I want someone to do a half decent job on painting a guitar body

SquireJapan

So ... odd request (?)

I have a used Warmoth body that's currently bare wood. I don't want it to be bare wood, and I would genuinely just get a rattle-can and spray it to make it a colour.

I don't want to pay professional prices (cos I don't want a professional job).

If I had any outside space (I'm in a flat) I'd genuinely just rattlecan it ... does anyone fancy doing this for beer money (and materials)?

Enthusiastic amateur want a practice body?

GoldenEraGuitars

Got any friends with a shed or garage? Definitely a DIY job if you can get access to either.

SquireJapan

^no garage and no friends …

(with a garage )

that’s what I get for living in London. 

I know one person with a garden, but it’s all a bit fancy 

Musical_Mystery_Tour

Get some tough string, drive to an industrial estate on a Sunday when it wil be quiet, then string it up through one of the screw holes on the corner of an empty car parking area fence and spray away. But, to make a fairly decent job job of it, spray build primer first, then let it dry well (on a sunny day that won't take very long). After you are done, spraying and it has dried properly, get a buffer pad for your electric drill or grinder and polish it up using that (that's the part which will stop it looking like a rattle can job). If you really want it very shiny, give it a spray coat of gloss varnish too and then shine that up.

Roland

Musical_Mystery_Tour said:

Get some tough string, ...

Or do it the professional way with a piece of wood attached in place of the neck

elstoof

I’ve heard of people spraying theirs in a £10 ikea vuku “wardrobe” in the bathroom with the windows open 

mooncat

Or just make your bathroom match the guitar.

SquireJapan

mooncat said:

Or just make your bathroom match the guitar.

Ha. 

I’m not spraying it myself, and especially not doing it in my house

hollywoodrox

I wonder if that “Mutant Guitar works” in Plymouth would do it?
  I think they’re of Facebook 

TeleKinesis

Are there any “maker spaces” or shared workshops nearby? They might have facilities (or contacts) for this sort of thing.

I need to look into that again myself.

SquireJapan

I forgot maker spaces were a thing - never been or seen one. I'll have a look; good idea!

Penn

SquireJapan said:

mooncat said:

Or just make your bathroom match the guitar.

Ha. 

I’m not spraying it myself, and especially not doing it in my house

And what’s wrong with doing that? My wife never shouts at me about it. 

PVO_Dave

Can I suggest you give @lamf68 a shout - I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at Rich's prices and definitely pleased with the finish, it's obviously going to be more than just rattle cans but it'll be worth it 

SquireJapan

PVO_Dave said:

Can I suggest you give @lamf68 a shout - I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at Rich's prices and definitely pleased with the finish, it's obviously going to be more than just rattle cans but it'll be worth it 

Thanks - will do. 

Annoyingly, the he cost of a spray job is getting to the same cost as the bare body

WezV

SquireJapan said:

PVO_Dave said:

Can I suggest you give @lamf68 a shout - I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at Rich's prices and definitely pleased with the finish, it's obviously going to be more than just rattle cans but it'll be worth it 

Thanks - will do. 

Annoyingly, the he cost of a spray job is getting to the same cost as the bare body

The labour in the finish is a lot more than  the woodwork in a standard solid body.   The cost of materials is likely comparable too

BillDL

SquireJapan said:

Annoyingly, the he cost of a spray job is getting to the same cost as the bare body

I would hazard a wild guess that this is the primary reason that so many kit builds end up with bodies being oiled/waxed plain wood appearance, or sometimes the wood dyed and the body then oiled/waxed.  That's definitely still a viable option rather than just a cheaper option, and if done properly it can look and feel very nice.  As well as the various natural wood finishes like Tung Oil, etc, there are also hard glaze finishes that are applied by brush, sponge or rag and usually comprise polyurethane type varnishes in oil and / or solvent.

One thing I would stress, and it isn't made obvious by in Musical_Mystery_Tour's brief speeded up summation, is that you really need to allow spray coats sufficient time to dry in between applying subsequent coats, and especially before polishing it.  It's not really a single day job in the corner of an industrial area or a garden.

The videos on this page and subsequent ones in the series are a very good walkthrough of the steps to get a really good spray job using cans:

Aerosol Guitar Finishing Course: Part 1 - StewMac

You don't have to go to the same extremes of preparation to achieve a passable can spray job, but to get really good results there is a lot of preparation that needs to be done.

munckee

PVO_Dave said:

Can I suggest you give @lamf68 a shout - I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at Rich's prices and definitely pleased with the finish, it's obviously going to be more than just rattle cans but it'll be worth it 

100% this.