Official Luthiers Forum!

Recently i haven't gotten any further in building my guitar then i was before and now I's stuck with a basic and probably stupid question ... What is the first step to repainting my guitar body after i sanded off the nitrocellulose layer? Do i clear coat it first then add paint or do paint right onto the body or a primer first? Obviously i really need a guitar building guide for idiots because i have no idea what I have gotten myself into. Does anyone know of such a book to help me out?

Any help i would really appreciate.

Thanks in advance,

- AJ

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If you are down to raw wood you will need some type of sealer. Shellac works great for this- 2 or 3 coats with a lite sanding in between. If you are using an open pored wood such as ash or mahogany then you can both fill the pores and seal with Z-Poxy or similar (I use System 3).
I think Stew-Mac has a good book on finishing.

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It's not the miles ahead, it's the stone in your shoe


In Markham,Virginia

I would suggest Robbie O'Brien's DVD's on finishing. He has some excellent tips and tricks and you wont be sorry that you bought them.

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Reguards,

Ken H

In the simplest terms, a guitar finish requires (1) the wood pores to be "filled" up to the surface level so that a finish can be applied wherein the film will be perfectly smooth and level. (2) Some sort of "sealer" that will bind to the wood tightly and that will also bind to the finish material. Some finish material acts as its own sealer. However, for nitrocellulose lacquer and a number of other finishes, you must use a sealer. Sealers can often also function as a pore-filler so step (1) and (2) are accomplished in one step. Epoxy and shellac are two popular sealers. (3) The finish material. You have a wide selection of possibilities and each type of finish works best with certain pore-fillers and sealers. So the most important thing is to decide what type of finish you want to apply and then find the proper pore-filler and sealer.

All the best,
Simon

I'm guessing that you are refinishing a solid body electric. A good place to get information on that process is http://reranch.com/.

There is no need for a different finish material as a sealer under nitrocellulose lacquer. It bonds to wood and to itself just fine.

Pore filler is needed if you have an open pored wood and if you want a flat surfaced finish (like just about every factory guitar has). Shellac does not make a good pore filler, since it shrinks when it dries..

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

The guitar is an 1990-something Ibanez X series Strat. I have already sanded down the nitrocellulose to the wood and sanded out the imperfections. I am planning on painting it black with the colortone aerosol solid black gloss from stewmac. On that page from what i can make out from it, it says that i should sand down the guitar to a 220 grit, then apply 2 coats of sanding sealer, then a grain filler (I'm not sure about using a colored or clear one but i don't know if that matters). Then it says to do 4 coats of black pain and 8-10 coats of clear gloss sealer.

I don't know if that is the proper way to do this so if anyone could help me if they think that this wont give me a good end product or has a sujestion as to how i could do this another way (but without a spray gun cause i don't have access to one anymore) I would really appreciate it.

Thanks,
-AJ