Guitar paint?

[lotsoftools]

My wife is restoring one of her older guitars. She wants to paint the face but we're not sure what would be the best kind of paint that will hold up. It's some kind of wood, whatever most guitars are made of. I was thinking we should put some kind of shellac or urethane over the paint for durability.

A local body shop quoted $80.

Thoughts?

*whoops, I put this in the wrong spot. Mods please move if needed.

 

[artrem]

Well, this is something I know a little about. I've refinished guitars before and it's true that early Fenders used DuPont automotive paint, things are more varied these days. One source I used for guitar refinishing supplies and paint is an outfit called "Guitar ReRanch" www.reranch.com

There's some useful information here as well as a lot of colors and refinishing stains in addition to a selection of nitro and poly finishes in aerosol form. Vintage guitar makers used nitrocellulose, which is not a durable as the newer polyacrlyics but many players, particularly acoustic guitar players, claim the wood resonates better with nitro. However, there is more myth than fact when it comes to effects on wood and instruments.

 

[budss396]

depends wether she wants to see the grain or not. if she wants a transparent sunburst type of finish I would go to stewart mcdonald stewmac.com and get a kit from them they are easy to work with and a great product.
if grain is not that important I like to use the duplicolor paintshop line. they have a limited supply of colors but are ready to spray staight out of the can. the color coat is about $20 a can and the same for clear and primer. the advantage of this is that it is acrylic laquer paint which is much easier to fix mistakes than modern urethanes. another advantage is that you can mix your own custom colors cheeply, I like to use the bright silver and then mix in color to get a nice metalic/pearl finish.

 

[MoparCharlie]

Get an unfinished,preferably unused wooden toilet seat and practice on that.

They're cheap ($10 or so) and the shape of the lid closely resembles a guitar so you will get use to painting curved surfaces and you will see what the paint will look like when finished .

 

[ronnyg801]

I work in the Automotive paint, body shop industry, do custom work on the side and I am sort of a paint geek. I have never looked into it personally but to my understanding on certain older guitars used Nitrocellulose Lacquer and people who are really instrument aficionados claim it really changes the sound of said instrument.

 

[lotsoftools]

Thanks for all the help guys. She doesn't want to see the grain on the face because there was a small repair with epoxy and it will show through. I like the toilet seat idea, that should help out a lot.

 

[upndown]

Ask Willie Nelson who restored his guitar..haha. If the guitar has monetary value take it to an appraiser first. alot of these guys are experts, if nothing else they can probably recommend a product.

 

[rbonitz]

I own and play a 1961 Fender Bass - it is original, finished with nitrocellulose lacquer... Not very durable - I have to be very careful about playing outdoors if there is any chance of moisture. The finish may make a difference for an acoustic guitar (although I doubt it). - but I would recommend going with an acrylic if you are going to spray lacquer.

 

[PetesPonies]

$80 is not bad.

 

[sillwic9]

Check out stewmac.com. Everything you need to build/fix your guitar is there.


Sent from right here.

 

[budss396]

Ask Willie Nelson who restored his guitar..haha. If the guitar has monetary value take it to an appraiser first. alot of these guys are experts, if nothing else they can probably recommend a product.

if you look inside the hole worn in the top you will find popcicle sticks reinforcing the hole, that was done by Cliff Biltz, unfortunately he passed away about 17 years ago.

 

[trainer]

I built a tele-style guitar with a flame-maple veneered top for my son recently.
I used 6 thin coats of Watco clear nitro-cellulose gloss lacquer, applied with a brush. I wet sanded it to 1500 and then buffed it to a nice gloss with rubbing compound. I added a few coats of minwax finishing wax for protection.

Total cost for finishing supplies was about $30 and I have enough left for 5 more guitars.
The nice thing about lacquer is that it's easily reparable and brushing it on avoids the mess and hassle of spraying.

 

[c_mccann]

I'd look between Lacquer and a urethane auto finish. Shellac is the wrong stuff for anything you touch or use- it is not durable at all.

 

[Bradford]

Hi lotsoftools,
Which guitar do your wife have? I mean electric guitar or acoustic guitar? There are lots of paints available for guitar so just select the right one for your wife's guitar and don't forget to take safety measure before painting guitar like use of muzzle mask or goggles.