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i don't know if anyone her could help me but i am custimizing my guitar and i need to paint it. i don't own a spray gun so is their a good brand of spray paint i couls use or somthin g like that. i need primer then ill need some color paints and then a clear coat finish but i want a clear coat that won't leave smudges when you touch it with your hands. any suggestion.

If you want to do a traditional nitrocellulose lacquer finish, visit from : localhost/read quot;ReRanch 101quot; until you've almost memorized it, and check out the forum there. Then buy your rattle cans from Bill.

Stewart McDonald also sells dyes and paint supplies.

The Musical Instrument Makers Forum, especially the quot;Libraryquot;, is a great resource too: from : localhost/this helps.

Chip

P.S. You need to figure out what's on your guitar right now. If it's a polyurethane finish, you need to stick with poly (or strip amp; sand down to bare wood and start over).

ive stripped my guitar down to bare wood and got it baby ass smooth i want to put down a wood sealer then a copper color and then a finish that won't smudge

I stripped my strat down to bare wood, and wanted to go with a stain instead of paint. I would strongly suggest getting at least the paint from re-ranch as suggested above...it's specifically mixed for use on guitars.

As to the clearcoat, I tried several different applications, including the spray nitrocelluose and spray clear lacquer. I had poor results with both. Nitro takes more patience than I have, as well as requiring wet sanding between coats. I finally found Minwax Wipe On Poly....and it worked like a charm.

All you need to do a great application is a lint free cloth for wiping, a tac cloth to pick up any remaining dust or lint particals and some 0000 steel wool between coats. I GENTLY went over the finish (in your case the paint) with the steel wool, just to get surface adhesion. Then a thin coat of the wipe on poly applied with the lint free cloth. I let dry at least 4 hours inbetween, and 24 hours after every other coat. Lightly scratch up the previous coat with steel wool, until the finish just becomes hazy. Wipe down with tac cloth and repeat. I used about 9 very thin coats to achieve the results I wanted. I could have achieved a deeper shine by wet sanding and adding more coats...but it was enough for me. Here's a pic:
thank you both for your advice think ive decided what i want. ill go with base coat then copper tone color and then use the minwax wipe on poly because your strat looks awesome. i know you can't judge that kind of stuff from a picture but from what you two said and other have said polyurathane sounds good for a finish, thanks again

I've had very good results with spray-on poly myself, but it does require a lot of patience and time. I don't mind working hard as long as the results are worth the trouble.

^^^nice....im like the other guy trhough i want it to be a great guitar and turn out nice but i would not have the patience

With painting, it's all about patience. Gotta prep right, let coats dry properly and sand/buff when it's cured. I use automotive poly so I don't have to wait as long...hardware store poly, spray or brush will take time to cure. A couple weeks to a month I'd guess unless you live in a dry hot place. Good luck.

thanks i had sanded my guitar and put a wood sealer on it then i found a guy who paints cars. he said he would put on a few coats of paint and a nice finish so it whould be done in a week or two