Ok, what am I doing wrong? I have stripped, sanded, painted my guitar 3 times. When I spray clear coat on it, it peels badly. I used Rustoleum hunter green gloss. It looks really great for the fourth time. I am scared to put a clear coat on in fear of peeling again. Any helpful ideas would be great. And what kind of coat to put on? Should I spray it or brush it on?

Hi ryan51,

Just a guess, but are you using two different types of paint and clear coat? Are both poly? Also, you want the paint to dry thoroughly before clear coating, or it could peel. Definitely spray on, brushing will leave lines in the finish.

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+1000

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Is not Rustoleum oil based paint and what is the clear coat?

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Both the paint and clear coat are the same. poly.

Both the paint and clear coat are the same. poly.

Cool. Then just let the color dry thoroughly before applying your clear coats, and it should be fine. If you put your color coats on too thick like I have before, it will take a few days or more to dry completely. Sometimes I will hang the body over an oil filled electric radiator to speed up the drying (not too hot though). Wait until the body is completely not tacky at all before using the clear. Don't use a gas heater or anything with exposed coils that could cause a fire, to help dry the body, the oil filled is safer and won't stain the body like the other heaters can. You should be able to hold the body in your hands with no sticky feeling when it is completely dry. I presume you are like me, and don't have the patience to wait for it to dry? Good luck!

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---> "The amp should be SWITCHED OFF AND UNPLUGGED before you do this!" <---

Por favor, disculpe mi español, no se llega a la práctica con mucha frecuencia.

When you say it peels do you mean it peels after it dries or is the clear coat causing the base coat to wrinkle up while its wet before it dries.

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I let it dry for 2 days just to be sure.

It peels as soon as I sprayed the clear coat on

You may be spraying the clear on too thick. You may have to put very thin multiple coats of clear. The lighter the clear is sprayed on the faster it can dry. Your base coat does need to be completely dry. Also, ther are different types of oil based paints. Some are hotter than others. If your clear is made from a hotter base than your base paint, it will eat through it.(wrinkle it up). Read the cans and see what each one says under. "Clean Up" You can tell which is hotter by what is recommended to clean it up with.

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"Damn Right I Got the Blues"

I think you should use a flat paint not a gloss if you want to clearcoat. Jmo

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— did that sound like something?

Hi ryan51: like bshane84 asked, what peels? The clear peels from the color, or the color starts lifting from the body, or...?

Also: I'm finding too many Rusoleum products out there to know which you are using. So tell us a lot more about which one it is, please. Names, specs.

There are so many possibilities as to what is going wrong here. We need a lot more information before we can help.

Are you using aerosols or a spray gun? If a gun, what are your settings - nozzle diameter, tank pressure, etc etc?

How far from the surface are you spraying?

What is the temperature where you are working?

How did you prep the wood? Did you degrease it before beginning? Have you handled the body only with rubber gloves on since prepping?

Are you de-nibbing between coats? How?

How many color coats are on there? How thick are they?

And plenty more. Over to you.

Cheers - C

They can both say polyurethane and still be different. It sounds like maybe the clear coat is hotter than the base coat.

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"Damn Right I Got the Blues"

If the needle and nozzle is too large too much spray will end up in places you don't want it. You need to adjust the nozzle to an appropriate cover pattern.

Too much pressure will put more on than you need too little pressure and it will spit drops at your surface. You don't want so much pressure that the paint dries before hitting the surface.

Stay 7-10 inches away from the surface when spraying (dependent on your spray size) too close and you will disrupt the previous passes. Too far away and not enough clear.

The settings pressures and drying time on clear might be different compared to the color coat and don't assume its compatible even if the same brand of paint.

If your doing one pass and getting peel in just the clear then its going on too thick for the temperature, if it happens on a second pass then too much spray with not enough drying time in between passes.

Make sure you paint in good light and use even passes, some people prefer to do sides, back then front to reduce over spray.

Could also be technique especially if your getting peel mostly in the center of the surface try doing even passes that start and finish before and after the surface instead of holding the gun in one spot.

Ok, I have put 3 coats of clear coat on and so far no peeling. yeah!. Also I am spraying about a foot and half away, just to be safe.

I'll keep ya posted.

thanks for everyones help.