PAINT YOUR OWN GUITAR

1. LACQUER – The “CONS” In Using It

In this issue, I’m STILL going to talk about paint – namely, lacquer. However, I’m going to talk about the CONS of using lacquer… and what to keep in mind once you’ve painted your dream guitar.

I found an interesting article a few years back and kept it – I don’t know why, I just did. I’m glad I did. That article is part of this newsletter and I URGE each of you to read it just so you are aware of what the article talks about – namely, rubber is no friend to lacquer.

Before I get to the article, I’ve taken a few photos of my “Frankenstrat” that was painted for my book, HOW TO Create A Factory Guitar Finish… that I want to share with you. Remember, I put a factory finish on this guitar.

After finishing the guitar, the finish was pretty good – not perfect, but pretty good. However, look at the damage on the images to the right. You’re probably wondering – “How did that happen?”… The damage is a result of putting my guitar on a guitar stand!… You heard right – a guitar stand! (click for the larger versions of the images of the stands too.)

No, I didn’t drop the guitar, or do a really bad job on the finish. This happened because there is a chemical in rubber and vinyl that MELTS lacquer! … melts it. Just look at the pix and you’ll see that there is finish that is stuck to the armrests of the guitar stand. Where the paint came off on the body, it is soft in that area.

I’ve asked my brother-in-law who is a professional car painter what he thinks may be in rubber and vinyl that has the ability to melt a hardened lacquer. He mentioned something called “isocyanite.” (isocyanate). Isocyanite is used in auto paint but there may be some of it in rubber that causes the reaction. He’s not positive – it’s just a guess. Personally, I haven’t had the time yet to research this, but just so you are aware – rubber and vinyl can melt, not only aerosol lacquer, it can melt lacquer used by the biggest guitar builders, too (The article will touch on that.) Gibson, Martin, etc.

I did mention this in my book, but I felt that I should share a little more with you on this subject since a lot of you are doing great work, I wanted you to be aware of what WILL happen to your finish if you place it on a rubber stand.

You may be wondering – can I never put my guitar on a stand ever again?… The answer is, at some point, you MAY be able to… but, when that is, I don’t know. Personally, I hang all of my guitars on OFF THE WALL stands – which you can purchase on eBay or at your local Music Store. Here’s the problem: The OFF THE WALL hangers have rubber arms that hold the headstock of the guitar and will inflict the same damage to a painted headstock as the floor stand does to the body.

CRAZY, huh??

For me, the damage to any of the guitars I paint is really no big deal. I’ve been painting guitars for over 20 years and have painted close to 500 guitars. If one gets damaged, and I liked it, I’ll just paint another one. But, for you guys and gals who are just getting started, it might kill you to get damage such as this on your first babies… so, take the necessary precautions to care for your guitars.

To read the original article, click here.

Maybe some of you out there may want to think about building special guitar stands that can support the body but will not destroy the finish. And then PATENT IT!