Added 4 more coats of color. Pretty happy with it, Not going to level sand it. Got into trouble last time, not really supposed to sand color coat unless there is debris caught up. Stains are different though. Going to spray a bunch of coats of matte Crystalac water based finish. And level sand that instead of the color. Some people wetsand the color but not going to risk it all. Overall going really smooth so far.

Trying to avoiding a lot of the pitfalls I’ve done in the past. Like oversanding the color coat or painting in the heat. Not scuff sanding clear coats or oversanding or sanding through the clear coats and causing massive headaches that I’ve completely resanded and refinished from scratch too many fucking times. Lessons learned but I have to be totally focused.

The Crystalac clear matte coat is self leveling. I will spray light coats with Earlmax spraygun. Another pitfall I made was spraying too much. Especially when spraying the sides. Always better to underspray and not get any runs. But runs are going to happen. I’ve learned that it’s better to leave the runs alone and let coat dry thoroughly before next coat and just scuff it more but not oversand. Gradually it will level out after a few coats, and final level sand should take of it. No point of level sanding after a few coats, you will oversand. Scuffing with scotchbrite lightly always the best in between every 2 coats. My #1 trouble spot are the horns the runs just seem to accumulate there when and gravity loves messing up my day. Gotta super pro active about it.

I am not going to thin out the mix this time. Avoiding huge runs is key. Never leaving spray gun settle on one spot. A full coat should take less than a minute to complete. And 2 hours between coats and scuff sand. Last 3 coats no scuff sanding and only 45 minutes between coats. When I initially spray I seem to overspray that top left corner. I learned to pre spray just above it and keep going. Also made mistake of double spraying same part and having it run. Just have to practice a few sprays first to make sure gun is spraying consistent.

Going to let this dry for about a day and a half and spray matte coat on Saturday morning to be safe. I’m confident I can get this done right the first time. Just got to keep improving. This is hardest part of guitar making. I think I’ve paid my dues and have luckily sold a lot of my practice paint guitars. A skill I’m still progressing, it would be a massive accomplish if I can finish this matte clear coat without any runs.