Posted by: @rocknroller912

Interesting point you made about paint being too wet and causing problems. Could this happened with a spray can if it’s not been shaken enough and the solvent/paint mix is wrong.

@rocknroller912 Yeah of course it could happen with a rattle can, especially if not shaken. Even though I shook my rattle can this time and it was mixed well, I put it on pretty wet and this is what happened. I only put it on wet because I use some isolator first but I only used one coat of that, maybe I should have used more. It’s interesting though that the majority of the fryup is around the edges of where I sprayed the isolator, not in the middle where it was at it’s thickest. 

I’ve been away for a couple of days but got back today and sanded this back, again. It’s ready for some more primer paint, again. Maybe tomorrow. 😉

@boo have you found anywhere that sells frog tape at a good price, I’m nearly out but it seems to have gotten a lot more expensive of late?

Posted by: @tej

have you found anywhere that sells frog tape at a good price, I’m nearly out but it seems to have gotten a lot more expensive of late?

@tej Not really, it’s just quite expensive these days. I’m sure an alternative, that is just as good, will turn up at some point but until it presents itself I just buy Frog Tape from Amazon.co.uk 

@tej 

you could try the pound shops or B&M think they sell it. £7 a roll in my local diy shop.

Posted by: @robin

@boo   Is that you using an aerosol can, just like us amateurs do.

🤣 🤣 🤣 

Okay, I ditched the “amateur” rattle cans (nearly) @robin 😂

I did use more of the isolator (rattle can), let it dry and sanded it back, ready to take some nitro primer. 

Time for the nitro primer. 1st coat is very light to check for reactions, you can still see the shadow of the isolator paint bleeding through. That will disappear when opacity is gained with a couple more coats. Looking good so far. 

Couple more coats and it’s looking much better. I’ll let it settle for a couple of days and sand it, again. Then I’ll check to see if it needs even more primer. 

Unmasked and left to dry. There is a little splatter of primer from the gun left on the surface, that will just sand flat when it’s dry. 

@boo

Thanks for sharing this, it’s giving us all a free masterclass in painting

Posted by: @rocknroller912

Thanks for sharing this, it’s giving us all a free masterclass in painting

@rocknroller912 No probs. Painting is like voodoo black magic sometimes and it’s just finding the right chemistry to make it work. There is no point in me just sharing the triumphant paint jobs, I share the things that go wrong too and how I fix them. That will be more valuable for everyone because knowing how to recover when things go wrong is part of the job of paint spraying. 
I’m not saying all of my methods are absolute and are the only approach to take, but some of them work sometimes and others don’t. The main thing is to stay calm, rethink and reapply. I hope that I have a positive impact on this website/in this forum, I don’t upload content just to show off. If I can show others that anyone can paint, even though it’s not always the easiest thing to do, I’ll be happy. I’m not a paint guru, I just bring a little knowledge from the auto paint industry, I’m still learning how to adapt that to guitar building and painting. 

@boo

Your impact is very positive for sure. I had never heard of isolator paint before, although I’ve done a lot of wood finishing.

Posted by: @rocknroller912

Your impact is very positive for sure. I had never heard of isolator paint before, although I’ve done a lot of wood finishing.

@rocknroller912 Thanks. I guess isolator is one of the products I’ve brought over from vehicles to guitars (metal to wood). There is no reason why it shouldn’t work in woodwork and guitar building, it’s just a neutral barrier to put in between different types of paint, if needed. There will be more things I’m sure. 

@boo

I’m planning a 3 colour sunburst body sometime probably after the winter unless I can find a good way of heating my garage up to temperature, so I might need to pick your brains. I have yellow and red nitro ready mixed from Tonetech and will have to mix the black using clear and tint. I’m thinking of getting a gravity fed gun after reading all your posts as obviously a guitar body doesn’t need the same quantity as a vehicle.

I’ve just binge-watched / read this thread as part of my catch-up.

When I re-started reading, on page 4, I wondered how the thread had managed to get to 12 pages long.  Things were looking good on page 4!

In summary then;

• Do the basic woodwork.  3 days.
• Do the fine work - fretting etc.  2 days.
• Finishing prep, finishing and re-finishing.  3 months.
• Re-re-finishing.  2 weeks.

And we don’t even know if there’s going to be another few chapters over another few pages yet!

@boo, I’m in awe at your persistence and dedication in the pursuit of finish perfection.  With all the time and effort that you’ve put in to getting that one part of the finish to look just-right, this should be a stunning guitar.

@tv101

I think you have got the timelines fairly accurate. Woodwork is not that difficult but finishing is. I follow some professional restorers in the violin world and it often takes several attempts over many months to get a result that they are happy with.

@tv101 Thanks T, appreciate it. 

The finishing section you mention (3 months) is partly due to life getting in the way and the dry/curing times of products I used. Another part of the problem is that I alone chose to use certain products that threw a spanner in the works a few times. The customer wanted nitro paint and that naturally takes longer to cure than other paints I normally use. I don’t like blaming my tools and products I’ve used, it’s better to be true to myself and admit my mistakes instead. 

At some point in the near future, I want to make a guitar from start to finish as fast as I can and see what happens (staying safe too though). I’ll start with a baseline of 1 week; I’ll do maybe 8 hrs a day. If I can do one in a week, I think I could push it to building two at the same time in that same week. 

It’s all good fun. 

Posted by: @rocknroller912

I’m planning a 3 colour sunburst body sometime probably after the winter unless I can find a good way of heating my garage up to temperature, so I might need to pick your brains. I have yellow and red nitro ready mixed from Tonetech and will have to mix the black using clear and tint. I’m thinking of getting a gravity fed gun after reading all your posts as obviously a guitar body doesn’t need the same quantity as a vehicle.

@rocknroller912 Yeah definitely I’ll help you as much as I can. I know where you can get some great nitro, including black. 

@rocknroller912 And, it will give me a chance to practice and improve my own burst painting on guitars. 

A gravity fed gun is a must I would say. Buy the best you can afford (to use Mark’s ethos) and try to stay clear of cheap, crappy spray guns (false economy and all that). If you want help chowing a decent gun, let me know. 👍