OT, About painting a guitar in Automotive paint

Here is one I did

 

Hey! I had a right handed Washburn like that back in the 80's. Black w/ gold hardware and pinstripes.
Sounded like crap for rock (no bottom end).
Great for ska.

 

didn't read every single post just another "paint away" reply, works great

 

here's my bass painted with Seymour paint and cleared with car clear. it deadened the sound very slightly, but there wre many, many layers of paint! The difference is negligible. If it doesn't affect a large hollow body instrument, I doubt it would affect a solid body guitar

 

The type of paint you use can affect the tone, but how significantly is open to opinion. I prefer to finish all of my guitars in a transparent stain with a nitrocellulose lacquer finish. Its not the most durable finish, but the tone of my axes is second to none. I say go for the flake, guitars are like women..."How they look is more important than the sound that comes out of them"

 

Maybe I ought to repaint my cherry 59' smoke green two tone Gretsch Anniversary. ( 59' Chevy color) Ya know they used all the latest colors from GM. Hope it wasn't the same paint, eh?

 

WARNING OLD THREAD REVIVAL AHEAD!!!

I have hit the search function and tried to find going the other way. Everyone seems to want to cover up the goods. I want to get her NAKED!

Currently on the left and before handiwork on the right.

Need help taking automotive style paint off of a pretty decent piece (at least to me). Older (still trying to go gently to find serial #'s) Epiphone Gibson Les Paul Cherry Sunburst Left Handed in very nice shape so far...

In the heavy cleared areas I can gently peel away the upper layers and get to a milky white base coat that will come off with very gentle rubbing and 91% alcohol without affecting the original finish.

In the thinly painted areas not so much.

Now the $64,000 question. Is there anything that will touch the automotive paint without affecting a I am assuming a Nitro Cellulose type finish?

 

If it's an " Epiphone Gibson Les Paul" then it's most likely Korean made, or if you're lucky Japanese. But for the most part not very collectable. The newer ones are probably even cheaper than the late 80's ones were. All in all a decent guitar but not something that I would think is worth that much trouble. If the paint is fairly thin on it I've used steel wool to remove it from over top of the original finish. Then buffed the clear back to life.

Even some playing a long time can't tell, and some of the really good players you can put crap in their hands and it's fine. And just FYI, on some guitars you'll actually improve the sound...

 

Ok great thanks I am taking the paint off so it will sound much better then.

Back to my question.

 

ZMan Thanks treed me on the response that was not meant towards you.

I know it is not worth crap monitarily but it has a lot of value to me. And I would like to get it back if possible to original colors and set up.

It is a lefty and so approproately named EpiLectric as I cannot play and well seizure pretty much sums up my ability.

(And please no cards and letters about picking (err sorry) on the handicapped or afflicted or I will pla chords you never heard before in response!)

 

Here's a few I've done using Dupont and House Of Kolor paints, the first two are a pair I did for DD from the band OVERKILL,Next two were for Jack frost of Seven witches,the last one Is mine that I sprayed in 1976

 

Well urethane is pretty much a plastic, so yeah some guitars will sound better with a good finish on the, and some may sound worse. On some of the cheaper guitars a good solid finish can actually help sustain and tone. And if the finish detracted we would see more guitars sans finish. A denser heavier guitar usually has better sustain and tone than a soft light guitar. Same way that heavier strings can versus light strings. But then what do I know my newest guitar is only 49 years old and I've only been playing for 35 years.

 

Well when I bought this one it wasn't worth crap either...


Now it's worth 20 times what I paid for it 25+ years ago.
Hang on to yours, enjoy it and some day it may be worth a chunk of change. The other thing it's got going for it is it's a lefty.

Of course that plastic pickguard and plastic around the pickup are ruining the tone...

 

Here is my nephew's Epiphone SG that I had airbrushed for him for Christmas. It's his first guitar, so he loves it!

 

paint is overrated! my les paul has such soft factory finished paint that leanin her against her stand actually put wear marks on the back of the neck and body! guess what... who cares! my forearm and the knuckles of my right hand also do a number on the front... again, who cares! go tell willie nelson or neil young the paint affects tone and see what kinda response ya get..... turn the fucker up and play it! each and every guitar should be an individual and i dont mean store bought... let it wear while you tear!

 

Not even close. Continue being clueless.

 

I know the painter for the Fender Custom Shop.

 

I slept in a Holiday Inn last night.

 

Fuck it I'll just start a new thread.

 

Well anyone who knows the difference will tell you the wood is the most important component, but a good soildbody guitar is also the sum of it's parts. The finish is one of those parts, and like said, most less expensive modern guitars have a layer of plastic, which never improves anything. But if it's plastic on shit wood, who cares, right? That SG you have is old growth Mahogany with a factory nitrocellulose laquer, which is the finish that Gibson, Fender, and most other guitar makers used back in the day, and it's all I would EVER use to paint a good guitar (I have re-finished many). I disagree with the heavy wood vs. light wood argument, never been a fan of the heavy Fender or Gibsons which are typical of the 70's and 80's, they rarely have the ring and resonance of the earlier guitars, I'd be willing to bet your SG is a great example.

For anyone who is finishing a $500 solidbody, use whatever paint you think looks good, car paint, whatever. For any guitar that has soul, tone, resonance, LIFE!, a nitro finish is the way to go to let the wood ring and breathe. But what do I know, I've only been playing for 30 years! Haha.

 

FuelFC, to answer your question, you might try a gentle rubbing compound, but breaking through the nitro (if that's what it is, but I doubt it) is a danger (maybe try taping around the pinstripes?). If you get it all off, I highly recommend 3M Finesse-It II polish for buffing the clear of the fine scratches from the rubbing compound. It works wonders on nitro.

 

for a toughass topcoat finish over electrics using urethanes. use prestec clear. its a polyester(fiberglass) based clear. jackson custom shop guitars that are custompainted get finished with this and some otehrs i have heard too.

 

My point exactly well put

 

Back on topic...

Try searching the google for some VW guys that have been removing overfinishes on stock paint to reveal the underneath. Everything from oven spray to grafitti remover. It's fast acting so you have to be on your toes but I think you will get the finish off in thin enough layers to reveal what's under the top coat.

PS Googled it for ya, here it is... http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=76072&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

 

having worked on the "California Kid" guitars for Fender ,Along with my friend Manuel Reyes ( he did the flames on the original California Kid ). I can tell you that you absolutley can use auto paint on a solid body guitar without any problems . good luck with your project .

 

I did my first repaint on an SB electric guitar in 1965 and it worked out fine (metalflake blue for a musical instrument dealer named Sol Betnun - some of you old timers from SoCal might remember him). Since then I've done dozens of axxes for myself and for friends with no hassles.

Have used both lacquer and enamels would probably agree with the earlier posting about needing an oscilloscope to really see a difference.

My suggestion is to paint your guitar how you want to and don't get too technical about how it might affect sustain, etc.

 

and the funny thing, the old growth Mahogany is denser and heavier than the Mahogany they are using now. Hmmm... and the Maple tops used on Les Pauls and others are chosen because of these qualities. I was more talking about the choice of woods like Cherry, Maple, and Mahogany over the softer lighter stuff used in the cheap guitars. These woods are the heavier denser woods used. They give those guitars their sustain and tone.

 

i always use auto paint for my stuff....

 

Awsome work! Love the Telecaster body!