Thinking of givin my strat a new paint job.

[jipajapa]

Hey guys, I dont know if this is the right place to put this, so sorry if it belongs somewhere else. Lately I've been getting a little tired of my strats electric blue paint job, and have been wanting something with a little more flare. I've been thinking of a swirl or maybe a cool neon color of some sort. Any suggestions? I was wondering if I should try and take this on myself, or if I should hire someone that knows what theyre doing. Also, if i do get a professional to do it, what would the price range be? Also, if anyone has a strat with a unique paint job, could you post a pic so I could get some ideas.

Thanks

[syxxstring]

Sell the body or keep it and start with an unfinished one. All the work of a refinish isn't worth it with the price of replacment bodies.

[jaxadam]

If you want it to look good and professional, I wouldn't recommend trying to do this by yourself for the first time.

A swirl might look pretty good on a strat, but getting a good one is going to cost you, and the wait time could be as much as 6 months.

A swirl, depending on the number of colors, could run you $300 - $ 500.

A professional solid color would probably run you at most $200.

Sims Custom Shop on here will probably entertain these ideas, Herc would swirl it but be very expensive and a long wait. Another route is to go to a car paint and body shop and see if there's a guy that would do it on the side. They'll usually do a pretty good job and it'll run you about $100.

[Ki swordsman]

All the work of a refinish isn't worth it with the price of replacment bodies.

i think it's well worth it.
1. take hardware/wiring off the strat
2. give it a sand(not all the way through the coat, just as much as you like for the next coats to grip)
3. done.. ready for painting.
it's as good as an unfinished body as long as you don't want a wood grain finish in which case keep sanding through the paint(and in that case a custom body is more of an option..)

to do it the cheap homejob way..
get your white primer coat sprayed on, with a spraycan. then your paintcoats(colour sprays or swirl it or whatever) then clear coat spraycans...

(if you went through to wood you will need to add a sanding sealer coating step before the priming stage)

but major point here!->
read as many tutorials as you can on the net first! there is lots of sanding in between coats and steps, and other tips that you will get before you start.

projectguitar.com has some good tutorials. including a swirl tutorial. also do a search for swirl info here on jemsite as i've seen some good links i think..
also stewmac.com has a tutorial/info section where i think i remember seeing a good spraycan clearcoat tutorial or something
and more with the power of google

many people here have done their own swirls with brilliant results and they can probably give good info on that.

good luck! and happy modding!