Guitar Pedal Finishes

[Andy40]

Hi guys,
I haven't forgotten about this awesome forum topic, just got too many projects on the go. after the success for my tubescreamer I'll move on to my Madbean Blues breaker.....eventually.

I've attempted to finish my first pedal in acrylic, its a bit lackluster, I was thinking about getting into powder coating ...where to start and where do you get the stuff from?

I do not know....anyway just thought i'd kick this off with some thoughts or ideas, doesn't have to be about powder coating

[mjg]

Some diy pedal makers use envirotex on the top. Haven't used it myself, but it's an impressive shiny finish if you get it right.

I'm currently experimenting with laser etched Perspex. Yet to see if it's going to work...

You can buy pretty cheap powder coated enclosures from Tayda. They're not bad. Or really nice ones with your design laser etched from pedal parts plus. But that takes the fun out of it if you wanted to diy it.

I've seen people do their own powder coating in an old toaster oven type thing. No idea what is involved other than it needs to bake.

[Simon Barden]

You need to be able to put an electric charge on the item to be painted so that the powder is attracted to it and sticks to it, otherwise the powder would just float around and never stick to the sides, just settle on the upper surfaces.

[Chuck]

When I did my fuzz face clone I simply primed the enclosure then my daughter painted it with those little Humbrol enamel tins you use with models. Then posca pen for the writing and a clear coat and it came up well.

[DrNomis_44]

With my Rangemaster Treble-Booster pedal, all I did to finish the casing for the pedal was to first give it a wipe down with a piece of cloth soaked in Electrical Contact Cleaner to clean off any grease and marker pen ink, then I sprayed the outside surfaces with some grey etch-primer and left it to dry for a few hours, then I sprayed a few coats of acrylic Sky Blue spraypaint on the casing and left that to dry overnight, the next day I applied some letraset labeling to the case and then sprayed it with a few coats of clear acrylic, and then left it to dry completely before assembling the pedal, it seems to have held up pretty well, although the pedal has developed some "customized" relicing.