How to paint/color a guitar?

[ACfireandiceDC]

Hi,

I've been a guitarist for six years, and I'm buying a DIY kit because it seems really cool. I want to add a lot of custom features to it.

Anyway, I don't know a lot about the finishing/painting aspect of guitars and I'm hoping someone can help. the guitar body and neck are raw, so when I get it, there will be no finish or anything.

I'm just wondering if there is a satin or gloss finish I could use on the guitar. I want to do this the correct way (if there is one or more ways to).

Can I prime the guitar and then spraypaint it? Because I'm really worried about the cost. I heard that the entire process may cost up to $600 and a "swirl" pattern (like Steve Vai's guitar) might cost $400.

Is there a cheap way to safely paint a guitar?

 

[Njaton]

I did one with spray paint just to see if i could. It turned out pretty good actually (I did a white back with a marbled silver top). You can get gloss and satin paints and local hardware stores. Just be sure to load up on clear coat, and good luck

 

[ctgblue]

there are tons of DIY guitar sites out there

what it always comes down to is, how smooth do you want the finish?

if a rough coat is okay, then 'rattle cans away'
you can do a surprisingly good job with 'paint' if you have a steady hand, let it dry right, and do a couple of 'super fine' polish passes between coats

if you want a mirror finish, it's a good spray gun and an ungodly amount of sanding, polishing, finishing

I just stain and tung oil mine, I like woodgrain the best anyway

Plus, I'm lazy and am not going to invest 40 hours of finish time to stain and clearcoat a guitar properly when I could buy a body from Warmoth for $400-500 already done if I was picky

good luck

here's my walnut strat, tung oiled
next build is a 3 hb tele, stained and oiled

I went to an 800 grit finish sand before starting the oil process, still took a week+ to oil and dry

 

[Les]

My second bass ever (ive had many since then, was around the 1999) was a Carvin Kit. I painted it with black lacquer. Its a helluva finish, but with lacquer it requires buffing wheels in the final stages, and lots of drying time in between. It was krylon or ACE brand laquer in a spray can. Just like anything, its all about the prep. And of course patience. You can also go with natural finish with oils and rubs. Growing in popularity for sure. I would shy away from every day spray paint, unless your going to do lots of coats and then clear over it. That takes quite a while longer than the lacquer.

 

[Spamspam]

Doing a swirl is cheap. Borax runs a few bucks, container a few more, paints run a few dollars per color. I've done a few. Sand the guitar, prime it with whatever you want your base color to be (rattle can colored primer), fill up a large garbage can with tap water, add some borax, make sure the temp is right. Drip your swirl colors on top of the water, mix em up, then dip the guitar. After drying, use rattle can lacquer. Sand and buff.

Work intensive, but comes out cool.

 

[Señor Voorhees]

I've done a bunch with just rattle cans. Lots of painting, drying, sanding, painting, drying, sanding, etc. until it gets nice and smooth. I've done stencils and graphics too. Nothing I'd ever sell to anyone, but they look nice to me. They're always matte though, since I lack the tools to properly buff to a high gloss.

 

[UltraParanoia]

I'm going to do my C7 with spray cans after our next few gigs when I know I wont need it for a little while.

Should be very interesting...

Worked for EVH, it'll work for me