Pinhole In Finish Wont Go Away

[sdshirtman]

Ive got a small section on the face of my guitar that keeps developing 4 or 5 pinholes every time I spray a coat of clear lacquer. It was present when I was shooting sanding sealer also.

I filled the pinholes with an extra dab of sealer before I sanded flat and I thought they were gone. They showed up when I shot the next coat. I repeated the filling each time thinking that would take care of it.

Before each coat the section looked completely sealed and flat. I even inspected it with a magnifying glass. So when I got done wetsanding with 600 grit. Where the pinholes were I could see shiny depressions where the pinholes were showing that paint level was slightly shallower, so I filled with some lacquer with a brush. The next morning I sanded the fills down flat. Finally it looked like they were gone. You couldnt see where they were filled at all and they blended perfectly with the finish, albeit dull from wetsanding.

So now I just got done shooting the first of my final coats and the damn things are right back where they were all along. I have no idea why and how to correct this. Sanding down the entire finish and starting over just isnt an option at this point.

Any suggestions or insight to prevent this from happening ever again?

[Narcissism]

clear coats shrink over time. I use epoxy to grain fill my guitars.

I had this exact problem when I was finishing my bass. What's happening is that the finish is curing, and getting thinner as it cures, as the vapors leave the finish. care, patients, lots of coats, lots of level sanding, and lots more coats are the way to do it if you don't want to grainfill.

[ScottR]

Take a fine paint brush and fill the depressions with lacquer. Let them bulge. After a few days of drying spray your next coats as normal, level as normal and repeat as needed.

SR

[Drak]

clear coats shrink over time. I use epoxy to grain fill my guitars.

That may be true, but that would be a major mistake to use here, this is not the right application at all for an epoxy fill.

[Musiclogic]

most likely it's a resist of some kind, either oil or wax based, generally, since you are using Lacquer, you can sand back this area, fill or dewax, then do an area recoat up to the amount you have on the rest of the guitar, block sand the complete face with 400, and go from there. With the burn in Characteristics of Lacquer, you will not even have a witness area.

[sdshirtman]

Thanks for the replies. I'm going to try and fill the spots with a small brush and sand off before buffing. That should work correct?

[Drak]

With your excellent photographic skills, can you post a pic of the problem area up close?

Sometimes a good pic goes a long way toward a good answer.

[sdshirtman]

Here is the pic of the problem.

[Musiclogic]

if those fisheyes still have wax or oil in them, they will continue to resist the lacquer tothe outer edge, and continue to reappear, make sure they are clean, dewaxed, and dry before filling