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Hello. I am getting ready to spray on a finish. I have never done this to a guitar. I have a compressor and gun. I was thinking of using KTM.

What else do I need??

Thanks,

Doug

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Guitars...One's too many...Twenty is not enough.

Good ventilation and vapor removal, a dust-free environment and a quality respirator. KTM is fairly easy to spray IMO and a delight to clean up.

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

I spray my waterbases finish outside (this isnt really an option right now), and wear a good respirator. I also put on some latex gloves because I tend to get the spray on my arm holding the guitar or neck. With a good gun, JJ is right, this stuff goes on nice and looks great when done. The cleanup involves soap and water, how cool is that! Good luck, and remember, its just finish and if you screw up it can always come off and be done again.

Blake

Doug, Although I have never built or sprayed a guitar yet, I think I can shed a little light on spraying.  Starting at the compressor, make sure you drain the tank of moisture.  You should have some sort of petcock or valve at the bottom of the tank to do this.

The line out of your compressor should have some type of trap for oil and moisture as well. Most of these are clear glass that you can view the trap to see if there is any contaminants (oil or water) present.

Clean air = clean finish. I would also recommend a small oil and water trap that screws on the spray gun air inlet itself. You just cannot have enough protection from the two evils of spraying finish, oil and water.

To get the guitar body clean/dust free before spraying, I suggest you use a non-residual tack cloth. There are many tack cloths available but the non-res ones are less likely to leave some tacky transfer on the guitar. This can be used before the first coat of finish is applied but is not recommended to use between coats unless the surface has completely flashed off.

Other than these things, As JJ stated meke sure you have a well lit area to spray in with proper air exchange, a good respirator and practice on a few scraps just to see how the finish reacts with what you are spraying.  Keep us posted on the spray job!

[QUOTE=joe white]

To get the guitar body clean/dust free before spraying, I suggest you use a non-residual tack cloth. There are many tack cloths available but the non-res ones are less likely to leave some tacky transfer on the guitar. This can be used before the first coat of finish is applied but is not recommended to use between coats unless the surface has completely flashed off.

[/QUOTE]

Joe, can you be more specific on the tack cloth by suggesting a brand or other info. Thanks, Bruce

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

As far as the non residual cloths go. If there are any local auto paint and refinishing supply stores near you, They will surely have some on hand. Brands will probably vary by geography. The most popular brand of regular tack cloths used by my shop (auto) are the Crystal Tack Cloths. I do not recommend this type for guitar refinishing unless you are certain that you can use it with a very light touch. Tack cloths (sometimes called tack rags too) are a small cotton like rag, very open weave, with a light, sticky or tacky coating on them. They can be used over and over as long as you keep them away from contaminants, wax, oil, etc. I usually keep mine in a zip lock baggie after I have opened them to keep them clean and out of harms (contaminants) way. It's the last step in prep work on an auto before we spray any paint/primer/clear on an auto.

I just blast mine with air to get any dust off.

but then I'm a muppet who rushes everything!

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