SJP Posted April 1, 2006 Report Share Posted April 1, 2006 hello, this is my first electric guitar project with my son.we are using car colours in cans.the plan is to paint the front blue /with a black back,edge and burst onto the face.my question is.should i spray the and clear coat before spraying the black edge?the reason i am asking is i have read that the paint should be polished before the clear coats.my concern is whether the blue and black would run together if i did not clear coat the blue first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southpa Posted April 1, 2006 Report Share Posted April 1, 2006 It depends on what kind of auto paint you are using. There are enamels, urethanes, acrylic lacquer to name a few being used. High solvent paints like lacquer will fuse with underlying layers when applied. Other types of paint need to be scuffed to give new layers something to cling to. I am currently working on a black n' blue guitar myself with lacquer from the auto finishing counter. I first shot the blue base and then let it cure for a while. Then I went with the black burst. Its not necessary to polish until the guitar is finished. At the most a little light scuffing with 320 to 400 before clearcoating. And I emphasize light, you don't want to break thru. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SJP Posted April 1, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 1, 2006 hey thanks for the feed back.i am using laquer paint from cans.i have melvin hiscocks book on guitar building and other sources i've read say to sand up to 2000-2500 grit wet/dry then then polish and then clear coat?? maybe i'm reading it wrong. anymore tips or helpful hints would be greatly appreciated. cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southpa Posted April 1, 2006 Report Share Posted April 1, 2006 Yes indeed you are reading that wrong, its the clearcoat thats sanded and polished that fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SJP Posted April 1, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 1, 2006 Yes indeed you are reading that wrong, its the clearcoat thats sanded and polished that fine. Alright, well thank you very much for your help and advice-- greatly appreciated.i have one more question... how many coats of clear do you suggest to lay down, and how long to wait before the guitar is ready to be handled again? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guitarfrenzy Posted April 1, 2006 Report Share Posted April 1, 2006 If your going to use lacquer, may I suggest staying away from acrylic lacquer, and use nitro lacquer instead if at all possible. It's much better in my opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickguard Posted April 1, 2006 Report Share Posted April 1, 2006 Do a search in the finishing section for a post from Maiden69 in which he lists all of the necessary steps --it's very helpful, you'll see. And LGM has an excellent polishing tutorial too. Most of the info you're looking for is well documented in the forums, so have fun reading... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southpa Posted April 1, 2006 Report Share Posted April 1, 2006 The number of coats is entirely up to you. If you can get the stuff on with the least amount of imperfections, ie. drips, runs, orange peel etc. then less finish sanding is required. Personally, I like to go with lots of coats just to make sure I don't accidentally sand thru, thats the biggest worry at this stage of the game. And there are pros and cons to every material you use. If you can make it work then all the power to ya. I've had no problems using acrylic lacquer and actually prefer it over nitro. There were reasons why the big companies switched from nitro to acrylic in the 60's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SJP Posted April 2, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 2, 2006 The number of coats is entirely up to you. If you can get the stuff on with the least amount of imperfections, ie. drips, runs, orange peel etc. then less finish sanding is required. Personally, I like to go with lots of coats just to make sure I don't accidentally sand thru, thats the biggest worry at this stage of the game. And there are pros and cons to every material you use. If you can make it work then all the power to ya. I've had no problems using acrylic lacquer and actually prefer it over nitro. There were reasons why the big companies switched from nitro to acrylic in the 60's. hello again, For our guitar we are going with a burst paint job, blue face with a black edge and all black back. my question is which colour to put down first, and why?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guitarfrenzy Posted April 3, 2006 Report Share Posted April 3, 2006 The number of coats is entirely up to you. If you can get the stuff on with the least amount of imperfections, ie. drips, runs, orange peel etc. then less finish sanding is required. Personally, I like to go with lots of coats just to make sure I don't accidentally sand thru, thats the biggest worry at this stage of the game. And there are pros and cons to every material you use. If you can make it work then all the power to ya. I've had no problems using acrylic lacquer and actually prefer it over nitro. There were reasons why the big companies switched from nitro to acrylic in the 60's. hello again, For our guitar we are going with a burst paint job, blue face with a black edge and all black back. my question is which colour to put down first, and why?? Do your color base coat first, then your black burst last. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1576 Posted April 3, 2006 Report Share Posted April 3, 2006 Personally I'd do the entire back first then black burst , and then washcoat the front with the blue stain. That way you have less masking to do. The amount of clear lacquer you use really depends on your spraying/flatting/polishing skills. If its your first time with a spray gun you might just apply dust coats rather than wet coats which will actually give proper build. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SJP Posted April 4, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 4, 2006 Personally I'd do the entire back first then black burst , and then washcoat the front with the blue stain. That way you have less masking to do. The amount of clear lacquer you use really depends on your spraying/flatting/polishing skills. If its your first time with a spray gun you might just apply dust coats rather than wet coats which will actually give proper build. hello, As of last night we layed down our third coat of black paint on the back of our body, and ever since the coat had started to cure we have seen our line, where we glued our two pieces of wood together, more and more clearly as time goes by. in our last two coats it was starting to kinda show, but now from top to bottom it is a clear line. could that be because our laquer paint is dissolving the glue we used? because durring primmer we saw it a tiny bit in 1 little spot, so we filled it and that was the end of it. the glue we used was "Tight Bond #2". please, any suggestions???? thanx, Seth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted April 4, 2006 Report Share Posted April 4, 2006 (edited) People always say tightbond original is better than 2 and 3, which apparantly can creep. Yours sounds like it may be doing just that Edited April 4, 2006 by Ben Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SJP Posted April 4, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 4, 2006 People always say tightbond original is better than 2 and 3, which apparantly can creep. Yours sounds like it may be doing just that well if that is the case.any idea on how long it may continue to creep.my plan is to sand down the ridge and spray it again?? if anyone has a sugguestion i'm all ears. thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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