To Clear or Not to Clear . . .that is the question . .

Painting Guru's

All of my painting is with Sherwin Williams Vinyl Sealer and Sherwin Williams Clear Nitro - I mix all my own colors using the S/W Clear and Stew Mac Laquer tints and trans tint dyes.

The last few guitars I have not finished up with a final coat/s of clear over the color - just buffed the color, and they look just beautiful.

Do you guys clear over the color, and then buff the clear? Just looking for the tried and true methods that most of you are using.

Thanks for the input!

Yep , I shoot clear over color and then buff

Since I prefer trans colors over solid colors, I would clear coat in most cases.

I always clear coat.

always clear.

Can anyone explain why "always clear" instead of just saying it?

As far as I understand, there isn't really a reason to clear over your colored finishes except in that sanding down/buffing a clear coat will not change the color of your finish, while sanding down a color coat obviously will.

In the Butterscotch Blonde finish i just did, there were only 2 color coats and 1 coat of clear. I'm pretty sure my sanding went through all of the clear coat. I guess the clear helped serve as a good buffer / imperfection filler so I wouldn't have to sand through too much clear to get a flat surface.

Nope. But then I am a cowboy who does nothing 'correctly' or 'professionally' or 'well'.

This is an excellent example of why to clear coat:

http://www.tdpri.com/forum/2012-tdpri-tele-build-challenge/317902-guitarnuts-2012-challenge-build-thread-completed-8.html#post4133712