Black Strat project (My first build!)

[George Koleventis]

Ok! Nice to hear that! Hopefully the weather will be better tomorrow and i can start with the primer.
How many coats should i do? I was thinking about 2 or 3 coats with 30 mins appart. And then let the primer dry for at least a day.
The instructoins say 24 hours hard dry. I'm thinking to leave it to dry for 2 days and then sand it to prepare it for the color coat.
Any instructions about these??

[wazkelly]

Hi George, welcome to the forum.

That glue spot should not be an issue as it will be under many layers of primer, solid black, and then many more clear coats. Glue spots are a drama when staining the guitar as the affected part will not absorb stain.

With the fretboard I have finished a couple maple ones and on the first one I used no masking and bought some metal fret polishing guides on eBay which are ok but you can still easily end up scratching the surface when polishing the frets with steel wool. Better alternative is to cut out a section from a plastic ice cream container that is wide enough to cover fret board either side of the 1st fret and cut a slot in the middle to allow the fret to protrude on it's own. This will provide better protection when it comes time to polish the lacquer off the frets.

Good luck with the build and will be keen to see how it all comes together.

Cheers, Waz

[Simon Barden]

I'd go with Phrozin's guidelines for solid colours as he's been a professional car paint sprayer and really knows his stuff (also see how good his finished guitars look). Here's where he gives advice for spraying with rattle cans.
http://www.buildyourownguitar.com.au...l=1#post129444

[George Koleventis]

Nice tip for fret polishing there waz! Thnaks for sharing!
I'm ready to start with the body finishing and i'm trying to figure out a general pln for the whole process (primer,color,clear).
And so far i've come to this:
Spray 2 - 3 coats of primer 30 min appart.
Let it dry for 2 days.
Sand it flat.
Clean it.
Spray 2 - 3 coats of color.
Let it dry for....... ??? Thats a point where everyone has another story... Instructions say 24 hours hard dry.. So 3 days just to be on the safe side is ok????
Then does the color coat need sanding before clear coating?? Some sand it some others don't...
And then i have to apply 2 - 3 clear coats with 30 min apart.
And let it dry for....??? Again istructions say 24 hours hard dry.. So 3 days again will be ok??
And last but not least, after i've finished with the clear, do i have to do polishing or i can leave it as it is??
Is polishing worth it or i may screw up??

Thats a lot of questions i know but i have to make a plan for finishing and have all these answers before starting so i won't have any unpleasant surprices..!

[George Koleventis]

Seems like you got me Simon! I'll go through them and if i have any more questions i'll come back!
Thanks a lot!!

[George Koleventis]

Hi mates!
So today is a windy day again in Greece so no painting is gonna happen today.
I've masked the cavities of the body and i'm trying to find out how to hang the guitar for the painting process.
I've seen the hanging method with the thick wire but i doesn't look so good to me.
I'm trying to think how to make a DIY hanger tha can hang the guitar horizontaly (parallel to the ground) and maybe a way to rotate the body while painting.



Something like this..
Does anyone have a tip to share??
How did you do the paint job??

[Dedman]

Hi George, if the guitar has a hole for jack plate I generally put a dowel in there impale it that way, then do the neck on the bent wire system. If no jack socket I do what you have pictured with a fake neck. I have a small vice mounted on a short plank that I can clamp to a table, fence post or anything other handy place and hold the dowel or fake neck.

[D.K]

I normally just hang on wire through one of the neck holes, on a strat this area is covered with a plate in the end anyway. When I did my blue strat you couldn't even notice any marks before the plate went on.

[Simon Barden]

I bought a wooden 'lazy susan' turntable (not sure what you'd call them in Greece) like this one from Ikea http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/products/t...-art-90074483/ , then put a bit of cloth on it. You can only paint one side of the guitar at a time, but you can do the sides as well. and they always benefit from a bit of extra paint and it's easier to sand-through on the curved edges, and the top edge gets the most wear from your arm once you start playing it.

In reality, if you simply put a bit of cloth on the bench that's smaller than the body, then the body will happily rotate on the cloth if you pull on the body.

Certainly painting it flat produces less runs, but you can hang the body up and do it both sides if you're careful. Just don't hang it up too high or you won't be able to spray the top edges around the neck pocket properly.

[phrozin]

Nice tip for fret polishing there waz! Thnaks for sharing!
I'm ready to start with the body finishing and i'm trying to figure out a general pln for the whole process (primer,color,clear).
And so far i've come to this:
Spray 2 - 3 coats of primer 30 min appart.
Let it dry for 2 days.
Sand it flat.
Clean it.
Spray 2 - 3 coats of color.
Let it dry for....... ??? Thats a point where everyone has another story... Instructions say 24 hours hard dry.. So 3 days just to be on the safe side is ok????
Then does the color coat need sanding before clear coating?? Some sand it some others don't...
And then i have to apply 2 - 3 clear coats with 30 min apart.
And let it dry for....??? Again istructions say 24 hours hard dry.. So 3 days again will be ok??
And last but not least, after i've finished with the clear, do i have to do polishing or i can leave it as it is??
Is polishing worth it or i may screw up??

Thats a lot of questions i know but i have to make a plan for finishing and have all these answers before starting so i won't have any unpleasant surprices..!

Humm interesting choice, really don't think that's going to work that good, you will probably sand through each process if you go that way. sounds like your going to be using enamel, if so you will need 24 hours between coats and is a messy process to work with. if your going to be using acrylic it needs a lot longer to cure and a lot more coats. If you go by your post you will probably end up with a pretty ordinary looking body and have a few dramas along the way, what you posted is all wrong there's just not enough coats to allow for sanding and final sanding and polishing acrylic can look amazing but its needs a fair bit of work and on wood there are a few things that you just haft to do whether or not you want to

you can go here a few i have put in a folder to look at may help with your decision on paint choice

http://s587.photobucket.com/user/phr...he%20lot/story