Removing Duplicolor

[fender3x]

I have seen a lot of positive posts about duplicolor. my experience was not so good. It is hot and humid here, and I think it may have been too much so when I applied mine. I used duplicolor's sanding filler, with their automotive paint over the top and their clear coat over the top of that. The paint did not stick well to the primer, and the whole thing feels a bit rubbery years after the build. The experience was bad enough that I have not used it again...and am at the point where I want to take the finish off and try again.

Looking for advice. I will take it to bare wood if I have to, but I plan to finish with a solid color, so if I can get away with sanding flat, I'll do that. This is an ES style guitar, so I can't take the orbital sander to it as I would like to.

Thanks in advance!

[Sonic Mountain]

Yeah, humidity is an absolute killer for Acrylic Lacquer. Even worse if it's hot as the paint will skin over to quickly and not let the product underneath outgas sufficiently, which I suspect is why it feels rubbery still. It will struggle to stick to the primer if you sand the primer with too high a grit as well. 800 max imo, 600 better as it gives the paint something to grab to.

Sanding it back flat will work ok, depending on what top coats you want to replace it with. If there is still any lingering solvent it's a good way of breaking through the 'skin' and letting it out as well. So I'd sand back and then leave for a bit just in case.

All finishes take practice to get right. I like Acrylic Lacquer, but I've been spraying with it since I was a kid so have a lot of experience with the shortcomings/best practices.

[Rabbit]

Given that it sounds like it never had a chance to cure properly and you had adhesion issues, I wouldn't trust it as a suitable substrate to paint over. If it were me, I'd take it back to bare timber and start again.

[McCreed]

^^^^^^^^^^^
What Rabbit said.

Also, I go with 400 when I sand my primer. I don't push into hard, but it will leave a good bit of tooth.

[fender3x]

Thanks, and I was afraid of that. I am guessing you are right about trapping moisture.

I am surprised the paint will stick well using such fine grit. I don't think the primer was the culprit,but I probably won't use it again. The rattle cans I now use are fine without it, and actually seem to have as much solid content as DC's sanding primer. MTN 94 spray paint seems ok regardless or Miami's unpredictable weather . It even did fine on the day I got a few drops of rain on it. One less headache...

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[Rabbit]

A random orbital sander with 240 grit will get it back to bare timber in fairly short order, although, if your paint is still soft after all that time, it will probably clog the paper fairly quickly.

[JimC]

If its soft underneath you could try scraping the top layers off to save sandpaper.

[fender3x]

A part of the problem is the curved surface. Not good for machine sanding or scraping either.

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[Rabbit]

A part of the problem is the curved surface. Not good for machine sanding or scraping either.

For machine sanding, a foam backing between the sanding plate and the paper. For scraping, you can buy or make a curved scraper.