Sanding Sealer Question

[cukaracha]

i plan to do a material finish on the top of my guitar only using either decals, vynil or stickers. so my question is whether i should apply the sanding sealer to the top only or on the entire body (which i will be painting white prior to applying the decal and then clear coated). fyi, the material will cover the entire top of the guitar.

[ToddW]

Looks like you stumped us. I don't think you need to put sanding sealer on since you won't see the top, but I would. That way, if it's ugly, it'll be easier to get the spray glue or whatever you use off because maybe it won't sink in as much.

Are you building a tweed topped guitar?

Edit: Oops, mis-read. I thought the question was body and top or just body. Didn't realized it was top or top and body.

If you used an open pore wood, sanding sealer before painting seems like a good idea. I kind of think you'd need it more under the paint than under fabric.

Edited August 9, 2008 by ToddW

[cukaracha]

Looks like you stumped us. I don't think you need to put sanding sealer on since you won't see the top, but I would. That way, if it's ugly, it'll be easier to get the spray glue or whatever you use off because maybe it won't sink in as much.

Are you building a tweed topped guitar?

Edit: Oops, mis-read. I thought the question was body and top or just body. Didn't realized it was top or top and body.

If you used an open pore wood, sanding sealer before painting seems like a good idea. I kind of think you'd need it more under the paint than under fabric.

ok, i think i wasnt Clear enough i will be painting the body white the regular way , but ill stop at the white base coat to apply the decal and then the sanding sealer. so my question is whether i should apply the sealer only to the top of the body (where the decal will be ) or do i apply it to the whole body (the sides and back thats just white paint , no decal.

[ToddW]

Are you looking for a way to get lacquer to adhere to paint and fabric?

[kpcrash]

Typically, the sanding sealer (in this case) could be used to level the finish to compensate for the decal. Only issue is that some sealers can yellow over time, so it may look great for a few years, but may yellow a bit 5 or so years from now. Might want to use lacquer to clear coat it so that the "mellowing" might have some consistency over time on the white finish. just my 2 cents.

[cukaracha]

ok, so is it advisable to apply sanding sealer on the paint coat, then clear coat it? will it have any long term adverse effects?

[kpcrash]

You can, but might not get the same brilliance as building it up with the clear coat material. The best way of course would be to test this on a scrap to make sure its acceptable to you before doing the whole piece. Applying sanding sealer to a paint coat should not produce any adverse effects as one of its listed uses as a buffer between coats to ensure compatibility.

[ToddW]

I think I finally understand the question. Didn't get it until KP mentioned using the sanding sealer to compensate for the decal. So ignore what i wrote above.

Sanding sealer is designed to seal problems in the wood. It's usually a varnish with some zinc stearate in it so you can sand it back easier. The plain varnish would seal as well, but is harder to sand back. The downside is that in some cases, those mineral soaps actually decrease adhesion of the next coat, and they do act as a flattening agent like KP said. I didn't realize they yellowed.

If your clear coat is compatible with your paint, adding an extra layer in between them seems counterproductive!

Whether or not it's worth putting on sanding sealer so you can make the decal flush is something I have no experience with. Sorry if I gave you bad info before. I thought you were trying to seal the wood, not smooth out the decal contour.

Todd