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refinish question

happychicken

happychicken

Jan 24, 2012
773
252
#1
i am in the process of sanding off sealer from bass body i am refinishing. When i go to reseal this can i use an automotive sealer or does it have to be a type of wood sealer. I am concerned to how the auto paint (which i plan to paint bass with) will react if it isn't sprayed over the same brand sealer.
 
#3
True but I have no idea how primer will sit on this sealer. I don't want to chance getting bubbles in the finish. I'm not really sure that's a valid concern or not. Also in evey refinishing video they take it off...
 
#4
Me, I would NOT use automotive sealer. I would use wood sealer since its wood youre sealing, not a car. I refinished my P bass with a few coats of tung then about 4 coats of rub-on poly. It worked out great. I would only use finish that is supposed to be used on wood, not on steel.
 
#5
gregmon79 said:
Me, I would NOT use automotive sealer. I would use wood sealer since its wood youre sealing, not a car. I refinished my P bass with a few coats of tung then about 4 coats of rub-on poly. It worked out great. I would only use finish that is supposed to be used on wood, not on steel.
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Most of my builds are finished with automotive urethane. If using a solid color, I seal it with as many coats of clear that it takes to get the grain sealed and sanded level, then the color coat, followed by clear again. On a natural finish, I use the urethane clear throughout the process. Its a catalyzed finish, it doesn't care what its sprayed on, as long as its hard and clean. The nitro lacquer that Fender used were all automotive colors.
 
#6
happychicken said:
True but I have no idea how primer will sit on this sealer. I don't want to chance getting bubbles in the finish. I'm not really sure that's a valid concern or not. Also in evey refinishing video they take it off...
Click to expand...

Well, if you don't sand the sealer off you wont need to use a primer, the sealer that is already on the body is enough. And there is basically zero chance of anything you spray on top of it bubbling or lifting it.
 
#7
Hopkins said:
Most of my builds are finished with automotive urethane. If using a solid color, I seal it with as many coats of clear that it takes to get the grain sealed and sanded level, then the color coat, followed by clear again. On a natural finish, I use the urethane clear throughout the process. Its a catalyzed finish, it doesn't care what its sprayed on, as long as its hard and clean. The nitro lacquer that Fender used were all automotive colors.
Click to expand...

+1

Also, I'm pretty sure the vast majority of finishes on guitars and basses nowadays are automotive urethanes, or a chemical mix too close to matter.
 
#9
Well thanks a lot for all the input! I am going to do a candy finish on this. 2 coats primer, two coats silver, metal flake in intercoat clear, two or three coats trans orange and then six clear coats. Do I need to seal this then or can I just prime it and rock on?
 
#11
happychicken said:
Well thanks a lot for all the input! I am going to do a candy finish on this. 2 coats primer, two coats silver, metal flake in intercoat clear, two or three coats trans orange and then six clear coats. Do I need to seal this then or can I just prime it and rock on?
Click to expand...

Sounds like a plan, but you are going to need a silver, base coat for the silver flake Grey primer will work, but it wont look as good.
I have sprayed quite a few flake finishes, so don't hesitate to ask any questions.
 
#13
Ok! Well I am using a primer then 2 color coats of silver, then flake in intercoat clear, then trans orange, then clearing it.
I have sanded through the original sealer in spots. Should I go buy a wood sealer or will the primer/sealer (auto primer sealer) be ok?
Thanks for all the help! I reek of noobizim
 
#14
Yes, the primer will seal the wood, just make sure you keep building it up and block sanding, until you have a dead level surface before switching to color coats.

I am assuming that you have sprayed paint before, and just inexperienced in spraying wood. This is a pretty ambitious project for beginner, make sure you have a gun with at minimum a 1.8mm tip for spraying your flake, my flake gun is dedicated to only spraying flake, because no matter how good I clean it, I seem to always find a random flake in my next project if I use my flake gun to spray clear.
 
#15
Thanks!! I have used HVLP spray before for other stuff. That stuff came out great so I'm hoping this will go well. I only have jam guns no full size guns. The flake I am going to spray is micro flake which they "say" will work with my 1.0 needle jam gun. I actually may just use a harbor freight gun for the flake and if it doesn't clean out ill toss it.
 
#16
Skip the harbor freight gun and get one of these. This exactly the gun I use to spray a flake finish. Its cheap and sprays beautifully. I use the same gun in a 1.5mm tip to spray clear and color coats.
 
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