Questions about simple repair costs

[gweimer]

I would recomend you find a person that does custom paint on cars & bikes that also plays guitar.These guys are hip to old & new nitro /laquer etc.Im going to have a  friends son paint my PRS body.............just a thought.

I did a refin on my '64 Precision when I had it.  I also had access to my dad's high school shop, where he was principle.  I later did touch-up work on my dad's rusting Opel by Isuzu as a result of that.  The car lasted another 2 years.  My  bass turned out pretty nice, but I used automotive paint, and the finish held fingerprints like a mutha, so I later had it redone by a pro.

[drbassman]

Yep, some of the auto finishers are cool guys and love to do something out of the ordinary like a bass. 

[Pilgrim]

There is a wealth of refinishing expertise and info on this, forum, and I bow to those with much more experience than I have.

I will just offer that keys to a great refin are an absolutely flawless surface sanding and prep job, filling the grain (in most but not all woods) AND an effective sealer coat to prevent the grain from emerging.  Car shops may miss the filler step and the sealer coat, as they are not used to working with wood.

[drbassman]

There is a wealth of refinishing expertise and info on this, forum, and I bow to those with much more experience than I have.

I will just offer that keys to a great refin are an absolutely flawless surface sanding and prep job, filling the grain (in most but not all woods) AND an effective sealer coat to prevent the grain from emerging.  Car shops may miss the filler step and the sealer coat, as they are not used to working with wood.

You have a point Al, it would depend greatly on the shop and their knowledge of painting wood instead of metal!  Grain filling is best done by someone who knows the wood's needs and cares!  

[Lightyear]

You have a point Al, it would depend greatly on the shop and their knowledge of paint wood instead of metal!  Grain filling is best done by someone who knows the wood's needs and cares! 

+1

Also keep in mind that whatever you chooes to do make sure that your final sealer/primer coat is compatible with the final finishes that you apply be it yourself or a professional painter.

I think that if I went with auto paint I would go for a high end catylized paint.  I myself am a dinosaur and prefer nito

And besides, As you all know   A bass finished in nitro just sounds better   

[Pilgrim]

There's another option which I used on my fretless project - acrylic lacquer.  Most car paint is that type, so you can buy primers and other materials at a car parts store.  Also, most touch-up paint (and boy, is there a wide variety of colors) is acrylic lacquer, so it's easy to buy in rattle cans.  Stew-Mac also sells acrylic lacquer in various size containers, and their dyes mix with it nicely.  A car shop could easily work with acrylic lacquer.

Does anyone know of a reason to choose nitrocellulose lacquer rather than acrylic lacquer?  It sure worked nicely for me.

[Lightyear]

....Does anyone know of a reason to choose nitrocellulose lacquer rather than acrylic lacquer?  It sure worked nicely for me.

I guess if you were a slave authenticity.  A well done nitro finish is thin and will wear much faster than most anything else.  The big difference that I can see is that a nitro finsih will naturally yellow and age with time and exposure to the elements - mainly UV but, I'm sure, that smoke, sweat, beer etc have effect on nitro finishes as well.

One benefit that I like is that the finish is forgiving and can be repaired much more easily than other finishes - old nitro will react with new nitro and form a more permanent bond.  Plus the repair can easily be buffed out.

[Dave W]

All Gibson and most Fender custom colors were acrylic lacquers.

[Pilgrim]

All Gibson and most Fender custom colors were acrylic lacquers.

Makes perfect sense, as most of Leo's colors were straight out of the parts book at GM or Chrysler.  As they evolved from nitro lacquer to acrylic lacquer, it would make sense that the Fender paints would move along with them.