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Old 09-24-2015, 03:51 PM
Freedbaby Freedbaby is offline
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Default What paint and method to use for painting a Tele

I am contemplating customizing a guitar that I saw on the web with the "General Lee" theme

I have a sacrificial Tele that I might use for it and was wondering what the process should be. I was thinking that the lettering and numbers should be vinyl that are put on after the orange but before the clear coat.

Would I strip off the old paint first or leave it? its got the factory Fender paint. What kind of paint do I use and what method?

For the bridge... ceramic coating, powder coating or paint?

Any help is appreciated.
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Old 09-24-2015, 04:18 PM
Rodger Knox Rodger Knox is offline
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Yes, you should probably strip off the old paint down to bare wood.
The typical finish is nitro lacquer, but you could use an automotive lacquer for a tele, it's much easier to find. There are lots of techniques you could use, depending on your skills and what you have available.
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Old 09-24-2015, 04:26 PM
Freedbaby Freedbaby is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rodger Knox View Post
Yes, you should probably strip off the old paint down to bare wood.
The typical finish is nitro lacquer, but you could use an automotive lacquer for a tele, it's much easier to find. There are lots of techniques you could use, depending on your skills and what you have available.
I painted my firs car with lacquer....now, dont ask me how long ago that was but I did it! lol

I have a compressor, but no gun...but I don't think they are terribly expensive.

You suggest a power sander or sand by hand?
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Old 09-24-2015, 04:39 PM
Rodger Knox Rodger Knox is offline
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I'd suggest a chemical stripper, then scraper and hand sanding. You could use a ROS, but you'd have to be careful not to take off too much wood. With a tele body, you could probably get away with it, the front and back are pretty flat. A strat would be a different story.
Maybe Brian Howard will see this and post, he's a real finishing expert.
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Old 09-25-2015, 04:41 AM
B. Howard B. Howard is offline
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If the body has a modern polyester finish and is in relatively good shape you can use it as a base for a new finish and run any type of finish you like over it. If it is a lacquer or other thin acrylic you should strip it. You may find a very hard UV sealer under the finish which if left fairly intact can again be used as a base for your new finish.

The vinyl decals under the clear will work as long as they are not to thick. You will have two layers of vinyl to bury under clear, blue and white. Type of finish used will also play a part here, most modern 2K urethane automotive paints have a mil barrier of 5 mills so if your vinyl is more than 3 mils total you will have problems.

A 2K urethane would work fairly well for the bridge too.
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Old 09-25-2015, 08:04 AM
Freedbaby Freedbaby is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by B. Howard View Post
If the body has a modern polyester finish and is in relatively good shape you can use it as a base for a new finish and run any type of finish you like over it. If it is a lacquer or other thin acrylic you should strip it. You may find a very hard UV sealer under the finish which if left fairly intact can again be used as a base for your new finish.

The vinyl decals under the clear will work as long as they are not to thick. You will have two layers of vinyl to bury under clear, blue and white. Type of finish used will also play a part here, most modern 2K urethane automotive paints have a mil barrier of 5 mills so if your vinyl is more than 3 mils total you will have problems.

A 2K urethane would work fairly well for the bridge too.
guitar is a 1998 but was only first played last year, so with the exception of one small ding that my kids put in it, its in mint condition. suggest stripping it or going over the factory finish?
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Old 09-25-2015, 10:21 AM
Outhouse Outhouse is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Freedbaby View Post
guitar is a 1998 but was only first played last year, so with the exception of one small ding that my kids put in it, its in mint condition. suggest stripping it or going over the factory finish?
This may help, poached from another forum. But it seems to me you should strip the nitro layer off and keeping the poly/plastic base. I just refinished a strat taken down to wood, wish I would have left the poly on as a sealer in hindsight, as Howard mentioned.

By 1968, virtually all Fender guitar products used polyester as an undercoat, including necks. It's a two part product using Methyl Ethyl Ketone(MEK) as a catalyst. The reason the face of the pegheads were not sealed with polyester, is because type 'C' decals (under the finish) would not adhere to the product. While it is true a few guitars may have squeaked by with homoclad, when homoclad wasn't available, they used a Fuller O'Brian product called Ful-O-Plast. PLASTIC!!! It's obvious to me that those necks or bodies were stragglers, having to be reworked for some reason or another and not shipped after the change.

I'd like to make one thing clear... ALL FENDER GUITARS PRODUCED AFTER 1968 HAD A POLYESTER UNDERCOAT WITH A LACQUER TOPCOAT!!! There is no specific ratio. Enough poly was, and is sprayed to properly fill the grain while preventig a burn through while sanding.

In 1983, Fender began using polyuerthane as a topcoat. It cured quicker. It had better clarity. It had more depth and gloss, and didn't melt when you accidently spilled 151 on it. Fender then discontinued the use of polyester on the necks. Polyurethane is a 2 part product using a catalyst.

Fender has continued to use polyester, polyurethane, nitro, homoclad, and Ful-O-Plast.

Nitro is not a superior finish. An electric guitar doesn't 'breathe' at 120 db.
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Old 09-25-2015, 11:04 AM
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Bob Womack Bob Womack is offline
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Old 09-25-2015, 01:47 PM
Freedbaby Freedbaby is offline
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Thanks for all the help.

I have a small chip on the corner but I have the piece that came off...I was going to glue it back on and then start the sanding process etc.

Is this going to work?
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Old 09-25-2015, 02:21 PM
Rodger Knox Rodger Knox is offline
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Well, it CAN work, but you will have to make it work.
Finish work is never easy, and what you are doing is a little different, so YOU will have to develop a technique that works. We can offer advice, and often help avoid some of the pitfalls.

The best advice I have is test it out on scrap wood. Go through the whole procedure. Put down the first color, add any other colors, put on a couple of the vinyl stickers, and add the clearcoat. That's the only way to know if it works. Be sure to use the same products as the test, formulations vary from brand to brand, and they don't always work the same.

Once again, test on scrap first!
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