healz85

So it came out really nice I thought! This was after the first round of using a scratch and swirl remover/polish: Small imperfections but nothing of major concern and I was pretty happy with it, so we put it together and set it all up and this is the finished product: Thanks very much for the help and advice Demonx, I honestly don't know what it would have turned out like if I hadn't found this forum!

So, after literal hours (I'd say over 5 to 6 so far) of wet sanding yesterday and today I'm pretty much finished with the front; Got majority of the orange peel lumps off and it's coming up nice and smooth. Because it's now all cloudy and has the light sanding marks (you can see them in both pics I think), once I'm finished would I have to use a cutting compound or could I go straight to polish? I haven't gone back to paint at all (as far as I can tell I haven't seen any green on the sandpaper!), but I'm worried that if I use a cutting compund I'll accidentally go back to paint and really don't wanna do more clear if I can help it!

Thanks mate, I'll keep that all in mind. Fingers are crossed it doesn't need a re-clear.

haha thanks for the reassurance, I was a bit worried I'd kinda botched it up to the point where I won't be able to smooth it at all and having to sand back to paint and starting again. 1500's all I've got on me currently, I might pop round to bunnings warehouse and see what they've got though. This'll fill my afternoon nicely! Thanks for the welcome! I'll post some pics once I've sanded the clear a bit. Fingers are crossed I don't have to recoat. That leads to another question (sorry!), I don't have heat lamps where we've painted/cleared (we did it when it was warmer), I read that if it's cold (like today in Melbourne it's 15 degrees) the clear coat becomes cloudy. Should I wait til it's warmer to recoat the clear again?

Thanks for the help! (and from a fellow Aussie!) Yeah, we painted/cleared it outside and have to admit dust and dirt would have been an issue. Didn't even think to create a makeshift booth like in your video. I'm not overly worried about it being slightly 'imperfect' just as long as I can get it feeling a fair bit smoother I'll be happy. It's all a learning experience so far. What grit sandpaper should I be using for the clear? Would 1500 be enough?

Hey everyone, Sorry if this isn't the right forum to post this on, but I'm just after a little help with smoothing out clear coat (first time building a guitar, and very much a painting newbie). I've sprayed a Stratocaster body with metallic paint, and coated it with multiple layers of acrylic clear coat. I couldn't sand the paint smooth because it'd ruin the metallic 'shine'. Here's what it currently looks like; As you might be able to see from this closer up (hard with glare ect), it's kind of a little rough. I wouldn't say it's 'orange peel' like a lot of descriptions I can find online, it just isn't smooth. Just wondering what my next step should be? A friend suggests using a cutting compound and buffing it may smooth it out then following with a finishing polish, but I thought I'd get some further opinions before possibly ruining the job. Thanks in advance for any advice you may be able to offer!