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Topic: Repainting Your Resonator Guitar |
James Trout
From:
Louisville, KY
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Posted 11 Jun 2012 5:22 am |
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Repainting Your Resonator Guitar By: Nelson Trout
1. Remove all the hardware: Get all the stuff off of that guitar. Anything that will come off needs off.
Lessons Learned:
- Get a gallon sized baggie and put everything in except the cone and spider.
- Lay those tiny screws on a piece of masking tape and put another piece of masking tape on them so they don’t get lost.
- Leave the cone and spider screwed together. There is no reason at this time to separate them!
- Remove the resonator and reach inside and apply pressure to the screens to remove them – they were glued in place on mine and hard to remove. Watch your fingers – the screens will make you bleed…
2. Once everything is removed your guitar should look similar to this:
3. Next I sanded the back to see if I could get to the bare wood. I was interested to see if the sunburst was completed by staining the wood or the polyurethane. I tried to get through the layers of poly by hand but ended up using a rotary sander (80 then 60 grit). I found out that Gold Tone had stained the wood to achieve the sunburst.
Lessons learned:
Don’t do this. It was very tough for me to obtain a decent finish with my paint because of the irregularities caused by the rotary sander.
4. Picture of the sanded back below. Notice the spot where the laminated maple peeled off – not good:
5. What I should have done was just scuff the entire poly finish using finer grit sandpaper (400 grit). I did this on all of the areas where I did not use the rotary sander. The initial paint application turned out much smoother for these areas and did not require as much paint. Remember to scuff everywhere including binding that you will mask later. (I think this entire section was a lesson learned)
6. Masking: Determine what you want painted and what you don’t. In my case, I wanted to save the binding and the manufacturer’s label on the headstock. Tape everything you don’t want painted. I also masked the nut, fingerboard, both sound holes, and filled in the resonator cavity with packing paper and taped it.
Lessons learned: Take your time when masking. I wish I had done a better job with my tape job around the binding. I tried to find some thinner masking tape but Home Depot only and 1 and 2 inch. I tried to trim the tape using a razor knife but did not do such a good job. I have since looked at the web and there is a boat load of info. I like the steps found on this link: http://www.seymourduncan.com/forum/showthread.php?t=157655
- I also would purchase some ¼” masking tape instead of ¾” or 1”.
7. I then applied primer to the guitar. I think this step was probably worthless – but I got rid of what was left in the can anyways.
8. Picture of taped and primed guitar (I think Lowe’s is having a sale on Resonator Trees):
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10. Then I sprayed it black. Keep coats light – you can spray it as many times as needed, but too much will cause it to run and you will have to re-sand it.
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12. Once it is sprayed the color you would like, let it completely dry. I then removed the masking tape from the binding, headstock, and fret board. I then took some 400 grit sandpaper to the guitar and binding (I left the fret board alone). After that, I began spraying the entire guitar with poly including the fret board. Rather than sand between coats, I would let it dry for about an hour and then spray more while it was still tacky. After about 4 light coats in 4-5 hours I let it completely dry. Then I used steel wool to scuff everything up again (I left the fret board alone). After that I wiped the guitar down with a t-shirt and began spraying poly again – 4 coats in about 4 hours.
13. Once complete the guitar looked like this:
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15. Put all the stuff back in and you are ready to play:
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Thomas Temple
From:
Florida, USA
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Posted 11 Jun 2012 7:43 am Murphy's Law
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James,
Read your description of the process and had a couple of chuckles as it sounded much like many projects that I have attempted and the old adage about Murphy's Law came to mind. That being said I would quickly add that the finished project looks great and you should be proud of the job.
Tom |
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Bill Mollenhauer
From:
New Jersey, USA
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Posted 11 Jun 2012 1:44 pm
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For 1/4 inch tape, try an auto parts store that sells automotive paint. You can even get thinner tape if you find a store that sells auto pinstriping tape.
Bill |
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James Trout
From:
Louisville, KY
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Posted 12 Jun 2012 4:28 am Tape
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Great idea - I am in the process of refinishing it again to see if I can get it to a professional level. I will see if I can get some smaller tape this evening.
Thanks |
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Bill Mollenhauer
From:
New Jersey, USA
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Posted 12 Jun 2012 6:55 am
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Just to clarify. It is not the pinstriping tape where you lay down vinyl lines and you are done. Before they made the vinyl lines you could buy a tape you would lay down and paint between the line. that is what you want.
When laying down the thin masking tape going around curves, pull it to streach it as you go around the curve. It takes a little practice to get the right amount of pull. Buy the best tape they have. After the tape is down take a credit card and squeegee the tape down. This prevents the paint from bleeding under the tape. It is usually best to get the tape off after the paint sets up a little. When removing the tape pull it back on itself not up.
Bill |
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