Need help for body painting.....
- Thread starter mkibanez
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Ace Flibble
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Where to buy it depends on where you live. Pretty much impossible for anybody to help you there; what is available in some areas may not be in others. The important thing is simply what kind of finish material you use, rather than any specific brand or source. You should be able to find some version of every type of finish material near you, it's just a case of getting down to some DIY stores (possibly general hobby or automotive stores, too) or doing a quick internet search.
As for materials to get the 'worn' look, it depends on the wood and just how 'worn' you want it to look.
The Fender style of 'road worn' can be done with virtually any kind of paint (polyurethane in spray cans is the cheapest and simplest) and is simply a case of finishing the guitar as normal—there are loads of guides for this—but not buffing the clear coat to a fine gloss, and instead whacking it with sandpaper, compressed air and bunches of car keys. It takes some practice to make it look like real wear and you should be prepared to strip and re-finish the body to try again, as it is easy to go too far. For best results, spray a coat of tinted clear (or transparent amber/light brown) on the guitar before the colour coat. This way, once you wear back through the colour coat you'll get a slightly richer and also less consistent colour to the ''raw'' wood, which gives a more realistic look than if you have pristine, clearly brand new wood showing through 'old'-looking paint.
The Gibson style of 'worn' or 'faded' finish requires you to skip any grain filling (not that alder really needs filling), sanding sealer and primer stages; sand the body only to about 240 grit, then skip right on to the colour coat. You can also go light on the clear coat. Nitrocellulose paint is most authentic, though poly will work fine, too.
To replicate the look of an actual old Gibson finish, you have to use nitro and it's simply a case of finishing the body properly to a full, glossy finish, and then torturing the body with constant temperature changes. Stick it in a cold garage for one night, keep it in a warm room by a radiator the next. This makes the wood and the finish expand and contract and will cause the fine cracks, or 'checking', that is characteristic of old Gibson finishes.
Personally, I like to use a mixture of all three styles. I sand the wood to 400 grit, then give it a quick rub with medium steel wool. I don't bother with sanding sealer or grain filler, except on ash. If the wood isn't too soft of porous (alder qualifies), I mix up a brown ink wash—literally just brown hobbyist ink diluted with water, about 50/50— and apply this without too much care to areas of the body where I know I'll expose the wood. Once that dries out properly (or skipping it, in the case of woods like ash and mahogany), I give the whole body a very rough coat of tinted-clear nitro; just regular spray can. Once dry and cured, I give this a rub with fine steel wool. Next comes the colour coat—nitro spray again—which I do properly. Then I give it a clear coat, proper clear for the first couple of passes and then tinted clear for the last couple. This, again, is done properly, sanded and buffed to a proper gloss.
Then I just get to work with scraps of wood and metal, random bits of cloth and leather, and attack the body all over, working extra-hard on the areas that would usually see the most wear (arm contours, around the controls, etc). I'm not a fan of sandpaper for simulating wear, as it tends to come off too evenly and quickly; compressed air is also a little bit too heavy-handed, for my liking.
Then—and this is the most important stage—I leave the body out under a bush in the garden for three nights (check the weather forecast to make sure it won't rain too much). Nothing gives a body an authentic worn look like simply being exposed to the elements.
It's a more haphazard approach than some, but real damage and wear is haphazard anyway, so this is the way I go.
... Or, if that's all a bit too much, just go to http://www.wudtone.com and use their finishes. Go along with it like nomal, then once it's completed and cured, take a leather belt, bunch of car keys or some cutlery, and give the body what-for. Wudtone's products can be shipped to almost any country, are very easy to apply and naturally have a matte look and textured feel, so they're a perfect base for simple aging.
As for materials to get the 'worn' look, it depends on the wood and just how 'worn' you want it to look.
The Fender style of 'road worn' can be done with virtually any kind of paint (polyurethane in spray cans is the cheapest and simplest) and is simply a case of finishing the guitar as normal—there are loads of guides for this—but not buffing the clear coat to a fine gloss, and instead whacking it with sandpaper, compressed air and bunches of car keys. It takes some practice to make it look like real wear and you should be prepared to strip and re-finish the body to try again, as it is easy to go too far. For best results, spray a coat of tinted clear (or transparent amber/light brown) on the guitar before the colour coat. This way, once you wear back through the colour coat you'll get a slightly richer and also less consistent colour to the ''raw'' wood, which gives a more realistic look than if you have pristine, clearly brand new wood showing through 'old'-looking paint.
The Gibson style of 'worn' or 'faded' finish requires you to skip any grain filling (not that alder really needs filling), sanding sealer and primer stages; sand the body only to about 240 grit, then skip right on to the colour coat. You can also go light on the clear coat. Nitrocellulose paint is most authentic, though poly will work fine, too.
To replicate the look of an actual old Gibson finish, you have to use nitro and it's simply a case of finishing the body properly to a full, glossy finish, and then torturing the body with constant temperature changes. Stick it in a cold garage for one night, keep it in a warm room by a radiator the next. This makes the wood and the finish expand and contract and will cause the fine cracks, or 'checking', that is characteristic of old Gibson finishes.
Personally, I like to use a mixture of all three styles. I sand the wood to 400 grit, then give it a quick rub with medium steel wool. I don't bother with sanding sealer or grain filler, except on ash. If the wood isn't too soft of porous (alder qualifies), I mix up a brown ink wash—literally just brown hobbyist ink diluted with water, about 50/50— and apply this without too much care to areas of the body where I know I'll expose the wood. Once that dries out properly (or skipping it, in the case of woods like ash and mahogany), I give the whole body a very rough coat of tinted-clear nitro; just regular spray can. Once dry and cured, I give this a rub with fine steel wool. Next comes the colour coat—nitro spray again—which I do properly. Then I give it a clear coat, proper clear for the first couple of passes and then tinted clear for the last couple. This, again, is done properly, sanded and buffed to a proper gloss.
Then I just get to work with scraps of wood and metal, random bits of cloth and leather, and attack the body all over, working extra-hard on the areas that would usually see the most wear (arm contours, around the controls, etc). I'm not a fan of sandpaper for simulating wear, as it tends to come off too evenly and quickly; compressed air is also a little bit too heavy-handed, for my liking.
Then—and this is the most important stage—I leave the body out under a bush in the garden for three nights (check the weather forecast to make sure it won't rain too much). Nothing gives a body an authentic worn look like simply being exposed to the elements.
It's a more haphazard approach than some, but real damage and wear is haphazard anyway, so this is the way I go.
... Or, if that's all a bit too much, just go to http://www.wudtone.com and use their finishes. Go along with it like nomal, then once it's completed and cured, take a leather belt, bunch of car keys or some cutlery, and give the body what-for. Wudtone's products can be shipped to almost any country, are very easy to apply and naturally have a matte look and textured feel, so they're a perfect base for simple aging.
Cagey
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If I lost my mind and wanted to create a raggedy-ass-looking guitar in a hurry, I'd simply skip clear-coating the thing. Color coats are usually super-thin (one or two coats), so without any protection they'd wear fast. At least doing it that way would produce natural wear marks, rather than trying to artificially distress the thing ahead of time. Forced wear marks are as obvious as toupees, silicone tits or fake nails, so if you'd rather not be made fun of, you should try to wear the thing out by playing it rather than pretending you did.
