Advise on finishing

Atmarama

Hey guys, glad to find a SA guitar forum! ?

Picked up an old Squier II, sanded her down and stained the body.

Now at a crucial place in the finishing. Applied Stain, but needing to finish now - on the stain do I put sand & sealer first and then varnish? or straight varnish?? Was thinking a matt varnish... The problem is when sanding the sealer/varnish it very quickly starts taking off the stain.... Also to get matt finish can you fine sand (eg 1200 grit) gloss varnish to make it matt?

Gearhead

If I were you I would spray on three to five coats of sanding sealer and sand that back down to get a smoother surface. The time between the layers will determine how much the stain bleeds into the sanding sealer. If you take your time, you will be fine. If you sand through, you will notice quickly enough, presumably before changing the look of the stain.

Did you mix any sealer in with the stain? This can help fixing the color into the wood.

After sanding the sealer with grades going up 400 - 800 - 1200 you can spray another three to five of the varnish. I like guitars to be glossy (none of that Tung Oil for me) but I suppose you can go for matt. Sanding will imho make it dull not matt.

AlanRatcliffe

#1 - varnish is the wrong stuff. Too soft. Wood lacquer is the stuff.

You don't need sanding sealer on fine grain wood like alder or basswood - one of the key features of sanding sealer is that it sands quickly. Getting the wood itself perfectly flat is key to a good finish. At least three coats before a light hand rub with 400 grit - repeat three or four times (9 - 12 coats total). Leave for at least a week (ideally four) before sanding from 400 through 1200. The 1200 will leave you with a nice matt finish or you can finish off with 0000 grade steel wool.

Atmarama

Alan Ratcliffe wrote #1 - varnish is the wrong stuff. Too soft. Wood lacquer is the stuff.

You don't need sanding sealer on fine grain wood like alder or basswood - one of the key features of sanding sealer is that it sands quickly. Getting the wood itself perfectly flat is key to a good finish. At least three coats before a light hand rub with 400 grit - repeat three or four times (9 - 12 coats total). Leave for at least a week (ideally four) before sanding from 400 through 1200. The 1200 will leave you with a nice matt finish or you can finish off with 0000 grade steel wool.

Are you saying sanding sealer or not? And then wood lacquer? Do both sealer & lacquer come in spray form from a normal hardware store?I think the body is agathis... Thanks Al!

AlanRatcliffe

Sanding sealer makes it easy to build up coats fast and doesn't shrink as much as topcoats, but isn't as hard - so only use it if you need to level the surface or need to fill in pores and aren't using grain filler. Done properly, you end up sanding most of it off again.

Wood lacquer is your actual finish - everything else is surface preparation. You can get both nitrocellulose sealer and nitro wood lacquer from Plascon - although you will likely have to ask the store to order. You will need a spray gun for the Plascon - it doesn't come in rattlecans. If you need rattlecans, you can usually order acrylics in clear (once again, a special order in most hardware stores - they will have colours, but unlikely they will have clear on hand). I've heard that some art supply shops have great ranges of rattlecans, but have never tried them myself.

Atmarama

Alan Ratcliffe wrote Sanding sealer makes it easy to build up coats fast and doesn't shrink as much as topcoats, but isn't as hard - so only use it if you need to level the surface or need to fill in pores and aren't using grain filler. Done properly, you end up sanding most of it off again.

Wood lacquer is your actual finish - everything else is surface preparation. You can get both nitrocellulose sealer and nitro wood lacquer from Plascon - although you will likely have to ask the store to order. You will need a spray gun for the Plascon - it doesn't come in rattlecans. If you need rattlecans, you can usually order acrylics in clear (once again, a special order in most hardware stores - they will have colours, but unlikely they will have clear on hand). I've heard that some art supply shops have great ranges of rattlecans, but have never tried them myself.

Ok thank you... I went to my local hardware, no luck at all... He referred me to builders express, but I'll only be able to get there in a couple days. I suppose I'll need rattlecans as I don't have a spray gun. Thanks again Al! :-[