Question about wet-sanding

[DaveK]

I am in the process of re-finishing a PRS style body. I have always avoided painting, as I have BOTCHED most of the jobs I attempted. This time, however, things are going quite well!

I have applies the sanding sealer, put on a primer coat, and am now applying the white basecoat.

Here is my question...as I follow the tutorials from LGM and others, there is no mention of wet-sanding the base coat before applying the clear.

For some reason, I have always thought that you were supposed to wet sand the color coat before you apply clear.

I know there are many ways to paint, but if you can let me know if this step can be avoided, I would appreciate it

Thanks,,

DaveK

[Gorecki]

I would dare say it really depends. If your color coat is solid and showing up glossy and you want to give your clear something to stick too. Sanding at ~400 wet is a good idea. But if it's a metalic or the like you don't want to sand, it'll kill it.

[Maiden69]

I have asked this question to a few people, BeAR is one of them, he point me out that he didn't on his 5150, and I didn't on any of my guitars... Also is good to point out that you have to have a damn good primer job or sealer... this is the bread an butter of the paint job in my opinion. I made sure that there were no flaws on the primer for the top of my LP before applying the base coats. I colorsand the primer to 800. That way you only need to do a coat to get a great even color and you don't need to colorsand it. the more coats you apply the greater the chance for orange peel you get, at least that's what I found out by experience.

Once you shoot the base, look to it close and if you can see sanding marks you maight need to sand a little and do it again. This ones will only be magnified once you spray the clear.

Another thing is that I have used metalic paints as base on the guitars so I didn't want to sand and then mess up the glitter from them. In a solid color I might have done it if I found out that the base coat looked bad or had some orange peel. Hope this can be helpful, and I know that Jeremy will be a round and correct me or add anything .

[Maiden69]

I would dare say it really depends. If your color coat is solid and showing up glossy and you want to give your clear something to stick too. Sanding at ~400 wet is a good idea. But if it's a metalic or the like you don't want to sand, it'll kill it.

I think that sanding at 400 is a little too coarse to get a good finish. IMO.

[westhemann]

I would dare say it really depends.  If your color coat is solid and showing up glossy and you want to give your clear something to stick too.  Sanding at ~400 wet is a good idea.  But if it's a metalic or the like you don't want to sand, it'll kill it.

I think that sanding at 400 is a little too coarse to get a good finish. IMO.

no it isn't...not between coats like he is talking about

but nitro burns in so it is not necessary with it or polyester if i remember right

when you put the clear on a coat which has been scuff sanded to 400,the clear puts the gloss back on,you won't see the scuff sanding

try it on scrap and you will see what i mean

for the original question..i am no finishing expert,but i would level sand the color coat before adding the clear

[sjaguar13]

Here is my question...as I follow the tutorials from LGM and others, there is no mention of wet-sanding the base coat before applying the clear.

For some reason, I have always thought that you were supposed to wet sand the color coat before you apply clear.

I have a book on refinishing guitars and the guy fixes some spots with a paint brush. It looks terrible and he says not to sand anything, just clear then sand. It came out looking pretty good in the final pictures. I don't sand the color coat, but I am not the greatest refinisher in the world.

Edited August 29, 2004 by sjaguar13

[litchfield]

I wet sand color coats at 400, then the final (before clear) with 400, 600, and 1500. I use 1500 for all clear.

[DaveK]

lichfield:

Are you saying to sand the COLOR coat to 1500 as well?

[Maiden69]

Well I did the 400 on my primer for the strat and when I shot the 1st color coat I could still see some faint lines. so I wet sanded 600-800 and then shot a thin coat of the base and they were gone! That's why I don't avdvise about the 400. If I was refinishing a guitar that have a clear on top, I will say to do the 400 to get the new paint a surface to grip, but just for the coat of primer, after that it will go to 800, then the clears will go to 1000 after the 1st 3 then 1500 after the next 3 , and if needs more one or 2 coats more and finish with 1500-2000.

edit to add:

if the base coat is METALLIC I sugest you do not color sand since this will work against the way the flakes lay on the body, and this is suggested to in the tutorial in the ReRanch site!

Edited August 29, 2004 by Maiden69

[MzI]

i was watchin american hotrod the other night and there was some mention of color sanding and what not, they only sanded the color with 6 or 8 coats of color, normally they just spray 2 or 3 coats of color and then clear without sanding the color coat, the point of color sanding is to get a deeper finish not to get it glossier

MzI

[Maiden69]

i was watchin american hotrod the other night and there was some mention of color sanding and what not, they only sanded the color with 6 or 8 coats of color, normally they just spray 2 or 3 coats of color and then clear without sanding the color coat, the point of color sanding is to get a deeper finish not to get it glossier

MzI

Yes but it was a solid color, that nice black one. did you notice how much orange peel that thing had!

[AlGeeEater]

It had F.L.A.: Fat Lady's A**

[rhoads56]

Ive PM'd you Dave, and hope i answered your questions.

[MzI]

yea it did have a lot of orange peel but they still wetsanded not because of the orange peel but because of the deep look that they wanted

MzI

[litchfield]

lichfield:

Are you saying to sand the COLOR coat to 1500 as well?

yeah. I learned that with car paints. the flatter and smoother the color coat the better the clear lays. When using metallics, a light duster coat without sanding will bring the flakes alive. I wish it was do able on dye, then I could alleviate orange peel almost 100%

[Maiden69]

yea it did have a lot of orange peel but they still wetsanded not because of the orange peel but because of the deep look that they wanted

MzI

thaqt's what brings the depth, removing the orange peel by color sanding. If you clear over the peel, the paint won't have that smooth as glass look when you look at it straight, it will have it when looked sideways, but when looked straight it will look bad, won't reflect the light good enough.

Edited August 30, 2004 by litchfield