Would you consider this as orange peel?

dratini357

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Hi ya folks. Finally a nice clear dry day so I applied some clear coat on my guitar.

As a general rule, is it possible for the color to get muted after clear coat? I did some trans amber first, but because the alder was pretty red, the color came out with a pretty strong orange hue. Today after the clear, the color is now somewhat muted, giving it a nice amber tone. Just like an aged headstock. Maybe it's just the light, but I always thought that a clear coat will make the color pop, just like when you wet any object.

Now, would you guys consider this as orange peel? This is the back contour of a strat. Kind of liking the texture, but I also think it'll get flat as the finish dries.
 

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I think you had too much distance and it started drying before it landed.  Try getting in closer.  Did you warm up the can first?

When I hear "orange peel," I think chemical incompatibility, which this doesn't look like (before I got into guitar work, I did a bit of finishing work with plastics, so that was my crash course in how different chemicals don't always play nicely with each other).
 
2 coats of clear so far.

And yes, I didn't think that being too far might cause issues. I did warm up the can though, up to about 120F (or at least that was the temp of the tap water when it came out).

After a few days though, the bumps are extremely small, and I can see slight signs of the finish shrinking into the wood pore, so it might not be that bad.
 
Yeah, I agree, you're shooting too far from the wood and/or be moving too fast. Either way, you're shooting too dry and thin. You want the nitro to go on wet enough that it levels out. I usually shoot rattle cans in the 8-12" range. Three passes is a coat, three coats per day. It's a bit of a balancing act because you need to go on wet and want to avoid runs. Shooting clear is pretty forgiving, because after 10-12 coats, you'll be wet sanding it level anyway.
 
NedRyerson said:
I think you had too much distance and it started drying before it landed.  Try getting in closer.  Did you warm up the can first?

When I hear "orange peel," I think chemical incompatibility, which this doesn't look like (before I got into guitar work, I did a bit of finishing work with plastics, so that was my crash course in how different chemicals don't always play nicely with each other).

That made me think, earlier on in the process, I did (or at least so I hope) a very light layer of yellow. The way I tried to achieve this is to hold the can far and almost mist it into the air.

After this operation, I was left with yellow power on the body that I could wipe off with my hands. When I read your post, I'm pretty sure the lacquer dried off mid-air left the cellulose/stain.
 
DuckBaloo said:
Yeah, I agree, you're shooting too far from the wood and/or be moving too fast. Either way, you're shooting too dry and thin. You want the nitro to go on wet enough that it levels out. I usually shoot rattle cans in the 8-12" range. Three passes is a coat, three coats per day. It's a bit of a balancing act because you need to go on wet and want to avoid runs. Shooting clear is pretty forgiving, because after 10-12 coats, you'll be wet sanding it level anyway.

I *think* I went pretty wet with the clear compared to the color layers, but maybe it wasn't enough as I don't have a good frame of reference for myself. After the clear, I did end up with one slight run, so I was thinking that's thick enough for a single coat.

I'm aiming for a relic look, so I plan to mildly scuff the surface to take out the sheen, also a slight imperfection is not an issue. I already have dents in the body that are so deep that I can tell will never become flat with nitro but I'm happy with it. Having said that, what's the rule of thumb to know when you have enough coats of clear nitro to move on to polishing?
 
I usually go for between 12 and 15 coats.

After every 2-3 coats I sand lightly with 320 or 400, then clean it off before coating again.

after 4-5 rounds of this, I let it sit for 2-3 weeks before wet sanding and polishing.
 
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