Official Luthiers Forum!

I'm planning to build my first electric guitar. I've made numerous acoustics and have the finishing down pretty well. I intend to spay a nitrocellulose lacquer for this guitar. My question is, how do you apply a color coat? Say I'm looking for a nice dark red- can I just stick a couple coats of paint I got down at autozone between the sealer and the topcoat or is there another way? Sorry if this question is super novice but I wanna make sure I don't have adhesion issues.

The "normal" way is to mix the color with the lacquer and spray color coats until you get it as dark as you want, then clear lacquer over that. The best way to figure this out is to test on scrap first, that's a lot less painfull than sanding all the color off a guitar.
edit: the stuff from autozone is probably acrylic lacquer, and may not be compatable with nitro lacquer.

_________________
A man hears what he wants to hear, and disreguards the rest. Paul Simon

Depends. Translucent? Either stain the wood directly or tint the lacquer, and cover with clears. Solid colors will want a pigment instead of stain. StewMac carries both (rebranded transtint stains as well as pigments for solid colour jobs). That's the safest way to do it - stick to a single paint system and don't mix and match too much.

Whatever you do, test your finish schedule on scrap first.

Apply the color coats right over your sealer. Then clear as normal.

_________________
Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

For transparent tints, Transtint dyes are great in lacquer.
For opaque colors, Mohawk makes an extensive line of powder based pigments for lacquer.

I'd emphasize making sure your have your wood thoroughly sealed and smooth prior to applying the color coats. The smoother it goes down when spraying, the better the finished result.

_________________
I read Emerson on the can. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...true...but a consistent reading of Emerson has its uses nevertheless.

StuMusic

The look of colors applied directly to the wood with clear coats on top is quite defferent than colors over a sealer, or in the laquer. It also has its own set of challenges. Anyways, all this will become clearer when you test on scrap, so make sure you test until you know what you want and how to get there.

_________________
Rian Gitar og Mandolin