Noob with a project...

[Audiowonderland]

My kid is a budding artist and would like to do a "custom guitar".  I would not mind obliging if the end result would be usable in terms of the over all job. I have no equipment or significant experience.  I think the end result they have in mind is something along the lines of the Satriani guitar on the cover of Flying in a Blue Dream. After some research, I have come up with the following skeleton for a plan of attack.

1) Alder body. Its closed pore and should not need grain filled
2) Duplicolor primer / color coat. Assuming a wet sand between coats? This is laquer as I understand it
3) Once the color coat done, let the Artist go to work
4) Clear coat. Not sure what to use hear. A duplicor clear? Some other clear poly?  Still have some research to do here
5) wet sand between coats buff etc...


ANy sugestion on the numerous holes in this plan would be greatly appreciated

 

[mayfly]

I once helped to create this:

and this:

before you get excited, I was not the artist.  BUT!  I know the process.  Here's what we did:

1 - seal with Zinsser Seal Coat.  Nothing else will do!  Well, maybe a no-name shellac would be ok, but we didn't chance it.
2 - paint the base color with acrylic artist paint.  We used a brush in both cases.  I actually did the background for the black one.
3 - paint the design with acrylic artist paint.
4 - top coat with several layers of mini-wax polycrylic.  I think we used a semi-gloss.
5 - level sand if you dare!  We didn't dare...

Have fun
Trevor

 

[mayfly]

Update:  the finishes appear to be pretty durable and have stood up fairly well over the years.  I've got some scratches in the clear coat on the black one, but I've never bothered to touch them up.

Here's a photo of the bass after a few years of playing:

 

[stratamania]

You would not wet sand between coats on most finishes.

On Lacquer (Nitro) it usually is not needed to sand between coats unless there is a really offensive run as the next coat melts into the one below.

Wet sanding when done is done at the end of several coats of clear once they have fully dried or cured for a reasonable amount of time. Wet sanding is done with fine grits prior to buffing. And you need to be careful not to sand through to the colour layers beneath.

 

[Cagey]

You wouldn't wet sand between coats on poly because there usually isn't any "between" there. It's a color coat that self-levels, a clear coat that self-levels, and you're done. Buff it and and ship it.

Lacquer, though, if you don't sand between coats, you'll end up with a horribly orange-peel surface. You have to keep leveling, and there'll be 8 to 12 coats before you're done spraying. Then, a couple weeks to cure before finish sanding/buffing/polishing.

That's why you rarely see lacquer finishes from manufacturers unless they're very expensive instruments where the labor gets covered.

 

[stratamania]

If you need to wet sand between coats of lacquer as a matter, of course, you are putting it on to thick in the first place.

 

[Cagey]

It's possible, but unlikely. I usually cut the stuff by 50% with acetone and maybe even add a little retarder, so it's pretty watery. Try to put that on too thick and it'll run like track star and sag like a loser. I don't necessarily sand between every coat, but rarely go more than 2 or 3 without leveling it out.

Best article I've read on the process for lacquer is here at LMII. Follow that schedule and chances of success are very high.

 

[stratamania]

That LMII procedure is a good description. There is no sanding between every coat but about every four coats, and not wet.

Wet sanding is only the final stages after the lacquer is thoroughly dried prior to buffing/polishing.

For the OP the link to LMII provides a good description of the process.

 

[dmraco]

Just to clarify I would not sand the color coats, only the clear.