The Guitar Refinishing and Restoration Forum

dvlsadvc8t · Joined: 08 Oct 2009 Posts: 174 Location: Houston, TX

Candy Apple Red came in today. For the first go 'round, I sprayed some CAR into the bottle for a Preval sprayer and added some nitro. The mixture was about 30/70 CAR to nitro. Here's a pic of that coat:

For the second coat, I mixed it about 40/60 CAR to nitro:

You definitely need to spray this with a spray gun just so you can really get it even. I can't imagine how hard this is using the aerosol. It's hard enough like this. I having the sprayer set wide enough that it will cover the entire body on one pass. This works well because it naturally mists the CAR on for me.

dvlsadvc8t · Joined: 08 Oct 2009 Posts: 174 Location: Houston, TX

I just tried to search for some of the posts discussing how to spray CAR, but they weren't there. Even the thread posted above showing TLET's CAR strat doesn't exist anymore. Don't know if something's going on right now or what.

Anyway, I wanted to find out if I should shoot some wet coats of the CAR or continue to mist it on there. Thanks.

Cody Paul · Joined: 30 Mar 2010 Posts: 60

dvlsadvc8t · Joined: 08 Oct 2009 Posts: 174 Location: Houston, TX

Here's a couple of pics with the final color coats added. Again, I did somewhere between a 40/60 and 50/50 mixture of CAR and nitro. On this last color coat, I narrowed the spray width a little to be able to hit the edges better and catch some areas that weren't quite covered as much as I wanted. I also put just a little more than a mist on there, but certainly not anything near what would be considered a wet coat. A spray gun is definitely the way to go when spraying this stuff. It is really cool to see the gold flakes shining through the red.

Vince · Joined: 10 May 2007 Posts: 10225 Location: Decatur IL

Very very nice!

Thanks for the tips as I think it looks great! Covered perfectly I would say...
_________________
US GUITAR SUPPLY

dvlsadvc8t · Joined: 08 Oct 2009 Posts: 174 Location: Houston, TX

Tha LowEnd Theory · Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 9:58 pm Post subject:

Man that looks great! Good job!!!
_________________
"To me, putting a lacquer finish over a poly finish is a lot like gold plating a turd.
It will be shiny, and a pretty color, but underneath it's still a turd." ~Houndog

"You didn't plan to fail, you failed to plan." ~M. DeCluette

Lon · Joined: 30 Dec 2003 Posts: 4464 Location: Stephenville, TX

Looks great. Start shooting the clear and watch the color pop. Stand back and be amazed at your work. Laughing

dvlsadvc8t · Joined: 08 Oct 2009 Posts: 174 Location: Houston, TX

I shot a light mist of clear this morning (not even a coat). I came back a couple of hours later and shot a heavier mist of clear and noticed what looked like some lint in the clear. It's been drying in an extremely hot room for the last 45 minutes and will dry for another couple of hours because I have to run out and grab some more clear from WoodCraft (they have Behlen nitro here). Anyway, what would you guys recommend sanding this with to clean it up? I have some #0000 steel wool and sandpaper all the way from 320 up to 2000 plus I have some of those StewMac micromesh pads. I was thinking of lightly running the steel wool over the body to knock down some of the overspray (at least that's what it looks like) and hopefully this would knock out those pieces of lint. Sound like a smart thing to do? Obviously if I shoot anymore it will bury the lint.

Tha LowEnd Theory · Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 9:45 am Post subject:

Vince · Joined: 10 May 2007 Posts: 10225 Location: Decatur IL

You don't want to hit it with anything until the metallic flakes are completely buried... If you are very very careful... you can pick the lint out with some precision tweezers but on a metallic finish... I wouldn't... I'd leave it since chances are you will never see it once it is buried.

BTW... check my store... I have the right tweezers for the job if you need them.
_________________
US GUITAR SUPPLY

dvlsadvc8t · Joined: 08 Oct 2009 Posts: 174 Location: Houston, TX

Thanks guys. These are more like lint balls so I'll go the tweezer route. I hate not having the other threads on here anymore because now I have to ask questions that I know have already been answered. BUT when would you start shooting some nice wet coats of clear? Or would you just continue shooting misting coats (just a lot more of them)?

dvlsadvc8t · Joined: 08 Oct 2009 Posts: 174 Location: Houston, TX

After inspecting these areas, there were a few pieces of lint in the finish that came out easily. What I was looking at the most was actually overspray that obviously dried well before the nitro hit the body - melted right away with another spray-over. Now time to let it sit for a while and dry.

Back to the previous question - when would you guys start shooting some wet coats of clear?

Tha LowEnd Theory · Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 12:06 pm Post subject: