I've recently gotten back up to speed with two guitar refinishing projects. One is my Squier Strat that I stripped over a year ago and still needs a paint job. The second is a Crate Electra Strat abandoned by one of my wife's nephews. I stripped its paint and began prepping it for paint last fall. This weekend I finally got around to applying sanding sealer to the guitars.
Step 1 was to tape off the neck pockets. I learned the hard way last time that lacquer build-up makes it very difficult to fit the neck back in later. This time I applied tape to the entire pocket, extending out beyond the edges, and then trimmed it back inside the edge of the pocket. A fraction of an inch is exposed around the inside edge of the pocket, but the build-up should be much easier to sand back at the edges than in the inside corners of the pocket.
The washers shown sitting in the pocket are used to offset the paint handle so that there is a gap between the handle and the edge of the pocket. The gap prevents sealer and paint build-up where the handle and pocket would otherwise meet.
Here are the two guitars in the paint stands after getting sprayed with sanding sealer.
I shot two coats of sanding sealer, sanded with 220 grit paper, then shot two more coats of sealer and sanded with 320 grit. Next I sprayed them with sandable primer. They'll get sanded again before I apply the color coats, but I ran out of time this past weeked.
In the photo below, the one nearest the camera is Rob's (the Crate Electra) -- its also getting a matching headstock.
In the next post the guitars will have the color and a few clear coats. Check back soon.
Ken
