Finishing Question for a Tele body

[holgaguy]

I have a Mighty Mite Tele ash body - sanded and sealed. Do I need to do any other prep work before painting it? I'm planning on using ReRanch Butterscotch Blonde nitro.

The last time I refinished a guitar, Nixon was president. Yikes.

[Old Cane]

Yep, do it all. The one I just did I tried to skip the filling. Didn't work. What did work was:

S&S - to see if I could skip filling
Sand
Filler
Sand
S&S
Sand
Prime
Sand
Color
Clear
Flat sand
More clear

You can probably leave out the first S&S coat. I just did it to see if it was as smooth as it looked. It's not. I hear some use clear lacquer before filling so an initial coat of S&S is probably better.

I had a lot of problem with runs wiht the deft. I used krylon for primer, reranch for color and deft for clear. The last strat I did was 100% reranch and that's the way I'll go in the future. It's more money but it's hard to beat in a can. I spent about $35 instead of $75 or $80 but the difference is like $500.

[holgaguy]

Thanks for the info. Looks like I have a lot more work ahead of me than I thought!

[jwells393]

I find using grain filler to be an unpleasant experience. However if you what a smooth flat surface on ash it must be done. The idea is to apply the grain filler, scrape it before it dries, and block sand after it's dry. The process may have to be repeated another time or two.

I've cut all ties with ReRanch. I've clear-coated several guitars with Deft Gloss with good results.

I have a theory on spray painting. If you spray a wet heavy coat to begin with you're going to get a run. Lacquer coming out of an aerosol can is very thin. Begin by spraying several light coats. Let the lacquer build up on the target. Once you have a good build up you can start spraying wetter coats. Now when the wet coat hits the surface the previous coats will suck some of the solvent out of the fresh coat thickening the coat and decreasing the chances of a run.

[RodeoTex]

At the very least, wipe it down with naphtha (sp?) before doing anything else.

[BAW4742]

If you're going to fill grain try using oil based filler. I have used water based and it dries way too fast to have any kind of control over it.

[boris bubbanov]

I believe that when an ash body is said to be sanded and sealed, that means it is not grain filled. If you don't grain fill, in my experience you end up with thousands of sunken areas where the finish sinks into the grain pores. Some folks may like this look; I have one that is somewhat that way, all my others are supposed to be smooth. McFadden's makes an oil based grain filler, so does Bartley. If you wanna try water based, you have Pore O Pac or this microballon product (which I have not tried) from Luthier's Merchantile.

Originally Posted by jwells393

I have a theory on spray painting. If you spray a wet heavy coat to begin with you're going to get a run. Lacquer coming out of an aerosol can is very thin. Begin by spraying several light coats. Let the lacquer build up on the target. Once you have a good build up you can start spraying wetter coats. Now when the wet coat hits the surface the previous coats will suck some of the solvent out of the fresh coat thickening the coat and decreasing the chances of a run.

Calling it a theory is understatement. This really does work. It is almost as though if the finish falls first as gentle mist, it gets acquainted with the surface better, like gentle mist on desert soil. Once the surface is fully wetted, you don't have the surface tension problems, for example around cyanoacrylate glue residue, and the subsequent finish is applied to like material instead of an alien surface. And excess solvent soaks into the existing finish and creates a single skin. Talking lacquers here.