Question about DIY refinish

[cocobig]

Hello,

I have one cheapo guitar, and I want to play around by refinishing it. Is normal automotive spray in a can do the job? Is it durable? I looked arond and see the "Dupli-color" automotive paint product. I am not planing to strip the old finish, just grab the can and spray 'em. Any suggestion?

I am thinking white base, then add some sparkles... ...

Thank you in advance.

 

[Axis Sport]

I just completed my first refinish and it turned out amazing. I spent over a month on it. I took the guitar into my local music store and they thought it was the orginal paint. This company provides good directions and paint products. http://home.flash.net/~guitars/
You can also look it up under Guitar ReRanch.

Good Luck.

 

[Axis Sport]

Not the greatest picture, but the paint on this guitar turned out awesome. You should have seen this train wreck prior to the refinish. I would not have touched it if the guitar had not been in terrible condition. This is a 1963 Guild Jet Star. I love the old guilds, but my MM90 is my number 1.

 

[cocobig]

Cool! Did you strip the old finish? I don't have any tool to do it, so I am thinking to just refinish on top of the old finish.

 

[Axis Sport]

Cool! Did you strip the old finish? I don't have any tool to do it, so I am thinking to just refinish on top of the old finish.

Yes, I took it all the way down to the wood. No tools just a sanding block and alot of elbow grease. I purchased the paint and sealer in aerosol from ReRanch and followed their directions. To get the shine you have to use different grades of sand paper. Check out the ReRanch site for instructions, it will tell you what you need to know. You might be able to just rough up the service and go from there. Again, I had no special tools just time and patience. I painted it in my shed and made a makeshift paint booth with plastic. You need to make sure the temperature is within range.
Hope that helps.

 

[art027]

hi,

i made a few attempts at refinishing also. first i wanted to use a spraygun with a compressor but that turned out to be to expensive for me so i started looking for spraycans. I found these 'Motip' cans, acrylic paint used for cars. I think it's the same type as the Duplicolor you mentioned.

Anyway, the strat was vintage white, i sanded it down to the bear wood. When i think back about that my arm starts to hurts again
I used stain for the middle part of the body and red and black Motip cans for the edges.

The SG was blue at first, i sanded then i used stain and black Motip paint.

The Esquire i just roughly sanded before i sprayed it.

It did not turn out perfect but i really learned a lot. My biggest enemy was not having enough patience, often i would start doing the next step while it would have been better to wait another week. More than once, this resulted in frustration after damaging the finish.
However, it´s really fun to do, and you are going to make mistakes during the proces but it´s worth it IMO

 

[Spudmurphy]

Hey Art
Nice job.

A good tip (as I used to be heavily in VW bugs) is to go to some of the auto jumbles and buy some of the old Cellulose spray paint - man that ages really well.
Spud

 

[art027]

Hey Spud, Thanks for the tip. Cellulose would be great and it is extremely hard to get here.
I tried to get the Reranch aerosols but they told me it's illegal to ship the stuff unfortunately.

I went for the Motip paint because for me it was like 'try and find out if this is fun to do' before buying an expensive spraygun and compressor. Maybe i will someday.

Luckily this stuff is affordable as wel.

Michell

 

[Spudmurphy]

Hey Spud, Thanks for the tip. Cellulose would be great and it is extremely hard to get here.
I tried to get the Reranch aerosols but they told me it's illegal to ship the stuff unfortunately.

I went for the Motip paint because for me it was like 'try and find out if this is fun to do' before buying an expensive spraygun and compressor. Maybe i will someday.

Luckily this stuff is affordable as wel.

Michell

Celly is great for building up coats as long as you let it dry WELL in between coats.
Hell you don't need me to tell you 'cos you have done a great job- when I used to spray the cars I used to hand rub between coats going thro all the grades of wet and dry paper - in those days the least abrasive was 1600 wet and dry, and then use a rubbing compound - by hand preferably as polishing mops you have to know how to use them.

I remember the first time I sprayed a Lambretta scooter - we did it in a damp garage and couldn't understand why we had so much "bloom" ?
No big sweat - we just hand sanded and buffed and you could see your face in it.

I don't think the modern finishes will age as well as celly - but I don't wish to get into a "bun fight" on this - my experiences are "amateur" only (oh maybe not , I did spray aluminium castings in a summer vacation job - the foreman parked his car next to the Fan extractor and his nice new Ford was all misted in Aluminium lol!)

The big drawback with Celly is that it sinks. If you have for example filled in a pickup body routing with wood, hand blocked/ sanded it, used a spray filler primer, hand blocked again, you can bet your bottom dollar that after you have top coated in Celly and buffed it up to a shine, after a period of time the celly will sink and you could/may see the join.

Good luck = keep at it and let us see your results.
Spud

 

[Spudmurphy]

ohh by the way I just love your Esquire!!!!
My Tele started off as a single pickup but after the Les Paul I just felt so restricted and I had a second fitted.

What does the pick up selector do on the Esquire?
Spud

 

[Spudmurphy]

Hey Spud, Thanks for the tip. Cellulose would be great and it is extremely hard to get here.
I tried to get the Reranch aerosols but they told me it's illegal to ship the stuff unfortunately.

Michell

Me again !!!
Try some of the VW auto meetings there was always PLENTY of celly on offer there - or try contacting some of the VW owners clubs - I used to be Chairman of the South Wales VW owners club and had my bug in one of the big Haynes (book) productions !!

I got so much into VW's my music suffered !!

 

[Tim O'Sullivan]

Me again !!!
Try some of the VW auto meetings there was always PLENTY of celly on offer there - or try contacting some of the VW owners clubs - I used to be Chairman of the South Wales VW owners club and had my bug in one of the big Haynes (book) productions !!

I got so much into VW's my music suffered !!

VW's?! I take it you must have been to Bug Jam or the VW events they hold at Hertforshire County Showground? One of my bands freak-1-c play these events nearly every year! Maybe you have seen me play?!

 

[cocobig]

Thanks art027 for your pics and tips. Wow! Those guitars were nicely done.

 

[Spudmurphy]

VW's?! I take it you must have been to Bug Jam or the VW events they hold at Hertforshire County Showground? One of my bands freak-1-c play these events nearly every year! Maybe you have seen me play?!

Have to admit that I go back further than that!!

I used to go to the Royal Showground Stonleigh - must have been in the 80's.

 

[Tim O'Sullivan]

Have to admit that I go back further than that!!

I used to go to the Royal Showground Stonleigh - must have been in the 80's.

A bit before my VW career started!

 

[art027]

Thanks Cocobig and Spud,

Man, this reading and writing about finishing makes me wanna start the next project reall bad. I just need to find me another victim guitar
I have an Albert Lee coming my way real soon...Mmmm!! It's already been butchered when the b/g bender was installed, so... Nahh won't do that. I love the sunburst finish. I've been waiting for that guitar forever btw.

Spud, about the Esquire, This is a description i found somewhere on the net. My english is too bad to give a clear explanation myself.

''The idea with Esquire wiring is that the forward switch position runs the pickup through a cap/resistor network which rolls off quite a bit of treble. This non-adjustable setting is "rhythm 1". The middle switch position is adjustable using
the tone control, so it can be preset by the user and becomes "rhythm 2". The player can then toggle between these two rhythm settings. Flick the switch all the way back and the lead tone is engaged, which is essentially the pickup without any treble roll-off. Since the tone control is not active on this lead setting, it is always available at the flick of a switch, no matter where the tone control is set''.


It is all experimenting for me. I understand nothing about electronics but with help from internet sources i can solder whatever wiring i want. If i can do it anybody can

I also removed all the frets on all three guitars and installed new ones. Results really are getting better. On the Esquire i also sanded the neck and did the Birchwood oil/wax treatment. And i drilled holes to make it a stringthrough.
It's a Richwood, i payed 75 euros and now it's a great guitar.

Thanks again for the cellulose tips,

Michell