PRS refinish question: tinted lacquer?

[taresushant]

Hi all,

I have a Custom 24 in Eriza Verde and wanted to see if there was an easy DIY option to refinish it. I have heard that traditional refinishing is extremely hard (except for the PTC I guess), since the base-coat underneath the 2K clear-coat is fullerplast that seeps into the wood and would required sanding lot of the top off.

Question for discussion: Do you all think spraying tinted lacquer on top of the existing clear-coat would result in a changed finish color? For example, on a yellow-green [faded] Eriza Verde finish, would a red mahogany tinted lacquer coat result in an Orange-Brown looking finish similar to Orange-Tiger or the Experience2018 guitar finish?

 

[jak3af3r]

It'll change the color for sure. But I doubt you'll get orange tiger.

 

[taresushant]

It'll change the color for sure. But I doubt you'll get orange tiger.

Makes sense. I'm thinking I could try spraying different shades of tinted lacquer on a ziploc or similar clear plastic sheet and see how the finish looks when I lay it on top of the guitar

 

[jak3af3r]

Another thing to consider with tinted lacquer is if it chips, whatever color is underneath would show.

 

[Birdsofprey]

Wrap it like they do a car,if you don't like it remove it. I know it's way out there but..............

 

[Huggy Love]

My 2 cents:
If you're gonna do it .... do it all the way.
You seem to at least have a grip on what finishing is about and respect that there could be some pitfalls along the way of trying to actually do a refinish, but I don't think you can disagree with me when I say that you already know doing a half azz Jerry rig refinishing job is probably not the way to go. Believe me, if there way a method to do things like augment finishes with tinted cover coats we'd have already known about it, being the guitar geeks that we are.

Coming from someone that recarved and refinished (*) the neck on my HB SC, I say your best two options are:
A- Get out the sandpaper and stain, and live out your refinishing adventure.
B- Spend that cheddar on the PTC.

... and I lean towards the adventure. If you ever wanted the finish of your dreams, only you can dream it up.

Good luck either way, and FYI PRS finishes are state of the art thin so they don't take a lot of sanding to remove. It's how the PTC does it.



* My recarve went splendid and the lacquer went on fine but my stain job was slightly off, I plan to redo the stain job and post a work in progress thread here. So jobs like this can be done at home if you take the time to learn the skills.

 

[Alnus Rubra]

There is a YT video about a PRS refinish.

The sanding sealer coat on your guitar will be extremely hard, just for your info.