentioned Krylon in my first post was that it is recommended in his book. I think by luck I was using Krylon 15 years ago when I last painted mine.

P.S. mine looks almost exactly like the one shown above - yellow to white, and same black striping. I wanted a rough edge (not a hard edge) on my tigerstipes to I used ripped masking tape to give it that feathered edge.

[Davey]

Re: Bengal finish on my Dinky

[ QUOTE ]

I have a few of those books. They are great for a beginner, but for an old hack like me, I found fewer tips that were useful. Most of it is just common sense.

[/ QUOTE ]
yea.. it's common sense and some pointers as to what you have to do/order you have to do it. if someone has no experience, it is great cos it tells them what to do. for someone that has some experience, it can offer some new tricks.

the problem is, a lot of people skipped class when they handed out common sense =P i know a couple of em personally

[Jacksonfan]

Re: Bengal finish on my Dinky

[ QUOTE ]
Don, can you post some pics of your DIY bengals...I KNOW I can prolly pull it off myself, but man I'm scared to try! [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

Go for it! Here's a couple of Bengals I did. Have fun with it, it's very liberating to take a rattle can to a guitar body! [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[Axe Chemist]

Re: Bengal finish on my Dinky

Those look great! How durable are the Krylon Clear finishes on bodies? I just clear coated some autographs on my DK2 neck and it is working just fine so far.

[deviltronix]

Re: Bengal finish on my Dinky

hardest part is sanding the orange peel out of the color coat without sandthrough on the edges...Everything else is common send and elbow grease. Stripping a guitar is a pain in the ass and the airplane stripper chemical is lethal (burns through gloves). Also, try using Nitro paint from reranch..the old school paint is much more forgiving.
rich

[Axe Chemist]

Re: Bengal finish on my Dinky

[ QUOTE ]
hardest part is sanding the orange peel out of the color coat without sandthrough on the edges...Everything else is common send and elbow grease. Stripping a guitar is a pain in the ass and the airplane stripper chemical is lethal (burns through gloves). Also, try using Nitro paint from reranch..the old school paint is much more forgiving.
rich

[/ QUOTE ]

Speaking of that, what is the most effective way to strip a guitar? I've used aircraft stripper before but only on metal. I didn't think it worked on wood.

[Axe Chemist]

Re: Bengal finish on my Dinky

Here's the coolest bengal I've ever seen. I'd love to do one like this. It's Oz Fox's of Stryper. I love the bullets!

[DonP]

Re: Bengal finish on my Dinky

That looks cool!

Technically (according to the book), you aren't supposed to sand the color coat. You are supposed to build up the clear high enough to cover the ridges (lots and lots of clear). I made the mistake of sanding my color coat as well.

How long does it last? It depends. Some of the tips I learned since painting mine - don't sand the prior coat (or even the base) too smooth or the paint can't grab onto the guitar. I sanded down to 600 grit on the primer and between coats. It was too smooth and I think some of the chips are because of this. I shouldn't have higher than 320 grit between coats.

[Axe Chemist]

Re: Bengal finish on my Dinky

You are right. I used to work in an auto body shop, and took a class in college on auto body and the same principles apply there too. When you repaint a car, unless there's terminal rust and bondo underneath the paint you always just "scuff sand" the top coat. This give the new paint something to adhere to. Also, you only want to wet sand after you apply a few coats of clear over the base color. Thanks for the good advice. After reading this thread, I'm getting inspired to paint my project Ibanez in this Bengal style. [img]/images/graemlins/idea2.gif[/img]