Refinishing an 82 Ibanez studio blazer

[voitty]

I guys I have a couple of question. What grade sandpaper should i start and finish with before i stain and spray the body ? I am staining with a ColorTone Liquid Stains - Medium brown and then going to finish it with Mirotone 3220 full gloss. Do I need to resand after i stain to remove all the high spots from the wood absorbing the stain or should I do a sealing coat with the mirotone, then stain and then Finish. Your help would be much appreciated as this is my first guitar refinish and whatever i do will look better than its current condition.

[Dominic]

Hey, what sort of wood is the body? Are you using a water base for the colortone? If so people will usually sand to around 400 grit, then lightly wet the wood and let it dry. This should raise any nibs in the wood and these are then sanded off before you start you stain and you should not need to sand again. Once you have the colour you want seal it with shellac or something similar and the spray your lacquer. Be careful doing any leveling in case you go through the finish and into your stain.

StewMac have a cool book on finishing with heaps of techniques and recipes for traditional gibson (gold top), fender and other classic guitar finishes. Very detailed instructions and its quite a cheap book.
Cheers
Dom

[voitty]

Thanks for your reply. I think this stain can be diluted with water or alcohol ( metho i guess ) is it ok to spray mirotone over the shellac as I have no idea. The Mirotone MIROCAT PC 3220 Clear Topcoat can be used as a sealer according to the rep and their spec sheets so can I use this in place of shellac. I have read some good things on the Luthier forums regarding mirotone and for me it is much more cost effective than using the Durobond 851 nitro.

[Nick]

Any staining of the timber directly that I've done (& I've sprayed a few bursts in my time ), I've always pre wet the wood at least four times, rubbing down with 240 grit (with the grain!) inbetween each wetting (wood has had plenty of time to dry, I can usually get 2 wet then sand sequences done a day) , this will reduce the chance of getting any nibs popping up.Basically I want it at a stage where if I apply anymore water I get no more grain raising.
Once the stain is on I've just applied 3 coats of the actual finish (in your case mirotone), this acts as my sealer. Let it dry overnight the a quick scuff up with 320 the next day to remove any possible 'errant' nibs and provide a key for subsequent coats, then I proceed to apply the finish as normal. Any surface leveling is done after the first day's finish coats have gone on & dried over night (the wood's surface should be flat from all your prep work so you are only leveling the finish). I usually stick with the 320 grit whilst in the building finish stages only going finer when I've finished spraying & start the final level & buff stage. Many an early burst had to stripped back and redone because I tried leveling the surface too early on in the process & rubbed through the very thin finish & stain layer . That's how I do it anyway but Allen is our painting guru, he may have a better/different method
I would say though, don't rush any of the stages! The final finish will reflect the amount of time & care you put in to it.

Oh, and welcome to the forum!

[voitty]

Ok thanks for all that advice. When it comes down to the final finishing coats after all the wetting and sanding is done, how many coats are usually applied and do i need to sand it between coats. The Mirotone 3220 is a pre catalist lacquer so it is dry within 4 hours. Should i be giving it a light coat every 1/2 hour and lets say do 4 coats, let them harden, give it a light sand to level and then continue with more coats. Sorry for all the questions as i have sprayed lots of different things but never a guitar so I want to do a great job as its my guitar and i have to look at it every day.Cheers

[Nick]

Should i be giving it a light coat every 1/2 hour and lets say do 4 coats, let them harden, give it a light sand to level and then continue with more coats.

Sounds like you are on the right track, I've not used Mirotone specifically (I've used Acrylic Lacquers in the past but now use a two pot Urethane) but that's about the same as I do for the number of coats in a day session. I usually let it dry off overnight, level with 320 grit to get rid of any orange peeling or general high spots and then do about another 4 more coats. Same procedure, let it dry overnight then level with 320. It's at this stage that I'll access how level the surface is and how much finish I've got on the body, if I think it will take the rubbing down with the finer finishing grits (600 e.t.c) without rubbing through especially on the corners (I usually don't sand these corners too much, a rub through in these area's is easier than falling over drunk! ) I'll leave it to fully cure but if I think I'll rub through with the finer grits then I'll give it another 2-3 good wet coats (just before the point of runs forming) spaced about an hour apart. The surface should be nice and level so I don't bother rubbing down when it's dry the next day, I just leave it to fully cure for a couple of weeks (longer for the lacquers!) then start straight into it with the 600.
Anyway that's just how I do it, others have different methods/number of coats/finishing schedule so they may chip in and add to the pot of ideas, especially as I say, Allen as he's the mirotone king & all round spraying guru.

[voitty]

How can I contact Allan ?

[jeffhigh]

Depending on the type of wood, grain filling will be essential, and depending on what grain filler you use, spraying tinted finish may be better than trying to dye the wood. most factory guitars use tinted finish rather than application to the wood.

[Nick]

How can I contact Allan ?

Have a squizz at a quick tutorial Allen put up about applying Mirotone here then PM him via the PM button at the bottom of each poster's window. He's a great guy (what else would you expect from a Canadian? )& I'm sure would be happy to fill in any gaps or questions you might have.