How do I get a pro finish without building a spray booth?

[mandotopia]

My son and I are about to begin an electric guitar kit. I do not have access to a spray booth to finish it. It is an inexpensive kit so I do not expect spectacular grain (basswood body). He wants it to be black. I'm thinking ebony stain to bring out what grain is there. I would appreciate some suggestions. I want to avoid using a can of black spray paint. What are our options to keep the finish from looking homemade?

[Max Girouard]

You can brush on any number of oil varnishes and water bourne laquer/varnish without having a spray booth. Some require sanding between coats, others do not. Run a quick search on oil varnish and you will see quite a few types and application methods used. I've used Epifanes Wood Finish Gloss and Behlen's Rock Hard on some early mando's and they were both great oil varnishes. The Behlen's requires sanding between coats and the Epifanes does not. I've also used Grafted Coatings and I know that you can brush on the KTM-SV, not sure about KTM-9.

[Jim Hilburn]

I sprayed a lot of lacquer in my garage before I ever built a booth. You just have to protect your lungs and make sure the weather is right.

[multidon]

I think you will be disappointed in the basswood grain; there's just not much there to write home about. That's why basswood is usually finished opaque. Nevertheless, you can do a transparent color finish. Doing transparent black is a challenge though. I would recommend Stew Mac Colortone stain concentrate, dilute according to instructions and practice on scrap to se if you get the results you want. If it ends up too dark, dilute it a bit more at a time until you get the results you want. You should dilute the stain with water if you are going to use a water based top coat, alcohol otherwise. It works with either. I did a red kit guitar and got good results by using the red Colortone diluted with water, then after thorough drying I used a water based brushing polyurethane varnish over it. The traditional finish for guitars, and most stringed instruments, is nitro-cellulose lacquer, but it is highly toxic and if you have no spray booth it should be done outdoors. The water based poly is much safer, easier to use, and fine for what you have. Stew Mac carries a brush on version so you don't have to spray, but you have to level sand between coats to get rid of the brush marks. They also have a spray on water-based lacquer that you can spray on with a disposable Preval sprayer. There are also wipe on polys you can get at your local Home Depot or Lowe's that would do a good job. Lots of folks use Deft with good results; you can get that at the hardware store also.

Did you notice I brought up Stew Mac a lot? If you aren't familiar with them you should be. Here is their Web site: http://www.stewmac.com

If you look at the menu bar on the left hand side and scroll down to near the bottom you will see a link for FREE information. You can read boatloads of free information about finishing. I have no financial interest and you don't have to buy their stuff but they do sell what you need and the info is FREE... can't beat that! Good luck. Keep in mind that no mater what you use you will have to level sand, fine sand, and polish the finish. This will help it to look less "homemade".

[Greg Mirken]

What Jim said. The secret to a pro finish is not in the equipment; you can produce a first-class job with cans in fact. They don't atomize the material very well so you will have to do more work to sand the orange -peel out. Use nitrocellulose lacquer (Stew-Mac, Deft, etc.). Don't stop until the surface is flawless.

[Paul Busman]

I've used automotive spray lacquers on several guitars and one electric mandolin with great results. Your local auto parts store will have a good assortment. The mando I did was a metalflake black and it came out very nicely.
After several (lots?) of coats of the color, give it multiple coats of clear. Then, let it dry really well. This may take a few weeks or more. You shouldn't be able to smell the paint anymore. Then you can proceed with the wet sanding and polishing compound.
Check out reranch.com for finishing suggestions. They also have a forum for people interested in finishing guitars which is excellent.

[Brett Byers]

Check out http://www.reranch.com/
A great resource for the hobby builder/finisher.
Edited to add: on second thought, it's a great resource for builders and finishers of all skill levels, not just hobbyists. Ive seen a lot of pictures of instruments finished with their products and I know of a few electric guitar builders who use ReRanch products for all of their finishing work.