Painting guitar bodies

[T.J.Fuller]

great thread guys !

but, the wood filler step after sanding can be a deal breaker on the perfect finish.

I use this stuff and it rocks !

http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/202058 ... tural.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

stew mac sells it also..

[vanhalen5150]

There is wood filler and there is grain filler. I learned about this stuff from the Les Paul forums. This is what a few of them use. It doesnt shrink with paint or added stains. Many guys add the mahogany stain to it for the necks and body backs on LP's.

http://www.mohawk-finishing.com/catalog ... ictNbr=105" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Bore Em at the Forum]

great thread guys !

but, the wood filler step after sanding can be a deal breaker on the perfect finish.

I use this stuff and it rocks !

http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/202058 ... tural.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

stew mac sells it also..

I've used this as well and have been pretty happy - but I'd like to try that Mohawk stuff that vanhalen5150 recommends as well.

[dirtycooter]

Looks like similar stuff as the elmers.

Nother thing on primers is you can buy behlen or deft in a can like house paint that brushes on and its called sanding/sealer. Its nitro based primer so it would work great on a franky. Next time that is what I am gonna use for primer sealer. Probably what was used on franky actually. I have a hard time finding spray bomb primer that sands like its supposed to so this would greatly simplify that dilemma. Primer gets all block sanded and stuff anyhow so brushin this on wouldn't mean nothin major at all.
plus its clear so you can do the relic thing and not have grey or red primer pokin out.

[Bore Em at the Forum]

Yep, I've used the Deft Sand & Sealer - again, pretty happy with it. Takes a fair amount to get the job done, but it's just cleaner and a little quicker to get the body ready to shoot.

And perfect for the Franky as you noted, being clear.

[rgorke]

What a PITA!!!! How do I know when I am done filling in the grain. I have filled, sanded, wiped, filled, sanded, wiped and then did a test to see and I could still see the grain. So...filled and sanded again. What should I be looking or feeling for to get this dang ash grain filled?

[dirtycooter]

If your usin the wood filler stuff I had to stick it to my thumb or palm and forceably mash it down into the grain pits and massage it into the wood. Let it dry over night after you do the whole body. Sand it up quick the next day with 320, check it over and do it again. Stuff sands off easy as hell. It took me about 5 complete fills to get it all. It has to dry up over night and set up in the pores. Otherwise you'll pull it all back out sanding and wipin too much.
Its not much fun I know but its part of perfection. You'll still see the grain, but the tiny little pits and tiny holes are what your tryin to fill in flush. You have to blow the dust away to expose what didn't quite get totally filled. Most of the worst stuff will be the end grain on the butt or horns and along the edges of the body. Those tiny needle holes got to be gone as well as the ridges on the face and back of the guitar.

Now get back in there and work! Mush!! Mush!!

And this is the easy part

[Bore Em at the Forum]

rgorke, it is as tedious as dirtycooter says. But remember, you are talking about grains like ash and mahogany that need this much treatment. Other woods aren't so demanding.

For people building Frank replicas, if you want it to resemble it's current state, you don't want to completely grain fill as the grain does show through on his guitar. Partly because of thin paint coats and probably because the paint has contracted after all these years. So you probably would want to do this step 2-3 times rather than 5 as dirtycooter suggested may be the case.

What you really need is a good sunny day, some tunes on the Ipod, and mess around with it outdoors. I was fortunate to have 2-3 projects rolling at once at the end of last summer, so I'd stagger the work each day between each body. As you start to get it leveled up, it gets pretty satisfying. Sounds like work but it's a pretty cool process knowing that you are doing it as well (if not better) than the pros.

[rgorke]

With it all gooped up with Elmers filler

photo-17.JPG (136.54 KiB) Viewed 2000 times

photo-20.JPG

When I bought the body for $20

(61.58 KiB) Downloaded 436 times

Ok, here are some photos as an update...

Here is what I started with. It is a mid '70s strat body that had the neck pocket broken out of it. I have been playing it like this for several years.

The second photo is after I, as an experiment, painted it black as a base coat to see how the grain would show through the paint and just to get a sense of how the process worked. This is how I am leaving it over night. This is the fifth fill and sand I have done and decided to goop it on thick in some places. I am mainly trying to reduce the grain showing through.

[dirtycooter]

Wow, thats some heavy duty salvage on than neck pocket Holy crap!

Where you see the actual whirls of the grain you'll notice there are more tiny pits there. They will look like little pin holes grouped tightly together or elongated grooves. Get that flush with the rest of the surface and filled in. If this body was painted before you probably are good to go. If it has never been painted then you need to fill.
Just pack them little pits like they are a bad girl-just stuff it in, hard. Let it dry really good and sand her down. This is building the platform for the paint to sit on. Looks about right how you have it. Be sure to do the edges. Use a good rubber block on those flat surfaces. Your lookin for tiny unflush pores in the wood and makin them level with the surrounding surface.
Also its not gonna fill perfect and the primer or sanding sealer will also fill things in too.
also to save you some trouble by the end of the paint process always tape off that neck pocket and keep it bare wood through the whole process or the paint may get so thick the neck will not fit in the pocket.

Another pointer that may be forgotten or known for those who haven't done finish work, and since this is becoming a paint tutoriol thread
When sanding anything-if the paper is pluggin up when sanding be sure to slap it out on your pant leg and get any material that has balled up out of the grit. If you got chunks of crap ballin up in the sand paper get it out. Before continuing to drag it over what you are sanding. If you don't those little plugged up balls on the paper will mar what you are workin on.
Anything you sand should powder up and dust away like dry beach sand. If it don't after a day or few days of dryin

A. The paint isn't cured and is still mushy
B. What ever you used is junk paint

[rgorke]

Ok, here is an update. I am using Rustoleum Lacquer.

I decided to have the skinny pin stripe lines actually paint rather than pin stripe stickers. I know this is not exactly the way Ed had his. I had been wondering how I was going to tape the small stripes and went to the local hardware store. I was staring at the tape in the paint section and the guy stocking paint on the shelf said, "do you need some help." I said, "I am looking for some tape smaller than this" - holding the 3/4" blue tape. He said, "All we've got is this" and he picks up a small package with tape 1/8" x 10 yards. I nearly jumped and hugged him and kissed him on the mouth (well not really, but close). What a find!!!

Anyway, the taping was more difficult than I expected with winding the tape over the body and having it bunch up. I thought Ed originally used electrical tape and that would make sense that it is pliable. One of the hard ones was that squiggly line above the pickups.

So, I painted last night and let it dry over night and pulled the tape this morning. (This is was after rereading what DC wrote about only leaving the tape on a couple hours, oops.) There is also a smudge near the upper horn where the guitar fell when I was painting it. I figured I could rub that out and repaint if necessary OR I just began the relic process early.

I know it's exactly perfect but I am pleased with the results so far.

Roger's Franky taped.JPG (155.1 KiB) Viewed 1968 times

Roger's Franky Front.JPG (122.8 KiB) Viewed 1968 times

Roger's Franky Back.JPG (117.29 KiB) Viewed 1968 times

[matttornado]

That's an incredible fix you did with the neck pocket! Good work! The paint looks fantastic!
Now I want to build another guitar

[matttornado]

When I painted my alder body, I just used sanding sealer to prep the wood. It was enough. When painting ash, you'll need the filler for sure, the sanding sealer wont be enough. It's time consuming.

[dirtycooter]

Lookin good.
Pullin tape is a bitch. I kept my neck pocket completely bare the whole time and tapin that off around the pocket was a real pita!
My buddy gets his paint booth built for cars with a decent respirator I may get into paintin alot more as I really enjoy it, its just the fumes are so damn horrible. Definitly cause some dain bramage if you huff too much of it. Would love to know if the bigger cans of House of Color at $24 a pop will clear over with nitro. I dream of a rear route like my last with all pearl red, black, and white cleared over with super gloss nitro. I love wild colors and paints that aren't run of the mill standard colors. That would be a tit sucker I think. Maybe I will buy a chunk of ash and experiment some more. I am gettin the itch again.

[vanhalen5150]

This is the LP I've been building. Usually people stain the mahogany then use the grain filler. In My Les Paul forum a guy says to add the stain to the grain filler, so I tried that. Works great. I'm thinking if this could be done with a solid color for an initial base coat? Seems to make sense when you think about it.

http://forum.metroamp.com/viewtopic.php ... 7&start=15" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;