Dither, dither, on the wall...
I recently started collecting the parts for a partscaster.
I've been acquiring the bits over the past couple of months and have a Mighty Mite maple neck and a guitarbuild.co.uk two-piece swamp ash body. I have some tuners and a bridge from Axetec and I'm aiming to get some Oil City Triple Blues for the pups, with some Eric Johson style wiring from North West Guitars.
So I know what I'm putting together, but what will it look like when I'm done? Well...
I'm planning on a deep wine red colour. Not purple, a really deep Bordeaux or Beaujolais sort of thing. I'd love to do a Wudtone, but they don't have anything like that currently. I've emailed Andy to ask what he thinks about putting something together for me and as he hasn't replied yet (a week), I'm guessing he's on his jollies.
So while I wait for him to come back, I'm pondering the possibilities should he respectfully decline.
I could do it with the same old same old car paint style, but I've never yet managed to get a nice shiny finish out of those. Nothing wrong with a matt finish per se, but I'd quite like to have a shiny finish for once, it makes a guitar look like it's a proper job.
However, I'm not great with the sanding between coats thing, as
all I ever seem to do (despite using the highest grades of papers I can
find, never less than 600 or 800) is remove the coat I've just put on or
scratch the bejaysus out of it in a way that's impossible to fix
without spraying over it again.
So what I'd like is an idiot-proof way of getting a nice colour with a shinyish finish.
Are there any other types of paint/finish I could use to get that nice shiny look, or am I fated to either change my colour preferences to something that Wudtone actually does? (A Claptonesque Blackie is a distant second option atm, but I already have two black guitars and I want summat different.) I'm not keen on another natural one as I already have a natural Stratparts and a natural Teleparts. Besides, the swamp ash in this case is very light coloured indeed and the two parts don't match very well, so going natural wouldn't really work this time.
Any ideas at all?
If you must have sex with a frog, wear a condom. If you want the frog to have fun, rib it.
Comments
Then I don't sand again until the clear coat, unless there's a really obvious flaw in the finishing - speck of dirt etc. Just spray primer (or not if you want the grain to show a little) then colour coats, then clear coats. If you're spraying right you don't need to sand between colour coats at all.
Once the clear has cured flat it back, go right the way to 2000grit wet and dry paper with a block, then use a good polishing compound, applied with a microfiber cloth and a lot of elbow grease. I use Farecla G10, buffs to an amazing shine.
It's a really all about patience though, I've lost count of the amount of finishes I've ruined by sanding too soon after spraying!
I have body I'd finished badly and fully sanded back about 8 times, must be a good centimetre thinner than when I bought it!
Buying good nitro paint really helps I've found, the cans may be £12 each but the pressure and fan of the nozzle just makes it so much easier to get a decent result. It really is worth paying a bit more for them. I was originally using plastikote, and car paints.
You're right, I was using the cheap plastikote and car paints, but not because they were cheap - I don't know where to get the proper stuff. Besides, I'd heard that nitro paints aren't great for tone (like it'll matter with my sausage fingers anyway).
Is it the stuff like this for example?
I also use wood finishes direct for their Morells nitro clear, good price, great nozzle and really fast initial drying time.
I've found the David Dyke's Burnishing Cream to be superior to G10, its finer to start with and will rub out scratches easily and is a lot less fussy about technique.