I'm having a Strat body custom painted and my painter asked me about thickness since he uses several coats of overlaying color and several more coats of clear. I have no idea, and if it would even make a difference in tone (unless it's a1/4" think . Anybody have any ideas?

Thx.

it does not have any affect on the sound at all. just like the paint on your walls does not affect the hue of your light bulbs. i would tell him it doesn't matter to me as long as it looks good

I saw something on YT that mentioned 22 coats of paint and lacquer. That seems like a lot to me, but then again, I've never finished a guitar before.

Hi bluzdawg: it's an interesting question with a complicated answer. Thing is, depending on the type of finish and the method of application you may spray anything between three - four coats and twenty - thirty. But that isn't the issue, because it all comes down to how much you take off again whilst levelling and buffing that finish.

I've seen attempts to measure paint thickness and I've tried it myself with digital calipers whilst applying lacquer. I was never very convinced that the measurement could be made accurately enough to be meaningful.

There is a general superstition that we want our finish thinner rather than thicker - whether that is for tonal, aesthetic or mere witchcraft reasons. And here on the Forum we have a better, more accurate way of assessing paint thickness on Strat bodies.

Way back Forum user Nikininja had the brilliant idea of weighing a MIM body before and after stripping its polyester paint. He found he removed 197 grams of polyester - which gives you a pretty precise idea of what Fender's own process puts onto a body.

Following that I weighed a body before and after applying a nitro finish and discovered I'd ended up with 52g / 1.875 oz of lacquer on it. Much thinner.

More recently I did a complicated, many layered acrylic finish on another Strat: that one came in at 128g / 4.51 oz of lacquer. A more complex process: more paint.

Ultimately, you probably want to ask your guy to keep the paint layer as thin as he can - but it has to be thick enough to do the job. And only he can decide that. But also weight the body before and after painting, compare to the figures I've given and you will have a fair idea whether your paint is thick or thin.

Not the answer you expected, I suspect...

Cheers - C

Funny I just started a thread kind of related to this. If you want to know what Fender finish specs are to compare with what your painter is doing, check out this article: http://www.allbusiness.com/manufacturin ... 114-1.html
The article states - 15 mils worth of poly sealer, 3 coats of tint, 3 coats of clear. The article doesn't specify if the 3 coats each of color and clear are used for both poly or nitro. I guess just tell your painter to put down as few coats as he is comfortable with without sanding through any of them between coats or when buffing it out.

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