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I know many of you guys send your guitars away to Tony, especially when they are done with a burst. My question is, how do you avoid getting paint all over the bindings while spraying the burst? It seems if you tape them off there will still be paint bleeding under. Is regular blue painters tape good enough to give you a tight line? If not, what's the best way?

Thanks!

John

I've wondered the same thing myself John, and I have been painting cars for 29 years!

I tape up my fingerboards with blue tape. I don't tape the bindings or purflings. I just shoot my burst and then scrape off any unwanted color with a microscope slide, sharp knife or chisel.


Louis

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- Louis Freilicher

Oh No! Not another learning experience!

I'm spraying a Les Paul right now with a blue tinted lacquer and I have been wondering the same thing. I tried taping it all off, and no matter how careful I am the tape job ends up poorly. I had to sand off the finish and start over again. If there is a better way to keep the bindings clean and white while spraying color I would love to know it.

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Reguards,

Ken H

Just paint the burst over the binding, then use a razor blade to scrape the bindings clean. Put your clear topcoats on, and it's a beautiful thing.

Scraping the bindings takes a little bit of practice, but once you get it down, it works perfectly.

There used to be a video factory tour on Gibson's website; I'm not sure if it's still there. They had a lady on there that could scrape the binding on a guitar in about 30 seconds; it was incredible. Me, I take about twenty to thirty minutes. But it comes out a lot better than the masking tape trick.

Scraping here too. I have only done sunbursts on mandolins with plastic bindings, do you guys also spray directly over wooden bindings? I would imagine there could be problems if the colors soak into the wood at all. I have read that people who do this usually seal at least the bindings first, some also seal the whole instrument before spraying the colors, then scrape the bindings. In my situation this would not be possible as I like to rub the colors directly on to the bare wood.

Scraping the bindings on an F5 mandolin is like a 6 hour job for me...

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

     I've heard vinyl tape(electrician's tape...) works well for masking with less bleed through, but I have never used it.

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Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

"Multi famam, conscientiam, pauci verentur."
(Many fear their reputation, few their conscience)

There is a product called "Finisher's Mask" that is a gum resin in a water base carrier base. You can paint it on and when finished with the burst you just peal it off. it is pretty viscous so it does not easily run while wet. I have used it a couple of times.

John,
I used to scrape the bindings,but now I tape them.
I found that when scraping,it is harder to fill the binding with lacquer.
I use 3-M fine line tape-available at automotive paint supply stores
I get very little seepage.
This is how Bob Bennedetto does it in his book.

OK, everyone is expecting me to say it. The best masking technique when applying a burst to a guitar top is to stick blue masking tape over the whole top. After the burst is applied, just peel all the tape off. Perfect burst on the tape, hang it on the wall and admire. This should leave the binding and top in perfect condition.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

And you don't get any on the binding.  Wow!

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Waddy

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Sound Clips of most of my guitars

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John Watkins
CNC Guitar Parts

Nice jig John,

I hoping to do a bursted guitar soon and that little blade and dowel will certainly do the trick.

Thanks

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I also use the 3M fine line masking tape. It is available from LMII.

I like to first mask my bindings with the green lacquer-proof 3M masking tape. It's available in several widths from 1/8" up to 1". The 1/4" width bends very nicely around the waist and sticks very well. Next, I spray a very light coat of clear lacquer around the edge of the masking tape. When dry, the lacquer will seal the edge of the tape and positively keep anything from creeping under when spraying your colors.

Another trick that I use is to put a thin (.010") black purfling between the binding and the top. This thin black line is where I tape to. After the burst is sprayed, the black line disappears into the dark border of the burst and you don't see any gaps where your masking tape didn't quite cover the top. In other words, the thin black purfling is like a buffer line.

     I would recommend masking the binding as cleanly as possible before
spraying the burst. Scraping is the best way to remove the color that
bleeds under any of the tape and to dress the edges of the binding.

   Masking with the lacquer proof 3M tape will keep the bleeding to a
minimum and will give the cleanes edge of all of the common tapes.

   Using your thumb as a depth guide, a razor blade works very nicely as a
scraper, but i've found that a more rigid blade gives much more control
and accuracy while maintaining a consistent cut around the guitar's
edges.

    I use a hacksaw blade with the teeth ground off and a burr rolled into
one edge is a perfect scraper for this application. I keep it to about three
inches long or so to give me steady control and an adequate length for a
solid grip.

   Masking to any extent will save you loads of time when spraying a burst
or solid color an a guitar.

Regards,
Kevin Gallagher/Omega Guitars

As Keven said, I do both. I found some green masking tape in 1/4" widths at the local auto paint store. I gives a pretty clean edge and when I'm doing a burst, I always make sure I use a black purfling line at the edge of the burst. I try to put the edge of the tape in the middle of this black line. I get very little bleed to clean up and usually very little to scrape.

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Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.