Where can I have a guitar painted?

[orion23]

So I have this LTD EX-350 guitar which I love...except for its color... Black Cherry.

I'd like to have it painted black.

How tricky will it be to have it painted?

Where can I have it done?

Thanks!


BTW, I'm in NJ!

 

[Fritzo]

You can actually do this yourself if you have airbrushing equipment. I've painted a few with good results (did a cool blue sunburst design on one ). If not, anyplace that does custom car painting might be able to help you out, but it would still be cheaper to do it yourself.

If you do it yourself, you'll want 7-8 THIN coats, then a couple of clear coats over that to make it look decent.

IMPORTANT EDIT I almost forgot- if your guitar has acrylic paint on it, BE SURE TO WEAR BREATHING FILTERS WHEN YOU SAND IT DOWN!!!! Acrylic paint dust is a awful lung irritant, and your lungs will swell up and be sore if you breathe enough if this stuff in. Thought I'd warn you if you were going to try this yourself.

 

[Howard]

Take no instruction from this forum.

 

[Jeff7181]

Sharpie FTW

 

[SoundTheSurrender]

Go to a professional guitar site and ask this. This place fails at everything except cars and computers . The first reply proves it

 

[MartyMcFly3]

<Mick Jagger>
I see a guitar and I want it painted black...
</Mick Jagger>

 

[Fritzo]

Originally posted by: SoundTheSurrender
Go to a professional guitar site and ask this. This place fails at everything except cars and computers . The first reply proves it

WTF are you talking about? It's not all that hard to do yourself. If you don't have the equipment, a lot of paint shops that do airbrushing will do special projects for you.

I did a blue sunbrust on a Squier Strat a few years back and it looked great (looking for pictures).

You have to unbolt the neck from the body, then remove any hardware that you can (you should be able to remove about everything). If you have a glued on neck, you'll need to tape it up and cut the seams with a razor blade. Sand the guitar down to the wood, then hang the body on a wire. You may want to put a sealer on the wood to fill in any little scratches, but that's up to you. Now, how you go from here depends on what results you want. You can actually just use automotive spray paint for the base coat if you want a solid color. 6-7 thin coats (let it dry between each coat- sand as needed) will cover the body nicely. If you want the sunburst effect, this is where your airbrush will come into play. You tape up the sides with painters tape (after your base coat is completely dry). Then you do a "fade away" motion from the edge of the body to around 1/2 to the center. The effect you're going for is solid color that fades away towards the center.

When complete, you'll need a couple of clear coats to protect the finish. I found a link for you that goes into more detail, but basically tells everything that I did:

http://home.flash.net/~guitars/solids.html

Man...you guys talk like painting a guitar is some magical art that only witchdoctors can do.

 

[orion23]

Thanks for all the tips.

I wish I were handy like that with tools, or paint, but reality is that I...suck!

No choice for me but to pay a professional!

But thanks for your replies!