Mickguard Posted January 1, 2005 Report Share Posted January 1, 2005 Happy New Year one n' all...my kids wake up early...must have heard me stumble into bed... Anyway, I did my color coats yesterday. It came out really well...not a single drip or spit or smear, no orange peel either. I'm really pleased, considering I've never tried this before. (I'm using automotive rattle cans) I have a couple of issues. They're pretty minor to me, but I'd like your advice: In order to make the Bocaster, I cut and reglued parts of the guitar. I used a sanding sealer, then a couple of coats of primer. But you can still see--faintly-- the glue lines on the back of the guitar. Also, I let the guitar sit around for a while with its wood bare before I got around to doing the finish. As a result, it's developed a bunch of tiny cracks (it's alder, that's supposed to be normal). I was able to fill most of them ....but they're still slightyly visible. My question: is it worth doing another color coat before I move on to the clear coats? Will that cover up the marks a bit more, or do I risk ruining what is an otherwise nice looking surface? I'll put up photos soon, maybe later today... I understand what went wrong though--I used a grain filler, but I should have used the sealer that I saw in the auto shop next to the primer...it would have done a better job of it...that'll be for the next guitar... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erikbojerik Posted January 1, 2005 Report Share Posted January 1, 2005 It really depends how deep the lines are; you might be able to level them out with your clear coat, but not your color coat. You'll have to have a pretty thick clear coat. What are you going to use for clear, nitro? Polyurethane? As you said, this happened because the wood surface prep was a little off (cracks & glue line). CA is a good way to fill these before sealing the body. Afterwared, this is the kind of thing you want to catch when you're still using sanding sealer; you apply it, let it dry, then sand it down (240-320-400 grit) and see where the shiny spots are. Those are the depressions you need to fill before moving on to the next stage. Keep going on the sealer-sand cycle until all those little depressions are gone. Then primer. The "right" thing to do would be to sand it down to the sanding sealer and keep going on that, then re-do primer & color coat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Setch Posted January 1, 2005 Report Share Posted January 1, 2005 Back to bear wood, and fill the grain properly. That's the *only* way to get this done right. It's a stinker, but it teaches you never to spray colour, or anything, until you have gotten the surfaces perfectly prepped. I had to sandback my whole LP because of sloppy grainfilling, and that's a much less forgiving shape than your bocaster! No clearcoat will fill these lines, don't kid yourself, or you'll end up spraying more finish and then sanding that back too when it doesn't cure the problem. Sorry this isn't the news you wanted to hear... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickguard Posted January 1, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 1, 2005 Yep, I definitely learned a lesson here. I'm going to have to look around for some proper sealer...the stuff I bought didn't do the job...does Stewmac ship this overseas? I can live with the problems on this guitar __the front of the guitar looks pretty good, the cracks and other issues are on the side and back. And you can only see them from way up close... I'm going to move ahead with my clear coat --I want to start playing this guitar! I already have the next bocaster lined up --I'm going to try to get it 'right' the next time. And then I can refinish this one when the time comes. I'm tempted to add arm and hip grooves, that might look cool. Next question: is there a way to prevent the alder from cracking like this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickguard Posted January 2, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2005 Anyways... I have a way around the finish issues on this guitar...since the worst of the problem are on the sides of the guitar, I'm going to add some pinstriping over the sides --my wife's an architect/city planner, she came home with a huge pack of ruboff lettering and pinstriping... I'm thinking of using a large font to spell out 'Bocaster' on the top side ...the lettering will end up covering most of the cracks. I might add a second Bocaster on the bottom side, but that might get a bit busy... I'm going to keep the lines that 'reveal' the truth of this guitar --that I'd cut up an existing guitar to make it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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