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Old 10-15-2020, 12:20 PM
peeperpants peeperpants is offline
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Location: Pennsylvania
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Default Finish questions for painting a top?

Hello! I'm new! I joined specifically to make this post, but, having looked around at the community, I might get comfy here.
As I'm new, apologies in advance if this is not the right area for these questions.


Idea: I'm planning to paint my acoustic guitar with symbols and designs commemorating a few trips I’ve taken through the years. The style will be similar to the attached images – somewhat minimal - as in, the natural wood color still shows through in large patches, (and even where the designs are) rather than covering the entire top in paint.

Here's the images:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Hll...ew?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Hll...ew?usp=sharing

Questions: My questions involve the process of removing the existing finish and reapplying a new one. My guitar is a Lucero LC200S; I mention this specifically because I can’t seem to find any specifics/details on it anywhere besides the (minimal) specs provided by Lucero’s website, as well as the copy and paste specs from Guitar Center/Musician’s friend. Hence, I have no idea what sort of finish is on this guitar. I can guess it’s a polyurethane, as I know it’s made in China, and that seems to be the standard for factory-made Chinese guitars.

Regarding the attached pictures, do you think the finish was ENTIRELY removed? Even in spots where there aren’t even any paintings? Was it perhaps just “roughed up” (partially sanded I guess?) in the painted spots, or the entire top? I’m pretty clueless as to going about this; I can handle the artistic part, but this sensitive stuff involving the wood has me perplexed. At the same time, it seems do-able, since a quick search of “painted guitars” yields a million results.

My guitar teacher did something sort of similar to one of his guitars – there are a few inked (or painted? Can’t tell) flowers on his top, which predominantly still features the natural wood. So I wil probably ask how he handled the finish removal/reapplication processes as well...
Thanks in advance, all!
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Old 10-16-2020, 09:36 AM
Frank Ford Frank Ford is offline
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Location: Palo Alto, CA
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A project like this can take many forms, and can get pretty involved.

I reckon there's no single "right way" to do this kind of work. A lot depends on the adhesion and durability properties of various paints, dyes, clear coats, etc.

Here's a finishing job I did to protect a gold ink signature on a polyester finish. In this kind of circumstance you'd scuff the current finish, paint on it, and overcoat it with new finish. Shellac is a good bonding agent between different finish types because it sticks to most finishes and most finishes stick to it.

PROTECTING A CELEBRITY SIGNATURE
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Cheers,

Frank Ford
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Old 10-19-2020, 09:18 AM
peeperpants peeperpants is offline
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Location: Pennsylvania
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Frank,

Thanks for your comment! Also, the signature looks gorgeous on the guitar you shared.

Yeah, you're right. My biggest concern at the moment is that I have no clue what this thing is currently finished with, and I'm afraid to refinish it with the wrong product. (Aka, so if it was finished with lacquer or shellac, refinishing with polyurethane would probably be bad since poly isn't the best for breathability )

I mention this since I wasn't planning to fully "strip" the current finish off, merely rough it up enough so that my design would adhere properly.

I will look into shellac though, if you say that it would play nice with whatever the heck is currently on the guitar......

thanks agin!
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