Quick painting/stencil question

[thebigz]

I loved that purple/pink rhoads that WYLDCHYLD got so much I'm going to do a paint job like that one one of my extra bodies I have laying around. I read Sully's guide and am planning on going the spray route, so I guess its a really thin coat every day or so until the can is gone?

I figure for the dots I'll just use a stencil. Would the correct idea be to tape the stencil on then apply the same process? So I'm looking at a month or so to do the body, then another month do the dots. I just want to be sure this is correct before I start.

Thanks

[cullenszoo]

what kind of spray are you using. the drying/curing time seems a bit long

[DonP]

How to apply the paint depends on the type of paint. You can either apply another coat when the current one is tacky (up to 3 or 4 in a day), or you can wait until the first coat drys completely then wet sand and apply each additional coat.

I prefer to melt the coats together.

[thebigz]

I was just planning on using Krylon. According to what Sully's guide says, just use a TON of thin coats and be sure its dry before you do the next.

What is melting coats?

[john.w.lawson]

You can spray the same day if you use good auto pant, drys fast should take a week then clear another week.

[john.w.lawson]

I hate this phone, paint!!

[DonP]

What is melting coats?

Melting is when you spray on one coat, it starts drying but not too dry, and you spray on the next coat and it melts together with the prior coat.

The opposite is to let coats dry completely, which gives you layers, but IMO layers can chip easier.

Nitro laquer always melts into the prior coats. This is why people say it's easier to touch up.

[cullenszoo]

I've had some serious success with Krylon. Most are enamel so they can take a while to cure but if you use a clear lacquer on top it will be cured hard in a day or so.
With the Krylon, I found it easier to apply 4 or 5 light coats about a half hour apart and then let it dry over night, 8-10 hrs. you want a good solid layer of paint on top of the primer before you do your first wet sanding. if there are no runs or really bad spots, 1500 and 2000 grit wet-dry works best. use plenty of water and sand the whole body down.
after you wipe it down and the body is dry, apply 4 or 5 more light coats and let it dry over night. sand and repeat this until you've used the whole can. now since your talking about doing dots, you really only need to apply enough to get a solid color with no runs or flaws. make sure the dot color is the lighter than the top color. say blue or pink with white polka dots. spray the dot color, mask and spray a few coats of the top color. if you use too much it will show up when you pull your stencil off. just apply enough to get a good coat of the top color. say, 4 or 5 light coats. let it dry over night, pull your stencils and wet sand, smoothing it out.
Clear Coat:
Make sure you are completely happy with the color coats because a lacquer clear will not crack but if you decide to start over enamel on top of lacquer will crack and cause all sorts of issues.
do the same process as the color coats. 4 or 5 light coats, dry over night, wet sand repeat. I use a whole can of Minwax Crystal Clear gloss because I want a good protective layer. after you run out, give it 8-10 hrs and wet sand with 2000 grit using plenty of water. At this point your ready to buff. I picked up an electric buffer by turtle wax for $20 at Walmart. all the other supplies came from there too. I started with a basic scratch remover paste by turtle wax. I buffed the whole body and hand buffed the inside of the horns. Then I used Maquiers Scratch X next. buffing the whole thing again. I changed from the foam applicator to the polishing cover and polished it to a mirror shine.
Give it 24 hrs and your body is ready to go.



Note: The tiger stripe photo is polyurethane over a decal. I wanted something super strong to keep the vinyl decal from fading or wearing down.

[DonP]

I don't know about "most" Krylon being enamel. Any paint that can dry and let you wet sand in less than a day is not enamel IMO. Most Krylon I buy dries in less than a day.

[cullenszoo]

I don't know about "most" Krylon being enamel. Any paint that can dry and let you wet sand in less than a day is not enamel IMO. Most Krylon I buy dries in less than a day.

All the ones I have used were enamel. oddly enough if it has pigment it dries a lot faster but when I tried Krylon's clear gloss. Wow, After 3 months it still wasn't cured so I put a coat of clear lacquer.

[thebigz]

Thanks!

[sully]

Just skimmed this real quick, but my first thought was "what paint thing of mine did you read?" although I'm assuming it was the post from mm2002 in the Tech sticky.


Anyway, my remaining thoughts:


1. Read the Refinishing 101 article at reranch.com a million times. Then read it again
2. For the love of tacos, don't use enamel or krylon. If you're stuck using rattle cans, use lacquer. You can get it in many different colors (Duplicolor makes acrylic lacquer which is commonly found in auto parts stores,and you can get it in many different colors). In a jam, you can use Deft (which is basically Nitro, and you can get it at Lowe's) for Sanding sealer and clear. Reranch also has great stuff, as does stewmac. Also, never use more than 2/3 or so of the can; once you get that far down, your mix is mostly propellant, and it'll be more prone to spitting.
3. Don't even think of wetsanding or buffing it out in anything less than 30 days after your last clear coat. That stuff takes so long to gas off and shrink that if you start too soon, you may wind up removing too much, and what's left winds up sinking into the grain. Bad times.
4. After it's done, keep any painted/cleared area off of any guitar stand that doesn't have a fabric barrier between the stand or the guitar. There will be discolorations after awhile if you don't.

Sully

[Learn Guitars]

Just skimmed this real quick, but my first thought was "what paint thing of mine did you read?" although I'm assuming it was the post from mm2002 in the Tech sticky.


Anyway, my remaining thoughts:


1. Read the Refinishing 101 article at reranch.com a million times. Then read it again
2. For the love of tacos, don't use enamel or krylon. If you're stuck using rattle cans, use lacquer. You can get it in many different colors (Duplicolor makes acrylic lacquer which is commonly found in auto parts stores,and you can get it in many different colors). In a jam, you can use Deft (which is basically Nitro, and you can get it at Lowe's) for Sanding sealer and clear. Reranch also has great stuff, as does stewmac. Also, never use more than 2/3 or so of the can; once you get that far down, your mix is mostly propellant, and it'll be more prone to spitting.
3. Don't even think of wetsanding or buffing it out in anything less than 30 days after your last clear coat. That stuff takes so long to gas off and shrink that if you start too soon, you may wind up removing too much, and what's left winds up sinking into the grain. Bad times.
4. After it's done, keep any painted/cleared area off of any guitar stand that doesn't have a fabric barrier between the stand or the guitar. There will be discolorations after awhile if you don't.

Sully

This, although you think you are getting great results with the Enamel, you will get better with Lacquer. It is just that most people attempting to paint stuff, do not have the patience to wait for the shipment of lacquer to get there. Do not try to spray lacquer over enamel.

[cullenszoo]

This, although you think you are getting great results with the Enamel, you will get better with Lacquer. It is just that most people attempting to paint stuff, do not have the patience to wait for the shipment of lacquer to get there. Do not try to spray lacquer over enamel.

You are by far the expert in this field, what's up with the lacquer over enamel? I had good results. Was it just blind luck?

[sully]

It's more to do with enamel curing much slower than lacquer and "crossing the streams" so to speak. It's generally best and safest to finish with what you started with (with a few exceptions). For example, you can shoot lacquer over cured urethane.

Sully