ILL-GREEN

Thanks for that info.  I will experiment on some scraps of wood first before mixing the two.  I used to paint sofubi for promotions, there was incident where the thinner was as if sizzling in the paint, caused a bunch of little bubbles.  Ever since, I been cautious, reading labels and learned a little chemistry 101.

On 10/4/2018 at 12:13 PM, Skyjerk said:

 

Do not use just any generic paint or lacquer thinner. Some will work for your product and some will ruin it

Again, read the manufacturers instructions on what thinner to use for their product.

Thanks, I had a couple dog hairs in a layer and managed to sand the tiny line. I had to use a Qtip to fill it with poly then let it dry to sand it lightly again. 

On 10/5/2018 at 7:15 AM, Norris said:

Be careful sanding back poly. If you go through a coat it may leave witness lines that will remain visible under subsequent coats. Nitro is a little more forgiving because the coats blend together rather than being in distinct layers

Thank you Skyjerk! Nice to meet helpful people. 

I am using Varathane Masters clear gloss and its viscosity is like maple syrup.  It reads that if used to spray, to add thinner, so I guess it would be alright.  I managed to get 600, 1000, 2000 and 3000 grit at my local Auto Zone which surprised me that its available here, so happy I can begin my road to a nice mirror shine :D

2 hours ago, Skyjerk said:

What are you using for a top coat?

i used nitro sprayed on. It's a given that a sprayed top coat with any significant build will have some degree of orange peel that will need to be wet sanded flat once it's fully hardened. You can save yourself significant wet sanding by fully leveling it before you shoot your final coat like I described above.

in a month I will wet sand the whole surface until it's perfectly smooth, starting at 800 grit. I will then repeat the entire process with 1200 grit until all the scratches from the 800 are completely gone. 

Following that i will buff it on my buffer with medium compound, and then again with fine compound, and finish with swirl remover. At that point it will be glass smooth and have a hard, mirror finish.

generally, people that don't have a buffer will continue up through finer and finer grits with the wet sanding going as high as 2500 or even 3000 grit.

Thats pretty much SOP with gloss nitro. It's never done with shooting the finish as the final step unless it's a satin finish.

In my case, I'll be dry sanding the sides and back flat this weekend with 800 and shooting satin clear. For those areas that will in fact be the final step, but it has to be perfect

I am using polyurethane clear gloss to stack up the layers with a brush (I definitely need an air spray system) but I didn't know there can be a top coat. I thought buffering it with wax was the final layering to the top.  I'm a newb at this and have some carpentry background, I've built speaker cabs and special furniture like armoires (people that record at home with kids love those). I usually just stain and seal them. 

So do you think it would be best to dry sand to smooth the poly first and then add another coat of polyurethane to soak into the sanding? Then add a top coat?  

I live in Puerto Rico at the moment and specialty material is extremely hard to get here. I had to mix natural stain in Testor model paints to get colors I desired because the Home Depot here carries only the usual browns and reds. 

What would be a good alternative to the nitro?

And sorry for the questions but a huge mega thank you.

6 hours ago, Skyjerk said:

Just a different shot showing off the shape of the top.

Very minor ripples and orange peel remain at this point and should wet sand flat with minimal effort.

When shooting, I give the last build coats a full day to harden and then sand them flat using my random orbital sander and a 600 grit sanding disk. This literally takes maybe 5 minutes. Then shoot a final coat of clear thats thinned a lot so that it flows out nice and flat, and completely fills the scratches left by the 600 grit sanding.

This 5 minutes of work at this stage saves hours of wet sanding in a month since I've already removed 98% of the orange peel.

Also, I decided to finish the back and sides with a satin rather than the entire guitar being high gloss. the gloss will remain on the tops of the body and headstock.

Awesome technique with the varnish!

I piled on like 7 coats so far on my Les Paul and was kinda irked by its ridgid surface.  I thought it will smooth out in the waxing stage but a little voice in my head says "sand it down with an ultra fine grit".  I guess he is right.

Well Dick Dale uses a Stratocaster unless you planning to create a uke sized Strat?  For design inspiration, I can't recommend Google Images enough.  You also might want to check out a Pignose PGG Deluxe travel guitar for inspiration.  Something like that?

I really like your videos. I enjoy seeing other people's methods on building and painting.  I would recommend some program for video like Vegas or iMovie to speed up footage when not talking and demostrating. Will save time for the viewer. I found myself fast forwarding the labor scenes because I was more interested in the result.

Other than that, keep doing what you doing, I am a newby builder myself and appreciate any info at this lovely craft.

Interesting headstock you got going on. Looks wild.

You did an awesome job. You answered a lot of mysteries I had about creating a guitar from scratch. Thanks for that.  I'm more of a kit builder, so I appreciate such master skills.