Steps after final coat?

[Locky_C]

Hi,

I'm currently in the process of building my first guitar and im using the 3 stage dingotone colourless finish. I've just applied the 3rd final coat as per the instructions and just have a few questions:

- What's next?
- Do I need to do some buffing/polishing to make the coat less sticky?
- How many days should I leave the final coat on before doing this?

Thanks in advance for your responses!

- Locky

[Andy40]

Locky. first off. well done mate.
drying time differs dependent on where you are in Oz and what the weather is like. If its about 30 deg and dry as, (think Perth weather) that the perfect conditions and it will dry fast. If its colder or more humid, you'll have to be patient. you should wait at least 21 days for the final coats to cure. then try the fingernail test. there should be no stickyness. if it fails try another week or so.

Personally, I prefer to use tru oil as the final coats over dingotone as its more forgiving, dries faster and harder and more to my liking.

Horses for corses mate. good luck.

[mattstazza89]

the dingotone instructions say to sand the body of the guitar to 240 grit for best results.....does that mean after getting the body to 240 grit you dont sand it to 600 grit then 1200 grit before applying the dingotone finish??

[FrankenWashie]

the dingotone instructions say to sand the body of the guitar to 240 grit for best results.....does that mean after getting the body to 240 grit you dont sand it to 600 grit then 1200 grit before applying the dingotone finish??

That's it mate, if you go too high then the stain won't take properly to the wood surface. You do the high grits after you've got the final coats on.

Dingotone is a test of patience!!

[mattstazza89]

thanks for the reply FrankenWashie but could you give some insight? in the instructions after the final coats it says to "Leave the body to fully cure for at least two weeks before final buff and polish"...does not mention more sanding..

its my first build so not so sure. i hope i have not screwed the neck up because i watched the pitbull guitars neck sanding video and it says the neck is already smooth so just sand it lightly on the back with the 1200 grit...i did that but the dingotone neck finish says for best results sand to 400grit i believe. anyway i have applied my first coat of the neck oil and plan to do another one in 48 hours will see how it goes.

thanks again for taking the time to reply! really appreciate the help

[FrankenWashie]

Probably a mis speak on my part, the "Sanding" i'm talking of is really only a light wet sand, to knock off any high spots. if the final coat is a bit undulating or rough then you might drop as low as 1200 grit for this.
once everything is even, then you'd start to polish gently with higher grits to build a shine.

If you have them, you can use micro mesh buffing pads to "Wet Sand", they run up to about 12000 grit and on their own they can bring up a really great shine.
Then you start with polishing compounds maybe scratch X to start, and then i use Meguiars Ultimate car polish.
You need to go very lightly as it is quite easy to burn through the finish if you aren't careful. especially if you are using a mechanical buffer or polisher.

As I said, dingotone is of test of patience and sparing application. Your stain coats, your intensifiers and especially your final coats need to be super thin and built up gradually for depth.

I've used DT on two builds, on my first it was a disaster that needed re-doing three times. On the second, it was much better, but i still went to heavy on the final coats and had problems as a result, mainly on the body. I like it, but i am also impatient and I think most of my issues were related to my lack of patience.

Hope this helps, apologies if I've created more confusion!

[mattstazza89]

Thanks for getting back to me again FrankenWashie, yes it is my first build and i will probably make mistakes but ill just try and learn from it. I know what you mean by patience! i almost lost it with the copping saw yesterday and wanted to quit but perservered with the head stock shape haha. while i wait 48+ hours for the stain to cure ill just go onto something else or practice the gutiar haha hopefully be able to play something when the project is done

[mattstazza89]

i have noticed a few small beads of neck finish on my guitar headstock after a second coat of the stain ( maybee i put too much on at once) should i lightly steel wool the head stock before applying the finishing coat to the neck? with that smoothen it out? or a fine sand?

[FrankenWashie]

Can you post up a photo?

[mattstazza89]

you cant see it on the image i dont think it looks like very small granules and i am sure its not dirt. i used the same container to put my second coat of stain on the neck and the container had dried up...i should have used a clean container so i think ive put some dried up stain granules on with the second coat. any idea how to smooth it out or remove it please Frankenwashie?