When Do I Sand?

[Mickguard]

Sorry, don't mean to flood the group but I can't find a simple answer to my questions...(and yes, I've been to the main site, to reranch, Stewmac...)

I'm working on a practice piece of wood before moving to the guitar itself. I'm using automotive sprays.

I've done my color coat and let that rest 24 hours. No spits, drips or runs!

Now I'm going to start the clear coats.

Do I sand the color coat first? Which grit? Or should I just wait and sand the clear coats?

(once I get to the clear coat, I plan on following the Trade Secrets tutorial and the Reranch tutorial --but neither are finishing over paint, they're going over dye)

I'm also practicing applying my logo using Jehle's logo method and my own extension on that (sanding the transparency)...

[AlGeeEater]

You are using lacquers right?

ReRanch:

Before preceding with the clear coat it may be necessary to flat sand the color coat. If the color coat appears smooth sanding before applying the clear coats may not be necessary. If the surface feels rough due to overspray or has "orange peel" sanding will be needed. Definitions are in order here. Overspray refers to paint on the surface that dried before it reached the surface. Orange peel is caused by the paint drying before it flowed completely smooth and flat. (The surface will appear bumpy and not unlike an orange peel). Overspray can be sanded off by lightly sanding with #600 or #800 wet sandpaper. Orange peel will take more aggressive sanding. Use #400 or #600 wet. Sand until the surface is smooth and all the bumps are gone. (When sanding to remove orange peel expect sand throughs that will need respraying).  When the sanding is finished wipe the guitar with damp towel to remove any dust. Now inspect the guitar. Check for thin spots where the white shows through and spots where the lacquer is drying into the grain. When checking for thin spots it is best to examine the guitar in bright light or sunlight. Look for thin spots especially around the bottom strap button, the sides of the peghead, inside the cutaways and at the top and back edges where color may have been sanded off during the flat sanding.

[Mickguard]

Ah okay, I didn't dig deep enough...thanks.

So, since the surface I painted is quite smooth--no orange peel, no overspray--I don't need to sand at all right now?

Can't do my clear coat today anyway, it's raining

[AlGeeEater]

Ah okay, I didn't dig deep enough...thanks.

So, since the surface I painted is quite smooth--no orange peel, no overspray--I don't need to sand at all right now?

Can't do my clear coat today anyway, it's raining

whoa i just saw this thread. If its pretty flat you dont need to sand it but i always do. im very compulsive about that. I guess this is late info seeing as how you probaly cleared it already

[Mickguard]

Can't do my clear coat today anyway, it's raining

whoa i just saw this thread. If its pretty flat you dont need to sand it but i always do. im very compulsive about that. I guess this is late info seeing as how you probaly cleared it already

[Maiden69]

One word of caution. If you are painting with metallic paints, which you didn't mention, I suggest you don't sand because you will mess with the way the flakes lay and mess up the reflectiveness. Also on translucent colors, unless you are ready to curse like crazy when an edge get's lighter than the rest of the body. Other than that, you are fine to.

My recomendation will be.

Primer or sanding sealer, this you should sand until baby butt smooth with up to 800, but 400 should be nice)

1 or 2 coats of color, this should be thin but evenly covered. (you don't want to build up the paint thick. And the thin coats reduce the chance of overspray, runs or orange peel.

And then clear coats, here I found out that 1 dust coat, and 2-3 medium coats is more than enough. Depending on the paint, (read the cans on recomended recoating periods) I suggest to do 1 coat wait 1 hr and do another. if you think that this is not enough clear, wait 5 days, unless you are using nitro or duplicolor clear and color sand with 800-1000-1500 and do 2 more coats the same way.

This should have built enough clear that you won't sand thru.

This is the way I did my guitar, and it turned out great.

[AlGeeEater]

idch, what paint scheme you goin for?

[Mickguard]

idch, what paint scheme you goin for?

Hey Algee....see my avatar! I have a vintage white here --well, it's close to that. It's equivalent to Chrysler's 'White', kind of a cream color. Except I'm using a black pickguard (well you've seen the dress rehearsal photo). And the fretboard's rosewood.

Maiden: thanks for the tips! The clear coat can says to to get the new coats on within half an hour...(it's acrylic, if that helps). I'm probably doing it all wrong though-- I'm doing the headstock right now, and yesterday I did the equivalent of three or four 'powder' coats .... So today I'm going to do a couple of medium-wet coats on top of that.

I wanted the first coats to dry first in order to fix down the logo.

I'm finding that with the powder coats, I'm not having an drip or spit issues....yet!

I'm also working with things horizontal so far (that's going to be harder with the body of course)

[AlGeeEater]

idch, what paint scheme you goin for?

Hey Algee....see my avatar! I have a vintage white here --well, it's close to that. It's equivalent to Chrysler's 'White', kind of a cream color. Except I'm using a black pickguard (well you've seen the dress rehearsal photo). And the fretboard's rosewood.

Ah yes, i should have seen that comming