Strat Affinity Refirb (picture heavy)

KungFuPro

The strat turned out great, did you have to dye the wood many times to get the deep blue look? very nice finish. I thought about wood staining a frankentele body I made from pine but the dye didn't take to the test piece. Reading up on it, pine is not a good wood for staining as it doesn't adsorb dye uniformly. Thinking of using tinted/translucent lacquer like Gloopyjon is using on his SG build instead now.

Christian 71

Not really it took about 3 coats, it was pretty easy really and you use hardly any dye. Repairing is a bit harder as I sanded through in a couple of places.

I was hoping to keep the maple veneer from the original, but it was too thin so I sanded it off.

My daughter's guitar I just use Primer and paint from halfords and it looked great. Masking the binding was a total pain in the ass.

hyperfish

Gorgeous looking Strat there Chris.

I have just given the body a light sanding and resprayed with primer. It's looking much better although there is still plenty of work to do particularly on the inside of the horns. These marks must be an own-goal scored when trying to remove the original finish.

The indentations are not too deep, so I think I'll sand and prime another twice to build up the layer.

I'm leaning towards acrylic, lots of thin coats, any ideas how well that covers blemishes?

Christian 71

Yup the inside of the horns is the hardest part. Just wait until you do the final polish

I used Halfords acrylic on my daughter's guitar, great stuff to work with but it's like water and covers nothing. It get's expensive quickly so much better sanding and building up layers with the primer. Don't be scared to fill at this stage, better to do now and sand and reprime than try and do it after the paint goes on.

hyperfish

Just taken this picture to show the inside of the horn and promptly created the new ding on the right.
Still, better now than later.

Looking closer I think these need filling.
                                                                       

Christian 71

Yup, flat sand that out, bare in mind you will want the finish to be totally flat or every bump will stop the mirror effect. The worst thing that can happen is you sand it through to the wood at finish stage which makes you want to cry

hyperfish

Just completed another sanding and primer coat. Almost all of the marks are gone, just a few minor nicks if I look hard. Another sanding and primer coat might finish this stage, but that will be next weekend. The sanding sponge is fantastic for following the contours.
                                                                                 

I have just ordered the final sprays and replacement parts. I decided on Daphne Blue nitro in the end.
Daphne Blue nitro lacquerClear gloss nitro lacquerPush pull volume pot5 way switch
2x tone controlsJack socketWhite 3 ply pick guard and screwsAll from Northwest Guitars. Decent prices, free delivery and a 10% discount code. £63.
Northwest Guitars, Stratocaster, Telecaster parts, Strat necks, bodies pickups, bridges, tremolos, machine heads etc

Since they are single coil pickups I've also ordered some copper sheet from eBay to shield the cavities.

hyperfish

All the parts have now arrived.
                                                                       

KelvinS1965

A good tip if you hadn't heard already:

Spray a 'mist' coat of a darker contrasting colour over the primer. When you sand the primer all the marks and rough spots will show until you've sanded them away (or gone back and refilled the bad ones). It's only a light coat (hold the can at least twice as far away as usual and move quickly so it's just a thin coat, not a 'full' coat). It makes it much easier to see if you've missed any parts.

Only continue once the sanded primer is completely smooth of marks as the gloss coat(s) will only make them look worse and won't 'fill' them.

I've done this method on many cars I've sprayed (and my Strat when I sprayed it solid colours, now being refinished in the original two tone).

hyperfish

Sounds like a good idea. I'll take a look at that.

As it stands now, it's ready for another sanding. After that I'll try what you said and see if any more coats and sanding is needed.

Ideally I want the prep completed Saturday so I can start the colour coats Sunday.