Guitar Is Now Stained... Sand Smooth Before Poly?

[HumanFuseBen]

so yeah, this may be a stupid question. sorry!

so my ibanez is now stained green, but it feels a bit coarse/dry in a few spots. should i try and fix this before i put poly on it, or will the poly cover all?

thanks in advance...

p.s. if anyone has an answer to my poly over india ink question, please check out that thread, too!

[wood is good]

If you sand, it might sand away the stain. I would go with a really fine grit.

[verhoevenc]

If using a waterbased stain, it's always a good idea to lightly damp the wood and sand down a couple times, so that by the time you stain it, there's no more little grains to pop up and do that.

Chris

[John Abbett]

Go very light and use a sanding block. It's very easy to have lighter and darker spots where you sanded just a little more.

If you went heavy with the stain, it's less likely you will have this problem, the stain goes deeper.

My last guitar, I put the stain on heavy and went over it with 600 grit, just to smooth it up a bit. It makes the curly maple pop a little more.

very light!

[Foggy]

p.s. if anyone has an answer to my poly over india ink question, please check out that thread, too!

Poly goes fine over acrylic inks, I use them quite regularly and clearcoat over them with no problem at all. I wouldn't imagine india ink would be any different.

Jim