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phantasmagorovich wrote:Wait a minute. Not to hijack a thread about this adorable guitar, but how do those reranch colors work? Do you need any special equipment or do they actually come in spraycans?

Hey, that's exactly why this thread is in the Projects forum!

YES, it's nitrocellulose lacquer in spray cans. It's shockingly easy, provided you have a place to paint (also nitro smells harder than any paint around). If you're not a crazy purist / don't have the patience to strip off that plasticize finish, just sand your body dull, prime, then paint.

You can paint with the body laying flat, but I think it's easier (and probably a bit safer against noticeable dust getting in your finish) to hang it from a hook. Either screw a blank of wood into the neck pocket, then hang from there, or do what I do and just drill a tiny hole through the center of the bolt-on-neck joint, and use a sturdy metal clothes hanger and hang from a hook.

I've found their colors go on really easily. They give you two nozzles with each can, and you might wanna get a couple spares from your local hardware store to be safe...they clog pretty easily, sometimes failing within the first few seconds, sometimes when you go to do a second coat (even if you've "cleared" the nozzle after spraying).

I highly suggest a brightly lit spot, or that you have a light reflecting on the surface of the body, so you can really easily see how heavily the finish is going on and avoid runs.

There are people who will tell you it's a really hard and serious process to refinish. It is and it isn't. If you're going for a mirror factory-fresh shine, you'll get into wet sanding, you'll want a buffing wheel, etc. But if you're refinishing a vintage guitar, and are looking for a vintagey (yet smooth and nice finish), it's not hard Even without being obsessive, my Duo body was really beat up, and the refinish made it look like it's in much better condition.

Tom Dalton wrote:YES, it's nitrocellulose lacquer in spray cans. It's shockingly easy, provided you have a place to paint (also nitro smells harder than any paint around). If you're not a crazy purist / don't have the patience to strip off that plasticize finish, just sand your body dull, prime, then paint.

So primer would be needed? I was thinking about copying the look of skullys orange Jazzmaster, apparently they only have clear orange in their line. (I haven't looked hard though, only glanced through) and to put that directly on my sand/beige Squier might have a great effect (after sanding it a little). I imagine it would make the color look a little more like it's supposed to look when applied to wood directly.

Tom Dalton wrote:You can paint with the body laying flat, but I think it's easier (and probably a bit safer against noticeable dust getting in your finish) to hang it from a hook. Either screw a blank of wood into the neck pocket, then hang from there, or do what I do and just drill a tiny hole through the center of the bolt-on-neck joint, and use a sturdy metal clothes hanger and hang from a hook.

Seen that in a couple of DIY threads already, hanging should definitely be done. Finding a good place seems to be the biggest trouble about this. My attic is dusty as hell, I would not trust to get decent results there. Also lighting might be trouble in the attic. Did you do anything to get the dust out of the room before you painted or is it OK with normal air? I mean, you could use a bathroom, make it all foggy for the dust to settle and after the fog is lifted spray the guitar.

Tom Dalton wrote:I've found their colors go on really easily. They give you two nozzles with each can, and you might wanna get a couple spares from your local hardware store to be safe...they clog pretty easily, sometimes failing within the first few seconds, sometimes when you go to do a second coat (even if you've "cleared" the nozzle after spraying).

I've got a couple of hip hop stores around. Maybe I should get that fat cap on? No, seriously, good advice.
How many coats can you put on with one can?
How long does it take to dry until you can put on a second coat?

Tom Dalton wrote:I highly suggest a brightly lit spot, or that you have a light reflecting on the surface of the body, so you can really easily see how heavily the finish is going on and avoid runs.

There are people who will tell you it's a really hard and serious process to refinish. It is and it isn't. If you're going for a mirror factory-fresh shine, you'll get into wet sanding, you'll want a buffing wheel, etc. But if you're refinishing a vintage guitar, and are looking for a vintagey (yet smooth and nice finish), it's not hard Even without being obsessive, my Duo body was really beat up, and the refinish made it look like it's in much better condition.

Fuck mirror & factory fresh anyway. Blech.
This sounds like a fun project. Definitely going to do this!

Now to decide if I'd rather go skullyway and have orange w/ gold pickguard or sherwood green with gold pg, which was my choice before I saw that skullmaster.

Well, primer's not totally needed (Reranch does sell a primer). But it supposedly helps the surface grab paint a bit better, and I think probably helps get a more uniform surface. If you're going from a dark color to a light color, I think a white primer helps to cut down on how much color you need to put on. And since the primer's cheaper than color...

But if I was starting with a sand/beige like you are, I might not mess around with a primer.
And if you were going from dark black to dark blue or something, I wouldn't put a layer of white primer between them!

They do have this orange:

Or you could try their trans orange over white. Or yeah, right over your sand/beige Squier! (Though, sand out the gloss first! If you're not stripping the existing finish, don't go too coarse on the paper. Definitely no coarser than 150, then superfine over that.)

I have a paint room, exhaust fan, heat lamps, etc. But it's still not perfectly dust free, cause I'm constantly making paint dust in there! Haha. I think a normal room is okay. There are people who do it outside, but depending on where you live, that adds a lot of variables (pollen, bugs, bird poop). Under an overhang of some kind, or doing it outside, then moving it inside (though traveling with it risks adding some dust)...

I wouldn't do it in a bathroom unless you hate the owner of that bathroom. I'm not sure if putting too much moisture in the air would be good for the finish either.

I think you can do additional coats withing 2-3 hours. Even sooner. Nitro has a pretty quick dry-to-touch, and a really long truly-dry period.

I'm not an expert! I'd trust Muddy's advice more than mine, or someone else who's done this more than my 4 times.

Mmm, that does look lovely.