Official Luthiers Forum!

Top of the Morning,

I'm about buy an airbrush for tinting and bursts and need some advice. The Iwata I was looking at is a gravity feed with a .35 tip. The cup on the gravity feeds are really tiny. With the siphon feeds it looks like you can get bigger bottles. What's your preference?

I would like to be able to spray both dyes, in water or alcohol, and tinted lacquer for bursts. A .35 tip I guess would be fine for dyes but seems a little small for lacquer. What do you think?

Thanks,
Danny

Hi Danny, I also do airbrush artistry as well as the guitars. Most of what I paint is portrates, I prefer the Badger airbrush as a siphon feed and my Iwata brushes for gravity fed use. One of the great things about the Badger is when you buy it as a kit it has all three needles & Seats included and it is made in the USA. For uses like fine detail work the Iwata is great, but for large area work and backgrounds I feel the Badger is a better choice. I own gravity feed airbrushes from both makers and rarely use the Iwata for background work as I always have the Badger to use. But at the end of the day both will do the job it probably comes down to which one suits you. If you only use one and have success then that is the one you will prefer without needing to try any others. TCP sell both as well as a few other brands and are good to deal with.
Cheers Bob.

I don't use an airbrush anymore, because while they are good for small repairs or touchups, I prefer a spray gun for bursts since it puts out bigger volume.

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Thanks a lot! Chris& Todd, the Eclipse is one that I was looking at. I see the tip is .5. Are you happy spraying a thin water or alchoal based dye and a thicker material like lacquer with the same tip? I don't normally reduce lacquer by more than about 10%. Would you take it down more?

Bob, I guess bursts would qualify as larger volume fills? I like the fact that the Badger has 3 tips. Looking at the TCP site, the Chresendo 175-7 looks to be good value. Is that sort of what you were talking about?

Tai, I think I like the feel of an airbrush in my hand over my guns for finer work. Plus it might make me feel more like the artist that I am not.

Cheers,
Danny

I like guns for bursts because with a double action airbrush it becomes difficult to maintain an even pattern. There is a mechanism on the airbrush for setting spray pattern but what it ends up doing is holding the paint valve open before the air flows, so you can have spits at lower viscosity if the air suddenly starts up in the beginning of the stroke. With a spray gun you have a dual action trigger that allows you to open the air valve first, then let the paint flow.

But the airbrush is still useful for fine detail work such as repairs or custom illustration.

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Well Danny

I have been an airbrush artist for most of my life. (luthierisem is my hobby)

So you wanna burst an axe with an airbrush. Ok.

Here it is in a nut shell.

Don't waist your time and money on a double cation gun for doing burst on a guitar.

DOUBLE ACTION AIRBRUSH
Refers to the method action required to control spray pattern. Pressing down on the button activates the amount of air flow and pulling back determines the amount of fluid released. (a pain in the ask me no questions to learn) This allows the user to change the width of line, color, and the opaqueness of color with one hand. Double Action models take much more practice to learn to use but are better for very fine free hand detail work.

SINGLE ACTION AIRBRUSH
Unlike the double action where air and fluid controls are combined, these same controls are independent of each other with the single action airbrush. While one hand is releasing a pre-set amount of air by pressing down on the button, the other hand adjusts a separate control for color feed. Single action models are very quick to learn and easy to use. They tend to be best for spraying much larger areas or more solid coats, (solid her does not mean opaque) more uniform lines or dots and stencil work. They clog much less than the double action internal mix models and can spray heavier, and thicker paints.

I have pushed air through just about every type of airbrush ever made. I've used internal, external, gravity, side and bottom siphon feed guns.

Bottom line advise to a luthier is...

get a Paasche "H" single action gun, with numbers 1, 3 and 5 tip and needle, 3 once bottle and a ten foot hose. Then put a good water trap and an oil trap on that compressor. Believe me...you will be happy.

Paasche Airbrush has been an American Company for over 100 years.

be
Padma

_________________
.

Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


.

Is there any reason an airbrush can't be used to apply the entire finish?

On my next build I plan to spray it and am wondering if this is possible.

Excuse the stupid question, I've never sprayed anything but Krylon. lol

_________________
Tim

an airbrush puts out a very small amount of material, even a Paasche H with the largest tip. The largest bottle on that is a 3oz bottle and it will still take a long time to empty that. They are good for fine things, but anything larger than that even a mini spray gun is better. I use about 4-6oz of finish per coat with a spray gun, and it takes a few minutes. With an airbrush it will take forever and you have to thin the fluid a lot because of the small tip, so you will need a lot of coat to do a guitar.

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Here is a compact gun that is highly recommended by a friend who does all manner of guitar finishes. He does enough that I would trust his endorsement- I guess you could say we have weathered some tougher times together. Looking at the specs, this is about as "Small compressor friendly" as anything. In my own place, I have kept looking for something between an airbrush and the Iwata LPH 80( with .8mm and 1.0mm needles) because compressor size and 240v. is a real issue for me. So is containment. An Iowa summer, even one without floods, is no place to spray in ambient conditions. I don't know that there is a retarder made that can account for the humidity here and in similar environs( Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky and on). I wonder if Todd or anyone else is familiar with this unit?http://www.spraygunworld.com/products/Asturo/MiniGun/Mini%20MasterCase.html

Well tim88

A Paasche H airbrush will do the job. It is what I have been pushing since 1974

However as Tai Fu poined out, it is just a bit on the small side. The H brush cost $59.95 and you can get a decent spray gun for half that.

The H is good for artsi fartsi stuff, bursting and touch up work.

I would buy a regular spray gun. The reason I don't use one of my big guns is I hate to clean out the dang thing.


blessings
be
Padma

_________________
.

Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


.

i've got a paasche h, and a vl, and padma's right.
h is better for git stuff.
lousy for clear coats as said here.
i have a binks model 115 touch up gun that i've had for 25 years, and it works great.
never done a burst, but you can close the flow down to nothing.
good for clear coats.
i want an hvlp gun, mainly because of less overspray.
that one miketoby put up looks real good to me.
wonder where it's made?

Go to an automotive paint store and pick up a "Jam" gun. The guy at the counter will know what you're asking for. I've even bought one from Home Depot that was a copy of a Devilbis and it sprays a more even pattern than my old real Devilbis. I bought it because my old Devilbis needed rebuilding and the Home Depot gun was cheaper cost than the rebuild kit.

_________________
"Try to be the person your dog thinks you are."

http://sites.google.com/site/bertsguitarshop/