Paint Set, Varnish & Dye - Highlight Grain

PROCESS OVERVIEW
1. Sanding: Select sanding set to sand guitar body and neck until P400 grit (optional),
2. Brushing: Use the provided metallic brush to increase the grain depth
3. Grain Filler: Apply the provided black grain filler to color the grain of the wood in black
4. Tint: Dye your guitar body and neck the way you want.
5. Sealer (optional): for additional smoothness (not really needed as grain filler is enough)
6. Varnish: use the waterbase varnish to reveal further the beauty of the wood and protect your guitar.
7. Polishing (optional): Select the polishing kit to get this extra shine and mirror effect for your guitar.

PRODUCT SELECTION

1. Selecting Materials
The guitar finish materials we propose can be needed if you don’t have it already. Please look to each product individually in the Materials category to understand better the use of each products we propose here:
- Sanding Paper Set is definitely something you will need (if you don’t have it). During the painting of your gutiar you will have to sand your wood several times to make sure to have a smooth and perfect finish.
- Copper Tape is needed to remove electromagnetic interference and make sure that your pick-up will provide a clean sound without background noise.
- Sample Wood can be very usefull if you purchase a guitar kit with ash or mahogany. It will be exactly the same wood so you can try your finish upfront to make sure you will have it right when doing it on your guitar body and neck.
- Rechargeable Spray and Recharge is something you might want to consider if you purchase nitrocellulose, polyurethane or waterbase varnish in bottle and don't have a spray gun. Although you can achieve very good results using a brush, It will allow homogeneous and simpler application of the paint and varnish. One suggestion is to use brush and only use rechargeable spray for the last few coats of varnish.
- Gloves and Brush are available if you dont have it and you want to apply the varnish with a brush and keep your hands clean.
- Metallic Brush is something you will need in The Guitar Fabric process to increase the effect of the grain filled in black and therefore the contrast wit the other dye you will select

2. Wood Preparation
This paint kit is specifically for open pore woods body as you will get a black grain filler to fill the pore of the wood in black. You can apply a clear sealer as well after apply grain filler and tint your wood with the dye. We suggest the use of clear sealer (after the dye application) if you use a spray or spray gun to apply the varnish to get a perfect smooth results. If you use a brush we dont really recommend it (as the varnish will fill the remaining imperfection easily). Applying more coats of varnish instead of clear sealer will work as well.
For close pore woods such as maple or bassewood (your neck for instance), we suggest to use a clear sealer only if you used a spray or spray gun. It wont be necessary otherwise. More varnish coats will work as well.

3. Coloring the Wood
Select 1 colors to paint the body and the neck and still show the beauty of the wood of the guitar:
- 1x dye of the color of your choice is needed to paint the body and or the neck as your convenience
Note that you will have left over of the selected dye which you can use for the neck, headstock, etc. Once dye apply you might want to apply a clear sealer. It remains optional as highlight in the Wood Preparation Section.

4. Varnishing Guitar Body & Neck
1 Liter of varnish is more than enough to get a good finish for both the neck and the guitar body: and ~600mL for the body.
- ~600mL for the guitar body
- ~400mL for the guitar neck
Note that you can select a specific type of varnish between waterbase, polyurethane and nitrocellulose, see below to make a choice. You can also select between matt or gloss varnish. Using a brush along with sanding with different level of sanding paper will provide you excellent finish. Still you can use the rechargeable spray if you prefer for the last coats for instance to make sure to have a homogeneous and apply thin layer of varnish.

5. Polishing the Guitar Body & Neck (Optional)
To get a super high gloss, a mirror effect, a protective layer and avoid slightly dull finish, we recommend the polishing set. Still you will get already a very good results without it but it will bring your guitar paint to the next level.

6. Comments
Additional details can be found on each products available in the Guitar Finishing category . Also a complete user guide will be provided when requested by email.

*SELECTING VARNISH BETWEEN POLYURETHANE, WATERBASE & NITROCELLULOSE FOR YOUR TOP COAT

Each type of varnish we propose has its advantages and disadvantages:

- Water-based finish is environmentally friendly and non-toxic: you can paint in more confined spaces such as a garage without any protection. Water-based varnish ages very well without changing colour and retains the colour of your wood, but tends to "flatten" the grain slightly, giving it a little less relief than nitrocellulose or polyurethane solutions. This is a very good solution for beginner, first guitar painter and low budget as it is easy to apply and you won't need protective materials or allocated space to paint your guitar.

- Nitrocellulose is very toxic so you will need protective gloves, googles and respiratory mask as well as a specific environment wit fan or paint outside. It is what was used in the 60s for mass production. Nitrocellulose has a tendency to yellow or crack over time creating the famous relic or vintage look and are easy to get a scratch. It offers also a more intense shine than polyurethane and it is said that the wood "breathes" better when thin paint applied. This type of finish is advised for intermediate guitar painter (or even beginner if you use the spray can propose in our other painting kit products). In particular it will provide you a different finish to what is commercially available but remind that it is more fragile and easy to scratch it. Finally if you are looking for a vintage or relic look and want to see your guitar age over time, a nitrocellulose finish is definitely what you need.

- Polyurethane finish is very toxic as nitrocellulose which means that you will need protective materials as Nitrocellulose. Polyurethane is very durable (this is the finish you will find in the music shop), does not ages, crack and dry quickly. Hower some people think that the guitar sounds or breathes a little less than nitrocellulose. Its application is also a bit more difficult as you need to mix it with a hardener. From there you have about 2 hours before the mixture hardens. This type of finish is recommended for intermediate to expert guitar painter (so for people who have already painted a guitar) and want a finish like you would find in today's music shops.