Good giztarage paintage wiz-doh-uhm

So I emailed an inquiry to one of the paint dude's customers, Jim at www.strict9guitars.com who was interviewed on John's www.paintyourownguitar.com site. Mainly I inquired about his wisdom about the value that painting a guitar adds to a guitar's value so that I can offer something for our kids' school's annual auction next year. Had I started this venture about 3 months ago I would've gotten a Star Power Guitar painted for this year's auction on the 10th. Oh well. Better to have some experience & practice behind ya with backing photos & videos to help people see that this me did do it....Hopefully I will be able to "Do It My Way."

My 2nd reason for inquiring is possibly doing paint things for other people to make money on the side, but keeping it a hobby & fun, to help the cause of feeding the 3 bottomless pit boyzages as well as the even more hungrier fuel tanks on two cars with increasing fuel costs.

Anyway, I thought I'd share the wisdom from Jim as it's helpful.

"I'm painting a guitar for a raffle right now so I'm kinda in the same boat...

The value of a paintjob is very subjective. Basically it's worth whatever you can get somebody to pay for it, haha. That said, as a hobbyist (which I am) I can basically charge whatever I want for my labor above and beyond what it costs for supplies. Let's say the paintjob is gonna cost me around $80-$90 for paint/supplies, then maybe I want to change the color of the knobs or the pickguard so it looks a little cooler with the chosen finish, now I might have another $30-$50 into it, bringing me a cost of around $110-$140, so let's say it's gonna cost $125 to acheive the finish I'm looking for. Then you grab a StarPower project for about $250 and you're in it a grand total of $375

Then you gotta ask yourself "what could I sell it for, your market might be different in your area than in mine, but let's say you could get $600 for it. Would you be willing to paint the guitar for $225 and if so, then do it, and have fun, remember when you treat it like a job, it's not as fun as it was when it was a hobby! haha

As far as painting guitars for other people...

Do some internet searches as well, there are places that'll actually show you right on their website how much they'd charge you for a single color finish on a strat. They have a bit of a reputation and can crank 'em out faster than you and I can, so they might get a few bucks more for their version, but it'll get you started.

And of course theres what usually happens to me, and that is "man, that's gonna be a cool finish, I'd REALLY like to do it", so I go a little lower on my price just because I REALLY wanna do the finish. I'm working on a checkered Firebird right now, just for that reason.

When you finish yours you'll have an idea of how much time is involved, my first 4-5 guitars I actually kept track of how long it took me to do each step, so I'd be able to see how long each thing took seperately, and to be able to add up those little tasks to help me get an idea of how much to charge. It's not an exact science, but it'll get you close.
MOST IMPORTANTLY, have fun and just enjoy painting guitars. Enjoy setting them up, enjoy taking pictures of them, getting to play them before anybody else, the whole thing, otherwise it's kinda like a job and then the money just doesn't seem to add up. I mean let's face it, if you have a real job, your hourly overtime rate is going to be more than the amount of money you make an hour painting guitars, but if it's fun and you make a little who cares.
I never ship a guitar back without insuring it for the amount that it would cost me to replace it for the customer, and I always make them spring for the shipping, as a seperate cost from the paintjob. I also never send a guitar home without a case, even a cheap universal from Musicians Friend. I have folks sending me parts to build them a guitar then paint it, and I always tell them to send an extra $40-$50 and then I go grab them a case to send it home in. I thought you might find that useful.

Remember to tell them you are a hobbyist and that it might take a little while, otherwise they may try to hurry you, and don't be afraid to tell somebody "no". If you don't have time, or you're not sure if you can pull off the finish their looking for, whatever. If you do it anyway it can stress you out and it goes back to feeling like a job.
Have fun man, and send me some pictures, I always like to see what other people are doing, keeps the PYOG spirit alive!" - Jim

Until later comes turn it up to...Rock On! Yo....Duh....Mon.