rahimiiii

I think most people doesnt buff and polish that area... its a little hard to do that. If you want you can take a peice of paper or felt pads and glue it in the recessed cavity...

I finish sand with 1200 grit and use 600 for harder to sand area such as horns and cutaways, and 400 for major flaws like runs. After that I use a LMI cut compound, which polishes to a semi gloss but removes just abotu any scratches from 600 grit. I dont like doing too much wet sanding because of obvious danger of the wood swelling. Then followed by LMI fine and superfine compound to get a high gloss. I think I should look into a DA buffer or something similar because doing things by hand is really tiring.

sorry southpa,you misunderstand me...i am saying ALL of the off the shelf one part paints are not as good or as durable and they don't cure as fast as their 2 part counterparts. if they WERE just as good,then every car in america would sport a minwax poly rubbed on finish...and the automakers would save the extra money 3 cans is a very thin guitar finish if you are spraying the neck as well...that might be what you prefer,but i am talking about the thick factory style finish that protects the wood come hell or high water. I guess it depends on what you want. If you want a finish that is bullet proof and can withstand even the worst abuse, then you must go with polyester sealer and cat poly topcoat like all factory Fender finishes. The cat poly is like liquid concrete nothing, even most paint stripper will touch it. Thing is for some people they said that cat poly feels like plastic. Also even if you can spray cat poly or get a shop to do that, it is very difficult to polish poly finish because they are so hard. Pedistal buffer is a must in this case, you can do it by hand but it will take forever. Also another thing, if you do manage to scratch or gouge or chip cat poly, you can never repair it to where you can't see the difference. Some of us do prefer the nitrocellouse lacquer of the 1950's Fender and most modern Gibson. While nitrocellouse lacquer is not as durable as cat poly they are easily repaired, it is easier for most of us to spray because they are not as toxic as cat poly, and some said that it allows the wood to breathe better... Yes you have to wait 2 weeks or more to buff it but they are easier to buff compared to cat poly. If you chip nitro you can drop fill them then buff it back in and it will be good as new. Finally, if you wish to have a relic finish you must use nitrocellouse lacquer because poly will not age as well as lacquer. If you want to use lacquer go with McFadden or reranch cans if you wish to use aerosol can.

If you are a beginner who wants to use rattlecan and dont want to buy the equipment, then buy 3 reranch clear and whatever color needed. Reranch clear may be expensive but it's the best you are going to have in spray can. However by the time you got enough to buy the needed cans you can buy a compressor and a spray gun and an airbrush for a little more...

If you want to use spray cans, reranch offers nitrocellouse lacquer in spray cans. They use McFaddens which is the same thing Gibson uses. It will fully cure in 2 weeks and they will not leave imprints. They have many of the custom and Fender colors available, as well as a sunburst kit. The cans cost some money but if you must use spray cans, they are worth every cent. If you want to get a spray gun then you can buy McFaddens in cans and they do the same as reranch since its the same. I would probably avoid 2 part stuff for now if you are a beginner or got a spray gun but no way of isolating everything because 2 part paint is very toxic. You can wear respirators but your neighbors might breathe it. Also nitro is more forgiving when it comes to cleaning because even if you were careless you can soak the parts in lacquer thinner and they will re-dissolve but once 2 part paint cures, there is no cleaning it. That and lacquer doesnt stick too well to metal without a primer so they will flake off anyways. You can buy an okay compressor from harbor freight for less than 200 dollars and a cheap 30 dollar spray gun which is good for spraying clearcoats. If you wish to do any kind of detailing buy an airbrush, like Paasche H or VL. Airbrush doesnt use much air and can atomize paint very well. This is more important for those not located in the USA because reranch won't be available there. If you want to buy a harbor freight compressor be sure to get one with a good sized tank, at least 5 gallon. This way even if your spray gun exceeds the compressor CFM by 1 or 2, you can still spray a guitar but nothing larger. If you must use spray cans and cannot use reranch make sure you get lacquer spray paint, such as Rutoleum Painter's touch, or Deft spray can. This is more trial and error because you have no way of telling and most the time, especially outside the USA, they do not tell you much more than just resin, pigment, and solvent. If you are located in the USA and want to do more than 2 guitar, then get a spray rig and buy some McFaddens... if outside of the USA get a spray rig, and call or look around for some nitrocellouse lacquer. They are actually easier to find outside of the USA because there are environmental laws regarding nitro lacquer and many countries outside of the US doesn't care. I was able to find some that seems similar to McFaddens. Nitrocellouse lacquer always looks yellow. The key characteristics is that they dry very fast, so fast that if you thin it for brushing it takes less than 10 minutes to become too thick. If it's water clear, then it is most likely acrylic lacquer. Acrylic do not dry quite as fast as nitro and does not dry quite as hard either. Chances are however they will have additives that makes it a little more flexable and have UV inhibitors to prevent yellowing. You can brush on Sanding sealer (it is a must for most wood except maple) but you will use tons of it and if you aren't too good there will be droplets all over the body that turns into pinholes as it dries. So spraying is strongly recommended! If you want to finish ash or other open pore wood, try and find some pore filler, or if not, get some 30 minute epoxy and an old credit card or other hard edge and spread it on. It will fill the wood quite good, however if you want to do clear on ash then look around for a transparant resin because most epoxies are somewhat yellow and using it for filler will make the color look uneven. If you are starting use a closed pore wood or even a cheap import body sanded with 320 grit.... dont try and strip poly for now... just sand it and cover it in paint. If you do not wish to invest in any equipment you can look into tru oil or any other oil/varnish blend. You whipe on the oil, and when it dries whipe on more and more coat and you can actually get a gloss or satin sheen, without any equipments. Be very careful with used rags and dispose of it by placing it inside an empty sealed can filled with water. The oil can react with air which is exothermic and will actually catch on fire if a bunch of rags were in a trash can. Or else take the rag and spread it out on bare concrete floor outside, then dispose of the rag once it turns hard.

Poly wont check in a million years... they are designed to be weatherproof thats why they are used on cars. If you want to know what poly looks like when they are well used, take a look at any CBS era strats and you will get an idea. I saw some at a guitar shop, they don't go for very much at all, just slightly more than a new Fender American Deluxe. Some of them are scratched up and all, which is fairly standard. One had a huge section of paint peeled off from the basecoat. Thing is they usually use polyester sealer then cat poly, and when both of these cure they stick to nothing so they rely on mechanical bond (as in coarse sandpaper) to get it to stick. Also only way you are going to chip poly is either hit it with a sledge hammer or drop it from the 10th floor. Not many body shop will spray nitro because of environment laws...

I used deft before... it is amber colored in the can. If you spray it on its going to look clear... I think I did read somewhere that nitrocellouse is always yellowish colored liquid and acrylic is water clear.

I bought this can that says Synthetic Resin, Toulene, Ethyl Acetate, Butyl Acetate, and Nitrocellouse... I dont know what synthetic resin is, I would guess it could be acrylic resin, it could be plasticizers to reduce/eliminate checking... I would guess the manufacturer (if they can be contacted) would know... One thing I do notice is that nitrocellouse lacquer is either yellow or light brown/amber in color... acrylic lacquer tends to be crystal clear... or am I wrong?

I dont like enamel, they dont dry hard ever, they tend to crack rather than dry, and most of all they take forever to cure, if they ever do cure. Some lacquer may have adhesion problem with enamel... I learned this the hard way in some cases... Other times the enamel will simply wrinkle and lift if lacquer is sprayed over it... especially the cheap ones.

The problem with ALPS is that they are not only out of production, refills are very expensive as well. Since the thing is out of production any consumables for this printer will become more and more expensive as supplies dry up. I think you could use laser printer to print the image out, then use those toner reactive foils to turn it into gold or silver or whatever color...

I think that for low hobby work it's hard to justify a belt drive compressor because most of them are quite large, but if you got a garage and have other things to use such as painting or fixing cars, then a belt drive can be justified. I agree a regular gun would work fine with a 1.5hp compressor, but only if you paint guitars... I have a 1.5 hp oiled which is not as loud as an oil-less Campbell compressor I used to have (and it's a really small unit too, 1 gal tank, 1/7 hp, .7CFM, useless for anything but nailers, even airbrush couldn't keep up, and VERY LOUD too.) in fact while it is loud, it is tolerable. So when buying compressors avoid oil-less... Also I heard (I dont know if its true or not) oil-less compressor tend to have shorter lifespan because they use nylon rings (which is why they can be oil-less) which wears out kinda quick. With oiled compressor a filter is a must because they will sometimes dump oil into the line which is bad for painting!

You could buy one of these kits... decal kit They allow you to make rub on decals using laser printer. They even have metal foils that works with black toner for gold or silver letters... Or maybe you can try printing those water transfer decal and use the foil to make it gold.

Yea.. thats some things pranksters like doing... pouring a bunch of mixed epoxies into the drain...

So what crime was the guitar convicted of to deserve such a treatment?

Yea problem is belt drive is also bigger and more expensive... I think one guy asked how loud is one of those compressor and he said its under 67 decibels... I had an oil-less compressor before and they are LOUD (and its a 1/7 HP compressor with a 1 gal tank and .7 CFM by the way...)