Painting a guitar case

October 9, 2007 8:52 AM

How should I paint a hard-shell guitar case?

My father decided that for his Christmas present, he wants me to paint some designs on his hard-shell Tolex guitar case. It is a standard, nubbly black guitar case.

My plan was to trace out the areas that will be painted, fill them in with gesso to make a flat white surface, paint them with acrylic, and then cover with a heavy-duty varnish to protect the images.

Has anyone done this before? Any tips, methods that did or didn't work? Thanks!

posted by ITheCosmos to media & arts (6 comments total)

I have painted acrylic straight onto a tolex-covered guitar case and it stayed on fine for years.
posted by The World Famous at 9:46 AM on October 9, 2007

The World Famous, did your guitar case have a flat, or a nubbly surface? If it was the nubbly kind, did you have trouble making the lines straight, and whatnot when you painted it?
posted by ITheCosmos at 9:50 AM on October 9, 2007

i would cover the whole guitar case with a gesso or other appropriate material, then put a base paint color on, then do your design on top of that, then shellac or varnish the entire thing, both sides like this. That would give the case a very even, professional look. If you just gesso and varnish the areas you paint it'll look uneven texture wise and the varnish or whatever you'll use will start peeling and chipping around the edges

go for the whole thing, i bet it'd look awesome!
posted by Salvatorparadise at 10:09 AM on October 9, 2007

It was the standard texture of tolex. Not smooth. I didn't have trouble making the lines straight, but I wasn't exactly going for robot-like precision. Big brushstrokes and all that.
posted by The World Famous at 10:10 AM on October 9, 2007

I've always wanted to try a flame job made completely out of multicolored/layered electrical tape.
posted by Quarter Pincher at 10:29 AM on October 9, 2007

The shape of the case (as well as the guitar) could be construed as resembling the shape of a woman. Perhaps you could do something along those lines.
posted by wsg at 11:04 PM on October 9, 2007