Hello all DIYers, new to the forum, and new to forums in general, so not sure if I'm doing this the right way. Please forgive my rattle-can tastes on what appears to be a champagne forum, but I need some advice.
Finally getting around to rattle can finishing my homebuilt Ric 300 lookalike bass body, chambered solid with maple tops. I dyed the maple tops amber first, then sprayed 3 or 4 coats of clear lacquer over that. Used light gray lacquer auto primer, then Duplicolor Flame red for the solid back and my first attempt at sunbursting. It actually looks OK, I think (The red is BRIGHT; I would have preferred the red a shade or two closer to brown, but hey....I'll be refining it several times throughout its life)....except the obvious places I used rattle can lids to suspend the spray shield over the top. Generally, that technique helped a lot getting the sunburst onto the edges, and protecting from drips (some Duplicolor cans do, some don't), but I did not count on that much "underspray", so you can clearly see the amber circles where the lids were.
If I can sand the overspray out WITHOUT getting into the amber dye, then the second attempt will be easy, and I won't use can lids again!
Question is: what grit should I start with to try to sand out the red over/underspray, but without cutting below the clearcoat and into the amber dye? Should I wet or dry sand? Circular motion or straight, with the grain?