I am working on finishing my first guitar that I built from a kit. I am getting nervous about sanding (wet sanding/2000grit), that I am going to start hitting some of the wood grain that is sticking up and I would like a smooth finish on the guitar. After doing so research, I see that I probably should have evened out the grain with filler before adding my finish.
Currently, I have about 11 thin coats (rubbed on and sanded). I still feel raised grain when rubbing my hand over the finish.
Should I keep adding more coats until I get an even surface and then wet sand again?
Should I do thicker coats and careful sanding? I read somewhere about using thicker coats and a heat gun to get a smooth finish before wet sanding but this seems like a bad idea.
Am I going to need to sand it down to the wood grain again – then use filler, repaint and refinish?
Replies
You don't say what your finish material is. If it is a film finish (like polyurethane or lacquer) and you have 11 coats, then my first thought is that you are not dealing with raised grain, but dust nibs. If the space you are working in is not clean, dust in the air can settle into the wet finish after application and you end up with a sandpapery feel to the finish. However, after wet sanding, it should feel smooth again. After applying a fresh coat and letting it dry, rather than jumping right into wet sanding with 2000 grit, try starting with 600 and progress through 1000 and 2000. With grits that fine and 11 coats of a film finish, you should normally not have any issues with sanding through the finish.
If you are using something like lacquer or shellac, the finish might need to cure a bit longer. It may still have a bit of solvent left and still be shrinking. If this is the case, even after sanding a finish level, you may get more grain lines appearning.
Might just be better to let it cure good and hard before leveling a finish again?
Thanks for the replies - We first used the stains from the company where we purchased the kit (https://www.crimsonguitars.com/collections/guitar-finishing). And now we are using a Minwax Poly for the top coat.
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