Am I ready for clear coat?

[SpikeyB]

I stripped, primed and painted my p-bass style ESP. I used a Montana paint's Gold series color. It was pretty rough and had some drips, orange peel, etc. so I got to wet sanding it. I went super fine, starting from around 800 up to 2500. Now it is smooth and delicious.
However, everything I read says it needs to be scuffed for a clear coat to stick. I plan to use a spray can polycrilic. Do I need to scuff it? Or will the clear coat stick to a relatively smooth surface?
Thanks in advance.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

You didn't need to go that high grit for colorcoat, might be TOO smooth now. I'd knock it back to satin with a grey scotchbrite and wipe it off real good with naptha (lighter fluid) before starting clearcoat. Wear gloves so you don't get more skin oil on it during the naptha rubdown and after. Do as many clearcoats as you think you need, and then do a couple more. It's stupid easy to sand through clearcoat. When you get to wetsanding clearcoat, wipe off the swarf with a clean white rag, if you sand through to colorcoat, you'll see it on the rag. If you do, STOP and spray more clearcoat. Good luck! Make sure the clear is fully compatible with your colorcoat, it's risky to mix two brands. I've had clearcoat attack the color and wrinkle it, had to strip it all off and start over. If Montana Paints makes a clearcoat, use it.