Painting

Axe_meister

I have an old Warmoth body I want to paint candy apple red (silver under coat with transparent red on top).
Given you need a number of layers of the silver and red.
A) do I need to prime the body

Will I still need to clear coat on top.

SteveRobinson

Yes, if the surface you spray the silver onto isn't 100% flat the metallic will amplify every fault.

Yes because of you flat sand without the barrier if a clear coat you risk rubbing the red through and therefore paler in patches.

I've got a demo on my website.

Axe_meister

How many coats of each colour and clear coat?

poopot

I did a strat a while back...

white base coat flat back and spray again if you burn through...

then silver

then the clear red...

Then clear coats... make sure you get that on enough so when you flat back you don’t wear through the red...

SteveRobinson

Axe_meister said:

How many coats of each colour and clear coat?

It depends how thick your coats are

GoldenEraGuitars

Axe_meister said:

How many coats of each colour and clear coat?

You would be best to do some testers before attempting doing a guitar body.

Spraying a candy finish is one of the more difficult jobs a painter will do. With a candy finish the more coats you add the more saturation you’ll achieve. With your test pieces you’ll be able to determine what shade of red you want to go for and note how many coats it took to achieve. 

Kalimna

Having rattlecan sprayed 3-4 guitars now, my advice would be to use *at least* a full can of clear over the final colour coat. You may not need it, but there are few things as depressing as seeing a hint of colour on the abrasive when you are at the polishing stage. Don't rush the coats, and follow SteveRobinsons and SCRelics advice.

Axe_meister

If I want to add a sparkle to the Candy Apple red, do I just get the silver paint with a sparkle?
Also spray can vs Spray gun?