Re: [Harp-L] Help - Painting My Mic

["david j. brown" <nonidesign@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

You didn't specify how you wanted the shell to look so just to clarify
things I am talking about solid color painting here and not flame designs,
murals , and tattoos of hearts with "Mom" in them. That said, here's how I
would do it based on past experience:

1. disassemble the unit and remove everything down to the screws.
2. Take the shell to a local shop that can sand blast it clean (make sure to
tell them that you are doing this to repaint so they adjust the sand
accordingly and don't forget to have them protect any screw threads). A good
source is a local custom motorcycle or auto body paint shop. It should be
cheap since they can throw it in with something else they are blasting. I
pay $5.00 and that's their street price (they don't owe me any favors).
3. I've tried a lot of primers and paints out of retail stores and in my
opinion they just aren't durable enough. Here's what I suggest:
    option A: have a custom auto body or cycle shop paint it for you. The
finish will be sweet and a lot more durable than spray cans and spray clear
coat. Some of the custom work these places do is pretty exotic so you might
check in with them and see if they have something in the schedule you like.
However, bear in mind that repair shops cannot give as durable a finish as
the paint you have on your car from the factory. For an auto shop to get the
amount of heat needed to get that factory durability it would have to melt
the seats. That's one of the reasons car bodies are painted before the cars
are assembled. If the place is big enough they may have an adequate oven for
small parts and if so you are in luck.
   option B: This is what I do. I send the shell from the sandblaster to a
place that uses an electrostatic process to apply powdercoat paint. The
shell is put in a sealed booth and is given an electric charge. Powdered
paint, which has been given a charge opposite of the shell, is released onto
the shell. The resulting bond between the shell and the paint is as durable
as it gets. Any metal mic stand, speaker stand, etc. (and I'd bet the black
cover plates on Hohner Pro harps) are painted in a similar fashion. If you
want, contact me off list and I can give you info on a place in my neck of
the woods (Chicago land) that does this, although I am sure there is such a
place within a reasonable distance from you.

Another option is to have it chrome finished. Again, contact your local auto
body repair shop. This is usually not cheap though as the OSHA regs on
chroming are tougher than in the past due to the mercury used in the
process.

Hope some of this was of help to you.

> From: Aaron kazmer <gripwillie@xxxxxxxxx>
> Date: Mon, 6 Sep 2004 07:43:51 -0700 (PDT)
> To: Harp - L <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: [Harp-L] Help - Painting My Mic
> 
> Hi all
> 
> I was hoping to see if anyone out there could give
> some help. I really want to paint my green bulit.  But
> I know nothing about painting metal. So any help would
> be a great help.
> 
> Thanks
> 
> 
> 
> =====
> Aaron Kazmerhttp://www.kazmerblues.com/
> 
> 
> 
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