stewmac.com
a uniformly dull look . Spray three more clear coats, one
hour apart . You now have TWELVE coats . Allow overnight
drying .
Day Eight:
Lightly scuff-sand the finish with 600-grit Fre-
Cut® paper, to help the solvent escape . The neck and body
should now be left in a warm dry location for TWO WEEKS
to let the finish harden and shrink .
KIT TIP: Blushing
Buy a can of aerosol “blush eraser” for lifting the blu-
ish haze which can occur when moisture is trapped
in the lacquer finish . Blushing can result from humid
conditions, or if the coat is sprayed too heavily .
Day Three:
Lightly scuff-sand the finish with 320-grit pa-
per again, and clean off all the residue . You can be slightly
more aggressive in flattening the sprayed surface now, but
be careful on the curves of the neck, and on ANY of the edges
of the neck and body (it’s easy to sand through the edges) .
Don’t try to sand out all the shiny spots yet . This sanding
will release solvent from the finish and help it to cure . Let
the finish dry for two more days .
Day Six:
Once again, spray three wet clear coats, one hour
apart, on the neck and body . The guitar now has NINE coats .
Let the finish dry overnight .
Day Seven:
Scuff-sand the finish with 320-grit again .
This time most of the shiny spots will disappear, leaving
KIT TIP: Wet sanding
Soak the micro-finishing paper in water overnight
before use . It will scratch less, and last longer . Always
keep it wet from then on . Using soft cloths, or an
electric hand-drill with foam polishing pads, rub-
out the fine wet-sanding scratches to a final gloss
with medium and fine polishing compounds .
Use a separate pad for each compound . You can follow this
with swirl remover if desired . Clean off the residue left by
the polishes, remove the remaining masking tape from the
neck, and remove the soundhole masking materials from
the body .
Dry-sand the neck and body to a flat, dull sheen with 800-
grit Fre-Cut® paper . Clean the residue from the paper often
by wiping on a scrap of carpet or a brush .
“Orange-peel” texture caused by lacquer shrinkage as the
solvents cure out of the finish should be removed, but don’t
oversand . When all the little shiny low spots in the lacquer
have been removed, you’re ready to go to the next step .
Wet-sand with 1200-grit micro-finishing paper and water,
to bring the finish to a smooth satin surface that’s ready for
final polishing . Excess water and residue should be wiped
off the finish with a clean dry soft cloth as you work . Rinse
the sandpaper in soapy water often, to remove hard specks
that can scratch the finish .
Sanding and rubbing-out the finish
30
Summary of Contents for 5295
Page 1: ...Dreadnought Acoustic Guitar Kit 5295 Assembly Instructions www stewmac com ...
Page 2: ......
Page 39: ......