Should I or not????

[Deleted]

I have been wanting a yellow Strat for the longest time. I have a picture of one that the body is yellow and the peg head is yellow. I love the yellow in the picture.

 So, I have this Strat that I built out of parts a long time ago. It has a mahogany body and maple on maple neck. The body was an old Johnson. I put a drop in pick guard that came with mighy mite pickups.

 The guitar plays and sound amazing. I like it so much that It's hard for me to want a USA Fender Start. Because the ones I have had don't play or sound as good as the one I made form these parts.

 But anyway. I an thinking of stripping it down and painting it yellow. Only because it's it a great playing guitar I am a little apprehensive in using it.

 

 I am also looking at kit guitars, but then I for me I would end up using only the body and neck. Everything on it would be changed out. So if I did that I may just want to put 2 humbuckers in it. Only because I never owned a Start with 2 humbusckes in it.

 The other thing with going with a raw wood build I would not have to deal with a lot of sanding. But I would have to deal with panting it and letting it sit for while. Not that I would not have to do the same on the other guitar. It would be starting with a fresh build and not have to sand off the finish like on the other one.

 So What would any of you do? Would you repaint what you already have or would you build form a kit?

I am so picky about the yellow too. I thought of corvette yellow but it's too bright. The picture I have is a yellow custom shop Fender. I can't find out what shade of yellow they used. I need it to be in spray cans.

 But anyway, this is just in thinking stages. I can buy a cheap kit for around $90 or less. Not too bad for a body and neck. But by the time it's all said and done I would have a few hundred tied up in it. No matter the way I go it will take me a long while to build it.

 Please let me know your thoughts...

 EB

[antares]

It's largely down to what you prefer Eddie so I wouldn't presume to advise you. That is partially because you have so much more experience than I do, but it's also because I hate to see nice grained timber being covered in paint. Horses for courses because I think I read only recently of someone that prefers coloured guitars to those that show off the timber? It could have been Dane- maybe in a YouTube clip? Sorry if I'm wrong Dane ...

If it was just say Birch, Poplar, or even what I call "treewood" (pallet wood etc) then yeah- splash it on, but mahogany? ouch!

Whatever you go for, a couple of pics please because I know you'll make a first class job of it.

e&oe ...

[Deleted]

Nov 11, 2019 9:28:35 GMT -6 antares said:

It's largely down to what you prefer Eddie so I wouldn't presume to advise you. That is partially because you have so much more experience than I do, but it's also because I hate to see nice grained timber being covered in paint. Horses for courses because I think I read only recently of someone that prefers coloured guitars to those that show off the timber? It could have been Dane- maybe in a YouTube clip? Sorry if I'm wrong Dane ...

If it was just say Birch, Poplar, or even what I call "treewood" (pallet wood etc) then yeah- splash it on, but mahogany? ouch!

Whatever you go for, a couple of pics please because I know you'll make a first class job of it.

e&oe ...

Yeah, I keep chasing my tail on it. If I re do the guitar I have all I'll have in it cost wise is time and paint. But it's a lot of work getting the body ready to repaint. I doubt that I would take it all the way down to the wood. It is a dark burgundy right now. My other thing on it is It plays so good and I would hate for that to change. Be my luck it would change and I would be upset at myself. LOL!

 But if I did a kit it would wind up costing more, but I can do what I want and not fear in messing up a great playing guitar.

 I am really trying to find something to do.

    I like painted guitars as much as I like natural wood guitars. But here of late seems a lot of people are making natural wood guitars. Since I have wanted a yellow guitar for so long I thought I would try to see if I had one more build left in me. It may take me a long time to build it. Due to my health issues these days.

 I don't know maybe I am trying to hang on to something that I should just let go of... I might just take the money and buy new tuners for a couple of guitars.

 I did find an old squire that was yellow, but it was so beat up and full of stickers and way over priced.

 Well, I'll keep on thinking about it.

EB

[antares]

I didn't realise it was painted already and the present colour sounds questionable to me. Strip it and paint it Eddie. It's what you have wanted for a fair old time so go for it Bro.

I can envisage yellow. My Gatton Tele is yellow with sparkle. (It came ready finished and was a rough approximation of "Frost Gold" per the real thing.) A bit of sparkle perhaps?

e&oe ...

[dnic]

Hey Eddie, if you decide to paint that mag strat just scuff and it and go for it. It's not going to altar the tone. A rattle can thickness of color and maybe some clear. Nah!

Steve, I'm not opposed to painting wood that's boring but but I like wood grain a lot.

[antares]

Sorry Dane, I remember now- it was Rick Beato on YouTube that said he only liked painted guitar bodies.

Do you think a rattle can thickness of yellow would really cover that deep colour Eddie has on there already?

e&oe ...

[dnic]

Steve, no apology needed you can confuse me with Rick Beato anytime. The man musical is a complete genus. Although his taste in guitars is now brought into question.

I think that on a solid bodied guitar you could lay down a few serious paint jobs and not altar the tone in any (human ear) perceivable way. I base that on my own experience with old guitars and the two that come to mind are actually semi-hollow types. One was the Guild bass I refinished which had at least a 1/16" probably more of poly on it. And they other was a Baldwin - yes like the piano - bass that the binding was coming off of. It had finish chips on it that were 1/8" deep. I am not exaggerating one bit here.

[Deleted]

I wasn't to worried about changing the sound/tone of the guitar. I was worried about changing the way it plays.

But as far as painting it, I would not strip it down to the wood. I do have a few spots I would need to fix, like chips. So I would fill them with some CA glue. Then sand it and I was thinking of putting on Shellac primer. That stuff drys as hard as nails and is while in color. Some of the best primer I have ever used on wood. It also seals off the surface.

I'm with you Dane, I think a lot of people put too much hype into the thickness of a finish. I just commented on a guys video where he takes the factory finish off of guitars and puts a new clear lacquer finish on them, claiming that it helps the tone of the guitar and that he can hear the difference. I asked, then you need to make a video of one that shows that because I don't believe that it will alter the sound or tone of the guitar at all.

You see what happened with me a long time ago was Guitar Attack. Way back when I was new to all this guitar stuff and before I was on forum I had bought a LP SAGA kit. In the Saga sagas I was told to put the guitar together and play it for a week or two before putting on a finish. So I did just that.

Once the guitar had it's finish on it. I did not hear any sound changes in it at all. Hum... So now, I have built a lot of guitars and have done a few refinishes and I have not heard any changes in the sounds of any of them guitars if I used the same things that came off of the guitar. The biggest way I found to change the sound is changing out the pickups. LOL Or adjusting the amp it's plugged into.

Oh that guy that strips off the finish of a guitar... he was measuring the thickness of the finish. He would take the chip that was close to the edge of the guitar. I know enough about doing a finish on a guitar that if it's hanging up the finish will always be a little thicker at the edge or close to the edge than it is at the center of a guitar. Wet clear or paint will always move. Even when I use to paint cars it may look nice and smooth but paint is going to be a little thicker in spots than the rest of the rest of the flat panels. My job in painting a car was to make it look smooth. LOL!

So it is in guitars. Maybe even a little worse in guitars. I find myself trying to fill in imperfections on a guitar more so than I ever did on cars. LOL! Wood!

Well, I think I am going to re do the guitar I have. At least right now anyway. I'm in a little better frame of mind today. But that can change in a moment.

I am going to go to local auto parts store to see if can find a good shade of yellow. I am going to be picky about the yellow. There are some ugly yellows out there. So I will need to fing the yellow I want before anything will happen to the guitar.

I did find an awesome one on the House of color but I would need a spray gun. I don't want to go that route. Plus it was so expensive and I would never use that much paint.

If I can't find what I want there then I may end up at a pint store. Not the hardware store but a paint store. I miss the one that use to be out here where I am at. They would mix any color I wanted and put it in a spray can. But they are no longer around. So I'll see if I can find another place.

In redoing the guitar I have I won't have to change out the pickguard and knobs. I might change the tuners to locking ones. Since I have to take off the tuners so the I can paint the peg head.

Thanks for chiming in guys! Sometimes it helps to kick around ideas with others.

EB

[Deleted]

Here is the SAGA I did a long time ago. I had to paint over the maple veneer because it had blue stains in it that would not come out

 I used a cream color that I got form Lowe's hardware and I used Minwax lacquer on top of that.

This is the one I was taking about that I had put it together before I put a finish on it.

I would up selling this guitar. At the time I sold it I was doing another build and needed the money for that build. I now wish I had it back.

Oh well...

[antares]

I'm in agreement with you guys regarding paint and its widely alleged affect on *tone*.

And sure- Rick Beato is the shiznitz. I'd like to support his channel by buying his "Beato Book" but sixty-odd bucks for a .PDF file is a bit too much for me. I love to watch the videos of his son identifying really complex chords pitch perfect by ear. Simply amazing.

e&oe ...

[Deleted]

Nov 12, 2019 14:07:01 GMT -6 antares said:

I'm in agreement with you guys regarding paint and its widely alleged affect on *tone*.



e&oe ...

I had a guy over to the house not long ago. I was selling a white Fender Tele. and a burst Fender Tele.

I sat there as he told me that the tone on the burst was darker than the white one. He said it was because of the finish on the guitar. He went on to say that it's a known fact that the white Teles are know for their better sound because of the white finish. LOL! and I do mean LOL!!!

 It took everything I had in me not to laugh at him.

The guy was dead serious he really believed in what he was saying. He did wind up buying the white Tele.

 The real difference wasn't the color of the finish of the two guitars, but the white one was stock and the burst had Fender Custom shop Twisted tele pickups in it. And it had a non stock tone cap.

 LOL! people!

EB