I carefully took apart the guitar and sanded all the exterior surfaces. I don't know if the sanding was really necessary, but the plastic was brand new and shiny, and I wasn't taking any chances with peeling paint. I had to unscrew all of the components that stick out the front panel so I could secure the holes with masking tape.
I first painted all the parts with Rustoleum Plastic Primer, which is a cool product that lets you use any normal spray paint as a top coat. I like this better than the limited color selection of specialty plastic paints. In the picture above you can see the parts are suspended on paper plates and chunks of styrofoam so that their edges can be painted cleanly. They're held in place with blue-tack underneath so they don't slide off the cardboard when I carry them around. After the primer I applied two layers of colored paint and then a clear top coat.
It took a little practice to get the buttons off the neck. The trick is to put a tiny flat screwdriver between the clip of the button and the side of the frame and then slide it out one side at a time. I sanded the surfaces to roughen them and also to get the colored paint off the ends. I numbered the buttons with a sharpie inside before I took the colors off, but it turns out to be pretty easy to sort them just by size.
Finally, I used my vinyl cutter to make the stencil for the celtic knot on the pick guard.
