"mapdude" wrote in message
news
Here is one of my current projects that is not on my honey do list at
the same time.

I am almost ready to apply some type of finish, but am undecided on what
to use. Nitrocel laquer has been suggested by several friends, but I
have never used it.

I want the natural beauty and grain of the wood to show, so I am
considering an airbrush of black or brown around the edge and leave the
center areas a clear or yellowish tinted clear coat. Sort of the
traditional "tobacco sunburst" finish.

I think this is ash so suggestions on if I should put sealers or
whatever before stains, etc. would be helpful


http://www.flickr.com/photos/64522156@N00/ this is the last Guitar I built,
Kind of a deferent desing

I have tried some automotive finishes the two part type cost a lot need a
special mask. just to much of a pain. The thing about lacquer is it's
pretty easy to learn how to spray pretty easy to fix if you screw it up. I
like to lay them down flat and spray them I always engineer some method of
turning them over to spray both sides. The best results I've got is by doing
3 coats a day for three days. I wet sand in-between every other coat. The
wet sanding can be tricky if you sand into the wood it swells up you can
also wet sand with naphtha ( charcoal lighter fluid) After the guitar sits
for about 3 weeks minimum your ready for the final wet sanding and buffing.
You might consider buying a book on finishing. This sight will give you some
good information http://reranch.august.net/. As for a sprayers I use just
a simple cup gun my favorite was a $20 shading gun but I drop it now I use a
$40 dollar one with the cup on top. I do have a some full size nice ones but
the cheap ones are just fine. The finishing is the hardest part so take your
time quiet a bit of work to getting a great finish I have a full size buffer
and lost count of how many guitars I've sprayed. I just talked to another
builder or as I like to say a parts assembler he pays about $300 to $400 to
have his guitars finished.