Sanding sealer and clear coat

Johnny-B

I've just treated myself to a Tele kit from Blackbeard's Den to keep me out of mischief in the winter evenings! The guitar body top is burl ash with quite a nice wood grain but is not yet smooth enough to be able to finish so I think I need to first use sanding sealer, sand it to a good finish and then apply a clear coat. Does anyone have experience with locally available sanding sealer? I know that both Dulux and Plasco make it but I'm not sure that it's he right stuff for guitars. Also if anyone has a recommendation on what to use as a clear coat to get a good durable gloss finish, I would be grateful for your advice.

Chocklit_Thunda

I literally bought this stuff a week ago ?

I went into mica and bought their own brand of sealer and clear gloss coat ?
Your best bet would be to go to a hardware store and go to the wood finishing aisle and check out what they've got ? the stuff from mica is sprayable (you thin it down with turps)

Any brand should work and also some of them have tint in them for an amber or darker colour

AlanRatcliffe

With ash you should use a grain filler to fill the grain - a lot quicker and less shrinkage than sanding sealer (in fact I've stopped using sanding sealer). Having said that, the Plascon sanding sealer is nitrocellulose and is a good one to use. Plascon's WL5 clear nitro lacquer was my choice for a long time, but I had major issues with the last can I bought.

Johnny-B

Alan Ratcliffe wrote: With ash you should use a grain filler to fill the grain - a lot quicker and less shrinkage than sanding sealer (in fact I've stopped using sanding sealer). Having said that, the Plascon sanding sealer is nitrocellulose and is a good one to use. Plascon's WL5 clear nitro lacquer was my choice for a long time, but I had major issues with the last can I bought.

Thanks, Alan for the advice. Can you recommend a good grain filler for ash that is available locally?

Johnny-B

Alan Ratcliffe wrote: With ash you should use a grain filler to fill the grain - a lot quicker and less shrinkage than sanding sealer (in fact I've stopped using sanding sealer). Having said that, the Plascon sanding sealer is nitrocellulose and is a good one to use. Plascon's WL5 clear nitro lacquer was my choice for a long time, but I had major issues with the last can I bought.

I took Alan's advise and bought the Plascon sanding sealer which I applied with a brush since I have no spraying equipment. My intention was to use spray cans of clear lacquer for the top coat but I don't think that I will be able to find nitrocellulose based clear lacquer in cans. Would it be a problem to spray other clear lacquer such as the ones which I can buy from the local Builder's Warehouse, on top of the nitrocellulose based sanding sealer?

AlanRatcliffe

No, you can use most normal lacquers over the top.

Johnny B wrote: Can you recommend a good grain filler for ash that is available locally?

Sorry - missed this question. Nope - I use either the Stewmac stuff or use a normal wood filler over a very thin sealer coat of lacquer.

guidothepimmp

Johnny

For grain filler you can use egg whites. See link
http://homegrownlutherie.wordpress.com/2013/02/04/grain-filling-with-egg-whites/

I have used it with good results. You can YouTube sully and grain filling too where you can watch it in action. Goodluck