2nd Tele build, Templates, Dupont Paint Question

[ChristopherL]

Hey-

After working out (some of) the bugs on a Grizzly Tele for my daughter, I'm building one for myself. I have the swamp ash body and i'm still working through the Butterscotch/Blonde/Amber color choices.

This forum has been a great education, but even after a few searches I have a couple of quick questions. Forgive me if I'm going over the same old ground.

I've had a look at the excellent Terry Downs plans but I can't seem to get it to print in the right size. I may just buy templates. I'm looking at the ones available from Canadian Tele Parts. Any thoughts or suggestions?

I've just ordered an HVLP sprayer for the custom furniture work I do, and I'm itching to put it to work on a Tele body. I've found the numbers for Dupont paints, but I'm baffled about where/how to buy them. Thanks to this site I've learned about what is no longer made, but is there an easy answer on how to get my hands on these in smallish quantities? I suppose calling around at the NAPA store etc. might be a start.

By the way, this forum seems to be populated with a pretty civil, helpful and honest bunch, so if you have a dog in this fight, (you sell templates or paint) feel free to promote your wares. Thanks.

Chris

[Stike]

You'll need to find an auto body supply near you that is a Dupont jobber. They will usually mix as little as 8 oz. but it since it needs to be reduced you'll wind up with 12-16 oz total. Get the Chroma Base series and reduce with plain old lacquer thinner-unless you're planning on shooting the Chroma Clear but that's probably a whole other ball of wax. Don't bother discussing or asking advice about guitar finishing from the folks there. They deal with cars and have no clue (and usually no interest) as to what you are doing.

[ChristopherL]

Thanks Stike-

The Dupont website gave me some places to check. As I think about it, I'm leaning toward tinting some lacquer with transtint maple to come up with an amber color. I suspect I'll need to experiment with amount of tint and number of coats to get where I want. I may also try using a bit of amber shellac and then just clear coat.

Chris