anyone brought their guitar for respray at car/bike shops?
- Thread starter pukka
- Start date
re_unknown
New member
dood, i don't think its natural to bring ur axe to the bike shop and say, "uncle i wan respray my guitar".
to make life easier, approch a fellow spray-artist softie like customworkz or Gr3y, these guys make magic.
its not as easy as just spray the whole thing. the guitar has to be dismantled, knobs, neck, pups, you call it. then the old paint has to be ripped off before u can spray the new layer.
to make life easier, approch a fellow spray-artist softie like customworkz or Gr3y, these guys make magic.
its not as easy as just spray the whole thing. the guitar has to be dismantled, knobs, neck, pups, you call it. then the old paint has to be ripped off before u can spray the new layer.
Don't go bike shops. They probably have no idea what you're talking about if you ask them to refinish your guitar. As per my recommendation in my PMs, you would want to look into authorized car repair shops, especially Mercs and BMW to refinish your guitar. It has been done before.
With all due respect, I doubt Gr3y and customworkz have the high end resources to refinish a guitar to factory grade. This is not their fault since the investment in capital for refinishing works such as a HVLP spray gun system is extremely high coupled with maintenance and a ventilated spray booth for a totally dust-free environment. The paint itself used is industrial, which means it's not commercially available. These guys are still great if you aren't that particular about a factory-grade finish though.
Dismantling the guitar is the easiest part of a refinishing process. Stripping the paint is the easiest to get things wrong. If you want to refinish your guitar in a solid colour stripping off the old layer is not required.
Btw Pukka, what finish is your guitar and what sort of new finish are you looking for?
With all due respect, I doubt Gr3y and customworkz have the high end resources to refinish a guitar to factory grade. This is not their fault since the investment in capital for refinishing works such as a HVLP spray gun system is extremely high coupled with maintenance and a ventilated spray booth for a totally dust-free environment. The paint itself used is industrial, which means it's not commercially available. These guys are still great if you aren't that particular about a factory-grade finish though.
Dismantling the guitar is the easiest part of a refinishing process. Stripping the paint is the easiest to get things wrong. If you want to refinish your guitar in a solid colour stripping off the old layer is not required.
Btw Pukka, what finish is your guitar and what sort of new finish are you looking for?
The mechanics/technicalities of a good paint job are the same whether you're spraying cars, bikes or guitars. And I'm sure refinishing a guitar is far less taxing than a whole vehicle.
But of course there are good and bad paint shops lah.
I'd approach these guys if I have a reliable contact. I've seen 2 that were resprayed in an auto shop and the results were really good.
I don't have the contact for the shop, but I know it was one that's popular for re-spraying of beemers.
But of course there are good and bad paint shops lah.
I'd approach these guys if I have a reliable contact. I've seen 2 that were resprayed in an auto shop and the results were really good.
I don't have the contact for the shop, but I know it was one that's popular for re-spraying of beemers.
edder
New member
There's one shop at Kallang Ave amongst the bike workshops that does a lot of spray jobs for big bikes and all. Workmanship is top notch but I'm not sure if they do guitars.
Another would be Mohegan Project or something like that in little india. They do custom airbrush works and all.
Another would be Mohegan Project or something like that in little india. They do custom airbrush works and all.
Whitestrat
New member
Actually, it's the same paints. As long as your'e talking acryllic paints (no nitrocellulose here ya?). A friend and I had to source for "sonic blue" from the old Fender colour groups (using the old caddilac paint codes), and the car shop managed to get it for us, even though they had never seen this colour before... too old... whahaha...
I think that's important isn't the spray painting, or the coats, or the colour. What's more important, is making sure the wood is filled and sealed properly befure you bring it for spraying. and THAT is something these car shops cannot provide.
It's not. The typical spray paint in cans - about SGD 10 bucks per can right? Now for PPG automative clear - you're looking at USD150 per galleon, which is already considered cheap.
Look at the clear coats of different vehicles under fluorescent lighting, which is termed "harsh lighting" as it reveals flaws in the finish very easily. Try to get a reflection of the bulb in the finish. In cheaper cars, older cars such as your typical toyota comfort cab, notice that the edges of the bulb are blurry/feathered would be the proper term for it. Now look at a BMW or Mercs and the edges of the same bulb will now be much more distinct. This has to do with the chemical composition of the paint itself and obviously lower quality paint will not be as flat a finish as higher quality paint.
You're right in saying that car shops cannot provide wood filling and sealing services. However, you don't have to strip everything off a previous finish to refinish your guitar. Wood sealer is concrete hard and much harder than the colour coat and primer. Hence it would be easy to strip off the clear and colour coat leaving the sealer intact. Then reprime and you're off to a new start. This is something any competent car shop can achieve.
Note: Every single step in a finish is extremely crucial. Screw up any one of them and you most likely have to start from scratch. Also, many paints are termed loosely. Acrylic can refer to acrylic urethane, polyacrylic urethane and all other sorts of variations. For poly, there's polyester and polyurethane as well. Each of this variations have a different base and generally speaking acrylic is water-based.
well i've talked to pukka personally and his budget is kinda tight.
My cousin runs a paintshop, and the problem is not just to do with skill and equipment, but with budget. Guys do read what almondx said once more if you're seriously getting a paintjob done, painting like he describes is a complicated and hence costly
We must remember that paintshops are businesses, and people make a living through that. To earn a office-job salary of say 3000 even if you paint 10 guitars a month, that'd be 300 profit required off each. I don't think there even 10 people repainting their guitars island-wide every month.
Now most of us have the impression that repainting a guitar is something small and simple and expect to get it done under 100. That's pretty much impossible.
If you'd expect your guitars to be painted PROPERLY under 500 sing, you're saying that painting is of lower value than selling burgers at fastfood restaurants.
A quality job would cost anywhere between 500-1000 here in Singapore where labour isn't cheap, but how many will spend so much?
To break it down, quality repainting includes:
Stripping the paint
Cleaning the wood layer
Sealing the wood
3 coats of colour/stain minimum
3-10coats of lacquer, with days of wait time between each layer.
2 weeks to 2 months for lacquer to dry.
Finally buffing abd polishing,
Now that's really long and hard work, but most people have the impression that painting isn't a big deal cuz you do it with spray cans every once in a while.
You can get a paint job done for 100 at a bike shop probably, but they won't treat it like a car or bike.
However, painters are painters, regardless of what they were trained to paint, they just paint according to the amount you pay. So it's nothing to do with Bike painters or Car painters, only High-quality and low quality-painters.
(guys don't mean to sound like I'm flaming, just would like to let you guys know waht I learnt from cousin when i worked at his paintshop, hopefully changing your mindset)
My cousin runs a paintshop, and the problem is not just to do with skill and equipment, but with budget. Guys do read what almondx said once more if you're seriously getting a paintjob done, painting like he describes is a complicated and hence costly
We must remember that paintshops are businesses, and people make a living through that. To earn a office-job salary of say 3000 even if you paint 10 guitars a month, that'd be 300 profit required off each. I don't think there even 10 people repainting their guitars island-wide every month.
Now most of us have the impression that repainting a guitar is something small and simple and expect to get it done under 100. That's pretty much impossible.
If you'd expect your guitars to be painted PROPERLY under 500 sing, you're saying that painting is of lower value than selling burgers at fastfood restaurants.
A quality job would cost anywhere between 500-1000 here in Singapore where labour isn't cheap, but how many will spend so much?
To break it down, quality repainting includes:
Stripping the paint
Cleaning the wood layer
Sealing the wood
3 coats of colour/stain minimum
3-10coats of lacquer, with days of wait time between each layer.
2 weeks to 2 months for lacquer to dry.
Finally buffing abd polishing,
Now that's really long and hard work, but most people have the impression that painting isn't a big deal cuz you do it with spray cans every once in a while.
You can get a paint job done for 100 at a bike shop probably, but they won't treat it like a car or bike.
However, painters are painters, regardless of what they were trained to paint, they just paint according to the amount you pay. So it's nothing to do with Bike painters or Car painters, only High-quality and low quality-painters.
(guys don't mean to sound like I'm flaming, just would like to let you guys know waht I learnt from cousin when i worked at his paintshop, hopefully changing your mindset)
Whitestrat
New member
Er... I wasn't talking about the spray can paint. The sonic blue we bought wasn't cheap. I'm saying that Guitar paint and the kind you spray on cars isn't that different. And you shouldn't be using spray cans either.
I wasn't talking about that either. I was talking about finishing a fresh body.
Ah but I was responding in terms of Pukka's situation of refinishing his guitar and not a new body.
Hmm, I thought it was clear in my first post that automative paint and guitar paint are one and the same hence they can be used interchangeably as per my suggestion to have Pukka's guitar refinished in a car servicing shop.
Paint cans will work in a pinch, but obviously not up to spran gun standards. www.reranch.com has a good write up on finishing guitars using their paint cans, though it is nitro-based. I do have another pdf write up which shows how to finish a guitar using normal paint cans extensively. PM me if you would like it since it's really interesting =)
Hmm, I thought it was clear in my first post that automative paint and guitar paint are one and the same hence they can be used interchangeably as per my suggestion to have Pukka's guitar refinished in a car servicing shop.
Paint cans will work in a pinch, but obviously not up to spran gun standards. www.reranch.com has a good write up on finishing guitars using their paint cans, though it is nitro-based. I do have another pdf write up which shows how to finish a guitar using normal paint cans extensively. PM me if you would like it since it's really interesting =)
Gibson uses nitrolacquer with plasticizers in it. PRS uses Dupont Chromaclear, which is very apparent in their Corvette series. Certain custom builders use PPG, which is slightly more expensive and brittle compared to Dupont but you get an extremely solid finish.
Here's the PDF to those who are interested:
http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/5/4/1046268/PYOGv2006ni98y.pdf
Here's the PDF to those who are interested:
http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/5/4/1046268/PYOGv2006ni98y.pdf
bin4christ
New member
almondx: stripping of the old coat is not necessary if a solid colour is gonna be applied? will the paint then be too thick, and in a way affect the sustain/ resonance?
