Need some help

[MrScentless]

Hello fellow forumers!

I started this thread in hope to find some answers to my questions about (Nitrocellulose) painting, wetsanding and buffing.

I am currently working on my first guitar project ever and I need all the info i can get.

(I am deeply sorry if there's an existing thread like this)


Anyhow heres my question(s):

I am painting with nitrocellulose laqcuer and I have learned that it will yellow over time, not that big of a deal, but I also learned that if you the guitar has clear coats on it it will even yellow more drastically*. And that's a tad too much for me.

However i also learned that if you don't use clear coats it won't yellow as much*.

And I know that clear coats are used as a protection for the color coat and that they have some extra effect on the finish.

Now my guitar body has the common orange peel on it and to get that away I have to wetsand that but now that I only have colorcoats on it, can I really wetsand it?

And can I buff it to make it shiny etc without having clearcoat?

Or should I bite take a bite of the sour apple and get clear lacquer xP


Thanks in advance

Mr.Scentless



* http://www.pinrepair.com/vgi/colors/jagw65cp.jpg , Fender jaguar with clear coat. Original color: Olympic white.

* http://www.pinrepair.com/vgi/colors/stra62wc.jpg ,1961 Stratocaster: Olympic White (no clear coat)


Sources: http://home.provide.net/~cfh/fenderc.html

[MrScentless]

Bumb

[Shepherd]

You can sand and polish the color coat the same as you would a clear coat. You will probably have to add a few more coats to prevent sanding thru. Or you can use a clear acrylic laquer which wont yellow. Just start off with very light coats at first.

[Shepherd]

Double post.

[MrScentless]

Originally Posted by Shepherd

You can sand and polish the color coat the same as you would a clear coat. You will probably have to add a few more coats to prevent sanding thru. Or you can use a clear acrylic laquer which wont yellow. Just start off with very light coats at first.

Thank you soo much for your help! Really appreciate it! This has lighten up my day! Thanks yet again! ;D

[Bongocaster]

Is there actually a clear coat of any material that will not yellow at all?

[Shepherd]

Waterbased finishes.

[Silverface]

Even most waterbased clears will yellow slightly (and "waterbased" covers a huge amount of product territory). The most "water white clear" (an industry term for "non-amber when applied", not always non-yellowing) fluid-applied finishes are clear plural-component products not available on the retail market.

But yellowing is a relative term. In some cases you will not notice it at all unless you take pictures 5-10 years apart; in others the extent of yellowing completely depends on exposure (some coatings yellow when exposed to ultraviolet light - a few yellow when NOT exposed to it!).

With white shades yellowing is often so subtle it's not noticed at all. In fact, "white" coatings are rarely white - usually a small amount of blue or lamp black is added to increase hide, as those pigments are FAR less expensive than titanium dioxide, the primary white pigment. So what looks absolutely white on a color chip may look really yellow, gray, or blue next to another product sample.

Clears by different manufacturers also yellow at different rates depending on how they formulate the coating; trying to predict the yellowing qualities of "nitrocellulose lacquer" is next to impossible, since most contain some acrylic resin, use different flow and leveling additives and UV inhibitors. There's just no "stock" answer that can be provided to a product type on a generic basis with any acccuracy.

It sounds like you really need to do a search of the forum and look for previous threads on the topic - also read the finishing recommendations on the ReRanch site and any other finishing sites you can find. This subject has been discussed to death and it will be difficult to get a comprehensive cross-section of replies (and as it's a relative subject there's no one "right" answer).

This is the type of question that should be researched and thoroughly understood before ever starting a finishing process.