How to: Easy rattle can guitar refinish 

The thought crossed my mind! If it was mine I might have - promised all black so had to deliver!

Ya, looked damn nice

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Lindsay West Thank you. I'll remember that vertical/horizontal tip for anything I do of my own in the future.

Thanks for the tip! Im currently painting my own tele with a satin black finish, and after the try came with me sanding the clear coat off completely in some spots trying to get the deep orange peel out, i resanded and gave 10-15 minutes between coats and it definitely made a noticeabke difference

Also, not applying enough finish can result in a gritty orange peel effect.

Guess maybe I spoke to soon, you ended up wearing one later haha.

Yeah - wore to paint not to sand filler. There wasnt that much dust really. But youre right...I'll wear it next time!

I meant for the first round of spraying. Anyway, I'm not trying to bug you about it. I catch hell from my viewers all the time for telling people to wear a mask and then not wearing one myself haha.

Brad Angove the safety patrol got me a bunch on my sunburst video and for taking the guard off my table saw in the amp cabinet video! Just checked out your channel, nice work!

Haha gotta love the safety police. I don't use a guard on my table saw either, or my grinders. Thanks Adam.

indeed ,,ouch,,! oh shit, here comes that Muppet band music again. alas righteous kool work and finish,,!

Michael Vance what grit were you using? I was only using the lower grits for a very short time. With a thin clear coat you’re just knocking down the highest parts with 600-800, you want it all to get level at about that same time you reach the 1500-2000. Think of orange peel as peaks and valleys, if you take the entire peak off with 800, there’s nothing left by the time you get to 2000.

To get rid of the orange peel look*** the base coat must be dull and leveled before spraying the clear coat - block sand the body until there is no bright spots -- totally flat---DR KEL

TheRobman yeah you’re probably right. No buzz though.

shielding never works, since the potentiometers are not solid metal, and neither is the wire insulation to the pickup.

Lol, ok, if you say so

Except that it always works.

Gabriel Navas not always, but it is when you change it to black

yep, he should have really kept the CAR or maybe changed to some other colourful color like LPB or something

Love the Lake Placid Blue. Black is a bit overdone, yeah?

Yes. Candy Apple Red is the most boring red, Fiesta Red ftw!

No Your not. THAT WAS A NICE COLOR . THAT CANDY APPLE RED.

Graham Lewis I’ve got plenty of mistakes to share! Thats the best way I learn too

Did you heat up the clear coat spray too?

19cubbies69 Yes. I just left the cans in some hot water for a couple of minutes. It really worked well for me. Give it a try on a scrap piece of the thing that you are going to paint, or on something of a similar texture, to gauge the effectiveness first. If it works on that, then you will be fine to go ahead and paint your project. Good luck.

Mark Ewing I’ve never used zippo fluid to clean anything before, hows it compare to other solvents? I thought prep clean was pretty weak but I was wrong on this primer. I like to use rubbing alcohol too

Adam, Zippo lighter fluid is a staple for me for cleaning fret boards...etc.. It works great. Rubbing alcohol I'm not so sure about. The Zippo fluid gets any and all oils from your skin off of any surface. It WILL NOT damage a guitar surface, but it's strong enough to get dirt and oil off, and it dries fast. Really fast. It's perfect for priming a surface for paint. Especially after sanding and getting ready for final coat(s). It doesn't have to be Zippo fluid, it can be Ronsonol...etc.. Get you a bottle of it and try it on a dirty fret board. You will be surprised, trust me. Thanks Adam!

@@AdamBeckSpeed yeah, I have watched countless videos recommending lighter fluid for cleaning fret-boards specifically. Not sure how it would react with paint, but like he said, it doesn't have to be Zippo or Ronsonol. Essentially, you're just looking for "*Naphtha*" (a solvent) hopefully in it's purest form. It just so happens these well-known lighter-fluid brands contain it/are made of it so you may already have some laying around. The better bang for your buck is supposedly: "Klean-Strip - (1 Gal) VM&P Naphtha" or something similar. Just be aware (as many warn) to avoid getting products that are a mixture. You want something pure or relatively close to it from what I have heard. I mention this, because I have read this stuff may not be technically legal in certain areas or maybe harder to find these days or something? You know how they change chemicals & active ingredients over time based on science and regulations, politics, etc. so just be sure you've done your due diligence. Hate to see it melt something else because it was a mixture instead of the straight Naphtha HAHA! I've also heard people tend to use Naphtha when cleaning up rough condition guitars, or old guitars that have been played a ton, because like Mark said it's really good at cleaning (i.e. removing dirt and fingerprints and gunk, etc.). However, it might not be the best choice (given alternatives) for say, a brand new guitar you just bought and are setting up for the time time for instance. Different tools for different jobs I suppose, but this stuff comes highly recommended. Great video, thanks for the insight into the process and clearly labeling the grit sizes used and in what order! -cheers!

I actually liked it at 9'24" when he'd rubbed down the "mistake" he'd made leaving the original red color showing through! Could have rubbed the front down to match the back and then finished with loads of layers of lacquer. I reckon that would have looked way cooler than just black.

You should have your car painted that way

I could tell the results where not that good by looking at the reflections. It is extremely difficult to buff out a clear coat by hand. He should have used a 3" buffer with foam pads (at least for the first heavy scratch removal). I do this a lot!

Agreed.... not shiny enough

You can also use Meguiars (or even Mothers) rubbing and polishing compounds to buff out surface scratches and minor imperfections on your guitar that you don't wish to refinish, but which has gathered these scratches from normal use. As you stated, it works even better if you use, say, a 6" palm polisher.

Haha! it took 50k views before a "hot rod lincoln" comment! Not sure if that was due to my shitty playing or nobody made it to the end of the video! *hi-5*

Seeing him tomorrow here in Denton, TX can't wait ;] -cheers

M.A.C. Awesome! I’m glad it helped. I learned to paint by asking a bunch of old timers a bunch of questions so I’m glad I could pass along some of that knowledge!

Good point. Did this require a truss rod adjustment to get the neck back to its original setting?

It's a lot to do but the actions themselves are easy. Bit of a problem if you get bored easily though because it's really repetitive

It's essentially just sand, paint and buff for shine. You could always skip that hard part and just sand and paint to end up with a matte type finish

dan shaw no sander not necessary just need some fine scratches to help adhesion.

Will a scotch brite do? And just gently? Or should i use a high grit sandpaper? Ive had issues before using too low a grit and sanding too much, leaving glossy pockets that stand out in the final finish.

dan shaw it depends on what you’re starting with finish wise, and what color scotch brite do you have? Those are fine to scuff but they can make the surface lumpy. I’d just block to 400 - it’ll come out nice.

tim I know. I’ve done the same thing 100 times with no issue. Lesson learned indeed

I saw a vid of guitar refinish where the guy used a blow torch [a hot air gun or hairdryer also OK] to very gently heat the paint to burst the bubbles.

is it in good condition? I'd say just sell it and get the red one. Unless you're just itching to paint something - in that case go for it! Angus SG's are usually transparent red which is a little more involved - you'd have to strip the paint and reseal the wood.

Adam Beck yeah not a bad idea, I’ve seen the same model I have go for 290 Aussie Dollars and this guy is selling a cherry red Epiphone SG-400 near me for half what it’s worth, not a bad idea will definitely consider it

same place black tele.

Did y'all get scammed? Could be a replica .

Brian Catalano its great stuff! The only problem I dropped a bottle the other day and it shattered on me! I guess it was too cold. Thanks for watching!

Cinzia Ruocco haha well now you know how to get it exactly!

Yeah. I would have left it alone or fixed the damaged part.

But you lose that great Tejano or Christian Talk AM radio station when you turn your volume off on the the guitar!!!!! lol

You must be from England. We say ground, not earth.

okay, thanks, but this guitar has a humbucker in the neck position ... so does that mean he only should have shielded the single coil?

Yes. If it’s a fresh topcoat you can get away with that. If it’s old or not same type (this was all lacquer) you could have sanded color coat at like 400 or 600 before clear. My black color coat was super thin though too so I didn’t want to risk sanding through