adam email me at sonikboom@gmail.com
ill run you through many easy finishes , i build guitars for a living and id be happy to help but its just alot of info to post on the forum. i dont want to rob there bandwidth.

but heres some ground rules
oils= simple and durable if applied correctly
urethanes= easy but not as simple as oils. tuff as nails if used properly
nitro cellulose = a bitch to work with but will give you the vintage look.


you can get decent results with almost anything,
the key is surface prep. but im sure you knew that already.

sonikBOOM wrote:adam email me.

So cool, am doing!

On a semi-related note, what would be the thing to put down as a first coat if I have a guitar body that I'm planning on painting? And not painting in the one-color sense, I mean painting as in throw it to an artist friend and let them go buck wild on it.

Antero wrote:On a semi-related note, what would be the thing to put down as a first coat if I have a guitar body that I'm planning on painting? And not painting in the one-color sense, I mean painting as in throw it to an artist friend and let them go buck wild on it.

You'll want to seal it so the pores are filled it.
That can be a number of ways. If your friend isn't going to do a pro job on it - meaning, it's not going to look like one of those hair metal guitars from the 80's - you can just just a good primer. Then, sand it lightly, prime again, sand lightly again, then give to your friend.

-A

alex maiolo wrote:

Antero wrote:On a semi-related note, what would be the thing to put down as a first coat if I have a guitar body that I'm planning on painting? And not painting in the one-color sense, I mean painting as in throw it to an artist friend and let them go buck wild on it.

You'll want to seal it so the pores are filled it.
That can be a number of ways. If your friend isn't going to do a pro job on it - meaning, it's not going to look like one of those hair metal guitars from the 80's - you can just just a good primer. Then, sand it lightly, prime again, sand lightly again, then give to your friend.

-A

Awesome. Thanks for the rundown.

I have had 2 guitars painted by auto body dudes. I think my tele finish ended up at around $50 total with labor. My Washburn hockey stick was a bit more expensive as the guy had to fix up my initial refinish attempt.

Seriously, find a small body shop and ask.

On a related note...

I haven't bought a guitar in well over a decade, but I was recently looking at some instruments, trying to get an idea of what's out there these days.

And my question is, when did "relic" become a verb?

BadComrade wrote:

UncleLed&theZepTwins wrote:my question is, when did "relic" become a verb?

When Fender realized that idiots will pay $4000 for a brand new guitar that's been tossed around, beaten with a chain, and had it's hardware rusted.

Relicing is lots of fun to do yourself.But I went too far, said 'fuck it' , and stripped the body down. Rubbed in some mineral oil . Worked out swell.

Be careful not to fuck up yer guitar dood. I'll always remember my brother messing up a guitar by painting it when we were teenagers. Did I mention we were teenagers? Good luck.

m.koren wrote:

BadComrade wrote:

UncleLed&theZepTwins wrote:my question is, when did "relic" become a verb?

When Fender realized that idiots will pay $4000 for a brand new guitar that's been tossed around, beaten with a chain, and had it's hardware rusted.

Relicing is lots of fun to do yourself.But I went too far, said 'fuck it' , and stripped the body down. Rubbed in some mineral oil . Worked out swell.

Most times it looks like shit because people expect a poly finish to act like nitro.

"Relicing" is retarded anyway. Pretentious fucks...