paint job. how much is too much?

[pietro_moog]

hi guys.
i almost finished my jazzmaster build, i just need to spray the last coat of nitro paint as polish.
but i was wondering if i did paint this guitar too much. it's a very good paint, a nitro-cellulose one used by many other lutists over here.
i don't know, i could have sprayed like 15-20 light coats. is that too much? what's gonna happen to the vibrations?
both body and neck look wonderful.
anyhow, how much is too much?

 

[bagman67]

On a solid-body guitar, you would find it nearly impossible to spray so much lacquer that the tone of the guitar would be changed in any detectable way.  Don't worry about it.

 

[pietro_moog]

so cool. so my guitar is almost ready.
i gotta buy a case and some strings.

thank you Bagman!

 

[Alfang]

I'll agree with bagman before the tone sucker conspiracy guys show up

 

[Cagey]

I don't think this forum has been infested with the tone sucker finish conspiracy crowd. There's been too much good information on that subject disseminated here for that belief to exist.

 

[duosonic]

I heard after the 15th coat you start loosing harmonics past the 12th fret.  :icon_jokercolor:

 

[ezas]

I like going after tone as much as the next guy but I also remind myself that past a certain point its a log with magnets wrapped in wire. Sound which is vibration is transmitted not through solid surfaces but VIA solid surfaces. That's why to soundproof a room you can't just make the wall thicker you need to create air space between the walls. Changing the mass of the walls changes the resonant frequency but does not stop the wall from vibrating.

Same goes for your guitar. You can't stop it from vibrating, and that goes for the layer of paint on it.

So while a thick coat of paint might subtly change the sound, so does everything else you did while designing/building the guitar. There are no 'bad' guitars, just ones we like more than others.

My first guitar has a whole can of automotive grade Polyurethane paint (probably about twice more than it needed) on it and I like how it sounds.

 

[DustyCat]

Use the nanosecond it takes for the first millimeter of the tip of the first hair on your paintbrush to touch the liquid of the material you are using to say "Doh! Ive already used too much!"  :icon_tongue:

 

[spauldingrules]

My best sounding guitars are my MIM tele from the 90's with the SUPER thick finish, and my Warmoth Poly finished strat. 

But they also have my favorite pickups in them, and they are the scale length I prefer.  And they are set up well. 

Of course, the wood can't "breathe" and "resonate", so I must be crazy.

 

[DustyCat]

My best sounding guitars are my MIM tele from the 90's with the SUPER thick finish, and my Warmoth Poly finished strat. 

But they also have my favorite pickups in them, and they are the scale length I prefer.  And they are set up well. 

Of course, the wood can't "breathe" and "resonate", so I must be crazy.

I don't remember how it started, but there was one time when I hooked up with my old drummer from high school after not playing with each other for like almost 10 years. Also at the time, I was messing around with another mutual buddy's Fender MIM strat to take the wear off of my own equipment (don't tell him!). Since it was casual, I didn't think to bring my Warmoth strat, figuring that if I could hold my own, I could bring in the "Heavy Artillery" so to speak, and really "wow" 'em.

But actually, now that I think of it, during this time I was really sawin' away on this old Epiphone Single cutaway acoustic. Really old, thin body, and the previous owner (before another mutual friend) was virtually homeless, and it may or may not have been him who pounded nails in the fingerboard...yes that's right...nails in the finger board. It is very dilapidated, but my friend gave it to me on the grounds that I fix it up, and after a few years I finally put some money into it (new tuners, an onboard pickup which sounded so incredibly thin and spikey, ice pick in yer ear just awful, but my only 6-string acoustic that I could plug in and play live). I used this acoustic for an acoustic duo with another friend. Mostly Jazz/Blues/Pop and the most  :icon_scratch: refreshing slice of Bluegrass/"Fiddle" Tunes  :headbang:.

So, we're getting ready for a gig at the local town festival, really putting in the hours, razor chops if you will when I get in touch with my old drummer somehow.
I bring the old MIM Fender Strat, Rivera 55-12 Suprema (that I had hotrodded with Mercury Transformer, Red Ryder speaker, and swapped in some AT7's to increase the headroom).

Drums, Bass, and guitar, Jazz/Rock instrumental. All I remember is turning up on the "Fender" channel with  :cool01: "Ninja" Boost enough to get some decent volume (noise suppresion headphones) and off we went. I know when we were jamming, I was really impressed with the "Feel" of the sound (Strat => Amp)....just riding that edge of blooming sustaining feedback. Pickup positions 2 or 4 (I don't remember) all the way, just really clear, but super  :headbang1: C-R-E-A-M-Y, fat, thick, dripping honey tone. I don't have experience with P-90's but they are supposed to be beefy, and I will tell you that MIM stock pickup 2/4 tone was just thick, and creamy, and clear, it was a revelation man. I am just hoping that the Phat Cats do MORE of this with "Layers of Harmonics" as they advertise, otherwise I will be sad, when my friend asks for it back (actually, he already has, he says it wasn't a gift, but I say "He didn't want it anymore"  :icon_tongue:  :icon_biggrin: :icon_jokercolor:

'Course it's also been a revelation to realize that when I listen to a tape within a few weeks of the jam, chances are I will hate it, but when I come back to it later I will probably have a better chance of liking it, if it was good of course, so  :sign13: bury those tapes  before you listen back to them, and dig them up 7 11/16 months later!!!

-DustyCat