Best paint suppliers

Hey guys,

Looking for your input on the best paint supplier(s) for guitars. I'm planning on painting my x185 soon I'm looking for a company with a broad choice of colors. I've been throwing around a couple different color choices and I really like the metallic green on this Electra x135. I'm also considering a metallic gold or 'silverstone' metallic bronze.

http://www.rivercityamps.com/electrapage/comments.php?y=07&m=11&entry=entry071128-052541

Most of the companies I've found have 8-10 colors. Any help would be great!

Chris

I use car paint suppliers to custom mix shades for me. I had a rattle can made for my X195 Phoenix and the process is so precise that the bloke asked me where I'd like the sample taken from! I had some of the green mixed for my Clippers in a can and the paint I got was exactly - that's exactly!! - the same as the faded, 25 year old paint that I asked to be matched.

Look through car colour paint charts as well; a lot of the Matt product was painted in the Toyota paint colours of the day...

Thanks for the tip, John. I found this stateside auto paint supplier that custom mixes ANY color from any year/make/model, into a spray can. Now I just have to make sure the color I see on the monitor is close to what I will actually get.

http://www.automotivetouchup.com/spray_paint_matched.aspx

I've been trying unsuccessfully to match a Danelectro colour (Cool Copper) on my '56 RI U2.
There's at least one chip and many scratches on the back that I'd love to fix. Nobody, not even Danelectro themselves, has touch up paint or even the specs for the colours! I'm filing this custom rattle can idea away to see if I can follow up later on. Beats going to the cosmetic counter and seeing if they have a nail polish that matches!

We've got a paint shop just up the road (car paint) they'll match any colour you take in. They do spray cans aswell £10.
Minimum you can buy is 1/2 a litre, which is plenty for a guit. Nitro as well or whatever paint you want, poly, 2 pack, ect.

Ah, your in my ball park now, Westbone is right any motor trade refinishing supplier should be able to sort you out a standard colour, problem is, the EU bless'em, have declared that motor re finishers must only use water based paint, register with there local Council & pay a fee for the privilege, though small users such as some industrial users, Vintage & Classic restorers can still use Cellulose & 2K.

Needless to say, paint retailers now find its not worth stocking Cellulose & 2K as the demand is falling off, a lot already have stopped selling it, Cellulose retailers have been getting less for some time now ever since 2K was marketed.

Don't know where Mitten is but surprisingly there are more Cellulose stockists in the London & the south than the Midlands & the north.

As for 2K or two pack paint, it contains isocyanate or cyanide to the layman & should not be sprayed without a spray booth or without breathing apparatus, though some people do.

Because the amount of tints, used to mix matching colours for both Cellulose & 2K have also been reduced, matching an existing colour, for a blow in repair or touch up paint is getting difficult. The water base manufactures have said that they do not intend to mix small batches of paint to match in future, so once a colour is discontinued, unless a supplier can be found who still stocks Cellulose or 2K & has the right tinters to mix a small amount for a reliable match, as far as cars are concerned, they will have to have a full re spray with a standard colour.

The moral to this story is, its not much of a problem to re spray a guitar but if you have a car that you intend to keep, get some 2K mixed up to match & keep it in stock, for the future or the new owner should you decide to sell.

I don't know how it is in the US but here in UK & Europe with the ridiculous EU everything is becoming difficult what ever you want to do, so if your in the UK vote UKIP.

Just thought I would stress the importance of priming. I had a wife's cousin spray my strat. (he's a pro car painter) He did a fantastic job but the paint took months to go completely hard.. even after being baked in the drying oven. On the up side the paint had a "memory" and small dings would work themselves smooth again after a couple of hours. He had to put it down to the paint reacting with the Fender paint, even the paint rep couldn't come up with a more satisfactory answer. It was done just for the price of the paint £25...I was well 'appy. I too went for a metallic green. Check it out here.
https://servimg.com/view/16164136/1https://servimg.com/view/16164136/2

Preparation is the key; no question - the more time spent on the scut work like sanding, filling, priming and flatting. the better the finish will be!!

The EU is just nasty - I thought NZ had a monopoly on bureaucratic bullsh*t, but I see the Belgians have it down pretty well too!! Why the Brits put up with I'm sure I don't know....

Nice colour, IanO....

Glad someone other than me likes it! Great minds think alike.......my wife says it looks like something from the 80's...........how rude!

PS. Just like IanO said, top coats should only be applied onto a good primed surface & as you will never really know what the old substrate is, all the old paint should be removed if you want a to guarantee the result. :!:

WOW. Ian, that is officially the prettiest Stratocaster I have EVER seen. No lie. Purely gorgeous.

Cheers Warrn, you are one of few that like it!
To think that for 18 yrs it was plain old white, a chance drunken conversation at my house (kids birthday party), 30 mins with allen keys, soldering iron etc and it was wrapped up and in his car. If I hadn't done it there and then it would probably still be BORING white. God bless alcohol!

IanO wrote:...God bless alcohol!

And so say all of us!
Oh, and nice colour too.

Yeah, IanO that color is the Bomb! Pretty stinkin' close to what I'm after. What type of paint was that... Polyurethane, nitrocellulose? How did you apply it? Spray can? HVLP sprayer? Compressed air? Sorry for the quiz...looks phenomenal!!! My guitar is lipstick red which is the color of practically every other one I've seen, and I'm tired of it. Now all I need is a natural maple neck and fretboard and I'll be set.

Have you asked about a neck over at the Electra forums? Early Phoenixes had maple boards.

Glad to be finding appreciation for my choice of colour. I don't completely know how the paint was applied other than it was done by a professional car sprayer at his lace of work. I would imagine it was water based due to rules'n'regulations. The pint is a "flip" colour that turns goldy/yellow over the green. It is not a colour that is available as standard so was mixed to be as close as possible to "ultimate Green" used by Ford on their Focus RS model (approx 2005-2008) the colour on the newer cars seem to look a bit more "plasticky". There is one parked round the corner from where he lives so he could match it easily. Here is the picture that I had on my desktop whike it was being sprayed. https://servimg.com/view/16164136/4

As I have mentioned previously preperation and priming are paramount - mine took months to go hard - (Insert childish jokes here)

Hope this helps and good luck

lace = place. pint = paint. whike = while. Sorry this is a combination of small keys, fat fingers and a really crap keyboard on my laptop!

P.S. I almost had the Focus ST orange (see google images) but felt it really needed a rosewood fingerboard-still a great colour!