IN THIS ISSUE:
1. Stay Away From KRYLON!
2. Today's Q & A: Your Questions Answered
3. Become A PYOG Affiliate
4. SPECIAL OFFERS FROM PYOG

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1. STAY AWAY FROM KRYLON!

The TIGER, 3 1/2 years after it was painted. Photo taken 3/9/07 - next to this is the most recent issue of Guitar WORLD magazine. The finish features sinking (when you can see a slight edge around the different layers of paint) and is natural when using lacquers. However, the finish has no cracks. I painted two bullseyes for my main book in 2004. This is the second one - which I never did get a neck for. However, this finish is still quite good. It has typical sinking, which is common with lacquers, but otherwise, it has no cracks.

 

For those of you who have bought any of my books, you know that I DID recommend Krylon paint when the books were first written (2004, 2005) because of its ease of use and its variety of colors.

However, it is CLEAR that Krylon have done something to their formulation over the last couple of years because spidery micro-cracks in the finish will now happen virtually EVERY TIME.

When I painted the guitars for my books, I used Krylon and had great success. To this day, each finish has held up well. Each one has typical settling (and sinking) which is natural with lacquers, but the spidery cracks that people have been getting when using Krylon now is something that I did not get.

I offer the following photos just snapped today as proof that these finishes are still good (I placed a recent GW magazine to sort of date stamp it).

I recently had an interesting email conversation with James Duffy (aka - Frankenstraat - on the EVH forum boards) who was telling me about some tests he had run on some store-bought spray cans. He confirmed to me that several brands have altered their formulations so that the paint never gets hard.

What's interesting is, James and I have both been painting for over 20 years and neither of us experienced anything like this while using spray cans - even a decade ago.

So, what are your options? Well, so far, I've only done one guitar with Duplicolor, but judging by how it looks, it seems to be okay... so far.

Other options include: ALSA Killer Cans - which is not a lacquer, but probably a urethane or a urethane enamel. They have some amazing stuff. It's costly, but it's definitely worth looking into.

Another option would be to have a local auto paint supply store put some real auto paint into spray cans for you. This option is much more costly than regular store-bought spray cans, but the benefit is that you're dealing with top-quality paint. And, that is well worth it.

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2. TODAY'S Q&A: Your Questions Answered

This questions seems to be the one that I get most often. Although I answer it in my books, I guess it bares repeating.

Q: Hi John, I purchased the e-book package the other day and have spent numerous hours reading parts 1 & 2 and all of the newsletters. But...to be honest, I can't make heads or tails on what paint to use say for an EVH-1 project or a Frankenstein project. I know you used Krylon in the past and now don't recommend it, so if you were to do the EVH-1 guitar again what mgfr. and type of paint would you use? Basically, I'm looking to get something nice without breaking the bank and taking months to cure.

A: In the books, I give you the PROS and CONS of the two most popular paint types to use: lacquer and urethane. Lacquer: Months to cure, but relatively inexpensive. Urethane: A week to cure but expensive. So, you have to decide what's more important - time or money. (And, yes - you should stay entirely away from store-bought enamel.)

Also, I usually recommend that people paint at least ONE guitar before spending the money on urethane. There's so much that goes into painting a guitar that using a paint that cures fast is not nearly as relevant as sanding and prepping your guitar to perfection. Do at least ONE guitar, understand that 20 steps make for a perfect paint job - not just what type of paint to use, then, you'll have a better grasp of what's in store for you for your next guitar. That's when you can make the choice - Lacquer or Urethane.