How many coats of clear coat on a guitar

What do you use to do the final polish with? Also Im using an acrylic clearcoat. I use grit wet sandpaper, followed by grit wet.

Then buff as necessary. Generally 12 - 15 coats gives me the depth I like. TexBiker , Nov 30, On the thin side 15 coats is what has worked for me. Much like an epoxy it has a resin and hardner. From a spray can acrylic the hardness is based on how dry it is so in that respect heat may help.

But I would avoid it if possible. Not a good idea when using heat and wood together. Thanks for that GuitarGuy, I thought as much, guess I'll just have to be patient. I'd still like to know if I should sand back at this point or carry on building up the thickness, and if I should wait for the current coats to harden fully, i. Just be sure to do a complete compatibility test on a scrap piece of wood to see if your primer, color coat, and clear lacquer all work together. Hopefully your clear will be okay already but in the future you may want to check out DEFT lacquer.

The only real drawback is that you have to wait like days or more until the stuff gets really hard. I've done two guitars with acrylic rattle cans automotive stuff. I'm really pleased with the results. It takes a good month or so for it to dry took less in the summer, but I let it sit a whole month anyway. I just put it in the closet and forgot about it during that time. Is acrylic as good? Maybe not. But it's accessible and looks close enough to the the real thing.

I didn't worry too much about the color coat. It's job is to provide color, not durability. And once I start spraying the color, I tend to keep my hands off the guitar --either I screw a plank into the neck pocket or in the case of my current project, I rigged up a hanging system using dowels through a couple of tuning holes. I won't touch the guitar again until after the clear coat has cured for a couple of weeks at least. And even then it's just to pet the guitar for a couple of seconds and put it back in the closet.

I didnt. Partly because it doesn't make any sense --as long as you don't have any massive ugly drips, that is. The only layer you need to have perfectly smooth is the final layer. And then you polish that, and you get that magical feeling when the guitar starts to shine.

So patience is the game. Twang What Bohlinger Plays. Joe Gore's Subversive Guitarist. Last Call. Tone Tips. Bass Bench. Joe Gore's Recording Guitarist. Vintage Vault. Esoterica Electrica. Mod Garage. Bottom Feeder. PG Giveaways. Stay Connected. Enter email address Subscribe. StewMac tech guru Erick Coleman on how to give your instrument a sweet new look in five easy steps—sans fancy tools. Use warm lacquer, not cold. Then, here's a list of the items needed along with the StewMac parts numbers and amounts of the products we'll use: Hair dryer or heat gun to remove existing finish.

Putty knife and Sandpaper in a variety of grits for wood prep and finish work Aerosol lacquer Sonic Blue x 1, gloss clear x 3. Polishing cloth x 2. Liquid polishing compounds medium, fine. Respirator mask Step 1: Disassemble the guitar Photo 2 The first step is to take the instrument completely apart, removing all hardware and electronics Photo 2. Step 2: Strip the existing finish Photo 3 There are a few different ways to strip a finish.

Photo 4 Lightly scoring a starting point in the finish with a sharp putty knife will give you a good entry point once the finish is heated. Photo 5 Once you get under the finish, the rest of the job goes pretty fast. Step 3: Prepare the body When all the finish is removed, it's time to prepare the body for refinishing. Photo 6 Once you've inspected the body and checked it for dings and chips, it's time to gather your sandpaper and sanding blocks Photo 6.

Photo 7 Using a flat backing pad and starting with grit sandpaper, sand the entire body working only in the direction of the grain Photo 7. Step 4: Spraying Photo 8 It's now time to spray your finish. Photo 9 Tip: Use warm lacquer, not cold. Day One Photo 10 Day one. Day Two Using a backing pad on the flat areas, lightly scuff-sand the body with grit sandpaper to knock off the high spots in the finish.

Day Three Lightly scuff-sand the finish with grit paper using care not to sand through your color coats, and clean off all the residue. Day Four Lightly scuff-sand the finish with grit paper, leveling out any imperfections in the process, and clean off all the residue. If you get a run or drip in the finish, let the surface dry for 24 hours and level-sand the problem area. Day Five Scuff-sand the finish with grit again. Day Six Lightly scuff-sand the finish with grit sandpaper, to help the solvent escape.

Step 5: Fine sanding and buffing Dry-sand the body to a flat, dull sheen with grit sandpaper. Photo 11 To bring the finish to a smooth satin surface that's ready for final polishing, wet-sand with grit micro-finishing paper and water Photo Photo 12 Using soft cloths—a different one for each compound—polish out the fine wet-sanding scratches to a final gloss with medium and then fine liquid polishing compounds Photo Photo 13 Once you've polished the body to a high gloss, reassemble your guitar Photo 13 and get it back in action!

Posts: 4. Oct 4, 8. Oct 4, 9. Oct 4, Getting the surface level before polishing insures a mirror finish, with out any "fun house mirror" warping of the reflections. It just looks better. Ideally, the surface should look like it has a highly polished pane of glass laying on it. Apr 23, Posts: 1. I'm assuming the same process goes for my maple neck?

My main question: Does this count as part of "9" coats. Some people, after building up the finish and leveling, thin the final coat and let it smooth itself out without sanding through the grits.

I've never tried it, so experiment on scrap if you do. Seems like it could be easy to get runs. Apr 24,