mjt Posted July 5, 2011 Share Posted July 5, 2011 Hello everyone, About ten years ago, I purchased a refurbished Epiphone Lennon Revolution Casino (assembled by Gibson) from MF. It has been a great guitar in every way, with the exception of a slight headstock crack that was repaired years ago. I have used this instrument a great deal and have been thinking about painting it red. It is a player's guitar. Zero collectable value to me. Ideally, it would resemble a red Gibson 333 on the body afterwards. That color satin or faded red, anyways. There is a thin clear nitro presently. Any ideas about whether this would work on top of the present clear coat or would that have to be sanded? Any ideas of anyone in the USA who specializes at this? Thanks for listening. I respect your knowledges here. If I don't here anything, I can try the Epi forum. Due to the finish and make, I thought it made more sense to ask here first. Appreciations. Any thoughts help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Versatile Posted July 6, 2011 Share Posted July 6, 2011 I believe the finish intended would be a transparent red stain Certainly not feasible over a clear nitro finish and difficult to 'sand down' etc to remove all nitro seal from the wood grain The only way would be to test a small area after solvent/paint-stripper application to assess level of stain absorption and aesthetic success It is a bit like reversing what John Lennon did when he sanded off the sunburst finish originally... V Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martinh Posted July 7, 2011 Share Posted July 7, 2011 If it already has a clear thin nitro finish, the best option, in my opinion, is to wet-sand this down with 400-600 grit to give a new coat something to grip onto, mask the binding on the sides, then spray clear nitro with a red stain over the instrument, including the top binding. Use a razor blade to scrape the red off the binding. Then apply a couple of clear coats, wet sanding with 600-1000 grit between coats. let 'em dry for a week or two, and buff. If you want a satin finish, I'm not sure if satin nitro cleacoat is available. However you can get an equivelent finish by wet-sanding the final clearcoat with 1500-2000 grit paper If you strip it first, you will have to get all of the sealer out of the grain (or risk some color variations),deal with the possibilty of putting nicks in the wood while stripping it, then re-seal it, sand it, put some leveling coats on, sand them, then your color coat and your top coats. IMO. it's a lot more work for no better result. Take a look at thse youtube videos showing Paul, the guy that builds Rickenbacker's acoustics, finishing a guitar. http://www.youtube.com/user/MrStudioCalifornia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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