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Hello everyone, I am new guitar making enthusiast.

Unfortunately I have never painted anything in my life before.  As such, I bought some videos from Erliwine and also an ebook called "how to paint your guitar with a spray can", all of which were helpful for me as a beginner.

Unfortunately, my first job is not going well.  I primered my body and my first few coats produced a number of runs.  My technique is a little better now and my last coat had no new runs, but the ones I had thought were sanded down still show through.

So my question is does anybody have an online resource for how a beginner can deal with this situation, either how to sand them down properly, or should I remove the primer and start over.  And if I should do that, what is the best way to take the primer off the body.

Thanks everyone, I hope to do this seriously.  I live about 25 miles from Warmoth here in the NW, so look forward to making a bunch of guitars.
 
I dont know what finish you're using, but ....

USE A SANDING BLOCK on the runs

If its lacquer, expect "negative" runs to form if you sand them within several weeks of them occuring.  That is - a run is thicker, takes longer to shrink.  If you sand it flat when its dried but not shrunken, then the surrounding part (thinner) is already shrunken, but the run itself will continue to shrink below the level of the surrounding area.

The same happens if you do a drop fill and sand it too early.  You need to let those sit FOREVER then sand them flat or else you end up with little craters.

Same for repairs using dowels.  You drop fill over the dowel, but where the finish is thicker... around the edge of a dowel, if you sand it too quickly you'll be flat for a day, then a depressed ring will form.

So, let it dry, give ti WEEKS or even longer... then sand USING A SANDING BLOCK.
 
CB, thanks for the insight.  I used a Krylon primer from the can.

CB, I have been sanding with a 400 grit paper per my ebook, but find that it really doesn't take the run down that much, and seems to knock down the surrounding material an equal amount, thus negating the original intent.  I wonder if you would recommend a different paper.

Also, wanted to ask if it would be quicker to strip this body rather than wait for weeks for the runs to dry/shrink.

Unfortunately I am as green as grass at this so I hope my questions are not too irritating.
 
First, work slowly and finish with thin coats.  If you search the forum, this will be the one thing that come up more than anything.

Next, well, if you have a vise in the garage, this will help a lot.  A lot of modern paints/finishes have levelers in them.  They come out of the can moving pretty fast and them they sit and level out.  If you are painting this body and it is hanging, this can lead to the levelers causing runs.  They lower the surface tension to make the surface flatten out, but when vertical, they lower the surface tension causing a run.  If you have a vise, clamp what ever you have holding the body (dowel or paddle in the neck pocket) into the appropriate part of the vise and hold it horizontal to make the levelers work for you.  I found it worked best for me to do one side of the guitar and wait 30 minute then do the next side, wait...

Finally, the paints have a different set of habits so if you are asking a question list everything you can about the paint.  Type (laquer, urethane...) Brand, spraycan, gun or brush...  All of these things will allow the folks that know quite a lot to get a good idea of what is happening and give you appropriate suggestions.  Good luck
Patrick

 
Patrick, I definitely was spraying too thick at first, despite what I read.  Just took me a few times to get it.  Not that I'm an expert.

I am using a Krylon primer from the can, which I cannot find at their website.  I may have a discontinued can, I bought this some months back.

I just read the can again and it said 220 grit was ok to sand with.  I am going to try to buff out some spots with some of this to see what happens.

This is a cheap kit, I figured for the first one I should guinea pig on a cheap model before I start using Warmoth parts.
 
CB, I am using one and two inch squares of half inch plywood with the paper wrapped around it.  It appears to provide a flat surface, hopefully this is good enough.
 
Some folks use something like that.  I think a lot of finishers use a more resiliant block.

I took a tip from Frank Ford and tried some art erasers (those big pink ones) and they work pretty well for a lot of spot sanding.  For the face and back, I like the 3m rubber ones (Home Depot, five bucks or so).  They do pretty well.  Dont be afraid to sand it down a little, then smooth sand it with finer paper, and reshoot the color.  If the finish is sanding well, and not balling up, it should fine sand down pretty nice, and the next coats should flow ok on it.

 
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