Guitar Finishing

I have been very busy learning about finishes and how to effectively apply them to guitars. 

For a few years, I had a Warmoth Jazzmaster body hanging over my bed.  I used a can of Rustoleum enamel spray paint in seafoam green.  Aside from already having a guitar in seafoam green, I decided I wanted to try lacquer. 

I tried an all natural paint remover that looked like the slime river under New York City in Ghostbusters 2.  What a messy mistake.  In the end, I used Rustoleum's Aircraft Remover (found in the automotive section of Walmart).  The Aircraft Remover is nasty hazardous stuff.  I always read the warnings on all chemicals and any that promise neurological damage with repeated exposure should be taken seriously.  This means absolutely no indoor use and avoid breathing this crap in if you can.

With the warnings out of the way, it works really damned well!  I wish I had started off using it instead of making the mess with the natural pinkish orange crap. 

In the mean time, I had another Jazzcaster (Jazzmaster body + Telecaster function) that I had ordered and a neck that also needed to be painted.  I set up a small paint booth (and it begs to be expanded upon).  I sprayed the neck with a bunch of clear lacquer spray cans.  Any time there was a run I wet sanded it out with 400-600 grit paper.  I also sprayed the fretboard which is some sort of dark exotic wood (I don't recall which at the moment). 

I have been fascinated by sprayed fretboards ever since I noticed that Rickenbacker has sprayed fretboards. 

Finishing the neck is seemingly easier since I chose not to tint it.  This means that I only applied clear finish. 

The body on the other hand required more attention. 

I "sealed" the wood with a quick shot of lacquer and then sprayed aerosol lacquer sander/sealer.  That stuff stinks!  And in retrospect I would have skipped this step and used either more lacquer or shellac.  Sanding sealer is used because it is easy to sand but in actuality it is a weaker finish than regular lacquer (hence it being easier to sand). 

Then I used an aerosol (noticing a trend?) can of white shellac based primer.  I shook the can well but that stuff comes out gloppy and has some sort of agent in it to stop it from drying quickly.  This is another can that stinks terribly and not just of alcohol.  I made an absolute mess with the shellac primer so I had a lot of sanding to do. 

Fortunately the primer dries very fast and pretty hard.  It was also in this ghostly white which I was half tempted to leave the finish in.  I actually liked the color.

I started applying the color coats in a spray can.  Spray can lacquer from Home Depot or Lowes only comes in 3 colors (white, black, and clear) so I went with white.  The color coats went on easy and again any runs were handled after a 24 hours with some sandpaper. 

After I wet sanded the finish so that it was flat and would shine really nicely under a clear coat. 

One problem with white finishes is that they show absolutely every piece of dust or dirt in the air on your guitar.  The clear finish managed to attract damned near everything it could.  There were blue pieces of dust in the air!!  BLUE!!!  Why?  How!? 

They seem to be pretty well in the finish.  And of course during touch ups I managed to sand through the finish on a place.  I may just buff the finish out and kind of call it what it is...A low budget spray job and next time use the HVLP gun I bought (after I started) or the disposable spray unit sold at Home Depot and Stew Mac and mix my own lacquer so I have a bit more control over it (the canned stuff is orange peel city!).  Even the clear dries with a nasty orange peel unless you spray too much at which point it runs. 

I also purchased an air filter for use when I spray to remove dust from the air.  I figure I'll just run it for an hour before I start painting and see if that helps.  It certainly cannot hurt. 

I also have another guitar that I've been having a try at french polishing...but more on that in another post.