Clear Enamel sand or no sand?

I'm refinishing a guitar body with Duplicolor Metal Specks and I let the guy at the parts store talk me into clear coating with the Duplicolor acrylic enamel. I sprayed the body last week and it's been hanging 7 days. The can recommends coats of clear with 10 minute waits between coats. All coats should go on within 60 minutes. So I put 6 coats on with 10 minutes between each. The can says that after 60 minutes wait 7 days before applying more coats.

I'm getting ready to spray 4-6 more coats of clear and was wondering if I should sand or at least scuff what I sprayed previously. I've never used enamel before and after reading what folks say about it here, I kind of wish I would have just stuck with lacquer.

I used some of this clear enamel on my kids pinewood derby car and polished it with steel wool and wax. It came out awesome, so I'm still hoping the best for this guitar.

after 7 days any paint requires a mechanical key, so go ahead and sand it first.

after 7 days any paint requires a mechanical key

This may not be true in all cases.

Lacquer and shellac will soften and allow a chemical bond years later. The ability of these finishes to burn in or chemically bond makes them attractive.

The down side is that the solvent used to dilute the finish for application will soften the surface many years later. A little alcohol on on your antique table will illustrate that.

Sanding will help level the surface and the small increase in surface area will allow the solvent to work faster.

Just my 2 cents.

Regards,

I can tell you from experience NOT to sand it....Mine came out dull when I sanded it & recoated it....
just coat it again....another thing you may already know is that guitar can not be sanded & buffed for AT least 30-40 days or your finish will go to **** with anything it dings etc....I made that mistake to & when I take off the pickguard & neck plate its a true reminder when i see how both those parts are embedded into the finish....
also, once on another strat buidl I made that mistake & when I leaned it on the wall over night the bottom corner of the guitar got dented from the floor....
Just giving you a heads up & have applied a very soft clear coat & it will be a while till its fully cured!!!!

Thanks for the thoughts all. I went ahead and scuffed the existing enamel with steel wool. I just took the shine off and made it dull. I then sprayed on 6 more coats.

Now I have to wait. The guy at the paint shop told me it would be 30 to 60 days before I could wet sand and polish. I've read some stuff on the net that says enamel never actually gets hard. I'm hoping that is not true. We'll see how it turns out.

I have some light orange peel, so I definitely want to sand the finish flat. In places like the radius on the body, the finish layed down really flat. It looks almost like glass, so I think it will be really cool if I can polish it. I let it off gas in the garage yesterday, and then brought it into the house and hung it in the closet where it is nice and warm. I'm hoping that will let me finish around the 30 day mark rather than the 60 day mark.

Thanks again.