Guitar Paint Please Help

SOMEONE HELP ME!:cry I finished painting my guitar body and realized the color of my pick guard doesnt match. I tried spraying everything on it (pickups and knobs too) with a gold metallic paint. After the second coat i sanded it and added a third. Then I accidentally left it in the sun and checked on it an hour later. Thick zigzag lines of paint were protruding about a cm off of the pickguard :eek this is really freaking me out because i dont know how they got there or how to remove them. For now i guess they add a cool lightning effect but they are randomly placed and pretty ugly. If this has ever happened to you or you have and ideas or suggestions please reply.
p.s. if u guys want ill upload a pic/vid of this and post the link later

 

Re: Guitar paint

Methylene Chloride is a bit nasty, a good solvent though. Wear glasses and gloves, glasses are a must. I use a plastic scraper on large flat areas and then steel wool to get the rest of the original finish off. Sounds like the automotive suggestion is the best one. Some body shop people do that kind of work out of their garages, and a body shop would probably do it for a reasonable price. My personal preference would be to strip it to the wood grain, fine sand by hand, and if it has a nice grain, clear coat it. Same prep, easier finish. Make sure it is in a dry safe area to coat and dry.
"Bugs"
:tas

 

That sounds like mud cracking, which happens when paint is put on too heavy and/or dries too quickly.
http://www.californiapaints.com/probsolvng/mud.asp

There are good quality paints out there for plastic, usually you have to sand the plastic with a high grit sandpaper (400 grit or so), to open up the pores, so the paint has something to grab.I don't think you can strip it easily as solvents tend to melt some plastics,

 

ok, i can deal with an ugly pickguard, but if my pickups dont work ill be pissed. i used a metallic "24 kt gold plating" paint, whats the best way to remove it from my pickups??

 

my pickups came with the carvin strat replica kit that im putting together. All the electronics were already assembled on the pickguard when it came. I cant find a model for any of the pickups but it does say C-22 B-1 under the bridge humbucker and the two single coils are blank. I did cover the protruding magnets/skrews with the metallic gold plating but no paint got inside or under the pickups. The paint does scrape off pretty easily, but i dont want to skrew up the setup any further. I can replace the covers if i need to, but how can i safely clean the magnets and the rest of the pickguard?

 

Try using a paint remover on a Q-tip. (Nail polish remover may work) Just dampen the Q-tip enough, so it does ooze. Rub the magnets until you get the paint removed. Keep using new Q-tips as they will get dirty fast.

 

k, im new to this, whats the best remover for a metallic paint that wont mess with the magnets... brands, types... can i find the remover at home depot ? is there anything better than nail polish remover for pickups or is that safe enough?
thnx a lot for the help guys

 

wow, im an idiot. turns out i painted my entire pickguard while the thin plastic covering it came with was still on! I just peeled off the ugly mud cracked paint job in two seconds. Also i got off most of the paint on the pickups with a combination of nail polish remover, cotton balls, steel wool, and my toothbrush. I couldnt get to the paint in the small space between the magnets, but i dont think that will be a problem.... now to finish the body. Its been primed, painted, clear coated a dozen times with a satin finish, and a few times with a high gloss finish. the highest sand paper i had available was 600 grit and i thought that was good enough between coats... but it wasnt. now i have a glossy finish with an "orange peel" like texture. any suggestions of what to do now to achieve a nice, glossy, factory finish

-anyone know of a good brand for buffing liquid,
is a cotton shirt good enough for buffing or is something finer needed?

 

any thoughts about using micro-mesh up to 12000 grit by hand as an alternative to buying a buffing wheel?

 

If you are getting orange peel, it isn't because of your sanding. It's becauser your finish viscosity is too high. Try cutting it with the recommended thinner for whatever coating you are using. (cut it to somewhere between 50-50 and 75% finish, 25% thinner). Remember, several thin coats are better than one heavy coat. You will have to sand ALL of the orange peel out to get a smooth finish. (not to bare wood, just till you can't see the shine from the dimples)

 

will 600 grit do the job? dry or wet sanding?

 

I would sand out the orange peel with 320 and the work up to 480 or 500 in steps, just to get a good surface for recoating. Change your sandpaper when it loads up, as particles of finish will tend to glue themselves back onto your surface. After that, 380 or 420 should be good enough between coats. You just need to scuff the surface between coats to remove any particles or flaws, not really sand it. Make sure it is completely clean before re-coating. Use air or a tack cloth (light touch). If you can see a flaw before re-coating, it will be bigger after.

 

damn, while sanding out the orange peel I noticed that i sanded down to the primer or even the wood on the edges in some places. when repainting these areas, should i mask off the other parts to avoid paint going over my clear coats? do i need to re-prime the areas that are showing wood?

 

if any guests want to help me, send comments to dannygirsh@gmail.com thanks

 

Are you painting your guitar with color, then clear coating for shine? I'm guessing you are because of the primer.
Do not mask. That will leave a little ridge, when you pull the tape off. Hit the bare areas with primer again and spray just outside the bad spots. Then, sand lightly. Edges do sand through easy. Try and feather the area, as you sand. Meaning that you want the new primer thin where it is on top of the color coat, so that when you spray over it you can't see where the re-prime is.Then spray your color coat. This time a little further out then where you re-primed. Feather it again. When you are satisfied, re-spray the whole guitar body with your clear coat.