When are we actually going to get to see you spray a finish, Jon?
Now
The first step in the blond finish is the white under layer. White helps to reflect light back to the eye, so any transparent finish we spray over white will look that much more vibrant to our senses. Here I mixed up lacquer 2:1, meaning one part lacquer, 2 parts lacquer thinner (use the same brand by the way, or you could end up with problems). Then I added about a tablespoon of white pigment (from StewMac) and shook it up. This first batch was mixed in the spray gun itself, which I do not recommend. The white pigment is very heavy, and will sink immediately to the bottom of any receptacle, which in this case meant all the white went directly down the gun toward the spray nozzle. My first few squirts were almost opaque white! My bad. After that debacle, I started mixing my lacquer in an old jar, then pouring it into my gun. Much better.
So here we are after sanding the grain filler - you can see the sheen of the vinyl sealer just coming through.
and here is the last coat of vinyl sealer. Ready for blond!
And I got greedy. You have to be very careful when you spray the white, and the next step -toner, not to spray too much and create runs - like I did here. If I had just waited for it to dry, then sprayed another light coat, there would be no issue. But I just had to get it done tonight. Oh well. Better push your schedule back another day, Jon cause you just earned yourself a day worth of sanding to fix these runs. BOO!
Here you can see my device for sanding small areas. I tore off a small piece of sandpaper (this is 400 grit, by the way, 220 was too much) and i rolled a piece of tape sticky side out around my finger, then stuck it to the back side of the paper. Works great!
Sanding...
More sanding...
Almost there!
So this was a bummer - as I was sanding the runs out of the neck area, I accidentally brushed the back of the guitar body against my HVLP gun holder and dinged it. Hopefully I can fill this in with lacquer. Otherwise, I guess it's the first of many dings, dents and scratches. Guess it's a relic guitar after all.
I ended up having to use the airbrush to spray more white in the places where I sanded through. I think I got it pretty much even.
Here's a flash coat of white to blend in my airbrush fixes. VERY VERY light.
Pretty good? I think so. Now on to the vintage toner to make this thing look 50 years old.
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