Guitar Kit Finishing Question

[BCrete603]

Hi all,

I'm hoping I could get some help with finishing an old, cheap guitar kit I had purchased years ago. The body and neck are still plain, unfinished wood (no clue what type). I had purchased some nitro lacquer rattle cans a while back and plan to use those. I have a can of sand & sealer, white primer, color (surf green), and clear coat.

My question is, are both the sealer and primer necessary? I think I purchased both just to be safe. There are a lot of youtube videos out there and everyone seems to do it differently. My goal end result is a solid green finish on the body and the neck/headstock I want to leave as plain wood grain. Any help/tips would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
B

 

[stratamania]

The sealer is what it says to help seal the wood. This is important especially if the wood has an open type grain. It will seal the wood.

The primer next will cover the wood and provide a good base coat of solid color for the top coats. 

I would say use both prior to the green and clear.  Don't forget to sand in between coats to smooth things out.

There is no shortcut to a good finish, the preparation and layers that you don't see are the most important. 

 

[AirCap]

If sealer and primer weren't necessary - they wouldn't sell any.... would they?

OK, forget my snarkiness. Think of sealer and primer as the foundation of your home. If the foundation is soft or non-existent, it will offer no support for the walls. So, yeah - seal and prime the wood. Otherwise the topcoats will soak into the wood like a sponge and look VERY BAD. You want a good, solid foundation to BUILD your color and clear coats. Got it? Good luck.

 

[BCrete603]

Thank you both for the info.

Judging by the 2nd response I gather this was a fairly amateur question (I am certainly new at this kind of stuff) but I do not follow the logic of "it's for sale, so it must be necessary."

If I did, I would be the proud owner of an extended warranty on a microwave I recently purchased.

Thanks again,
B

 

[BigSteve22]

If I did, I would be the proud owner of an extended warranty on a microwave I recently purchased.

  :laughing11: :laughing3: :laughing7:

 

[Cagey]

Since wood is somewhat absorbent, it needs to be sealed before it's finished mainly to save on finish. Once you do that, if you don't want grain to show, you need to apply grain filler and sand it back off to level the surface.

Primers are typically used to create a friendly surface for the coming finish, either to make materials compatible or give some "tooth" to the surface for the finish to grip and adhere to. Primers are typically not used on woods unless you're covering an existing incompatible finish.

Color coats are usually thin, 3 or 4 coats, sanded in between to maintain level. Once that's done, you do clear coats until you're sick of doing it - usually 6 to 10 coats, depending on how much you need to sand in between.

Note: you'll sand away probably 20%-30% of what you spray, and lose about 10% to 20% in overspray. Then, the cans are only about 30% finish, so... you're probably going to need 1 more can of color coat and 2 more of clear.

Once all that's done, you'll have to wait a couple/few weeks before you can play with it again, during which time it'll still look terrible until you finish sand, buff, and polish it.

That's it in a nutshell. For more detail, LMII has some good papers on guitar finishing.

 

[Cagey]

I'm gonna guess that since you don't know what kind of wood you have there, you didn't special order it. Most kits I've seen have either Alder, Swamp Ash or Mahogany bodies (sometime Paulina (sorta Alder) if from overseas) and Maple or Mahogany necks. Maple and Mahogany both need a hard finish when used for necks, or they're liable to warp/twist on you.

I tell you that to say this: you may want to be sure your neck is worth working on before you do any work on it. If it's been sitting for a couple/few years unfinished, it may not be usable as it sits.

Not to get too excited, though. It doesn't happen to all of them. But, you don't want to invest a lotta time and material in something you can't play.

 

[bbl4ck]

If I did, I would be the proud owner of an extended warranty on a microwave I recently purchased.

  :laughing11: :laughing3: :laughing7:

Yea, no kidding!  Unfortunately, I get phone calls all the time from somebody trying to sell me some crap I don't need. 
Some people make a career out of it...
:rock-on:

 

[ByteFrenzy]

I did a couple of very cheap guitar kits years ago and actually there was already some sort of sealer on the bodies when they arrived. Which probably makes sense since those bodies are not something you would want to put an oil finish or any other clear finish on. Check if this is not also the case with yours. I just put two coats of primer on them, two color coats, and finally a couple of layers brilliant clear - all from rattle cans from the nearest DIY store. Some work with a polishing pad, a cheapo one for car maintenance and they came out pretty OK. On the necks I just put on a couple of layers of clear and they turned out OK as well (omitting the interim steps like a couple of wet sanding runs in between and so on). The key factor to this kind of finish is patience. For the layers that jut go over the previous one you can get a way with a little less time in between, but when you want to do sanding make sure the last layer is really dry. For the last clearcoat that's really important. I'd say that as long as it still smells of paint your're not ready to move on to final sanding and polishing.

 

[BCrete603]

Thank you all for these great responses! I really don't have very much money invested in this project, just looking for something to keep me busy and to learn from.

I have accepted the fact that it will probably come out pretty bad. If you never see me follow up with pictures, it is safe to assume that it did not go well.  :laughing7:

Thanks again everyone,
B

 

[Cagey]

Don't go in with low expectations, or the results will suffer as you cave in to difficulties earlier than you would have otherwise. It's not particularly difficult to achieve a high degree of quality and performance from the finish and final assembly, it's largely a matter of patience and good parts choices. Since we currently enjoy an embarassment of riches in the parts and resources departments that the builders of yesteryear could only dream of, the main determining factor boils down to patience. If there's ever a question, ask it. We're not here for the money, since there is none - it's to learn and have fun together.

 

[BCrete603]

Thank you, my friend. I will admit to not being the most patient person in the past. I am hoping these projects will help me develop some.

I will be sure to come back with any questions that (inevitably) come up. Thanks again for your encouraging words and wisdom.

B