pariah223 Posted May 21, 2007 Report Share Posted May 21, 2007 I painted and finished a guitar of mine almost a year ago.. When i was done with it, it looked pretty good.. it was a little peely, but i did a littl ebuffing and it was nice and shiny. Almost a year later, the clear has shrunk so much that i can see the grain in the ash on the back.. and the wavyness from the curl on the front... i know this cant be a normal rate of shrinkage... is there any brand of clear that shrinks less? like perhaps the stuff at stewart mcdonald? Are there any factors that contribute to shrinkage other then crappy clear?... perhaps using a speedy hardener (which i did like a fool), or shooting the clear when it is too hot out (95 summer day)... thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southpa Posted May 21, 2007 Report Share Posted May 21, 2007 (edited) Stay out of the pool! j/k Ash has big grain, its not easy to make that wood stay smooth. I have the same thing going on with a couple mahogany guitars I built. One was finished in poly and the other in acrylic lacquer. It doesn't really bother me all that much but a little scuffing and reshooting the clear would bring things back to the way they were. All I can suggest is to do a good job at grain filling and let it settle in before laying down color / clearcoats. You just can't rush a decent finish. A lot depends on what type of wood you are covering, I wouldn't expect this to happen to maple but most any other looser grained wood is prone to finish shrinkage. I have an '88 US made strat (alder body) that has faint wood grain texture showing thru, so it goes. Edited May 21, 2007 by Southpa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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