There ain't one, sadly.
For those who are interested, here's a letter I wrote to a young fella who attends college at my daughter's alma mater, the University of California at Santa Cruz, and who has been writing me for instruction on refinishing his bass himself. I thought I would also post it here, just to inform interested Forum members.
The tone may be a bit preachy, and I apologize for that, but we've been corresponding and he asked some very specific questions which this letter answers, and that's why it reads sometimes like a friendly lecture.
So, I'll let it speak for itself:
"It is expensive to repaint a bass or guitar! Even more expensive if you're only doing one, because you have to buy, borrow or rent a good spray gun, and the materials we use (which generally follow the Rick factory's methods of painting guitars) can't be bought in small quantities, leading to some waste unless you've got a friend who's also doing a refin or you yourself are doing more than one instrument.
The primer which is the key to getting a perfect finish on an old and nicked-up guitar, costs about $58.00/quart, then there's hardener, and reducer, all from the same place. Then there's sandpaper at almost a buck a sheet, the black paint at $30.00/pint, and clearcoat at $50.00/quart, and clearcoat activator, too. Clearcoat uses the same reducer as the primer.
I charge from $550.00 to $750.00 to refinish a guitar (there are lots of variables affecting price), and I'd estimate that about $100.00 of that is paint materials, another few bucks for depreciation and utility burden, so say, $150.00. The rest is for my labor and experience. The most I make is maybe $25.00 per hour, if a job really goes smoothly. Most don't, because this is not a production line painting new guitars. These are old instruments that all require some type of tweaking or other to get them up to snuff.
You can see now that people are not exactly beating down the doors to take part in this "moneymaking opportunity". You can get poor a lot quicker than you can get rich, doing this.
I have written lots of papers on finishing as it applies to items like guitars, but reading is no substitute for actual hands-on learning. I have personally taught over 150 students how to set up and use a spray gun, and the average time to get the hang of it is about 6 hours. Proficiency begins after several weeks of daily use of the gun. Then there's the chemistry of various paints and the ins and outs of different systems.
THE EASY WAY TO PAINT YER GEETAR
Moderator: jingle_jangle
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jingle_jangle
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THE EASY WAY TO PAINT YER GEETAR
“I say in speeches that a plausible mission of artists is to make people appreciate being alive at least a little bit. I am then asked if I know of any artists who pulled that off. I reply, 'The Beatles did.”
― Kurt Vonnegut
― Kurt Vonnegut
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jingle_jangle
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"So you can see that it takes quite a bit of passion and dedication to pursue this line of work to such an extent. Then you get ReRanch and StewMac and Dan Erlewine (who seems like a nice guy, at least according to his press agent, but who knows very little about finishing the Rick way) telling people that they can get a great finish with a spray can, in order to sell you cans of spray paint.
If you really work hard at it, you can get a shiny finish with a spray can, but it won't protect your instrument and will chip like crazy.
In the case of spray cans, do the math. A 12-ounce spray can is about 80% propellant. This leaves about 2 1/2 ounces of actual paint to spray onto your object (in this case, guitar). and this paint is actually cut 50% with reducer, leaving about 1 1/4 ounces of actual colored paint. It must be air-dry paint, because nobody has yet devised a way to spray a catalyzing, two component paint onto an object with any kind of reliability. However, the best clearcoat finishes in terms of protection and gloss, are catalyzing polyesters (which Fender's foreign factories and just about every Korean and Chinese guitar maker, use) and catalyzing polyurethanes (which Rickenbacker and Gretsch use and which is also the system that Dale and I use).
Remember that 2 1/2 ounce figure per spray can I mentioned above? Here's another: To properly do a burst finish, I use about 7 ounces of transparent dye cut with urethane binder and reducer. That's three spray cans, if it was available that way, which it isn't.
But here's the kicker: To properly cover a guitar with enough coats of catalyzing urethane clearcoat (Rick uses "conversion varnish", I use something a bit more specific, but in the same family), takes 28 ounces or more of catalyzed, reduced clear coat! That's 12 full spray cans of clear coat, and it is not available in spray cans, for the reason mentioned above. A bass takes closer to a quart of clearcoat.
The reason for all of this is that, following spraying, the guitar must be allowed to harden for a few days, and then begins the laborious process of flatting the surface and rubbing down with finer and finer grades of sandpaper, and then finally machine- and hand-buffing.
So if a finishing "expert" is trying to sell you paint in spray cans and telling you that you can refinish your guitar with rattle cans in your back yard in a sandstorm, he's right!
It'll just look like painted sandpaper, instead of beautifully-preserved wood.
Best,
Paul"
If you really work hard at it, you can get a shiny finish with a spray can, but it won't protect your instrument and will chip like crazy.
In the case of spray cans, do the math. A 12-ounce spray can is about 80% propellant. This leaves about 2 1/2 ounces of actual paint to spray onto your object (in this case, guitar). and this paint is actually cut 50% with reducer, leaving about 1 1/4 ounces of actual colored paint. It must be air-dry paint, because nobody has yet devised a way to spray a catalyzing, two component paint onto an object with any kind of reliability. However, the best clearcoat finishes in terms of protection and gloss, are catalyzing polyesters (which Fender's foreign factories and just about every Korean and Chinese guitar maker, use) and catalyzing polyurethanes (which Rickenbacker and Gretsch use and which is also the system that Dale and I use).
Remember that 2 1/2 ounce figure per spray can I mentioned above? Here's another: To properly do a burst finish, I use about 7 ounces of transparent dye cut with urethane binder and reducer. That's three spray cans, if it was available that way, which it isn't.
But here's the kicker: To properly cover a guitar with enough coats of catalyzing urethane clearcoat (Rick uses "conversion varnish", I use something a bit more specific, but in the same family), takes 28 ounces or more of catalyzed, reduced clear coat! That's 12 full spray cans of clear coat, and it is not available in spray cans, for the reason mentioned above. A bass takes closer to a quart of clearcoat.
The reason for all of this is that, following spraying, the guitar must be allowed to harden for a few days, and then begins the laborious process of flatting the surface and rubbing down with finer and finer grades of sandpaper, and then finally machine- and hand-buffing.
So if a finishing "expert" is trying to sell you paint in spray cans and telling you that you can refinish your guitar with rattle cans in your back yard in a sandstorm, he's right!
It'll just look like painted sandpaper, instead of beautifully-preserved wood.
Best,
Paul"
“I say in speeches that a plausible mission of artists is to make people appreciate being alive at least a little bit. I am then asked if I know of any artists who pulled that off. I reply, 'The Beatles did.”
― Kurt Vonnegut
― Kurt Vonnegut
Ha ha ha ha. That exploded the "you can paint yer geetar with a paint can" myth all to h*ll and back.
That was a very good letter Paul. It was also very informative.
That was a very good letter Paul. It was also very informative.
“We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” - Albert Einstein
"You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother" - Albert Einstein
"You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother" - Albert Einstein
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firstbassman
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Paul is right. The paint isn't as durable as shooting from a spray gun. I shot my 325 with StewMac black and clear cans and it came beautiful. We came to the conclusion that the original paint might have been contaminated with a cleaning solution. I found a chip by the pickguard which I believe my son might have done and was easily able to touch it up with a spot fill. One day I plan on sending it out for a nice tough finish.
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melibreits
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string_along
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melibreits
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I'll go for easy! Getting your clearcoats to dry in the winter is a real bear!
http://webpages.charter.net/tbradshaw/snow%20002.jpg
http://webpages.charter.net/tbradshaw/snow%20002.jpg
