Painting a Headstock

[endzone]

I'm thinking about painting the headstock on a partscaster and need some advice. I'm thinking the only prep work needed is to sand the current satin finish. Anything else?

What kind of paint and sealer should I use. All input is appreciated.

 

[Jack Wells]

Does it have a decal or silkscreened logo? If so is the logo raised? I would just remove all hardware, sand the face of the headstock with 320 or 400 paper. Mask the edge of the headstock and the fingerboard and nut. Spray it ..........then clear coat with Deft Gloss or Satin ......... your choice.

 

[Fatmanstratman]

I would just remove all hardware, sand the face of the headstock with 320 or 400 paper. Mask the edge of the headstock and the fingerboard and nut. Spray it ..........then clear coat with Deft Gloss or Satin...

Sound advice, Jack (but don't forget to mask the back of the headstock too - spray gets everywhere!).

Endzone - you didn't say if you were going to do a coloured finish, or just a clear spray coat. Either way, it doesn't make much difference.

I recently sprayed the headstock of a Strat in black for one of my son's friends. After doing the work above, I gave it several (thin) coats of grey acrylic primer (we find it hard to get nitro in the UK), sanding down after each coat. I took 2 or 3 evenings to get a really good base coat, nice and smooth. Then, I sprayed several (10, I think) thin coats of black acrylic gloss, over the course of 4 or 5 evenings (you have to be patient if you want a quality job).

I left the finish for 1 week to harden, then applied a custom made decal ("Goonycaster"... ) in silver vinyl, before giving the headstock around 7 or 8 coats of clear acrylic laquer (again, over 4 - evenings). I then left it to harden for at least a week before removing the masking and refitting the tuning pegs.

Job done - and it looks great!...

 

[Pete Galati]

I've never personally painted a headstock, but in adition to masking everything off that I didn't want paint on, I'd find something to plug the tuner holes too.

Pete

 

[endzone]

Thanks guys. That's just the info I think I need. I'm wanting to paint the headstock probably black. It currently has a natural satin finish on the neck and headstock. There's no decal on it yet, I'll put it on while doing this paint job. Never painted a guitar before so I'm asking from a complete noobie standpoint. Apparently, there's really no special paint to buy, just plain ol' acrylic gloss from Home Depot or hardware store? Fatman, do you have to sand the existing satin finish off completely, then put the primer base on?

 

[Jack Wells]

Hold it .................. Not all spray paints are created equal. The best off the shelf readily available spray paint without a doubt is Krylon. Krylon is an acrylic lacquer. It therefore drys much faster than the others. Krylon acrylic lacquer is not available at my local Home Depot. It is available at WalMart, many hardware stores and Sherwin Williams paint stores . The Ace Hardware house brand spray paint is made by Krylon. No ......... I am not affiliated with Krylon but I've used all the brands and this is a personal testimonial.

I've sprayed nitrocellulous lacquer over Krylon after only half an hour with no problems although I recommend waiting a day.

 

[KokoTele]

You don't have to sand off the existing finish. In fact, it's probably counter productive to do so because it will function as your sealer coat. You just want to sand it to about 320 so that it's just rough enough that what you spray over it has something to grip onto.

 

[chickenpicker]

Like Eryque said. You are better off with a clear barrier.

When I did my Ibanez, I made sure the whole neck and headstock was sprayed with clear lacquer, then masked off the bits I wanted to stay clear, then sprayed the face of the headstock.

Inevitably, some of the colour escaped onto the sides of the headstock, but the overspray was easy to remove with t-cut.

After doing this, I went over the whole lot again, to give a final clear top coat.

The advantages of putting a clear sealer coat on are that a) you don't need a separate primer for the colour coat and b) if you ever wanted to go back to a natural finish, you wouldn't have to sand too far.

 

[Fatmanstratman]

I've never personally painted a headstock, but in adition to masking everything off that I didn't want paint on, I'd find something to plug the tuner holes too.

Yep - goes without saying, but Pete is right of course. I forgot that bit - I just take something as simple a toilet paper (or kitchen tissue), tear it into strips, then stuff it in the tuner holes. You can then push it flush with the surface.

...just plain ol' acrylic gloss from Home Depot or hardware store?

Endzone, living here in the UK we have to take what we can get! I personally use a local car spares store, and buy the acrylic laquer that you would use on a car (I guess if it is tough enough for a car, it's good for a headstock!). However, I hear from many people that in the USA, 'Krylon' is an excellent, tried-and-tested spray laquer, so I can only endorse Jack's advice on that score.

...Fatman, do you have to sand the existing satin finish off completely, then put the primer base on?

No - just lightly sand it with fine grit just to give it a good 'key' for the primer. It shouldn't need much. Make sure you thoroughly clean off all dust and wipe it down with meths/alcohol before you start spraying....

Best advice: 1. keep everything clean and dust-free at all times. 2. Be PATIENT! - don't try to finish the job in one day. Lots of thin coats are better than one thick, gloopy, runny coat...

 

[endzone]

Since I'm not going all the way to the wood, is a primer still necessary? If so, how many coats would be needed?

 

[Fatmanstratman]

Since I'm not going all the way to the wood, is a primer still necessary? If so, how many coats would be needed?

Well, I would always use a primer. Simply because you'll be amazed how the very first coat shows up those tiny imperfections in your headstock that you swore were not there when you lightly sanded it!

Gives you chance to rub down the primer coat(s) until you can SEE that it is all 'flat'. It also gives you a really good bond for the gloss finish.

You could probably get away with 3 or 4 light coats. Don't worry - once each coat has dried, you will see if it is totally smooth or not.

That's also why I like to put up to 10 coats of gloss finish on - the paint builds up each time, and the minute little imperfections in the preparation just get filled with the gloss coat as it "self levels". Your eyes will tell you when the finish looks right.

When you have finished glossing, and allowed it to harden, any tiny little bits of dust can be polished out with a fine abrasive finishing liquid (T-Cut is too harsh - I use 'Brasso' or other similar metal polishes). I think it was Mark Davis who recently posted that you can use toothpaste for a very fine polish! Daft as it sounds, I believe it really works!