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painting/drawing under nitro

shporsche

shporsche

Mar 7, 2011
101
5
Sydney
#1
Hi,
Ive searched the net and cannot find a suitable paint to use under nitrocellulose.
My brother is incredible at painting/ drawing and I want him to draw/paint a character on one of my builds.

Does anyone have any experience with painting/ drawing on a guitar/bass body then sealing with nitrocellulose?
 
#3
bassteban said:
You could test by throwing some nitro onto a swatch of whatever your bro paints with, to see if its compatible
Click to expand...

Thanks but I dont want to go out and buy a bunch of paints to see what will work.
My brother doesnt have his gear here, otherwise yes I would have tested on scrap peices, I'm in Sydney he is from QLD.
I hoping someone has done this before and would be able to say yeh or neh to a certain paint.

I do have acrylics, so I will try that.

By the way for all the Aussies on this forum, Go the Blues!
 
#5
Thanks Hopkins, after looking into waterbased latex paints its shed alot more light on paints.
I have a few tins of house paint lying around, need to make sure its waterbased and some Acrylic paint. I will test it out over the weekend and report back.

Thanks.
 
#6
Nitro over acrylic or oil based artists paints should be fine. The key will be to let the artwork dry completely. Then seal the artwork with some drier nitro "sealer" coats before building up the clear coat.

Long term stability/durability with nitro will still be an issue though. Maybe you're cool with that. If it were me, I'd approach it the same way someone who does custom automotive graphics and use those materials (whatever is available in Australia). I only use nitro on acoustics and "vintage" copies.
 
#7
My current builds I have been using nitro for all the top coats as the shine and feel it gives off is unbeatable in my opinion.

I do have a friend who has asked me to spray the guitars using his Auto paint booth. I have been abit skeptical, however he did mention he has a material to add to the paint to make it more flexible. He uses the stuff for spraying motorbike fairings.

I will give both of them ago, thanks HankTX.
 
#8
shporsche said:
My current builds I have been using nitro for all the top coats as the shine and feel it gives off is unbeatable in my opinion.

I do have a friend who has asked me to spray the guitars using his Auto paint booth. I have been abit skeptical, however he did mention he has a material to add to the paint to make it more flexible. He uses the stuff for spraying motorbike fairings.

I will give both of them ago, thanks HankTX.
Click to expand...

A guitar finish doesn't need to be flexible. An automotive urethane clear will be much more durable than nitro. Leave the flex agent out of it.
 
#9
Hopkins said:
A guitar finish doesn't need to be flexible. An automotive urethane clear will be much more durable than nitro. Leave the flex agent out of it.
Click to expand...

+1

this bass is shot with House of Kolor, Tangerine Kandy, that was left over from a custom harley build. it is great and tough

unfortunately I am going to sand and reshoot it. A local photogrqapher wants it shoot to match a motorcycle I did in Candy Orange Copper, with large metal flake, to match a bike I built more recently. he wants them both for a shoot

I guess if I don't like it, I can always go back to the tangerine candy
006.jpg
 
#11
Ok thanks, I will get onto the auto spray shop and get him to spray on of my basses, as I have seen the strat Hopkins did with an auto clear which looks real nice.I will also get the test piece with the drawing sprayed.
 
#12
It is my understanding that combining oils and acrylics doesn't hold up in the long run. Artists that I have talked to have shared that over time the acrylic will separate from the oil pates essentially peeling away. I'm certain that this would translate to what you have in mind. Going oil over oil or acrylic over acrylic should work out fine. just make sure that the undercoat is completly dry before you apply the top coat.
 
#13
House of Kolor and other manufactures make an intercoat that is designed to seal your artwork. When I airbrush most of the time I'm spraying a water based paint. You have to be careful not to rush the automotive clear it can "eat" in the paint below..so dust the coats on. The intercoat lets you build your artwork up in layers.
 

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