Hi all, i have a 97" American standard strat that has the inca silver finish, which is a metallic silver. I'm wondering how i might add a blue clear coat or maybe some kind of candy apple red over the original finish to get a metallic blue, aqua, purple, or red guitar. Does anyone here know of a good way to do this? I dig the silver, but i'm just curious if the idea i have is an option. Thanks!

_________________
I believe in Christianity as i believe that the sun has risen. not only because i see it, but because by it, i see everything else. C.S. Lewis

I could tell you how to do this but won't!!!! Man this is a nice original Inca Silver finished American Standard Strat. Leave it stock! If you have not done professional paint work, you will just end up ruining this gorgeous guitar. It would be better to sell it and get a color you like that attempt this on such a nice guitar as the one you have. Some guys on the Forum would lobe to have this color!!!! Here is a pict of one that I had which I hot-rodded with Chrome dome pickups:

_________________
Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com

KEEP IT STOCK!!!

Buy another body from warmoth if you must!

_________________
My Rig: Guitar into Pedals then into Amps and out into Speakers.

X2. I hate to be "that guy" on internet forums who tells people not to do something instead of helping answer their question, but this seems like a really bad idea. The paint on that guitar looks to be in gorgeous shape, and it's a very unique color. You said you dig the silver; I think you're setting yourself up for serious regrets if you do paint over it and it doesn't turn out to be everything you dreamed it would. Buy a Warmoth body, or check Fleabay, or see if someone on the forums wants to trade.

I have no problem being that guy

Having said that if you were going to go ahead with it, the person to ask would be Ceri, blokes got mad finishing skills.

Dan

_________________
My Rig: Guitar into Pedals then into Amps and out into Speakers.

No, i won't even consider doing the painting, i just wondered if it were possible. I do love the inca silver, and i was blessed with this Strat with a mint paint job when i bought the guitar used with only one slight rub mark barely visible on the top contour bevel on the back which can be buffed out. Thanks for the input everyone, it's great to see so many folks who love their Fenders! That's one sweet looking Strat there Xhefri, i have been wondering what mine would look like with a white pearloid pick guard. That looks very sweet indeed, along with those pickups! Nice job man!

_________________
I believe in Christianity as i believe that the sun has risen. not only because i see it, but because by it, i see everything else. C.S. Lewis

Practice on Inca Silver Warmouth body anc contact a person who paints cars for a living. Also Harley-Davidson has a colored clear coat on their bikes.

Aw shucks! I only know the same things lots of other people know too...



Ah, well then if it's purely hypothetical it's fine to discuss it.

Many finishes are obtained by spraying a tinted translucent coat over another one. For example, Candy Apple Red is transparent red over metallic gold (I think it's gold rather than silver - is that right, guys?). So it would be perfectly possible in principle to put a layer of transparent red or blue or green or anything else over your silver paint and get a new finish. I like the idea of transparent black over silver: that could be quite chic.

However, a couple of problems. One is that your Inca Silver probably has a clear coat on top. If you spray a translucent coat over it and then a clear coat on top of that you are going to end up with a very thick finish on the guitar, which many people would think a bad idea. You could sand back your guitar's clear coat a little (and you'd need to a bit in any case to provide a "tooth" for the new lacquer to adhere to), but you couldn't take it all off for fear of sanding into the silver paint: as soon as you disturb a metallic paint layer your ruin it visually - a complete no-no.

So for Candy type finishes it is better to plan them from the start. They are always amongst the thicker finishes, but at least that way you can keep it as thin as possible. Very difficult when modifying an already thick-ish paint layer as you have here.

Another thing. When doing both metallic and transparent color coats you usually can’t correct runs and other issues by knocking back. You have to get them right first time. So if you are going to do this stuff your spraying skills better be seriously good: the only way you can put mistakes right is by taking all the paint off and starting again. That gets expensive fast.

And another other practical problem is that your American Strat will have a polyurethane lacquer. So best practice would be to use a urethane for the translucent color coat and the clear coat on top, too. However, you will be hard pressed to find a source for transparent colors in urethane. Fender custom order theirs from their paint supplier: it's not something you find on the shelf in stores.

So you'd have to purchase a sprayable clear urethane and then make up your own colored batch using the appropriate urethane-friendly dye to tint it - and where are you going to get that?

In other words, in principle this is easy: in practice, less so.

Further reading: as far as this Forum is concerned the last word on Candy-type finishes is an excellent thread by user Twelvebar. Here he discusses all the issues concerned, including choices of spraying color over either gold or silver. Great pix, too:

viewtopic.php?t=43114

Cheers - C

_________________

Candy apple red was originally over a gold base coat. The gold base had larger metallic particles. I was a kid when it came out and tried many times to paint model cars in a candy color. All the hobby shops carried the paint in cans. It was extremely difficult to get a even color because the paint would be thicker in low areas and thinner on high creases. On actual cars the red would fade showing the gold in no time at all. It was a job for pros and only lasted on show cars that spent most of their life out of the sun.

Thanks for the awesome reply Ceri, i definitely learned a ton from you about guitar finishing! Twelvebars thread was awesome too. I now can really appreciate just what all goes into finishing guitars, especially the Players builds, customizations, and restorations! All i can say is wow, nice work! There's some seriously fine craftsmanship practiced by many of you folks, and my hat's off to all of you who do it. And thanks for sharing the great pictures of it here in the forums.

_________________
I believe in Christianity as i believe that the sun has risen. not only because i see it, but because by it, i see everything else. C.S. Lewis

To be honest, I never heard of Candy Apple Red (CAR) being sprayed over gold until I came across a few Strats that were done that way. Historically, in the automotive business (where the CAR finish started and which I used to do a lot of custom painting of street rods) CAR was always over a very fine silver base coat with no metal-flake at all in the color transparent color coat. Even on most Fender Strats I have found they used silver but had a few exceptions using gold, which BTW cause the finish to be darker looking. As proof to this, below is a 1991 Strat Plus in Midnight Blue (also a candy color) or should I say Candy Apple Red? Or??? You decide as it seems like Fender couldn't make up their minds either!!! Anyhow I stripped the body and refinished it and was shocked to find how many times Fender had actually resprayed this body—14 times to be exact (counting both silver and color coats) and not counting the black sealer coats which they used 2 times or the clear coats that went over the color coats!!!!! You can plainly see silver-base coat; red or blue color coats. This guitar, when I got it, was Midnight Blue (blue color coat over silver) and then all the other coats where hidden underneath. WHAT A PAIN to strip BTW!

_________________
Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com

Hee-hee - fabulous!

Hey Jeff: you should give James Tyler a call. I think you just upgraded his Burning Water finish for him...:



BTW: counting the number of layers of paint on a Strat you're stripping. In my book that's called attention to detail. Respect!

Cheers - C

_________________

To be honest I looked at this body while stripping it and went "WHAT THE HECK"!!!! One needs to count from the left side to get a better idea of how many coats, as it is feathered more on that side. I think I showed you before the final product of this "stripper"? Here it is:

_________________
Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com