Hey guys. I've been wanting to repaint my strat because I would like to make a replica of a guitar. My problem is, I don't know which paint to buy. Some say auto paint works great but I don't want to pay for $50 paint kits. I was kinda looking more in the way of simple aerosol paint cans. Would a simple spray paint can from walmart do the job on a strat?


I appreciate any help you can give me.

Also, I am not sure if I have posted this in the right section. If this is in the wrong section, please let me know.

Thanks!

James

Hi jamesmccrorey,

If your finish is polyurethane, good quality spray cans of polyurethane from just about anywhere will work well. Just rough up the entire surface of the body with fine sandpaper first, and spray on enough coats to cover. Sanding the poly to the wood is a lot of work, and not really necessary if the finish is in good condition, no nicks/dents etc. If you need to get to the bare wood, maybe use a heat gun (carefully) to remove the poly, then sand and paint. I tried some chemical remover on a Fender poly finished body once, it didn't even dull the finish, maybe I used a cheap brand? You can spray nitro over a poly finish with no problem, but I don't think that you would want to use poly on top of nitro.

For a nitro finish, use similar method to rough up the finish, and you can find spray on nitro at places like the Guitar ReRanch here:

http://www.reranch.com/products.htm

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---> "The amp should be SWITCHED OFF AND UNPLUGGED before you do this!" <---

Por favor, disculpe mi español, no se llega a la práctica con mucha frecuencia.

Yes you came to the right place for advice though I'm not the one you want. There's some guys on here who really know their stuff when it comes to guitars. Personally though I wouldn't recommend painting your guitar with a can of spray paint. I've never painted a guitar but I've been finishing and restoring wood for 20 yrs, It's what I do for a living. I'm curious though as to what advice wiil be given by the gurus on here. I would like to know the best way to do it also.

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"Damn Right I Got the Blues"

Wow that's interesting. I guess I was wrong. Good info. shimmolou

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"Damn Right I Got the Blues"

Thanks! Like I said in the post. People say auto paint works great but I'm really not looking to $50 on a paint kit. Anyway. so really any kind of paint can would work or is there a special paint you buy? Thanks again!

For the poly, I get mine at Lowes, I've used several brands that all worked well, I only chose based on color. Of course I didn't buy the cheapest stuff, use a good name brand. Lowes also has clear spray cans of lacquer, but no colors in spray on lacquer, so if you want the nitro colors and tinted clear nitro, use Guitar ReRanch. BTW, I think that car paint is enamel isn't it?

_________________
---> "The amp should be SWITCHED OFF AND UNPLUGGED before you do this!" <---

Por favor, disculpe mi español, no se llega a la práctica con mucha frecuencia.

You're right, you want to use the best quality that you can. I don't really like to paint wood, I like the wood grain to show so I would rather stain it and clear coat. Once I was asked to do a walnut stain to a bass body for a friend who had a clear finished ash body. It looked absolutely beautiful with the stain......to me, he didn't like it and wanted it to look like the fake walnut finish that cheap furniture has. So, I refinished it.

But, the wood on the Strats are already painted, or clear coated, with poly so.... I painted this Kramer myself, with poly colors and a nitro clear coat. I got carried away trying to get the black undercoat perfect (which I never could, black is tough), so it has about a dozen coats on it, but came out fairly well.

_________________
---> "The amp should be SWITCHED OFF AND UNPLUGGED before you do this!" <---

Por favor, disculpe mi español, no se llega a la práctica con mucha frecuencia.

in painting you get what you pay for. if you use $1.99 spray cans its gonna look like it period. 50 for auto paint is cheap.
just run it by a body shop and talk with the painter.
its close to xmas and everybody is looking to make an extra buck.

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63supro
"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."

Look at ReRanch paints online

Hi James, if you are looking to match an automotive color for your project, some autobody supply houses can put the desired color in an aerosol can for you. If you don't have to strip the body to bare wood I would say don't, as you may open a whole other can of worms you don't want. BTW welcome to the forum, this is a very friendly and knowledgeable bunch of people here I think you're gonna like it here.