Bought a brand new air compressor today, cleaned up the spray gun my dad gave me, and I was ready to start spraying!
I am using Target EM6000 waterbased lacquer on this guitar. Sure I'd like to finish it in nitrocellulose lacquer, but considering the health and safety hazards, if I can get used to using waterbased lacquer that would be great! I'm spraying the guitar in my "clean" shop. I have 2 rooms to work in. I do all the power tool and dusty work in one room, and this room is more for setups, etc. Less dust in this room should be a good thing when spraying.
I am using Target EM6000 waterbased lacquer on this guitar. Sure I'd like to finish it in nitrocellulose lacquer, but considering the health and safety hazards, if I can get used to using waterbased lacquer that would be great! I'm spraying the guitar in my "clean" shop. I have 2 rooms to work in. I do all the power tool and dusty work in one room, and this room is more for setups, etc. Less dust in this room should be a good thing when spraying.
I sprayed 2 sealing coats of lacquer on the guitar. The first coat I sprayed very dry and light and it dried almost immediately. The second coat was a little heavier. After an hour of drying, I masked off the top for the pickguard. I am using tortoloid material for a pickguard, and if I were to put it directly on a black surface the firestripe pattern would not be seen. Having natural spruce on the back of the pickguard will make the pickguard stand out like you see in the picture.
I mixed the black lacquer in a glass bottle, and I'm using black Mixol pigment. Instructions say to use 3-5% pigment. I mixed 300 mL lacquer and a hair more then 15 mL pigment, which gives me a good opaque black lacquer. I sprayed the first coat of black and its already looking great! I'll put another 2 or 3 coats of black, and then switch over to clear coats. I am thinking of adding a hint of amber dye when doing the clear coats to give it a slight aged look, but haven't decided yet. We'll see!