Figure out what paint (or stain) you want to use The opening of the box that you’ve chosen should be laid on its side so that when you’re painting your guitar, all of the paint is contained within the box, while also allowing the guitar to slide in and out of the box with ease.Īlso ensure when you’re getting your area ready for painting your instrument that you’re doing so in a room that’s nice an open, that way you don’t have to worry about your furniture getting accidentally painted. Use an orbital sanderīefore you begin to apply your new paint or finish the job, you should place your instrument inside of a large box that is sitting on top of a type of portable table (like a TV tray). Keep in mind that a lot of guitar builders agree that a thick coat of paint or finish will tonally diminish your instrument.

If you’re only going to use a solid paint on your instrument, then you’re only going to need to rough up the surface of your instrument. When repainting your guitar and you’ve decided to go with a stain, a translucent paint, or going back to the original finish that’s darker than the color of paint that you’re going with, you’re going to completely remove the finish that’s already on the instrument. You can decide to either sand away the finish completely, or you can rough up the finish that’s already on the guitar to put on a fresh coat of paint that’s going to stick to the instrument. When sanding the existing finish on the guitar, you have two options on how you can go about on this process. Since all of your hardware is now off of your instrument, you’re going to start to work on sanding the existing finish on the guitar. If you are doing your own paint job, make sure that you follow some simple guidelines that we list in this article and that you don’t rust, as your rush job and mistakes will show through in your final results! How to Repaint or Restain, or Refinish a Guitar 1.

Spray gun (if you decide to use spray cans).

Fine grit, medium, and coarse sandpaper.

Here’s what you’re going to need to get into your repainting project: Make sure that you don’t rush when doing this job, as you may feel like there’s a pressure being put on you to finish the job up quickly so that you can get back to playing your instrument.

When starting out this project, make sure that you’re prepared to take your time, as painting guitars and finishing their guitar body in the proper manner is a lengthy process that can take weeks to accomplish. Before you get into refinishing your instrument, know that refinishing and repainting a guitar is much more difficult than refinishing any other wood object, as a large amount of effort and attention has to be paid in order to achieve a smooth, sleek, factory appearance.

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