M29
July 14th, 2006, 10:18 PM
Hello,
Well I am working on upgrading my Chinese Squier SE-100 Strat. I am putting in copper shielding, making my own steel trem block, add new electronics and repaint it. I picked up a Squier '51 maple neck off the web a while back and have fit it to the Squier Strat body. The neck had been sanded by the previous owner and I did a little more sanding to it and gave it a Min Wax Golden Oak stain to add some amber to it. They just look so (white) when freshly sanded. I put two coats of this stain on and I feel it looks just right. Next I have to clear coat it.
The reason I am writing this is that there may be some interest in one of my steps. I am very fussy about adhesian when I paint something and I like to run tests to make sure my paint is going to stick. Well...in the past, I have had problems with paint sticking to poly urathane, shoot even poly sticking to poly. With a poly body on this Squier Strat I wanted to make sure I don't have trouble with paint coming off later on. I usually use my auto paint tools and compressor to paint a guitar but this time I am going to use spray cans. I found a product which is a self etching primer used for bare metal that I tried on the inside routed surface of this Strat. I was shocked at how good it sticks to the poly finish and thought I would recommend it to you guys.
You have to make sure the surface is properly prepared which means it is clean and sanded well. I used 320 grit for this along with a burgundy scratch pad you get at auto parts stores. The surface has to be completly dull. In the following image, I left one area with the original shine so you can see why you need to dull down the old finish and give some tooth so the primer can adhere. The area at the left (red circle) was scratched with a pocket knife with quite a bit of pressure to test adhesian and you can see the small scrape marks with shavings of primer next to the scrape. To the right (white circle) where I did not sand, I used my finger nail and the primer came off very easily.
At this point I should probably mention something about slicone. Silicone has been a painters nightmare for a very long time. There are may products that contain silicone like waxes and polishes. I don't know for sure but the lubicants for fingerboards may have it in it as well and you need to watch out that this does not get under your paint. We have a tread mill that you are supposed to spray silicone lubricant under the belt every now and then and that is the worse thing you could do is spray an aerosol of silicone in an area where you are going to paint something. The reason to be concerned about this is that it is very difficult to get off once it is on something and paint does not stick to it very well and it can cause what painters call fish eyes which look like little creaters in the paint. There are cleaners for this but sometimes they don't get it all off. When you clean off your guitar parts make sure you get the dirt up off the surface. Some people spray a cleaner on and just smeer it around, you need to use plenty of cleaner and lots of cloths to absorb it up off the part. You need to watch you hands as well and make sure they are clean and grease free while handling a part to be painted.
http://webpages.charter.net/tankm4/adhesian.jpg
The brand of primer is (Valspar V880 Self Etching Primer). I will get a picture of the primer can tomorrow if you guys want to try it yourself. I imagine most auto paint supply stores will carry it. I have not tested how the (ReRanch Surf Green) will stick to the primer but I don't think there will be a problem as I have put paints over this primer before and they all stick well. This primer is a light gray in color which is good to put over my black Strat body as a base to help the Surf Green get up to color quicker.
Well my forhead keeps tapping the space bar so I better get to bed. I hope this helps.
If anyone is interested I will put up some images as I go along with this project.
I hope this helps.
M29
Well I am working on upgrading my Chinese Squier SE-100 Strat. I am putting in copper shielding, making my own steel trem block, add new electronics and repaint it. I picked up a Squier '51 maple neck off the web a while back and have fit it to the Squier Strat body. The neck had been sanded by the previous owner and I did a little more sanding to it and gave it a Min Wax Golden Oak stain to add some amber to it. They just look so (white) when freshly sanded. I put two coats of this stain on and I feel it looks just right. Next I have to clear coat it.
The reason I am writing this is that there may be some interest in one of my steps. I am very fussy about adhesian when I paint something and I like to run tests to make sure my paint is going to stick. Well...in the past, I have had problems with paint sticking to poly urathane, shoot even poly sticking to poly. With a poly body on this Squier Strat I wanted to make sure I don't have trouble with paint coming off later on. I usually use my auto paint tools and compressor to paint a guitar but this time I am going to use spray cans. I found a product which is a self etching primer used for bare metal that I tried on the inside routed surface of this Strat. I was shocked at how good it sticks to the poly finish and thought I would recommend it to you guys.
You have to make sure the surface is properly prepared which means it is clean and sanded well. I used 320 grit for this along with a burgundy scratch pad you get at auto parts stores. The surface has to be completly dull. In the following image, I left one area with the original shine so you can see why you need to dull down the old finish and give some tooth so the primer can adhere. The area at the left (red circle) was scratched with a pocket knife with quite a bit of pressure to test adhesian and you can see the small scrape marks with shavings of primer next to the scrape. To the right (white circle) where I did not sand, I used my finger nail and the primer came off very easily.
At this point I should probably mention something about slicone. Silicone has been a painters nightmare for a very long time. There are may products that contain silicone like waxes and polishes. I don't know for sure but the lubicants for fingerboards may have it in it as well and you need to watch out that this does not get under your paint. We have a tread mill that you are supposed to spray silicone lubricant under the belt every now and then and that is the worse thing you could do is spray an aerosol of silicone in an area where you are going to paint something. The reason to be concerned about this is that it is very difficult to get off once it is on something and paint does not stick to it very well and it can cause what painters call fish eyes which look like little creaters in the paint. There are cleaners for this but sometimes they don't get it all off. When you clean off your guitar parts make sure you get the dirt up off the surface. Some people spray a cleaner on and just smeer it around, you need to use plenty of cleaner and lots of cloths to absorb it up off the part. You need to watch you hands as well and make sure they are clean and grease free while handling a part to be painted.
http://webpages.charter.net/tankm4/adhesian.jpg
The brand of primer is (Valspar V880 Self Etching Primer). I will get a picture of the primer can tomorrow if you guys want to try it yourself. I imagine most auto paint supply stores will carry it. I have not tested how the (ReRanch Surf Green) will stick to the primer but I don't think there will be a problem as I have put paints over this primer before and they all stick well. This primer is a light gray in color which is good to put over my black Strat body as a base to help the Surf Green get up to color quicker.
Well my forhead keeps tapping the space bar so I better get to bed. I hope this helps.
If anyone is interested I will put up some images as I go along with this project.
I hope this helps.
M29