I finally finished painting this body. It was bare wood. I followed the reranch instructions sealing the wood with 2 cans of lacquer sanding sealer, 30 coats of Valspar black lacquer and 9 coats of clear, sanding with up to 2000 grit between coats. Final buffing was done with a foam pad on a variable speed pneumatic die grinder with 2 grades of 3M compound. I don't know if the Valspar (Lowe's) rattle cans were nitro or acrylic, but it flowed ok, and dried pretty quick during our latest SoCal heatwave. The entire process took about 3 1/2 weeks. Black is a B***H!!!

Slug

Looks good. Any pics of the front?

Looks good. Any pics of the front?

>>> Here ya go.

It's gonna get a black pickguard, gold hipshot bridge, tuners, and knobs, twin Bart W4 soapbars, ( I got the only set Bartolini had in stock) Maple neck with rosewood fingerboard, and gold SIMS side LED's. It'll probably be complete in 2 1/2 months or so.

Havin fun..

Slug

I had never painted a guitar before, so the learning curve was steep, especially with black. There were several unplanned detours. I got a nasty solvent pop one day when the temperature dropped and the humidity rose, had a couple of sand thru's and a some dust contamination which caused various levels of frustration and delays...

Slug

I probably went through 22 rattle cans of sealer, color, and clear, and 20 packs of sandpaper from 220 to 2000. Live and learn...

Slug

Re-ranch says to sand up to 2000 between coats? Can anyone chime in on this being a standard for this type of finish? I've done nitro and polyester... I sand with 220 or 320 between days (I never sand between coats, spraying them too close together for it matter much). I'm just curious how each coat could stick to the next (or even exist with all that sanding) when it’s up to such a fine sheen.

What was your total cost of materials and tools? 22 cans sounds like a big bill to me. When you figure that a high solids acrylic poly can be had for around $75 a gallon, the RR rattlecans don't stack up for value. I can coat an entire body 3 times with 1 pint of clear and it usually will only take about 2 or 3 rounds of 3 coats each to make it perfect. You can recoat the acrylic poly within about 30 minutes to get some great buildup.

BTW, I use a very similar polishing procedure as yourself.

>>> I didn't buy anything from Reranch. All the aerosols came from Lowe's. It's made by Valspar and runs $3.99 for an 11 oz can. If found that last oz. or so is pretty much unuseable, as it just spits and spatters. I might have $150 tops into sealers, paints, sandpaper, and buffing materials of which some was wasted due to inexperience & misfortune. I could have just taken it to my buddy's body shop and had it shot with PPG polyurethane, but that wouldn't have been any fun!!! If I ever do another one, it will certainly go quicker and cost much less. The only way to learn is by doing; making mistakes and learning from them. When I finally get this thing together, it will be something very personal I can be proud of.

Cheers,
Slug

Re-ranch says to sand up to 2000 between coats? Can anyone chime in on this being a standard for this type of finish? I've done nitro and polyester... I sand with 220 or 320 between days (I never sand between coats, spraying them too close together for it matter much). I'm just curious how each coat could stick to the next (or even exist with all that sanding) when it’s up to such a fine sheen.

>>> My bad. I only sanded that fine during the clear coat process, and yes, with lacquer, each subsequent coat melts into the prior coat. That's the beauty of lacquer.

Slug

BTW, Reranch says go with 800 between coats. I went as high as 1500 with no adhesion problems, as black shows every single little high spot, goober, dust speck, orange peel, and
sanding scratch.

Slug

Are you buffing between coats, Hambone?! :eek:

Of course you have to sand the finish into the high grits after the finish is cured and you want to get it glossy. I was only talking about between coat sanding. I even think 800 is too high. You're not going to see problems right away. It will be down the line as things gas off further or you bump the instrument into something.

I didn't think you could buff between coats??? I was told that the 3M stuff probably contains some silicone???? Hambone???

Thx

Slug

The 3M polishing stuff that I use after buffing has no silicone and is nitro safe. I was only joking about buffing between coats.

Are you buffing between coats, Hambone?! :eek:

Of course you have to sand the finish into the high grits after the finish is cured and you want to get it glossy. I was only talking about between coat sanding. I even think 800 is too high. You're not going to see problems right away. It will be down the line as things gas off further or you bump the instrument into something.

>>> I didn't seem to encounter any problems with sanding up to 1500 between coats of black, but then again, I wasn't on a budget or specific timetable.

Slug

The 3M polishing stuff that I use after buffing has no silicone and is nitro safe. I was only joking about buffing between coats.

>>>> To be honest, I don't really know if the Valspar lacquer is acrylic or nitro. I looked at the product MSDS but couldn't really tell as I'm not a chemist. It's probably acrylic lacquer, which from what I've been told contains placticizers which are supposed to improve consistency and dry times and somewhat inhibit shrinkage(?)

No buffing between coats - just high grit sanding of color layers between coats. Anything larger than 400 removes too much and I wind up taking 2 steps back for every step forward. I'll spray 3 or 4 coats of color on top of a well prepared surface, then sand that smooth. Black especially. Black is the closest thing to a mirror so imperfections are your death. Depending on how things are looking, I might do this again a couple more times. I'm looking for imperfections caused by the surface or from airborne goobers. Once I'm satisfied with the color, I'll begin with the clear coats. I apply them the same way - 3 or 4 at a time, building the thickness before any leveling and polishing. This is a fairly common sequence used by auto refinishers. I'll go as high as 2000 in the final stages depending on what "artifacts" I find in the surface :rollno: Final buffing and polishing is done with 2 or 3 grades of polishing compound and then the surface is waxed.

BTW, this process can take weeks to finish. I won't do any sanding on a surface until I can't smell any solvent coming from it. I'm sort of at the mercy of the atmosphere doing this but I'm in no hurry. You can't be and get a really decent finish.

>>>> Words to live by. Thanks 'Bone

Cheers,
Slug

I guess it depends on where you're working and what kind of contamination you might be dealing with. I've never sanded a color coat. Just layed it down on a reasonably flat surface then cleared over it the same day. I've done black before and it came out awesome. 2 coats of sealer, 2 coats of black, then 5 clear coats. Wait a day, level sand with 320, 5 more top coats. Two weeks later finish sand then buff. That's two spray days, two weeks curing, and one level sand/buff day.

Reading this is giving me a headache...:rolleyes:

I guess it depends on where you're working and what kind of contamination you might be dealing with. I've never sanded a color coat. Just layed it down on a reasonably flat surface then cleared over it the same day. I've done black before and it came out awesome. 2 coats of sealer, 2 coats of black, then 5 clear coats. Wait a day, level sand with 320, 5 more top coats. Two weeks later finish sand then buff. That's two spray days, two weeks curing, and one level sand/buff day.

>>>> It all depends on 3 things: Equipment, materials, & ability. I see autobody guys spray 2/3rds of a car and deliver it before the end of the day. Time is money for these guys, and paint manufacturers are making stuff that is easier, faster, and therefore more profitable.

Reading this is giving me a headache...:rolleyes:

>>> Maybe it's the paint fumes???

Nice paint job!

black is the only color for a bass.

nice

Hi
I work the same way as Scott only difference being that I pore fill with lacquer then level with 320 grit then 2 coats of colour 4 of clear leave that for a day then 5/6 clear. I leave that for a week and then wet sand to 2000 grit followed by 2 grades of polish and a swirl remover.I spray AC lacquer it has a chemical cure it is less dependant on the relative humidity the only down side is that it cures pretty hard and requires a lot of rubbing out.