First build - TL-1TH

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5 coats clear (2 light applications per coat) done. Probably one more coat tomorrow as it's too cold now.

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That's great. Sounds like a plan. However, with the rattle can clear coats (aerosol paint in general) you'll want to let it set for at least 14 days before levelling and polishing. Those products gas-off quite slowly (as much as 30 days).

Referring to your earlier post about buffing/polishing, Sonic does it with a power tool, I do mine by hand (as do lots of builders). I have no experience using electric buffers, but I think a good amount of experience would be key to not burning through an aerosol sprayed finish. I've certain read about it happening on more than one occasion.

Doing mine by hand begins with wet sanding starting at P600 if I have significant orange peel to contend with, then progressing in P200 increments (eg: 600, 800, 1000, 1200 etc). On some jobs I may start at 1200.
Apart from standard wet/dry paper you get at SCA or similar, I use 3M Micro-Mesh sheets which go all the way to 12,000. I generally don't go past 6000 though. The last step for me is 3M Micro-Gloss (1 micron crystal abrasive polish).
This process will give an absolute mirror-like shine.

If you do go with wet sanding, add a couple of drops (literally) of dishwashing liquid into your water. It acts as a lubricant and makes the paper slide across the surface easier.

Thanks McCreed. I will definitely be polishing by hand.

So far I don't appear to have any orange peel, and just one minor run to sand out. Even after 5 coats I can still feel some minor roughness from the metallic particles in some places. Not sure whether to keep adding clear or if they will sand/polish away. I only have enough clear left for one more coat since I need some for my pedal enclosures.

I will definitely be waiting at least 2 weeks. I keep the body hanging in my shed so the finish isn't resting on anything. About a day after the last coat I will put a low speed fan on since some report the airflow helps with off-gassing.

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So far I don't appear to have any orange peel, and just one minor run to sand out.

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That's great re: the orange peel. Either you're very skilled or very lucky. IME rattle can finishes almost always leave some degree of orange peel, especially with gloss. You'll know once you run some sandpaper over it. If you see "shiny dimples" amongst the flat sanded areas, that's orange peel.

With the run, if it's small, you might try strip-sanding it first. Work the strip along the direction of the run. Then once you've flattened it, proceed with your normal block sanding.

If you're not familiar with strip sanding, here's a link to how it's done:

strip-sanding article

For small blemishes, I make my strips just 2 or 3 inches long (50-75mm) and varied width as needed to suit the area I'm repairing.

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Originally Posted by McCreed

That's great re: the orange peel. Either you're very skilled or very lucky. IME rattle can finishes almost always leave some degree of orange peel, especially with gloss. You'll know once you run some sandpaper over it. If you see "shiny dimples" amongst the flat sanded areas, that's orange peel.

With the run, if it's small, you might try strip-sanding it first. Work the strip along the direction of the run. Then once you've flattened it, proceed with your normal block sanding.

If you're not familiar with strip sanding, here's a link to how it's done:

strip-sanding article

For small blemishes, I make my strips just 2 or 3 inches long (50-75mm) and varied width as needed to suit the area I'm repairing.

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Thanks. It could be that the orange peel effect is less obvious than I am expecting it to be. But I got three more coats on today for a total of 8 clear coats before I ran out. I alternated coats between horizontal and vertical passes. That should give me enough to work with.

Strip sanding sounds like just the thing. I can only see the one run so far.

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Thanks. It could be that the orange peel effect is less obvious than I am expecting it to be. But I got three more coats on today for a total of 8 clear coats before I ran out. I alternated coats between horizontal and vertical passes. That should give me enough to work with.

Strip sanding sounds like just the thing. I can only see the one run so far.

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Excellent. Another tip is when you're sanding, go lightly on places like the edges where back rolls into the sides (and front on a non-bound) the "tips" and insides of the horns. Often these are areas that don't the same build up as the large flat bits of the front & back.

When I spray, I do my first pass of the application along the edges at a 45° angle to the edge and front/back. This gives a good build up on those tricky areas.

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Originally Posted by McCreed

When I spray, I do my first pass of the application along the edges at a 45° angle to the edge and front/back. This gives a good build up on those tricky areas.

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That's a good idea for next time. I thought of the alternating directions to avoid banding from repeating the same pass each time, but I didn't think of the edges too much.

Quick question for those familiar with clear acrylics over metallics (SCA clear over Duplicolor in my case): after 8 coats of clear, I can still feel some roughness on large flat areas. It feels like the underlying metallic colour since it had the same rough feeling prior to clear coat. On other areas of the guitar, I seem to have a thicker application of clear as it feels smooth and glossy.

Note, the rough areas feel a lot smoother than before the clear coat, but I can still feel the texture of the metallic paint underneath.

Despite my efforts to get a uniform coverage, and using an entire 400g can of clear in 8 applications (2 thin passes per application), does this mean I may not have enough clear in the rough areas? Or should it come up OK when I get to wet sanding in a week or so? I have more clear so I could dry sand lightly with 320 or 400 and put even more clear on if required. I don't mind waiting another few weeks before I get to polish the body as I still have the neck to sort out.

Another question: I have decided against using the spray can Cabothane Satin on the neck since it is oil based, and I believe that means a risk of it turning the BlueyCaster logo green over time. But I really want a satin feel on the neck. Should this be achievable with SCA clear acrylic followed by wet sanding (say 600 & 800 grit) but without any further polishing? If not, what are some other suggestions?

There is the suggestion to use clear acrylic on the headstock and to blend it with the cabothane on the sides of the headstock, with cabothane everywhere else. However I am somewhat cautious about how well the oil-based poly will mix with the acrylic. I guess I can give it a go and the worst-case is that I need to sand back to wood and start again. I can't afford to do that too often though since I am getting the logo professionally printed and won't have too many copies.

I have used SCA quite frequently.
I doesn't turn blue to green like Tru-Oil and wipe-on-poly (Feast and Watson) does.

cheers, Mark.

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Originally Posted by king casey

I have used SCA quite frequently.
I doesn't turn blue to green like Tru-Oil and wipe-on-poly (Feast and Watson) does.

cheers, Mark.

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Thanks Mark. I agree that the SCA clear is the safe option, I just need to work out how to get a satin finish. I will keep the cabothane for another project.