I learned that having Warmoth do the paint job is a heck of a bargain. Well worth the price.

Couple of tips. Nitro and acrylic lacquer paints are self leveling which means the new coat melts the previous coat and blends into it. If you were to sand between the color coats then the new color coat erases all your hard work of sanding between coats. So don't sand between color coats. Just pile one color coat on top of the other after letting the previous coat dry for about 15 minutes. I never do any final wet sanding as I hand polish the guitar afterwards and this will basically level sand the final clear coat. If you want a perfect paint job you will have to start from the foundation of sanding the guitar body as best as you can with progressive higher grit of sandpaper. Also, use a spray booth as there are lots of specs of dust floating in the air ready to land on your freshly painted guitar. It also takes about one month for the guitar to dry before buffing. If you do the prep work then you don't need as many coats of paint afterwards to cover for mistakes in sanding. Also, use dark ie. gray or black primer color for dark colors and use white primer for light colors. That sherwood green should have had a dark primer and not a white one. The white one was great for the red strat. If you don't use a white primer then the color will be much darker. Lastly, nitro evaporates after years and will probably sink into the wood if the sealer is also a nitro product. I would use duplicolor sand and sealer spray can to do the primer coat with and then either a nitro or duplicolor perfect match acrylic lacquer which is more durable than nitro but sprays just as easy as nitro. Acrylic lacquer is more plasticky substance and therefore more durable than nitro. They use this stuff for car paints. One more thing, before spraying primer or sealer make sure you wet sand the body to raise the grain that you will then cut down with a sandpaper. It creates smoother surface afterwards.

This is why I’m addicted to hand-rubbed oil finishes. You have to spend the extra $ on figured woods that good naked, but oil or oil/poly mixtures are much easier to apply, and endlessly repairable. I’ve also found that polishing the wood out to 2000 grit before applying oil seems to seal up the end grain, making for more even colouration- especially if you’re using dyes to tint the finish.

I really like this guy. If I had the time I’d love to make my own guitar. And the care and honesty that goes into these videos convince me this company is a 100% trustworthy place to go for that. Respect.

If you ask me that turned out absolutely beautiful and I like how humble you are and calling yourself a newb, you basically achieved what I and other newbs would achieve after 3 months of trial and error haha. Way to go!! I have always been a fan of warmoth finishes and since I live in India, I could never thought about owning one. Maybe I will get lucky and finally build myself a warmoth strat! #HerosJourney Thanks Aaron!

You killed it in your first try (if it counts as a first try with all your experience). I think I'll buy mine painted! Respect for what you guys do.

I've built 4 Warmoth guitars and ordering pre-finished bodies and necks is definitely the way to go! Thanks Aaron for taking us through the process.

I appreciate the humility venturing from familiar (professional guitar making) to unfamiliar (finishing) and posting the process. Beyond that, the adherence to doing it like anyone else without the same facility makes the process more relatable.

I've done a couple aerosol finishes. It is very time consuming, and I found myself going "Yeah, that happened to me too!" It's all a learning process and experience. Thanks for sharing this. #herosjourney

Just finished watching. You did a 99% perfect job I'd argue. And honestly after a few days or weeks of playing, those lil nics would have happened somewhere on the body anyways. Remember folks. No such thing as a 100% perfect finish. If you look close enough after a while you WILL see a imperfection.

I watched this without skipping. so satisfying. happy to see the great result.

Thank you Sir, a lot of wisdom and lessons learned in your video. Not only did you do a pretty good job on the bodies and neck, but you did an excellent job on doing the video.

I did a tru-oil finish on my mahogany tele. No filler, I wanted the grain to come through much like a gibsons raw finish. It took me about 2 months of layer after layer. Waiting 24 hours between coats. It came out AMAZING. If you’re after a natural finish try-oil is great and dummy proof.

I think you forgot to mention temp factors. Make sure your can is warm and the same for your guitar body finish : ) I take a soup cup, fill it with a bit of water, micro wave it for 1 min, take it out, put the can of spray paint inside of it, let it sit for a few mins, and now you're ready to paint. To make your body warm, let it sit in the sun for a second. If you don't want to do that, Nuke a hot towel for a few minutes and then touch it all over your body to get it all nice and warm. And that sounded dirty! lol.

Excellent job. You painted it really well.

This is great! Ty for doing this! Warmoth rules!!

#herosjourney great job! I just painted a Charvel with poly cans. You did quite nice, not taking away anything, there’s a 3 part series over at Stew Mac channel on how to finish a body and neck with cans, it us really helpful. Peace

This channel is getting better and better every time. 👏🏻👏🏻

Thanks Aaron this is an excellent and realistic tutorial video. That’s a big help when considering doing a first body

Fiesta Red body looks awesome! great work!

Great video. I hope that enthusiasts will note the few times that you mention that such a finish actually does take weeks to achieve and there are no short cuts. There is a character to an old fashioned nitrocellulose lacquer finish that simply doesn’t happen with other finishes. The finish ages in a wonderfully natural way that can’t be faked. In twenty years, the wear, the age, and the minor accidents will all look good. Whether your journey in guitar making stays limited to assembling parts and putting a telecaster together or you advance to making your own bodies and necks, Warmoth is certainly a place to begin the journey.

Haha, accidentaly is how we learn a lot of things. Great to see you sharing your first paintjob and showing some of the problems that you came across, that's super-valuable information for anybody who's starting his own project. Cheers

Looks fantastic great job , I think I will order the finished one 🙂

Definitely glad i opted for the warmoth finish it will be worth the wait

Yap totally.. I do the finish.. Love it. Natural woods and stains... Always turns out nice so far. And having an awesomely perfect body.. Like warmoth... Ya almost can't go wrong.

I've been watching your videos since quarantine- Warmoth's attention to detail and Aaron as their spokesman have won me over- I can't wait to build a guitar of my own from Warmoth #heroesjourney

Wow 💪🏻🙏 Thank you for the video, I'll try it now

I have had one attempt at a rattle can finish. I just didn't do enough with the sealer and I never sanded and buffed it well enough. I was so scared of going right through! From a distance it looks OK. Useful video to show me some of where I went wrong on mine.

You did very well, man. I'm a finish guy who dislikes rattle cans, but you did a really nice job. You took all the right steps. Applying the finish in a dusty area is never fun. I also use McGuiars to polish my stuff..I use the plastic headlight polish and a Dewalt auto buffer. I use it on my furniture and almost everything I do. Well done! Man, then you're giving it away! spot on!

Cool video. Cheers Aaron. (The green paint on the t-type body is gorgeous!)

Excellent Job!!✌️❤️

Nice! I’ve done this too. Warmoth body and nitro finish and it came out great. The trick is to take your time spray light coats and warm the lacquer before you spray it.

Those look great!!

Nice job as always. Great content.

Really good job on both. The Red Strat looks great man!

I love your story telling style. Fun video sir.

Aaron, I think you do the opposite of jibber-jabber in your videos! You give great info in a manner that keeps me interested and I don't ever feel like you are just saying empty words. I'm either learning or laughing. Thanks!

Well done!

Thank you Aaron for taking us through your #HeroesJourney!

This is a phenomenally helpful video.

#HeroesJourney I appreciate that you allowed yourself to be a beginner for this project. The “Aaroncaster” was painted with a DIY spirit that you can’t get from a factory. Although this project cost you a hair follicle and major index finger pain, the final product was well worth it!

Oh man, this is the final test. Finishing is whole other thing. I have one of your Fender replacement necks on the way. It's the last piece of a killer strat. Can't wait.

This made me happy that I paid you guys to finish mine. 😄

#herosjourney Great to see you again Aaron! This was such an inspiring video, thank you!!!

You are a braver man than I. We've all got very clear ideas about what a glossy guitar body should look like, especially textbook shapes like those, and posting a video of your efforts and results is definitely a #herosjourney (though that looks silly without an apostrophe).

Im a luthier at Silvino Guitars and I have always hated painting guitar because of past mistakes and the time it takes to do them. This videos showed a lot of tips that I havent seen in probably 30 can paint and can clear thank you!! #heroesjourney

Nice finish well done

Having finished two bodies (one of them a Warmoth!) I can tell you I learned very similar lessons. Definitely have a lot more respect for finishing work afterwards. Mine were both dye/stain jobs and still it was incredibly painstaking. Clear coating especially, there's imperfections everywhere. Probably the hardest part of a partscaster build.

You did a good job !

Pro quality is a high mark to aim at on first efforts. I'm glad you were able to get the outcome you wanted. In my experience with arts & crafts, a lot of the process involves adjusting the techniques and/or the objectives. My oldest guitar has a Warmoth neck and have painted the body many times.. I love that neck, there's nothing like it!

Thanks for the great video, Aaron. It was a real #HeroesJourney .

You did a great job.

Love the video but having seen this and remembering my own neck finishing experiment. I realised the Warmoth paint job is so well worth the money

Good job! 👍

Good work

I’ve been working outside of the US for a few months and I was just thinking about ordering an unfinished body to start when I return. Showing a first effort from an inexperienced perspective gives me a lot more confidence going forward😄 I’ll definitely throw my hat in the ring for the #herosjourney though as well

Great work and great products!! #HeroesJourney Nitro looks awesome. Very 😎 man!!

I was asking a couple of guys who work in a body shop about painting a guitar. I have a $300 mod platform guitar that I quickly discovered wouldn’t be cost effective to pay a body shop to blast with some paint, so now on to learning how to do it myself. I had no idea how much work it would take to paint a guitar from raw wood properly! The two guys started talking about sanding and how that can be really discouraging if you start clear coating and didn’t get the surface perfectly flat! Luckily my project is to repaint a guitar with a different color, so won’t take as many coats. Just need to find the right kind of paint and rig up a diy paint booth in my garage This video is a great starting point for me, to establish my expectations, and good timing for me at least. Thanks algorithm and thanks Warmoth!

Loved your work Aaron! I painted my first Strat 2 years ago using nitro paint cans and it was a lot of work trying to level everything using the grain filler, sealer and primer coats since I was using Ash and it SOAKS everything you put there! Also I did an Inca Silver so the surface HAD to be leveled! It ended up working great and the guitar has already aged to a golden hue 2 years later in some areas. Nitro is king! #heroesjoruney

Great job I know what it takes do it ❤

Silky smooth and beautiful work. #herosjourney

Great to see you branching out and going for it. Great video #heroesjourney

Fantastic video! I always enjoy everything you guys put out, and I'm super excited to hear about the DIY-ready option. #herosjourney

You did a great job. I have attempted this before.....but next time I will let warmoth do it.

Hey :) Great vid, once again. I am looking to re-fin my epi flying v. This couldnt have come at a better time!

#HEROESJOURNEY Thank you Aaron! These came out awesome! 🤘

Great job, Aaron! I can’t wait to give one of these DIY ready bodies a try! #heroesjourney

Cool that you're dabbing into painting as well. This is the first thing I learned around 35 years ago. I used to buy used guitars, refinish and resell as a teenager. One thing I learned was not to use sealer. Most of the old timers back then called it sanding soap. They advised on using lacker as the sealer, and I can tell you the finish was clearer on stain jobs vs when I used sealer. I am about to refinish 2 of my guitars and will be using 2k clear instead of nitro, You should haved leveled the front of the guitar before painting it to prevent that low spot by the control knob. Would have been easier since you were doing a solid color. But crucial if you were doing a stain/translucent color so you don't spend extra money in clear leveling it.

I've used Gracey's paint on a project and i really like them. Those came out great #hero's journey

#HERO’sJourney 🤩 WOW congratulations to you for this challenging undertaking.

I’m about to refinish my telecaster, I am so glad I found this video. Not only for the information but also for finding the paint company. Thank you so much! #heroesjourney

Mahalo for this video, Aaron. I’ve been tempted to try my own nitro finish and have watched several videos on it, but they were all experts who are already experienced in the techniques, so watching a noob’s #heroesjourney on the Nitro Sea makes it somehow less intimidating. I look forward to every new Warmoth video, and this was one of the best: enjoyable, informative, and satisfying. Aloha.

#HeroesJourney That was really fun to watch! More DIY please!

#hereosjourney !!! Diggin the body!

Thanks for sharing your epic #heroesjourney! Not sure if this made me more likely or less likely to try my own finish, but it's got me thinking about it!

#HerosJourney Thanks for documenting your efforts! This proves that home finishing isn't impossible, but proper preparation and plenty of time & patience are required.

#herosjourney They look great Aaron, congrats on having a go and succeeding! My hint - start each spray pass from before the guitar body starts, until after it finishes, and then release the spray, before commencing the next pass, keeping the can the same distance from the body the whole time. Move your whole body, not your arm or wrist.

Respect for those artist who make this process, giving life, vibrant vibes to the instruments. #heroesjourney

Fantastic, FANTASTIC video A-A-Ron. They look dang fine! My first, and so far, only, DIY guitar was an El cheapo ebay Strat kit with the uncut headstock from at least 17-18 years ago. I chose Fiesta Red for mine and it turned out great! It's strictly been for wall art, but just a few days ago, I was thinking about how much I like the color, so I'm going to make a player out of her. Have already swapped-in some Fender Fat 50s, CTS, etc. Next comes a proper neck. I'm looking at your roasted maple offerings. Once complete, she'll be an excellent Strat!

Nitro finishes are the best! Nothing ages quite like how nitro does. Great video as always! #heroesjourney

Looks amazing. I recently bought some Gracey's finish. Can't wait to try it out. Great video! #heroesjourney

Looking great! Reduces my fears of finishing a body for sure! #herosjourney

Aaron! Great video man and great company. You are the guitar buddy everyone needs to have! They both came out great! #herosjourney

I hope to win and see the work in person! Great job! #HeroesJourney

Love these videos, brother! Looking forward to eventually acquiring my first Tele with Warmoth parts! #HeroesJourney

What a great project Aaron. They look great!! #herosjourney

Fun video, thank you

Enjoyed following your fearless #herosjourney, Aaron! Very impressive outcomes from a first timer. and so much patience with all those coats and how many hours sanding? Sorry about your finger (and insightful detail about the overhang disrupting the spray), very pleased there was no need to amputate. Aloha!

I got my paint from the same guy. I called to and he was VERY helpful in my decision making.

Love both of the colors you chose. Well done Aaron! I think you did a great job! #heroesjourney

Great video again! My first attempt at a refin was a sherwood green jaguar! #HeroesJourney

Why do I feel like something I said to Spike inspired this video? Lol. Basically I was notified that my custom ordered strat body had a couple paint flaws, and instead of accepting it as it was I said "do what you have to do. I've waited over 20 weeks, I can wait longer. I'd be okay with the inconsistencies if I did it myself with a spray can". I finally recieved that body last week by the way and it's *beautiful!!* Good job on both bodies, Aaron!

I modified an old boom mic stand to shoot bodies on. Reranch is also great friendly company to get supplies from. Ive never had any issues with the Stew Mac canned lacquer either. The one thing with the lacquer in a can is it dries much slower. Wet sand using naphtha....it flashes off very fast so as not to swell up any grain. It also helps cut the lacquer so sanding moves along quicker. Great video! Great job.

I tried spraying a guitar once, it was a thomann kit. Didnt have the patience to go for many layers. Mad respect for your work, you did a great job! #heroesjourney

Now I know what to expect when I paint my first guitar body and neck. #HerosJourney

I did my first diy build last year , it was a Tele. I painted it with about 10 coats of lacquer and 6 coats of clear coat. I ended up installing locking tuner's and changed the pickups and ashtray bridge to Wilkinson , it took about two weeks mainly because of waiting for the paint to dry. All in all it was a great experience and I will definitely do another one , probably an SG next time. Great vid by the way!✌️ PS I didn't wet sand it either because lack of patience...

Love the new DIY Option, keep the great work Warmoth! #heroesjourney

Awesome video! A couple years ago, i took apart a Squier Strat and attempted my own refinish, and this video does a great job of showing that that process is way harder than it looks! #heroesjourney

What a great video. I've done this before with Lake Placid Blue. Amazing feeling getting it all done. #herosjourney

I built my First guitar in 1989 - And it was a Warmoth body and neck I used. It turned out Beautiful, and I wish I had never never sold that guitar.