Acoustic Guitar Construction

Hi Mark.

You saw this right?

http://www.kennethmichaelguitars.com/fi ... ars_5_.pdf


The issue with more then two coats is clarity -- the silica is actually white and sure enough too much sealer will appear whitish. That said I have tested heavier applications and after leveling clarity was still very transparent. So you can level sand, re-coat and level again the idea being you can't have an excessive build up on the surface so if you sand through it's not a big deal --- however, to prevent a blotchy appearance the entire surface has to have at least a thin coating of the filler before top coat can be applied -- make sense?

Yeah -- its difficult to determine exact drying/cure time just a guess but I'd say 24 hours is the minimum.

Yep - saw the schedule but it didn't address either of my questions.

Sound like as long as I'm sanding enough off to only leave a thin final coat of pore filler in the end it doesn't really matter how many coats I put on - you agree? So, keep applying until I can get a level sand and all pores are completely filled - but make sure I'm sanding enough off to only have a very thin coat. Makes total sense.

On the second issue - the schedule also doesn't suggest a timeframe between the final coat of pore fill and the first coat of lacquer. I wasn't sure if I needed to spray it soon, so as to burn the two coats together or wait a week or so to completely allow for ALL of the shrinkage to occur. Thoughts on this?

Mark

I am sure you can understand my reluctance to give any definitive coating recommendations -- I am not a chemist. The variables are exponential or at least many. What I do recommend is contacting the manufacturers (for any product) and get the scoop right from the the horses mouth. As a matter of fact I am in the process of clearing up questions I have about some Pacer Industry products.

I would think that since the Behlens and the Hood are lacquer base coatings, burn-in is not an issue. Plus I believe that it is what goes on top that does the chemical etching. Your concern in general is a good one and exactly why I hesitate to use epoxy resin as a filler -- if the lacquer just lays on top, its my belief, that can't be good.

Hi Mark,
I have only used the Hoods once. I sprayed it on, two coats. I waited one day after the second coat, leveled it and started spraying Behlens lacquer. That was a month a go, the finish looks great so I think the lacquer burned in quite nicely. I guess more time will tell.
I liked the Hoods, but on walnut, two coats did not fully fill the pores, however after about the 6 coat of lacquer, they were filled.
I tend to like clear pore filler and I think I had a problem going on when I was using epoxy - albeit it was Devcon, not the expensive resin epoxies, so that may make a difference. So there is my one meager experience with Hoods.

Kevin