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Comedy Of Errors


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FIRST, I used the wrong sealer, and the alder's cracks show through the primer and the paint

NEXT, I tried to fix that a bit by sanding down the paint a little and adding another coat--this got rid of a lot of the cracks, but gave me a bad case of orange peel

And THEN, I decided to go ahead and do the clear coat anyway. All was going well, got the first coat on pretty well. Went for the second coat this afternoon...so far so good I'm thinking, I'll just add a little...hey! what's that? A hair? On my guitar?

SO I tried to pick it off (all the while telling myself not to touch it, stop spraying, wait until it dries)...of course that just screws up the finish

SO WHAT DO I DO?

I blast the spot with the rattle can...only I'm way too close and get WAY too much on it...

So there I am, holding a guitar with clear coats dripping over it like a tidal wave....

:D

Luckily, most of that will be under the pickguard, but stilll...

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Well, at least you gained some experience, good or bad. :D

Heh heh...you know, it's funny, I spent a lot of time preparing for this; reading everything, trying to get a good idea about how to do it.

But the ONLY way to really learn this is to do it...and screw up...

I should be able to fix the drip enough to met me live with the guitar...if it still bothers me after a few months, I'll strip it down and try again.

In the meantime, I've got two other projects lined up....we'll see how bad I screw up on those...

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I read that and just started craking up. You shouldent settle. If something goes wrong STOP there and fix. So right after the color coat you should have stoped and redid everything.

Well, my problem has always been that I'm NOT a perfectionist...

But at this point, I want to keep going...I mean, I might as well keep on making mistakes while I'm in learning mode...

the next project I'll have a better idea of what to watch out for...like I said, I'm going to refinish it in a few months.

But I want to hear what this guitar will sound like already! :D

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A little patience goes a long way.

It's not necessarily about being a perfectionist... just recognize when something is starting to go wrong and being prepared to bring the whole process to a full stop before you screw it up even more.

If you're impatient and just want to keep forging ahead for the sake of getting it done, you'll get the result you got.

Patience is probably the best skill you can learn.

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Patience is probably the best skill you can learn.

Well, I was doing pretty well about that up until a couple days ago...I was trying to get things done before I get to work on a heavy deadline coming up.

Anyway, I'm taking everyone's advice --I'm going to strip it down and redo it from scratch.

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how about wearing a hair net so next time you'll know for sure it isn't a hair, oh yea! :D

-Jamie

Edited by sepultura999
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Anyway, I like this forum because people are willing to show their mistakes too. So here's a few photos:

bocasterclearsmearsun1Small.jpg

And a close up:

bocasterclearsmearsunSmall.jpg

And here's a link for what the cracks in the wood look like--

[Unsealed Alder Cracks!

Yes, I will be refinishing it! I've since discovered a few more 'hairs' (actually, I think they're bits of steel wool)

But that's going to have to wait now, we're in a cold snap....I'll get to it this spring. That'll give me time to find a proper sand & sealer around here...Luckily the looks won't get in the way of the sound!

As for 'perfection'...well, I'm an artist, not a craftsman...part of the art I make relies on the 'imperfections' of my hands. But part of the fun of making art is learning how to use materials/media --I definitely learned a lot from this project so far!

Edited by idch
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The orange peel may have come from waiting to long after the first coat. I learned a lot about this while trying to win a pine wood derby contest for my son. I was using Testors rattle cans and the directions said to spray with in 30 minutes or wait 24 hours before the next coat. Didn't wait 24 and got major orange peel. I found that if I heated the can in hot water and sprayed in an environment 75 degrees or warmer, it turned out great. I also found that if I waited about 15 minutes between coats I could spray as many as four coats before stopping. My (son's) final car won the best paint job catagory. It looked wet and flawless after comlete. Can you use this method on guitars?

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The orange peel may have come from waiting to long after the first coat.

I'm betting you're partly right --though I think you'd still get orange peel even after waiting the 24 hours. Probably the key is doing it within the 30 minute limit.

I was also wondering about the temperature thing --maybe the paint and the guitar should be at about the same temperature? I keep my cans indoors and only bring them out to the little booth I rigged up in the garage when it's time to paint.

I'm going to try doing some light sanding (following Maiden69's method) before doing th e next coat --maybe the better grip will help prevent more of the orange peel?

That'll make it easier to do the polishing after.

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There are many reasons for orange peel and I don't think that waiting too long is one of them. If you wait too long on a paint that says to shoot within 1 hr or 5 days what will happen is that it's going to lift the previous coat. Will look like a crackled finish. Orange peel is mostly too much paint, too many coats too soon, atomization of the gun or can, etc.

On those cracks you can spot paint, just spray the area with several coats in the same fashion as you would the whole body, just that ths time do it like if you were doing a burst edge. Once it's build up, wet sand with 600 until smooth and feather to the rest of the body, dust one coat oveer the entire body and nobody will know!

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The orange peel may have come from waiting to long after the first coat.

I'm betting you're partly right --though I think you'd still get orange peel even after waiting the 24 hours. Probably the key is doing it within the 30 minute limit.

I was also wondering about the temperature thing --maybe the paint and the guitar should be at about the same temperature? I keep my cans indoors and only bring them out to the little booth I rigged up in the garage when it's time to paint.

I'm going to try doing some light sanding (following Maiden69's method) before doing th e next coat --maybe the better grip will help prevent more of the orange peel?

That'll make it easier to do the polishing after.

Absolutly, the wood should be the same (warm) temperature as the paint. Makes it stick to where your spraying it. Light at first then heavy about 15 min. later.

Oh yea! After you spray it, walk away. If you piddle around in your garage after you spray it it stirs up little dust particles and lint that'll make you want to kick the dog and beat the kids. :D

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