Clear-coat finish ... ?

[delt]

I finally have the perfect paint job on the body. I used lacquer paint that's mainly used for cars, that's what Jackson use on most of their guitars. It's metallic green/purple flip-flop paint, lacquer based, with its own top-coat finish that's also lacquer based.

- How long should i let the lacquer settle before clear-coating it?

- What _resistant_ top-coat should i apply to finish the job?

- i was recommended to use 1000 to 1500 grit wet-sanding to get a perfectly flat, mirror-like finish. Anything else i should be careful about?

Thanks for any tips & advice.

[Evol]

Re: Clear-coat finish ... ?

Did you use the duplicolor brand flip flop paint? If so then wait 48 hours or so before you clearcoat it. I'm playing with that paint this weekend ...however I will be using nitro laquer instead of the acrylic that comes with the kit,usually I wait about 2-3 hours after the paint then I will spray a light mist of top coat clear to lock in the color.Followed by a couple of light coats of sealer which get sanded down real thin,then the final coats of clear.I can get away with about 3 good wet coats a day before the sun goes down waiting 2 hours or so between coats.

[bobvex]

Re: Clear-coat finish ... ?

DELT!!!!

Sounds like it kicks ass!!!

after the lacquer you want to get a hold of some Stew Mac #3 polish for mega high gloss. I just finished buffing mine myself, use a tee shirt or a maxi pad/diaper.
or refer to my thread at Keith Holland Guitars

[delt]

Re: Clear-coat finish ... ?

Yep, it's the duplicolor paint. I did the same as you, ie. applied a medium coat of the clearcoat that comes with the kit.

Nitro lacquer, hmmm.. i'll try to find that (: thanks for the advice! What's a good brand of durable & -resistant- stuff that can go on top of the duplicolor clear?

[Rikrok]

Re: Clear-coat finish ... ?

[img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] That nitro lacquer dries a lot faster than the duplicolor laquer! BEWARE of stretching the clear beneath!!!!!I work for G.M. and cars are not painted with lacquer anymore. They are a Poly base/clear finish! If I could post a pic of a guitar I did a while back using that Dupli-color spray you are refering to, I would. It came out o.k but it will never dry!!!!

[delt]

Re: Clear-coat finish ... ?

hmm... so what should i use?

rikrok: if you have any pics of that guitar, you can e-mail them to me --- > delt(at)razorback.ca

hey bobvex (: yeah it looks badass!! ....stewmac can't ship flammable stuff to Canada tho, so i can't order most of their paint/dye/finishes ..... [img]graemlins/evilimages/icons/tongue.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/confused.gif[/img]

[Rikrok]

Re: Clear-coat finish ... ?

delt: I will have to wait till the wife gets home to take some pics..just spent a cool GRAND on a camera that I can not use! Any way she should be home soon so the pics will be there! They are some sort of tribal flames that I did for a friend a while back, but you can see the chameleon(flipflop) well. Have you already finished the guitar in question?

[Evol]

Re: Clear-coat finish ... ?

Ok I just picked up 2 kits of the duplicolor stuff for testing on my newest project...I will try and take pics once I get the nitro on ( I wont be using the acrylic clear that comes with it at all) to see how it comes out.Hopefully tomorrow or sunday I 'll let you know how it goes.

[delt]

Re: Clear-coat finish ... ?

ok cool..

but i figure it doesn't make a difference if i used the duplicolor clear over the flip flop paint, because they're both acrylic lacquer, right?

rikrok: i painted it with the duplicolor flip flop, and then i put a medium coat of the duplicolor finish that comes with it. what (more durable & resistant) clear should i use now?

[Evol]

Re: Clear-coat finish ... ?

The clear that comes with it is designed to work with the paint yes...but on a guitar I need something much more durable and thick,and the little cans that came with the kit won't cut it,plus extras are expensive(I can get full size cans of nitro at Lowes for like $4 a can).The guitar I'm working on now I have 6-7 cans of nitro laquer on and I will probably use another 2 before I'm done to get a good close to factory build.
If you've already used the clear that came with it then I would stick to that.Not sure what mixing the 2 would do.

[delt]

Re: Clear-coat finish ... ?

> If you've already used the clear that came with it then I would
> stick to that.Not sure what mixing the 2 would do.

ok, what about if i put an extra few coats of paint on top of it before putting a more durable clear coat?

[Evol]

Re: Clear-coat finish ... ?

Originally posted by delt:
> If you've already used the clear that came with it then I would
> stick to that.Not sure what mixing the 2 would do.

ok, what about if i put an extra few coats of paint on top of it before putting a more durable clear coat?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">You could do that,however it MIGHT negate the color changing effect.I did some tests today and nitro works and looks good on top of the last color coat,it does shrink however so I'll keep checking it the next few days to see if any cracks develop.Something I did find out though,I made 4 test pieces and user nitro sanding sealer under all 4 and with 2 of them I sprayed a primer coat,the other 2 I left just the sealer.Well,the 2 with the primer coat didn't come out as smooth as the others.I suspect that I might not have gotten the coverage with the kits' base coat or the primer coat bled through in spots.
But the ones without primer came out quite nice,we'll see what happens when I get all the clear they need hopefully by next weekend.
You could test it out on a small piece of scrap to see what it would look like if you spray over the top coat with more paint,heck you may come up with something quite nice you never know.
I still have a couple or pieces that I didnt clear yet so if you like I will try the clear that came with the kit with nitro on top of that to see how it reacts and let you know if it seems safe.

[Evol]

Re: Clear-coat finish ... ?

Ok I can say without a doubt do NOT use nitro with this paint [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Overnight it shrank and produced several bubbles in the finish.Also,it completely ruined the color shift properties of the paint turning it into a dull grayish color with no metallics left.

I still haven't tried it over the clear coat but I'm 99% sure the results will be the same [img]images/icons/frown.gif[/img]

[delt]

Re: Clear-coat finish ... ?

&gt; Ok I can say without a doubt do NOT use nitro
&gt; with this paint [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

&gt; Overnight it shrank and produced several bubbles in the finish.Also,it completely ruined the color
&gt; shift properties of the paint turning it into a dull grayish color with no metallics left.

ouch, ok.... (: noted!

&gt; You could test it out on a small piece of scrap to see what it would look like if you spray over the
&gt; top coat with more paint,heck you may come up with something quite nice you never know.

It does look nice actually, i tried it a while ago. Gives the finish a kinda "depth" look since the flip-flop is almost transparent, but has effect on dark colors. But i screwed up the paint job (pinstripes weren't straight) so i scraped it off and re-did it - properly this time - looks fkkn awesome.

This time i put the white pinstripes directly over the black basecoat and then put the flip-flop paint on top of that. Gives a very nice effect, the pinstripes are white-ish, but they have the color-shifting "reflections" of the flip-flop. Hard to describe, and i think even on a picture it wouldn't look as nice.

[delt]

Re: Clear-coat finish ... ?

hmm..... i noticed a few imperfections in the finish, and i ran out of paint.. so im gonna go buy another set of this flip-flop paint, and at the same time i can do test runs of various clear-coats on it.

/* EDIT */

I just called Kevin (Easton guitars) and he told me the best bet would be polyester clear coat, and should be compatible with lacquer based finishes.

[ June 16, 2004, 10:53 AM: Message edited by: delt ]