A swirl clear coat question, and some others

[thedonutman]

I know this topic has been beaten to death extensively, but because there are so many threads on it, finding what I want is becoming difficult. Ive read a few threads here, and I've also read the guide on Project Guitar.

So here goes:


1. Once I've dipped it, I let it dry, but do I need to do anything to it to stop the paint from sagging or flowing? Or will the oil paints have dried a little bit once I've taken the body out of the tub?

2. Do I sand the oil paint swirl before clear coating? Or do I only sand/buff the clear coat.

3. Do I have to sand down my guitar completely and then primer it? Or can I just sand down the clearcoat to the black paint underneath and swirl on top of that? I'm planning a swirl that contains black anyway? Will the black underneath show through the swirl I put over the top?

4. How do I stop the paint+water from getting inside trem bushings? Do I remove the bushings? Or can I just tape over+plug the holes+bushings? I'm not too bothered about the paintjob around the posts anyway.

[TAorama]

Having never swirled, I can't give you a 100% answer, but based on my painting experience and research into swirling, I'll take a shot since no one else has.

1) The layer of paint sticking to the guitar should be fairly thin, and oils are typically fairly viscous, so hopefully there won't be a huge run problem. Watch it when it comes out of the tub. You could manually rotate the guitar for a few minutes to keep the paint from running in a particular direction.

2) I would not sand the swirl. If you sanded through the swirl, you'd be screwed. Build the clear up until it's reasonably flat, then sand and buff the clear.

3) You don't need to take all the finish off. Sand it to give it a little tooth to the paint (maybe 600 grit) and to make sure everything's smooth and flat. The factory finish makes an excellent basecoat. Just make sure to use a wax/grease remover (Prep-Sol or similar) on the original finish to remove any silicone waxes or other contaminates before you start sanding and painting.

4) You can either screw a bolt of the appropriate size into the bushings to keep the paint out, or just fill them with paper towel. Sure the towel will soak up some paint/water, but it shouldn't be too bad. Better than leaving them wide open.

Hope that helps. Like I said, I've never done swirls, but I've done a lot of painting, so maybe it will at least get you started. Let us know how it goes, and be sure to post pics as you go. Good luck!

[thedonutman]

Cool, your expertise is appreciated. I have absloutely no experience painting what so ever, I've always used oil finishes.

When you say I should give the finish a little tooth, how much of the clearcoat should I try to sand off? Just scrape the surface? all of it?

If I don't sand it all off won't I get:
Factory black/Factory clear/My swirl/My clear?

Is that a problem?

[nightfiend14]

some people fill the holes with wax.

[TAorama]

I don't think the straight black guitars are cleared. I think it's just a single stage black polyester. If you're worried about the thickness of the paint, take a little more of the factory finish off. Just be sure you're using a sanding block to keep it flat.

[andrewsfury]

you guys gave good advise here thats exactly what i do and works great.