Finishing questions

Doug · March 2015

I ordered a gorgeous LP DC from @GSPBasses moons ago, I Really need to get this finished, so, it will be sprayed gloss(arctic white/water based paint) I want a flat/ glass like finish eventually, but as anyone in the paint/spray industry knows, 99% is in the preparation of the surface to be sprayed. so~ what grain filler should I use? and what grit should it be sanded back to, what primer should be used before the final gloss white? @lamf68? and anyone else please

lamf68 · March 2015

Doug, you lost me at "Water Based Paint" mate!!! what on earth is water based paint - Emulsion?

I can only tell you what I use on a Nitro Cellulose based finish...I have 3 types of Grain Filler, one is Thixotropic(Fuck knows what it means but its a horror show to use and I rarely bother) the other 2 are Brummers and good old Rustins Natural Grain filler, either of these maybe suitable with whatever water based paint is. I still find even after piss arsing about with grain filler nothing is better than filling the grain than using neat sanding sealer on the wood, don't even bother spraying it on, paint it on, don't worry about the brush strokes they'll get sanded out. After 3 or 4 coats painted you can wet sand back and hit it with a spayed coat if you really want to but there's no real point if the grain is full. You're gonna have to leave it sit a few days to see if the sealer sinks much, but it should be okay if theres no drop in the level after 3 days - if there is give it another couple of coats with the sealer.

As for sanding back before I use primer I wet sand with 360 grit wet and dry, then after the primer, depending on the finish,Metallic I use 600 grit and solid colours 400 grit always dry over the primer. If there's any low spots or dings I drip fill them with more paint, then flat the spot out again.

I gotta point out White is a bitch of a colour to do without getting a flek of dust in it or something similar - I have 3 separate spray booths all of varying size and all have great extraction fans(one for metallic, one for colours and one for clear) I wear a white paint suit, hair net, full face respirator and brand new overshoes everytime I step inside my booths and I'm yet to do a white guitar that didn't have a miniscule spot of dust hit it during the painting...All said and done, by the time im finished the spec will have gone but that will include waiting for it to dry and either picking it out with a needle or wet sanding it out before clear-coating again.

Good luck with it man.

Corvus · March 2015

Are you talking automotive waterbase paint? Cos that needs clearcoat to seal it. Or something else?

WezV · March 2015

Quite a few water based lacquers available. KTM-9 gets a lot of love in the guitar building community.

Real question is why do you want to use water based? Its less fumey so better for the environment in one sense, but its still chemical heavy and you still need a decent respirator. It tends to be more work than nitro, doesn't melt into itself very well, and can have a blueish tinge

Corvus · March 2015

Sure, seen others but not that one but I can't see any advantage over celly, esp something labelled 'interior use'. The lower/different solvent content doesn't seem worth the hassle of waterbase. A celly prime & topcoat seems a much faster proposition, and easier.

Doug · March 2015

Thanks for the replies/advice guys, Lol!, I'll start again, the 'water based paint' came from my confusion with the metallic black touch up paint my spray painter mate supplied me for my car! ~ water based base coat + clear lacquer top coat. My mistake!, The guitar will actually be sprayed with 2pack (2K) Glasurit automotive paint. arctic white gloss + clear top coat is the plan.

Corvus · March 2015

Sorted Glasurit is good quality paint. If someone's spraying it for you, you could skip a grain filler and use 2k epoxy primer. It builds well, is a great sealer, very inert, and sands nicely. That's what I do for solid colours. It's available white (and tinted any colour) so your colour coat will cover more easily.
On really grainy wood I sometimes put a high-build primer on top, sand that flat. Then a quick thin coat of primer and ready for colour.
If you're doing the wood prep yourself though, follow yer man's advice ^^ on fillers/sealers.

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