/Clear coat

[waynepunkdude]

As most of you know I do a lot of re-fins but I have yet to find a clear coat that is Fender-like, any suggestions?

[EBS_freak]

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='895887' date='Jul 15 2010, 07:20 PM']As most of you know I do a lot of re-fins but I have yet to find a clear coat that is Fender-like, any suggestions?[/quote]

Thats cos its polyester.

[waynepunkdude]

[quote name='EBS_freak' post='895890' date='Jul 15 2010, 07:22 PM']Thats cos its polyester.[/quote]


Can I get polyester anywhere?

[Al Heeley]

Not just polyester - which is generic name for resin used in fibreglass construction, but 2-part clear coat or gelcoat polyester. best start is asking a good vehicle refinishing shop. To apply well you need a spray booth and good spray equipment, its 2-part curing so not easy to handle - the peroxide hardener is dangerous and needs cold storage.
Nearest user-friendly home equivalent is Rustins Plastic coating, also 2-pack, chemically curing, but dries clear, no colour, very hard and can be brush-applied, self-levels to a good high gloss finish.

Edited July 15, 2010 by Al Heeley

[EBS_freak]

If you are going down the RPC route, make sure you spray in a warm, dust free room and be prepared for losts of sanding inbetween coats. The longer you can let it dry, the better. Moisture is bad - so spraying outside is not good.

[LawrenceH]

I was asking about this sort of thing recently. From what people said and what I found elsewhere in the course of my research, you have to be very careful putting polyester over lacquer finishes like acrylic and particularly for nitro it may well f*** right up.

Btw Fender USA are typically polyurethane. Only the MIM and Squiers are polyester.

I did find 2k polyurethane available in spray cans from specialist auto suppliers. But you'd still need breathing equipment to spray it.

Edited July 16, 2010 by LawrenceH

[LawrenceH]

To update, I've finally finished a fill repair on my natural ash Jap 75RI, which I did using a superglue fill plus Plastikote Polyurethane varnish, and removed some nasty buckle rash. I'd done the filling ages ago and sanded out the buckle rash with 280 through to 400, but only today have done the final finishing. I found that to get a really glass-smooth finish, you have to sand right down then work up carefully through all the grades of sandpaper, then a coarse rubbing cutting compound. I think the finer grades of wet'n'dry sandpaper you can get the better, up to at least 2000. I went up to 1200 which was all I had and then to Halford's rubbing compound, then T-cut. Worked well and the finish is a nice smooth high gloss, but I had to do a LOT of rubbing and I still haven't got the 1200 scratches completely out. Much better to work finer with the paper, bridging the gap between the paper and compound is the issue (or was for me this time). I'll be ordering 1500, 2000, 2500 (at least) online for my next project and maybe a couple of different grades of rubbing compound too. This may be a grandma-egg-sucking scenario, but I thought I'd mention it as after today's experience, I'm confident that if you put on enough layers of clear-coat, sanding down, cutting and buffing like this will give that Fender finish - as long as the body has been well-prepped and is smooth/flat to start with.

Edited July 17, 2010 by LawrenceH

[adledman]

hi, so what is the best method of getting lacquer off a modern bass? any chemicals that will touch it? or heat gun and elbow grease groan groan!

[Al Heeley]

sanding disks and a dust mask

[LawrenceH]

[quote name='adledman' post='945015' date='Sep 3 2010, 10:20 PM']hi, so what is the best method of getting lacquer off a modern bass? any chemicals that will touch it? or heat gun and elbow grease groan groan![/quote]

Modern polyester is pretty much impossible to deal with chemically as far as I'm aware, BUT some polyurethane-compatible strippers (nitromors?) may loosen it thanks to the sealer coat that's underneath it. Otherwise my powerful-hairdryer-plus-careful-paint-scraper technique worked surprisingly well if you can get it started with a chisel in a non-critical (i.e. hidden) area. It's better than a heat gun because it softens the sealer and seems to make the polyester more flexible but doesn't scorch the wood at all.

[bumnote]

these guys will offer a clear and a tinted clear coat
[url="http://www.reranch.com/"]http://www.reranch.com/[/url] Although they are in the usa


Manchester guitar tech [url="http://www.manchesterguitartech.co.uk/lacquer.html"]http://www.manchesterguitartech.co.uk/lacquer.html[/url] supplies the same or similar

[adledman]

as i thought it is just going to be sanding and heat gun. i have tried nitromors before and it worked a little bit still left a load of scraping and sanding.

LawrenceH what hair dryer have you got that gets hot enough?

cheers

[LawrenceH]

[quote name='adledman' post='945427' date='Sep 4 2010, 02:53 PM']as i thought it is just going to be sanding and heat gun. i have tried nitromors before and it worked a little bit still left a load of scraping and sanding.

LawrenceH what hair dryer have you got that gets hot enough?

cheers[/quote]

My wife's 2000 watt tresemme on maximum heat and blow! It's hot...but not heat gun hot, which will scorch wood easily in my experience.
That was on a black (polyester) MIM Classic 70s. I did NOT sand at all, with that finish it's a mug's game and I'd be too worried about gouging through the wood once I got past the rock-hard outer shell. You have to be patient for the dryer to warm it up sufficiently, but conversely don't leave the dryer on hot for more than a minute at a time or it may die! I ran the dryer on cool for a few seconds every minute or so to help it survive.
I took pictures of the process and will put it all in a build diary once the respray is finished, but here's a few to give you an idea of what I mean. The first one shows my woeful and very brief sanding attempt, and where I then chiselled into the body at a bit that's hidden by the pickguard (and in any case I wood-fillered that pointless routing hole along with the chisel marks) so I could get the scraper in. I guess removing the finish took about an hour for the main bit, then another hour tidying up around the horns, but it's much less energy than sanding!
[attachment=58104:DSCF1124.JPG][attachment=58106:DSCF1127.JPG][attachment=58107:DSCF1128.JPG]
[attachment=58108:DSCF1129.JPG]

Edited September 4, 2010 by LawrenceH

[Dave Vader]

[quote name='LawrenceH' post='945093' date='Sep 4 2010, 12:25 AM']Modern polyester is pretty much impossible to deal with chemically as far as I'm aware, BUT some polyurethane-compatible strippers (nitromors?) may loosen it thanks to the sealer coat that's underneath it. Otherwise my powerful-hairdryer-plus-careful-paint-scraper technique worked surprisingly well if you can get it started with a chisel in a non-critical (i.e. hidden) area. It's better than a heat gun because it softens the sealer and seems to make the polyester more flexible but doesn't scorch the wood at all.[/quote]

Try Nitromors specialist, in the orange tin. Gets the top coats off pretty well, won't get you all the way to the wood, thanks to the polyester sealer. But takes a bit of pain out of geting down there.