Official Luthiers Forum!

Sand off the finish to bare wood at about 180 grit, the coating needs an anchor. Wipe down with DA or naptha.

Yes you will need the sealer to form a bridge between the finish and the wood.

Doubt you will get the toner to stick from 2 feet out. Beware of getting a dry coat in between your sealer and finish, it will lead to delamination. The idea is to apply wet coats so it all melts together and forms one coating. Matching the existing tone is always the tricky part, the clear finish will change it as well.

Also I notice that you will be using a lacquer sealer and a CAB clear, I would recommend staying with all lacquer for ease of use and repairability.

Sealer...http://www.mohawk-finishing.com/catalog ... ictNbr=442

And one of these for the top coat....http://www.mohawk-finishing.com/catalog ... ictNbr=430

Good luck.

_________________
Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

Hey Blair, don't take it the wrong way. You post on a luthier's website, so I thought you might like some perspective on it. It's your guitar, so do what you want. If it's a water slide decal, you're essentially dealing with ink stuck to a thin film of lacquer. Once it's applied, shooting coats of nitro lacquer over it will essentially reflow the lacquer carrier on the decal and you end up with a very smooth finish.

Anyhow, just an FYI that water slides play very nicely with nitro if you decide to change your mind about the acrylic.

^^ I would like to do Nitro if I can but i can't find any in a rattle spray can locally and online no websites will ship it to Canada

When you say "beware of getting a dry coat in between the sealer and finish" and that the "idea is to apply wet coats" you're saying that once I've sanded and applied the anchoring material and applied a coat of sealer my second coat of sealer should be put on before the first dries, then after that my first coat of toner should be applied before the 2nd coat of sealer dries (and so on and so on..? and I don't even know if I need 2 coats of sealer..)

So the order should be clear lacquer sealer (how ever many coats) toner (how ever many coats) clear lacquer sealer (how ever many coats) waterslide decal, then the top coat can that you linked at the bottom ?

Thanks again to you, and anyone who answers these questions I really, really appreciate it. I think this will turn out nicely because I'm thinking of sanding of the entire neck as well and the fretboard and doing the whole thing... do you think I should try and tape off the tiny little frets or just spray away and then after everything's said and done will there be a way to clean it?

I'm debating whether or not to do the entire neck and fretboard because I don't want to ruin (while sanding) the part between the headstock and neck (like I don't want to ruin the curvature of the wood there...)

I could always just do strictly the headstock and when I want to make the neck faster I can just do the light scotch-brite dealio..


I'm really getting excited about this now!



*edit*... that stupid mohawk website has the option for shipping to canada (in the drop down bar) but in the fine print somewhere else it says that they don't ship to Canada.... I need to find a Canadian company with a website so I can post it here and you guys can tell me what you think.

I'm having to resort to Canadian Tire, Home Hardware and Home Depot it looks like (IF I do this, I should say)

Here's what I've got to choose from for clear sealers:

http://homehardware.ca/en/rec/index.htm ... aler&Num=0

http://homehardware.ca/en/rec/index.htm ... aler&Num=0

http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/6 ... ?locale=en

And for clear lacquers (my finishing coat I guess?):

http://homehardware.ca/en/rec/index.htm ... ar+lacquer

http://homehardware.ca/en/rec/index.htm ... ar+lacquer

and I can't find any spray can toners... I guess I'll have to find a wood stain that will work?

most shellac has an amber "vintage" vibe to it, thats what i recommend. then, clear nitrocellulose laquer. shellac and laquer are great because they go on thin, dry quick, are brittle, are "natural", can be re-worked easily, look great, are non-petro/non-Dow Corp., and are traditional. if you don't keep your guitars outside under the open sky, then those are the way to go.
i tried some "oak tinted" rattle can laquer once and it looked like poop. it looked like a 5 year old stirred in some beige acryllic paint into the laquer. so i would not go that route.

When I say dry coat I mean a coat of finish that goes on dry and dusty rather than wet, this can act just like a film of dirt in between coats and cause failure. All coats must go onto the surface "wet" so they will melt into the previous ones. You need to let the cots dry to the touch at least between coats. Apply enough sealer to seal the wood so it is uniform looking and can be level sanded if needed (320 grit) without sanding back to the wood. After that it is all finish coats, either toners or clears, no more sealer.

I believe Behlins is available in Canada. http://www.hbehlen.com/about.asp

Stew mac also sells rattle can finish http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Finishing_s ... cquer.html

_________________
Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

Friend...
I agree with the sentiment that you could either save up to get the guitar you really want, or get a used one of higher quality thats already played in for you... either of those options might be a better bet,,, I dont give a rats arse if you change the decal or not ,,, serious or experienced players wont be fooled by a decal change anyhow.. but go ahead if you want decal practice... There are other reasons those guitars are much cheaper than Am Std models, and mainly its the electronics - theyre cheap as hell on those squires... you can actually "see" how much cheaper they are if you put an Am Std and a MiM together and have a good look!!!! and they sound like sandpaper if you ask me - did you do a side by side comparison thru an amp? Try it!! Youll see what Im talking about...
Im always amazed at how much $$$ value Fenders lose as soon as they walk out the music store door(Am Std or MiJ or MiM)... the 1,100 models your talking about are on craigslist out here in BC for $700 or less (ppl ask $700 but will take $600 or so cash) and are in practically new anyhow - there are so many reasons ppl buy guitars and dont end up playin em - too many to list.... check out your local Craigslist - you might be surprised what you could get for a couple hun more..
Good luck
Cheers
charliewood

When I was in the music store I compared 1 Squier classic vibe to another classic vibe to a Mexican fender to an American standard to an American deluxe. I played each for 10 minutes unplugged to get a feel, the Squier felt as good as any of the others... way better than the Mexican. Then I tried them all out side by side into a Traynor tube amp. I know Squier's used to be terrible guitars. I've been playing guitar for a short 10 years but I know when I pick up a guitar that feels and sounds good. I've owned lots of guitars and amps and wouldn't have ever considered purchasing a Squier as little as 2 weeks ago but once I heard about this I knew I had to try it.

I've been on youtube for the last couple weeks and every time I find a video where someone has one of these Squier Classic Vibe guitars I post the same comment "can anyone who owns this guitar and an American fender comment on how it compares? be brutally honest I don't expect this guitar to come close to a fender" and day after day I log in and read peoples replies and I've had several people say they enjoy it more than their American Standards. I'm not sure why because when I was in the store the American Standard felt a little better (but it did have a different neck profile and to be honest the only difference that I preferred was the neck).


When comparing the guitars tonally through the amp there was no "better" guitar, just different.

The biggest factor to me is how the only thing I preferred about the American Standard was the neck profile (but it did have a smoother neck so maybe it was the smoothness of it fooling me to think the profile was different).

Bottom line is the American Standard was 1,100 new and the Squier was 350 new and there wasn't a huge amount of difference, and tonally to my ear it sounded great. and I'd like to think I have a decent ear as I've went through intensive ear training for months at school and edit, record, mix and do live sound for a living.

regarding fender strats, i have played asian squires and mexican strats that i thought were every bit as good as the "made in USA" models.....sometimes.
the wood used in the necks of asian guitars can be pretty crappy looking sometimes though, full of little dark knots; i was even wondering if some were maple or not. i'm sure the bodies are similar. the frets may not be polished and dressed as carefully, and maybe the paint isn't as good. but for $700, who cares?
i do disagree to some extent about altering the decals, because some day there will come a time when you are not the owner of the guitar, then there might be confusion, or others who try to misrepresent it