# Anyone have advise on painting an acoustic guitar?



## gearbox (May 10, 2010)

I just finished building an acoustic guitar and want to paint the body black, then have a friend draw (or paint) my family crest on the soundboard. How will this affect the tone and sound? Right now, the guitar is still unfinished but i put the strings on to try it out and it sounds great. I have always either stained them or laquered unstained before. While i can hear a very small difference in guitars after getting laquer, i have a gut feeling that paint will be a very noticable difference. Has anyone here ever tried something like this or have some tips or "what not to dos"? Thanks.

LoL.... Don't worry. I'm not covering up perfectly good wood here. This guitar is made out of.......ready for a good laugh?.........oak covered 1/8 ply. My toddler daughter wanted me to help her make "her" guitar and so instead of buying quality woods for the body i used an old sheet of 1/8 oak i had. All jokes aside though.......i was floored when i put strings on it. It sounds amazing.... A really rich but quiet tone. Not what i expected out of it for sure. this is why im scared to put paint to it now.


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## Lab123 (May 27, 2007)

I would like to see some pics....If it was a great looking book matched top I would probally not want to cover it with paint....got a feeling it would not make much difference to the tone, although I haven't tried it...Since it is a trial guitar...go for it...I would like to see how it turns out....Larry


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## gearbox (May 10, 2010)

> I would like to see some pics....If it was a great looking book matched top I would probally not want to cover it with paint....got a feeling it would not make much difference to the tone, although I haven't tried it...Since it is a trial guitar...go for it...I would like to see how it turns out....Larry


Just a few basics of this build. keep in mind that i didn't waste any time since i had VERY low expectations with it so i didn't do any detail work at all. I didnt book match the wood as it was cut out of a 4 x 8 sheet with the intention of painting it to hide alot of "quick work" lol. The only detail is the maple binding strip and that was just to hide the edge of the ply.
sitka spruce bracing
rosewood fretboard on maple neck
ebony bridge
oak covered 1/8 ply


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## Lab123 (May 27, 2007)

Wow that looks better then I thought....How did you bend the sides?


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## gearbox (May 10, 2010)

I made a side bender out of some 2 x 8 and a peice of 4 inch pipe. i heat the pipe with a torch. Normally the oils in the wood are enough to bend it without much trouble but in this case with the wood being ply, i had to use a spray bottle and mist it with water to soften it up. I find that bending solid wood is much easier though. The ply kept wanting to kink and had to be done more slowly than solid wood.










It is a bit crude but works really well. You just have to keep an eye on your bends to make sure the piece stays square.


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## Guest (May 12, 2010)

Love the bender set-up! How long do you have to hold
the shape so that it doesn't flex back? Also..is the guit
a lefty or right? Looking at the fretboard and saddle
angle suggests a left, yet the placement of the PG makes
it a right hand? 

ps..I'm guessing that the bracing is a two beer job?..lol.


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## keeperofthegood (Apr 30, 2008)

Ooo forgetting what its called. Water slide or water decal or something. I would do the crest semi transparent and apply it the same as a headstock label so the wood is not really covered.

 and you young folks should head over to any of the Shoppers Drug Mart Homecare stores. There are exercise elastics sold by the foot that are like 4 inches wide, make for quick work putting some even tension on fret boards and the like


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## gearbox (May 10, 2010)

> Love the bender set-up! How long do you have to hold
> the shape so that it doesn't flex back? Also..is the guit
> a lefty or right? Looking at the fretboard and saddle
> angle suggests a left, yet the placement of the PG makes
> it a right hand?


 What i do when i bend sides is get as close to the basic shape as i can and then clamp them into forms while they are still warm and leave them to sit overnight to cool. When they come out of the forms they seem to hold shape pretty good as long as you dont leave them out too long before use. (about a day any they will start changing shape) Just an FYI for anyone wanting to build a guitar and get so woried about side bending that you never try.....DO IT!! It is the best part of the whole build. Worst case, you ruin the wood. It takes practice but when you can set the bent side on your bench and say " DAMN...I DID THAT!!" it is well worth the time and effort.
As for the guitar....it is right hand. In the pic i posted, the bridge and PG were just setting there to give an idea of the final look and were not positioned properly. 
LMAO. The brace work was most definitly a FEW beer job....... I have to keep my sanity some how lol .



> and you young folks should head over to any of the Shoppers Drug Mart Homecare stores. There are exercise elastics sold by the foot that are like 4 inches wide, make for quick work putting some even tension on fret boards and the like


That is a good idea....It would make it alot less time consuming not having to tie alot of elastics and then wrap......and wrap.......and wrap.......uggg......going to get the exercise elastics next time!! I like the idea of semi transparent too. Unfortunetly, I live in Prince Edward Island, where no hardware store / craft store has any clue when i ask about such products so that leaves me with absolutly no idea or expirience with fine finishes and stains. i do hope to get to try some of it sometime tho. Thanks for the help keeper. I am thinking that i might just head out on a road trip to the main land this weekend and see what i can find for water decal, finish, stains,,,and so on. I also want to see if i can find me a nice junk of purple heart for my next fret board and inlay it with rosewood. (ill have to do the reasearch on this tho since i dont know what that will be like lol )


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## gearbox (May 10, 2010)

Oh yeah..... I almost forgot. Getting back to my question about paint.......I was talking to a guitar / mandolin builder today who tried the same thing i wanted to. He had me come to his house to show me his guitars and they all sounded great........but the one he tried painting sounded horrible. It looked beautiful! but the sound was, for lack of a better word...DEAD! He strongly advised NOT painting the soundboard and with good reason. This is the only guitar i have seen with regular paint but i was shocked at the quality of the sound compared to his other work. I'm guessing this is part of the reason rosettes are inlay and not stickered or painted.


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