Graining pen?

[Bassjiggy]

<Warning> First Guitar Build...
I recently ordered and received an alder strat body and am planning on finishing it with stewmac tinted red mahogany aerosol. I know Alder doesn't have the best grain but what grain it does have I would like to bring out a little. From reading other threads it seems that the usual procedure is colored grain filler but the alder body doesn't seem like it really needs any grain filling. So I found this "graining pen" on stewmac and was wondering how bad of an idea it would be to try to use that overtop of the existing grain. Also, while I'm at it could you just verify that this is the correct procedure for finishing:

1) Sanding Sealer.
2) Color spray
3) 3 coats of clear with 30 minutes between coats.
4) let dry. How long?
5) 3 more coats of clear with 30 minutes between coats.
6) let dry. Again how long?
7) Polish.

Between which steps do I need to sand? And just yell at me if I'm forgetting something or if you just have some helpful advice. Thanks everybody.

 

[jackthehack]

1) Sanding Sealer.
2) Color spray
3) 3 coats of clear with 30 minutes between coats.
4) let dry. How long?
5) 3 more coats of clear with 30 minutes between coats.
6) let dry. Again how long?
7) Polish.

You don't mention whether you are using lacquer or poly, assuming lacquer?

I haven't seen any alder from Warmoth that needs grain filling; usually 2-4 coats of sanding sealer will do the trick; sand back to #320/#400 after each coat is dry, make sure you have a good level sand on last coat.

What type of  "color spray" are you using? If using lacquer toner you shouldn't have any need to sand after this coat(s) unless you have runs/drips to deal with. If using some types of opaque color finishes or if doing a primer coat in conjunction you may need to sand back to #320/#400 if the applied color is not completely smooth/even.

You're going to need to allow more than 30 minutes between coats of top gloss lacquer; it can vary enormously based in temp/humidity level. If you can be patient and stand it you're better off overnight between coats, or at least several hours if warm and low humidity. Even though the lacquer MAY appear to be dry to touch, sometimes it really isn't; if you spray another coat over, it may whiten or cloud up and you'll be sanding it back and starting over.

You may want to do more than 6 total coats of top gloss lacquer; to me it's easier to do more thin coats than fewer thicker ones. I usually do 10-12 coats, building 1 or 2 up each day depending on temp/humidity conditions. Once finished with that, you need to let it set/cure longer than you probably will before you wet-sand/polish; at least a few days. Keep in mind that nitro lacquer continues to dry/cure/shrink for quite some time; for several builds I wound up disassembling the guitar after 2-3 months later and doing an additional 2-3 coats of lacquer and another wet sand/polish.

 

[Bassjiggy]

Thanks for the help. Sorry, yes it's laquer finish. How about the graining pen idea? Would you do that before or after applying sanding sealer, or at all?

 

[jackthehack]

"Used to simulate wood grain"??? I wouldn't use that at all. I've never tried dying/staining alder and sanding it back to make the grain stain out, don't know if that would work very well on alder like it does on figured maple; your color coat would need to be a transparent toner to be able to see it very well anyway. What were you planning on using for the color coat? You could try getting a small can of a darker MinWax oil based stain that would complement the color coat and trying applying it to a flat surface on part of the body, then sanding it back with #220 to see if the color will remain darker in the grain, might work, but I've never tried it. It would need to go under the sanding sealer; the oil based MinWax stains don't have any problems under nitro lacquer finishes; another note, make sure than the sanding sealer you use is nitro lacquer based, too; Deft or StewMac sealers are readily available.