lumpy finish

[Petergrout]

Hi All I think I have paid the price by applying Dingotone in the cold weather plus the humidity wouldn't have helped. It has now been close to a month and the finish is still a bit sticky and lumpy. My question is if I rub it back to smooth can I use a clear spray laquer or will this have nasty reactions with the dingotone?

[wokkaboy]

bummer Peter, I'm not sure what the answer is, think if you have any Dingotone left apply some to some sanded scrap wood and see if the spray laquer reacts, otherwise spray some on the guitar where it may be hidden, what model kit is this again ?

[Petergrout]

HI wokkabnoy, it's a ES1g so there's a fair bit of it! I might try your advice thanks.

[wokkaboy]

no worries Peter, if you do a sample spray on scrap wood it will probably take too long for the DT to cure so I would sand back one area maybe of the back of the body and try some laquer spray. Sounds like it will need to be rubbed back a bit anyway to get rid of the lumps

[Andy40]

Hi Peter,

I have never tried lacquer over DT.

There is no issue with lightly, and I mean lightly sanding the offending final DT coat back with a bit of 1200 or 2000 grit wet. If you go into the intensifying coats, you can just reapply in those areas, if you don't you can apply thin DT final coat layers again.

True oil also works fine over DT.

but if you're hell bent on spraying, I'd definatley do as wokks suggested and try on a piece of scrap.

[Simon Barden]

DrNomis has had problems with spraying gold on top of DT. It may depend on exactly which spray you use, but any cellulose based spray will almost certainly have issues as it doesn't like to be on top of any oil or wax. Not sure about the effect on acrylic lacquers but I suspect that they won't like any oil or wax on the wood. If there's oil/wax already surrounding the wood fibres, then the lacquer obviously can't get a good grip on those fibres and may prevent the paint from soaking in enough to form around the fibres to a sufficient depth to get a grip. Plus there may be a chemical interaction.

I have no far how deep DT soaks into the wood, but you'd probably end up sanding off the outer veneer before you got to virgin wood that would take a lacquer without being affected.

So I'd strongly suggest trying it on a piece of scrap first - you'd only need one coat of DT which you let dry and can then sand back. Then spray a few coats of lacquer and see what happens. Be wary as it may appear to dry, but then never really harden, so that it won't take a good shine. I don't know whether you can get the lacquer in liquid form so that you can thin it with an appropriate thinner for the lacquer, but you may need to apply a couple of well-thinned coats first so that it can soak in more and get a good grip on the wood.

And if you do spray, make sure to get a vapour mask (not a simple dust mask) and wear it - indoors or out. Acrylic isn't as bad as nitrocellulose, but you still don't want to inhale aerosol paint droplets.

[Brendan]

Peter - if you've still got some DT left - before scrapping everything, get some 1200+ grit wet and dry sandpaper. Make sure its nice and wet and gently try to take off the offending "lumpy" bits. Even though it's very high grit, you can burn through the layers of DT. Given the weather in WA has taken a turn, maybe Sunday (26 deg in Mandurah) give the DT top coat a crack and see how you go. I had a similar outcome (in Perth northern suburbs) during winter and tried the above. Completely different outcome when I applied on warmer (and drier) days.

[Simon Barden]

...Plus the roughened surface will have a greater surface area, so it should help it dry faster.

[wazkelly]

Wet sanding with 1200, 1500 or 2000 should help to remove the lumpy bits and hopefully not much of the intensifier or base stain coats. Reapplying DT top coat in warmer weather may give a better result or as Andy said you could go with TO as that has no issues going over DT.

[UpperCaseH]

Wet sanding with 1200, 1500 or 2000 should help to remove the lumpy bits and hopefully not much of the intensifier or base stain coats. Reapplying DT top coat in warmer weather may give a better result or as Andy said you could go with TO as that has no issues going over DT.

Did exactly this on my telecaster (with Tru Oil) and it turned out fine. It's way easier than you'd think to go through some of the colour coats, but also easy to fix that up if you do.