Rattle Can Refinish Club

[Big Boz]

It started out as a black Squier Affinity.
- Sanded with 400 grit
- Dupli Color Metalcast Blue over Dupli Color Metalcast Silver topped off with Dupli Color Clear Engine Enamel with Ceramic. All are straight up Enamel.
- The silver base covered very well and I stopped at 3 light coats. I should have laid on another 2 heavier coats
to hide some minor flaws in the original finish. I let that dry for a week.
- 4 coats of the Metalcast blue and each coat made it quite a bit darker. I let that dry for a week.
- I'm not sure how many coats of clear but I used 2 full cans. Laid down as many smooth coats as I could in an hour, let that dry for a week and repeated the process until both cans were used up. I did not sand between coats.
- Wet sanded with 2000 and then 3000
- Cut that with Meguiars 105 on a Chemical Guys White foam pad and polished with Meguiars 205 on a Chemical Guys Red foam pad.

 

[marko138]

Use Reranch Nitro with a thin clearcoat, that stuff self-destructs into Roadworn PDQ. Do it the old fashioned way, play the Be-Jeebus out of it.Invalid Link Removed

That's how I was leaning. Thanks!

 

[Big Boz]

Just to add - this was my first "high quality" rattle can job and if you don't have a ton of patience, I would not recommend starting out using regular enamel. One little goof up and you have to start over........which I did.......multiple times. I sanded through the color coat trying to get rid of some light runs, which flattened the silver and when I re-sprayed the blue, left blotches. Another time, my last coat of color wrinkled. I probably spent the same amount of money on this paint as I would have if I paid for the easier to use lacquer. But the experience I gained was worth it. The hardest part of the clear was keeping dust off of it. There is one big fiber/cat hair/dog hair, that thankfully got covered up by the pickguard. Oh, yeah, one other helpful tip......drill the bridge ground path before painting.

 

[murphy]

I did not rattle can this but Minwax poly rub on
I am happy with the finish as it has the same look as my nitro laquered basses

 

[murphy]

 

[deff]

It looked like the glitter flakes warped and "curdled." Definitely not the same as when the GB was first applied. I had two sections of test board and the one with Lac looked more like a metallic than a flake. I assumed the lac solvent melted the flakes.



If it's wrong, there's a good chance i did it.



That looks awesome. however, it's not what i have - mine looks just like a full metalflake, very much like the G&L flaked basses I've seen.

View attachment 3521242

Thanks.

I used Krylon Fusion as a clear coat with mine.

 

[9mmMike]

Just to add - this was my first "high quality" rattle can job and if you don't have a ton of patience, I would not recommend starting out using regular enamel. One little goof up and you have to start over........which I did.......multiple times. I sanded through the color coat trying to get rid of some light runs, which flattened the silver and when I re-sprayed the blue, left blotches. Another time, my last coat of color wrinkled. I probably spent the same amount of money on this paint as I would have if I paid for the easier to use lacquer. But the experience I gained was worth it. The hardest part of the clear was keeping dust off of it. There is one big fiber/cat hair/dog hair, that thankfully got covered up by the pickguard. Oh, yeah, one other helpful tip......drill the bridge ground path before painting.

Did you fill an extra j-pup route or something? Where did the ground tunnel go?

 

[deff]

To clarify - I use the same Krylon Glitter-Blast spray and clear-coat it with satin StewMac lacquer and it does not "kill" the glitter. (whatever that exactly means) There's a chance that either you didn't let the GB cure long enough, or you sprayed too thick of a coating of lacquer over it. When spraying the GB - once you are done spraying - loose/excess flakes need to be dusted off using a soft fine bristle brush as not all of the flakes adhere. If it removes too much (looks blotchy), it needs to be lightly sprayed again, dusted and reviewed. The clear vehicle in that spray isn't thick and really shouldn't be over-sprayed because you'll overload the flakes and lose the glitter effect.

This is Krylon Golden Glow Glitter Blast over a spray-enamel creme white base coat clear-coated with SM satin clear lacquer - no dead flakes here.

View attachment 3520862

That's three different quasi incompatible resin systems there. It's frankly a wonder all of that turned out as good as it did. GB shouldn't even adhere to the pre-enamel. Plus I am always loathe to apply Nitro over an Acrylic Urethane paint like GB. Whatever you did looks pretty cool though. I used the same GB in the pic above. GB isn't as nice as the Roth stuff but it is probably the nicest standard hardware store or auto store metal flake. I am kind of hankering for another bass or guitar to flake.

 

[Big Boz]

Did you fill an extra j-pup route or something? Where did the ground tunnel go?

Sort of, because I still wanted a straight up P bass. I inlayed a piece of ash to give a more clear tone. I can always mute it if I want, but I just couldn't get the tone I wanted in its original config. I should have drilled the new ground path prior to priming because my bit wandered and went right through the back. I ended up making a feaux active electronics cover which gave me the idea for the material to use for my new pickguard. More pics to come of that once it is completed.

 

[Big Boz]

View attachment 3522783 Sort of, because I still wanted a straight up P bass. I inlayed a piece of ash to give a more clear tone. I can always mute it if I want, but I just couldn't get the tone I wanted in its original config. I should have drilled the new ground path prior to priming because my bit wandered and went right through the back. I ended up making a feaux active electronics cover which gave me the idea for the material to use for my new pickguard. More pics to come of that once it is completed.

 

[JIO]

That's three different quasi incompatible resin systems there. It's frankly a wonder all of that turned out as good as it did. GB shouldn't even adhere to the pre-enamel. Plus I am always loathe to apply Nitro over an Acrylic Urethane paint like GB. Whatever you did looks pretty cool though. I used the same GB in the pic above. GB isn't as nice as the Roth stuff but it is probably the nicest standard hardware store or auto store metal flake. I am kind of hankering for another bass or guitar to flake.

I keep all coats thin, wet sand each until the satin lacquer coats and a light scotchguard once the lacquer cures. I don't build the clear-coat to a smooth surface - it has a fine granular texture that feels nice, wears well and allows for player wear as I like player-worn finishes.

 

[bdplaid]

First impression of the water based varathane over glitter blast: it's gonna work!

 

[primussucks9126]

Hey guys, I'm about to do my first refinish and had a quick question for all of you.

I was planning on using Duplicolor Metalspecks over my primer, and spraying some perfect match over that. Is there any reason this won't work?

Thanks!

 

[deff]

Hey guys, I'm about to do my first refinish and had a quick question for all of you.

I was planning on using Duplicolor Metalspecks over my primer, and spraying some perfect match over that. Is there any reason this won't work?

Thanks!

It's won't work. Perfect match isn't a candy color which means you'll have to spray it thin which unless you are incredibly experienced means blotchy. It might cost a bit more but I'd get a base flake spray from Roth and then overspray with a candy color. Use a 2 part urethane clear coat.

 

[primussucks9126]

It's won't work. Perfect match isn't a candy color which means you'll have to spray it thin which unless you are incredibly experienced means blotchy. It might cost a bit more but I'd get a base flake spray from Roth and then overspray with a candy color. Use a 2 part urethane clear coat.

Thank you so much! Would it work if I wanted the flake to be like a racing stripe, and spray the perfect match as normal, without going for a candy thing?

 

[deff]

Thank you so much! Would it work if I wanted the flake to be like a racing stripe, and spray the perfect match as normal, without going for a candy thing?

If you're taping off, sure. Spray the base color coat then tape, then flake. It'd help to know exactly what you have envisioned.

 

[primussucks9126]

If you're taping off, sure. Spray the base color coat then tape, then flake. It'd help to know exactly what you have envisioned.

Something like the classic mustang racing stripe, like on this bass
Fender Pawn Shop Mustang Short Scale Bass 2014 White w/HSC

Initially, I was just gonna do a solid color, but I bought the metal flake as well so I'm just trying to see if it can be used to add some pop to his project.

 

[deff]

Something like the classic mustang racing stripe, like on this bass
Fender Pawn Shop Mustang Short Scale Bass 2014 White w/HSC

Initially, I was just gonna do a solid color, but I bought the metal flake as well so I'm just trying to see if it can be used to add some pop to his project.

Is the metalflake going to be a separate color? If so yes that will work. If you intend on coloring the flake by spraying on top of it, it won't come out great.

 

[primussucks9126]

Is the metalflake going to be a separate color? If so yes that will work. If you intend on coloring the flake by spraying on top of it, it won't come out great.

Yeah, the stripe would be pure flake.. So spray flake over the primer, tape off the stripe, spray my color over the rest

 

[deff]

Yeah, the stripe would be pure flake.. So spray flake over the primer, tape off the stripe, spray my color over the rest

Sorry, no. Spray primer and color, then tape off, then flake, watch for overspray, then clear.