Fiesta red paint wanted

[keithmantle]

Hi all, i am repairing a small ding on my USA 1996 57 r/i, its the same model as the one on the front of the Haynes manual (gold oval celebrating 50 yrs of excellence rear h/stock) anyone know where i can obtain small can or aerosol paint? thanks keith

[JimTidmarsh]

Keith

Try here http://www.manchesterguitartech.co.uk/

I've used their aerosols in the past & haven't been disappointed.

[Graylion]

Hi Keith and Jim.
I've had a quick look at that site but am worried that there's no mention of paint incompatibility. It's not a problem if you intend to strip everything back to the wood (not a good idea to my mind if the finish is essentially sound but you just want it to be pristine, or a different colour). If you are overspraying an existing colour with "nitrocellulose" (just plain "cellulose" in the UK!) you need to know what the existing paint is in case it blisters and peels off. It's been discussed elsewhere on this site that cellulose is unforgiving of many other types of paint and can act as a paint stripper - not a very good one! With cars it is possible to spray over with an isolating barrier paint that will take a cellulose finish.

I notice that their aerosol paint is quite expensive but you're stuck with it unless you have a compressor and sray gun - in which case you can get your paint mixed at your local suppliers to any colour you want for about £17 a litre.
Cheers, LIonel

[keithmantle]

Thanks Jim and Lionel, Have sent Manchester a email, the area is only 3/8" SQ that needs painting and its on the back of guitar

[MeBHank]

Thanks Jim and Lionel, Have sent Manchester a email, the area is only 3/8" SQ that needs painting and its on the back of guitar

Hi Malcolm...

If the ding is on the back of the guitar, why worry? I own many guitars that I've had from new (or from new condition) and because I use them in a professional capacity, none of them are pristine anymore. That includes my £4,000 Yuiry Shishkov Masterbuild. I've heard from a good source that Hank's guitars are pretty beaten up due to the heavy belt buckles he wears. If you're going to play a guitar rather than just look at it, you must accept that eventually it is going to end up looking like a used guitar.

I know some people can be very protective of their guitars - I know that you personally take good care of your instruments - but matching the colour will be nigh-on impossible. It has been proven that no two batches of paint are the same colour, and even if you do identify the type of paint originally used on your guitar, you can never be sure that it will match the existing colour.

Sorry to be the fly in the ointment in your quest, but I think it best that a musician enjoys getting to know their instrument, rather than being scared of it aging slightly, especially if you bought it to use it.

Cheers...

J

[Twangaway]

I agree with Justin. It's more trouble than it is worth. No two colour batches are totally identical.
From the minute a paint is applied and dried as in original finish, it starts to age and absorbs UV and starts to chemically alter. A good example is to look at the polymor content in uPVC windows it starts to go off white like your plastic pickguards. With Paint it is no different and is has similar plastic based ingredients to help give it a tougher finish, even the over sprayed lacquers alter in small ways the shade. Age old principle that the shade final colour will always depend on what's underneath it as in the old 60's UK Fenders that were over sprayed USA strats to suit our needs and the very heated debates on what actually is a Fiesta Red or Salmon Pink.

It's an expensive way to find out, and as someone ex car trade if you must repray, respray the entire panel and not the damaged area. That would mean respraying the back, but unless you know the composition of the original finish it could well react with the new finish and look like a pitted acne faced guitar washed over with a diluted paint stripper.

There is a USA website that gives a professional guide to how to invisibly repair dings I think it is called Stewart MacDonald. I think he simply mixes at least a dozen test strips of colour with toothpaste of all things ( I think it was toothpaste or something similar ) and carefully fills the dinged area with the best matched colour and then lacquers over to an invisible finish. I saw and read his article that gave detailed photos of the process and was well impressed. In fact the entire site gives amazing repair tips and before and after photos.

Hope that helps/ They also sell all the aerosols and neck tints and lacquers too as well as every Luthier tool imaginable as well as fret gauges and alignment tools.

When I can afford it was going to invest in many of these tools and build myself my dream guitar for my retirement tinkering days, some are very expensive but essential tools of the trade. That is why I would never take a guitar to a shop for alignment or calibration as they simply have not invested in this type of kit and results would be iffy or at best as good or as bad as the sales guy/technician can produce.

David

[keithmantle]

Thanks Justin (malcolm) and David, correct in all you say, will now start wearing a bigger buckle !!Justin when you next come to the Hankies you can give me your opinion of my ESE Mk6 SE, Thanks Keith

[JimN]

Manchester Guitar Tech... that's Steve Robinson's workshop.

An excellent guitar technician and a really nice guy as well.

Recommended - I must get the Gibson Les Paul Recording model up there for an overhaul.

JN

[des mcneill]

Hi,
Would like to endorse what the other guys said about trying to match colours for repairs. Red,any red is the worst possible colour to repair,you will end up with a complete respray to get it right.
Des.

[ecca]

Creosote it.