Painting a Guitar Body

[squelchy220]

I'm planning to build a guitar; I've bought an old Fender Squier Stratocaster body off eBay but it's blue and I want to repaint it to an arctic white. I've found various different guides for this on the Internet, but they're incomprehensive and most of them seem to contradict each other.

How should I go about repainting the guitar body whilst maintaining a professional looking finish? It's also my first time, so do you have any tips for painting a guitar body?

[Southern ILL]

If the body is dent and ding free......You already have all the hard work done.

Simply scuff w/320 and on through to primer,CC and clear it.

Read up on whatever type of paint your are using and go slow,don't panic when you do make a mistake. Gonna happen.....but learn and keep on trucking.

Good Luck.

[squelchy220]

Originally Posted by Southern ILL

If the body is dent and ding free......You already have all the hard work done.

Simply scuff w/320 and on through to primer,CC and clear it.

Read up on whatever type of paint your are using and go slow,don't panic when you do make a mistake. Gonna happen.....but learn and keep on trucking.

Good Luck.

I know roughly what I'm doing, but in more detail? And what is CC?
Thanks

[magicaxeman]

CC = Clear Coat.. ie the lacquer that you spray over the colour to protect it.

[Southern ILL]

Color Coat/Clear Coat
I don't have a clue what paint or the condition of the body.
Pro finish means the body needs to have all dents and dings feel and leveled.
The key is to get a flat-level primer coat so the Color Coat and Clear Coat sits flat.

What paint and clear are you using ?

Are you stripping the old finish ?

Guitar ReRanch forum is a good place to research
"How 2s" and "Repaint"..........

First time,means your gonna make lots of mistakes and have to fix them for the results you want.

Biggest thing is not to panic when you do mess up.

[Mudder]

CC = color coat

[Giraffecaster]

check out the reranch tutorials and ask their forum

[carbz]

^... This. Reranch has great aerosol cans and most of the guys over there have much experience painting. I've done a few myself and for about $60 to $70 worth of supplies you can surprisingly have a killer nitro paint job if you take your time. Most of the work is in the prepping (if needed) and final sanding. The spraying is rather easy with the non-metallic paints. Metallic is much more difficult.

[stingrey1978]

+1 on reranch, just in the middle of painting a guitar for my best friend for graduation/birthday...
i found ALL information on reranch to be helpful, also there's a guy on youtube under sully's guitar garage and he's a super super cool guy but first stop should be reranch

[supergrouch]

spray cans have their limitations IMO. they do the job but takes a long time to dry.