syxxstring

Solvent pop is almost always a contaminant. Have you drained your compressor? What brand/model number clear? Are you using it as a complete system? Are you following the tech sheets to a t? Where are you located?

Coast Airbrush I know ships stuff over there all the time.

No arguments from me foggy, but heat curing improperly only makes things worse...

I'd still go transparent, it will darken the grain and save a ton of work. If you don't get your desired result then you can torture yourself.

You can get some good small hvlp guns. My Iwata Lph-50 is 1.9 cfm if I remember right.

Question 1 - The gun you were asking about requires: "This gun requires a 1/4" air hose with fitting and regulator, and a compressor producing at least 3 cfm at 90 psi" It sounds like your compress or won't keep up especially if its one of the small ones designed for a nail gun. You have to remember that your going to loose CFM in the hose as well. My bet is you will end up with orange peel, spits and all sorts of other problems, based on when I had a compressor that wouldn't keep up with my guns. Fill your gun with water and see how long you can spray keeping the fan dialed in, I'll bet it won't give you enough to make up a coat on a guitar. For details on dialing in the gun, and oh yes that does make a difference, the september Rod and Custom magazine has an article on how to spray correctly. It was written by Valspar/HOK's technical instructor and paint superstar, Brian Lynch. Definitley worth owning. I can't help you with cleaning the gun since I only use gravity feed guns. But make sure you are aware of how much paint is in the gun, when it starts to run low you will have all sorts of spitting and other problems.

I haven't looked into it much. I know House of Kolor does have a lacquer in their catalog that I keep meaning to ask about...

Follow the instructions from your paint manufacturer. Naptha is a common choice, just plain water works well also.

I think the thing people need to really be aware of is if the finish they have chosen can be heat cured also. If its not designed for it or you do it wrong you will be trapping all the solvents under a thin film of "dry" and the underlying finish will never cure. I know it's beating a dead horse but this is where following the manufacturers directions helps.

I mostly use a hair dryer to heat set Autoair, not enough temp to mess up wood. For most paints it wont give you enough difference to bother with. For instance on a 2k poly you may gain 10 hours before you can sand it (4 over 10-12) I just prefer to clear and leave it for a day or so.

A lot of us do. I'm a big fan of the 2k automotives but I have the equipment and space to spray.

I live in Nevada, so sort of...

Why not paint it transparent black over the sealer?

I would find a cool looking PCB and laminate it on the top. It would take some industrial strength epoxy to hold it there. You could then use bar top epoxy to bury it if it still has components on it or leave it rough and clear it.

Necks I clear the whole thing. The pocket I may or may not paint depending on how I am mounting the body to finish it.

Probably not humidity but did your follow the manufacturers recomendations for # of coats in # of hours and flash time etc... The first thing the guy from HOK told us in the paint class I took from him was you put paint on too thick. Then he spent a week showing us...

My bet is the goo gone left a contaminant that interfered with your adhesion. A good precleaner is a must.

Your best bet in tape is find the local autobody supply store. It's the same tape as your local big box retailer, but usually much fresher. Also shoot lightly around the tape to seal it, let that flash, then proceed. If you can work in Adobe Illustrator or another vector graphics program you can have your local sign shop cut it for you, just make sure they use a low tack masking vinyl.

Chrome automotive trim should be self adhesive and flexible, or at least easy to attach.

I dig it. Formica the front and back, put a bead of silver trim around the edges and paint the sides white, maybe with some colors flecked in.

Yup, looks like a basic mask and shoot the remaining areas job. I would possibly shoot a few coats of clear and level sand then mask and spray the black.

I know CMT (country music televison) is evil. But Rhino the self proclaimed paint spam on Trick My Truck, shows lots of cool techniques on there. Including on a recent paint job this one. It's worth watching if you want to see a lot of cool tips and tricks he tries to work them in every episode. In fact of all the car rebuild shows you probably see more from him in a 1/2 hour than on most shows in a season.

Looks more like they just turned the presure down on the gun and textured it than marbelizer. Marbelizer has a pearl look to it. You can also do it with an angled popsicle stick in front of an airbrush.

Createx/Autoair only takes a long time to dry if you don't have a lot of air movement and spray it thickly. Lightly heatsetting it with a hair dryer is common.

Watch out for the cheaper Ebay brushes. Many of them have no parts support and don't spray well. If your getting into the airbrush check out KustomKultureLounge.com. Also be cautious of Iwata's on ebay, there is a big counterfit market for Iwata's, Bearair.com lost thier dealership over selling counterfit parts. They still sell them and for instances their nozels have been known to strip out the threads, and then its game over for that airbrush body. Give Coast a call they will price match.