Painting a ukulele

Hey guys! So I've done my research and I am still not super confident on how to go about painting a cheap uke. So from what I've read these are the steps I have come up with:
•Sand the cheap paint off
•Apply a bonding primer
•Then paint with acrylic paint
•After it dries apply 2 or 3 coats of clear coat
Have I missed any steps? Also what grits of sandpaper would ya'll recommend?
I'm a total newbie at this so if you guys have any other tips please share!
Here's the uke I plan to customize: https://www.long-mcquade.com/10580/...Instruments/Yorkville_Sound/Ukulele_-_Red.htm

If this was a mandolin forum, members would be up in arms. Desecration! But painting 'ukes is okay. I'd like to see some Big Daddy Roth / Rat Fink 'ukes. Or maybe Zuñi cosmic designs. Or some Van Gogh. Or Any Warhol -- yeah a soup-can 'uke would be about right. Maybe some Alley Oop cartoons. The sky's the limit, yah?

italianstallion33 said:

Hey guys! So I've done my research and I am still not super confident on how to go about painting a cheap uke. So from what I've read these are the steps I have come up with:
•Sand the cheap paint off
•Apply a bonding primer
•Then paint with acrylic paint
•After it dries apply 2 or 3 coats of clear coat
Have I missed any steps? Also what grits of sandpaper would ya'll recommend?
I'm a total newbie at this so if you guys have any other tips please share!
Here's the uke I plan to customize: https://www.long-mcquade.com/10580/...Instruments/Yorkville_Sound/Ukulele_-_Red.htm

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I've never heard of that brand, so no idea if it's playable out of the box, but at that price, you are taking a gamble...

You could save yourself the first 2 steps by starting with a white uke that is designed to be decorated, as per:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/folk.../kohala-soprano-ukulele-with-markable-surface

Which is what I would do, for surely the price difference is worth the 2-3 hrs (at least) of time it would take to sand off all the existing paint to my satisfaction, and then tape it up and apply primer, and hope and pray that I do not in fact render the uke unplayable in the process...

Do you want the end result to be an 'art piece' or wall-hanger as opposed to being playable? I would guess that the desired end result could help dictate your path.

Methinks that $40CDN red 'Denver' uke is going to probably need a full setup to get anything near playable, but if you have no intention to really play it, and instead just as a wall-hanger, then the playability matters not.

Booli said:

I've never heard of that brand, so no idea if it's playable out of the box...

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Me, neither, but I thought this review was hysterical.

I love this ukulele so much its perfect for beginners who are just learning how to play the only thing that I didn't really like is the fact that you have to tune it before you played it to get the best sound, it only takes a minute to tune so its not that big of a problem

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Imagine that... having to tune a uke before you can play it. And yet "7 of 9 customers found this review helpful".

caukulele has done some beautiful painted ukes.

http://forum.ukuleleunderground.com/showthread.php?86281-Painting-my-Ukulele

That white Kohala is pretty nifty I quite fancy having a go at a bit of Jackson Pollockesque action painting with one. Damn you UAS!!!

Booli said:

I've never heard of that brand, so no idea if it's playable out of the box, but at that price, you are taking a gamble...

You could save yourself the first 2 steps by starting with a white uke that is designed to be decorated, as per:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/folk.../kohala-soprano-ukulele-with-markable-surface

Which is what I would do, for surely the price difference is worth the 2-3 hrs (at least) of time it would take to sand off all the existing paint to my satisfaction, and then tape it up and apply primer, and hope and pray that I do not in fact render the uke unplayable in the process...

Do you want the end result to be an 'art piece' or wall-hanger as opposed to being playable? I would guess that the desired end result could help dictate your path.

Methinks that $40CDN red 'Denver' uke is going to probably need a full setup to get anything near playable, but if you have no intention to really play it, and instead just as a wall-hanger, then the playability matters not.

Click to expand...

I would like it to be playable and I know for a fact these guys are playable out of the box. I bought one when I first started playing about a year ago and it still is going strong, I bring it everywhere with me. Well maybe instead of spending so much time sanding, I could apply some sort of varnish remover?

I painted the top of a Mainland Concert that had a broken and then repaired top. To hide my repair I painted the top black . I didnt know I had to do all this prep.
I just sanded the top a little, taped it off, sprayed it with Black lacquer, then clear , and it has been fine for years now.
It's an inexpensive uke you are painting. I would just give the whole thing a light sanding, then spray it the color you want. I have a Rogue soprano that I'm going to paint
black , and thats how I'll do it. I really think you are wasting time removing all the paint on an inexpensive uke.

k0k0peli said:

If this was a mandolin forum, members would be up in arms. Desecration! But painting 'ukes is okay. I'd like to see some Big Daddy Roth / Rat Fink 'ukes. Or maybe Zuñi cosmic designs. Or some Van Gogh. Or Any Warhol -- yeah a soup-can 'uke would be about right. Maybe some Alley Oop cartoons. The sky's the limit, yah?

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Good one, because I actual entertained the thought of painting a rat fink on my Makala. Only for a minute or two, but I did think about it.

Pukulele Pete said:

I painted the top of a Mainland Concert that had a broken and then repaired top. To hide my repair I painted the top black . I didnt know I had to do all this prep.
I just sanded the top a little, taped it off, sprayed it with Black lacquer, then clear , and it has been fine for years now.
It's an inexpensive uke you are painting. I would just give the whole thing a light sanding, then spray it the color you want. I have a Rogue soprano that I'm going to paint
black , and thats how I'll do it. I really think you are wasting time removing all the paint on an inexpensive uke.

Click to expand...

Yup, don't strip it. Just clean the uke to remove any sweat and finish wax, give it a quick rub down with a coarse abrasive pad, and paint. If the paint is thin you won't hear a difference, and if you glop it on it won't matter that you took the trouble to strip back to the wood.

I agree, don't sand too much. The laminated wood used for inexpensive ukuleles is very thin, and sanding too much could burn through one of the laminated layers in places.

I've painted two ukes, and I used sanding sponges (3M, I think) in the medium grit and just worked enough to dull the finish. Even though it's a matte finish, I figured it'd be best to take it down a notch. I only sanded the body and fretboard face, as I wasn't painting the rest.

After sanding and cleaning, I masked the fretboard and the neck, including the back and edges of the headstock, and sprayed the rest with a thin coat of Zinsser Bulls Eye 1-2-3 water-based primer. I don't know if the primer was necessary after sanding, but I figured it couldn't hurt. It also gave me a nice white finish for laying out the design with a pencil.

I painted the designs with acrylic paint for several reasons, including low odor and easy clean-up. One trick I learned is to use very soft brushes, as acrylic paint doesn't level itself. Acrylic paint markers work for tight areas but take a little practice to get right. On the second uke I used india-ink artist pens for fine black lines.

After the acrylic dried, I applied two coats of Krylon Low Odor Clear Finish (matte) spray, which is water-based and sets very nicely. There are probably some water-based products at art stores, but I suspect they cost more.

I've posted pictures before, but here's one of the two ukuleles together. Most of the work is in paint, but the intricate designs on the headstocks are home-printed decals, and the blackboard on the back of the "burger" uke was printed on a laser printer and applied with acrylic medium.



(Note: I mentioned brand names only because they worked for me. I have no connection with either of those companies.)

Thanks for all the tips about painting your own Uke . I wouldn't mind doing one of these:

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/ec/8b/c2/ec8bc2e0ebc625f63400eaf602309e7e.jpg

I forgot to add:

Both of the ukuleles I painted are Makala agathis models. I chose them because I wanted ukes that would play in tune and sound reasonably good, and of all of ukes in the sub-$50 range, I find these models to be the best in build quality and tone. Duds exist but seem to be occasional. The shark and dolphin models are okay, and they are cheaper, but their bridges stand out even when painted.

More expensive ukes are always available, of course, but they tend to look a lot nicer and I'd rather not cover up a nice looking uke unless the surface is already damaged from hard use or an unavoidable repair.

As with all such things, YMMV.