I finally have all the old paint off of the body and it has been primed. So I’m going to go through some step by step points to try to help you guys understand the project. I’ll start with the body and then go on to the headstock. I have also uploaded many new pictures to the pictures section. It is in the form of a slideshow video in order to save scrolling space. Anyway, back to the paint descriptions.

Body:

·         I first removed all the old paint. Now, it’s not necessary to do what I did. I scraped it down to the bare wood because I used a chemical paint stripper. The paint stripper made it fairly impossible to get all the paint to one level, unless I went to bare wood. If you are just going to use sandpaper, all you need to do is sand down until the entire layer of clear coat is gone. This ensures that your primer will have something to grip. You must be careful when using this method though because certain types of paint may react with others. So, the paint that the company used may be harmful to your finish. Though I know it is a pain, it is best to sand all the way down to the white layers beneath the paint. These are layers of sand sealer. If you use my route, you can go to Home Depot or Rona and pick up a can (or two) of Behr “The Stripper”. This is what I used and it worked wonderfully in removing the paint layers. I’m not sure what the active ingredient is in this stuff, but it reacts extremely well with heat. I found this out by accident, but it was a great accident to stumble upon. I had to spray outside because there would have been no ventilation in my basement. It was really sunny and hot this past week, so as I sprayed the paint stripper, I noticed that it seemed to be bubbling and turning the paint (all layers at once) into a flimsy papery substance. This was extremely easy to scrape off all at once and it left a relatively clean finish.

·         Once I got the paint off, I began sanding. By sanding the surface, you can smooth out any bumps as well as provide a surface suitable for painting. I began with coarse-grit sandpaper. You need to make sure you sand long enough and hard enough to remove any impurities left behind by the paint. I noticed that while sanding with the coarse-grit paper, I was removing green-coloured sawdust. Wood shouldn’t be green. Once it was a more wood-like colour, I went to the medium-grit; this smoothed the surface out even more. After a few rounds of medium-grit paper, I went to a fine-grit brick (we didn’t have any sheets of fine-grit left). Again, this smoothed out the surface and I was almost ready for my first round of primer. However, I was not completely done sanding yet (it takes quite a while). I then took fine-grit wet/dry sandpaper. This is different than regular wood sandpaper. It is made of aluminum oxide rather than the commonly used garnet-made sandpaper. This different material, along with its adhesive makes it waterproof. After soaking the sandpaper for 5-10 minutes, I began my final portion of sanding. The wet sanding removes oil from the surface and can help pick up some of the sawdust left behind by the other sandpapers. Using a dry rag, I quickly prepared the guitar for painting.

·         One last step before applying the primer was masking the electronics area. Using painter’s tape, I taped off the pickup holes, pot, switch, input jack, and bridge areas. This keeps the paint out of those areas. You want to ensure that you don’t get any paint in those areas. You wouldn’t want spray paint particles collecting themselves all over your pickups and wires.

·         Prime time! If you want to paint the entire body at once (as I do), take a metal clothes hanger, bending the end so that it can reach through the whole where the neck is screwed in. I hang my guitar from my clothes rack in my backyard. After spraying and letting it dry for a few minutes, I pick up the clothes hanger and move it to the shed and hang it there. This keeps stuff from flying into the paint (it’s windy and I have a tree that likes to shed) as well as protects it from the sun. The sun is your paint jobs worst nightmare!

And that’s as far as I’ve gotten so far using the body. Tomorrow, I will spray my base layer of red for the stripes. Sunday or Monday (likely Monday), I will begin adding the white layer. Once all the paint is done, I will be able to apply my clear coat and it will hopefully be done by the end of next week (in time for my band’s shows I hope).

Headstock:

·         So I’m currently on my third attempt at painting the headstock. For the first attempt, I used a paintbrush and this left brush marks that were very ugly. Second time, I mixed enamel paints with lacquers (without using primer) and it turned out horrible (there were runs and all sorts of bad stuff). Now, I have (hopefully) learned from my mistakes. I have a practice piece of wood to practice the design and make sure the paints work well together. I am also making sure I use the same type of paint for each layer!

·         To paint the headstock, like the body, you must sand it down until you reach bare wood. Jay Turser has an obsession with clear coat and shiny looking guitars. Unfortunately, they are poorly made guitars. Again, use the different levels of sandpaper to smooth out the surface and prepare it for painting.

·         Once it is sanded, it’s time to mask again. Use painter’s tape to mask off the sides of the headstock. Also be sure to mask off the part of the neck that touches the headstock. Paint on the neck is not good! To ensure that no paint gets on the neck, I took two pieces of newspaper and wrapped them around the neck, taping the paper to make sure it stays wrapped and securing it to the neck. Though it is tough to do, cut a piece of the tape to fit into the truss rod area.  I found some little cotton balls that fit perfectly into the tuner holes as well as the truss rod area. This isn’t necessary but it keeps things clean in those areas.

·         After it was sanded and masked, I applied two coats of primer. Though it is “fast-drying” primer, I made sure I waited a day or so to let it dry. Once I was certain it was all dry, I applied my first couple layers of red. I didn’t need to paint the whole headstock red since I am only going to have a stripe of it actually showing. After a day or so again, I masked the stripe and began painting black to get my thin black stripe below the red. Once that is dry, I will add another mask that covers that black stripe and then will begin my white layers. After white, clear coating will be the final step.

That’s where I stand and hopefully, it helps to understand the process I’ve taken to complete the project. Paint Part Two and Pickup blogs will be up as soon as I get to them. The pickups should be coming in within the next few days.

-- Mike

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