For all you builders and re-finishers...

I am finishing a Telecaster with re-ranch nitro and I am on the clear-coat stage. You can see the project on the Tele Forum.

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=42865

Anyway it looks like I'll be able to finish shooting the clear coat this afternoon if all goes well, weatherwise. I'm using Deft Gloss Clear which gets mixed reviews. My question is that can this finish be baked, to speed up the curing process? A good friend owns an auto-body shop and offered to put the body in the bake cycle with a car. He said it could be cured in 15 minutes, which would be a dream come true to the king of patience.

Does anyone have any experience or insight into baking a guitar finish to cure it?

thanks
~Kong

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It take too much time to wait finish is dried ? IMO should'nt take more than 12 hours each coating.

Take your time, don't be in rush

I think he's talking about the curing phase after the final coat of clear - which should be about a month...you can understand that being a bit frustrating!!

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How did it sound to you?

While I would certainly defer to a professional in the painting business,nitrocellulose paint hasn't been used on cars since the early 60's.As I understand the process this paint must air cure.

Preheat your oven to 350 Degrees and bake for approx 45 min..... Your body should be cured when it reaches an internal temperature of 165

I wouldn,t do that it might dryout the wood and cause it to seperate or something. Cars are not made from wood.

I would not even consider it, baking in an oven with UV rays is one thing, but baking in a normal oven used for cooking, you might want to reconsider. It is a one way trip, plus I suspect that if that body is made of two or more slabs, you risk melting the adhesive holding the body together.
I'm rebuilding 3 strats, 1 PB and another no name mahogany bodied guitar.
None will see the interior of an oven.
By the way as a woodworker myself, it is also very likely that your body does not have pieces from the same tree, nor that the grain runs perpendicular from one piece to another.
There are too many unknowns, including the chemical makeup of your paint selection.

Also I believe that an oven at a 165F or more will force the moisture out so fast that you may get bubbling or orange peel effect. ( so much for a nice finish )

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"C'est parti mon Kiki "

I think the guy was talking about an automotive paint booth. They use heat lamps to help set the paint on the cars after it flashes over. It is not a cooking oven. I'm not sure how hot it gets but it's not anywhere close to a cooking oven.

Now, is it safe for a guitar? I don't know. Also, I'm not sure if nitro lacquer reacts well to the heat.

I know there are various types of poly finishes that set using UV but that's not what the original poster is talking about.

Wish I had the definitive answer but did want to clear up from reading the original posting that he's not talking a cooking oven but an automotive paint booth.

Jeff

jeffnles 1 wrote
I think the guy was talking about an automotive paint booth. They use heat lamps to help set the paint on the cars after it flashes over. It is not a cooking oven. I'm not sure how hot it gets but it's not anywhere close to a cooking oven.

Correct you are, that being said wood at 1 and 3/4 inch thickness (approx.) will have a much longer rise to uniform temperature as well as cool down than a 1/16th to 1/8th inch metal body.
That would demand a separate criteria if still possible. Heat lamps do get quite hot regardless,
I'm sure there is a site somewhere regarding accelerated finish curing, I'll do a check

stay tuned !!

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"C'est parti mon Kiki "

Hmm.... I thought someone else would have arrived before my return.

OK...
I Googled " baking paint finish on a wood guitar body "
Got interesting sites and forums to go to

I would pick
(1st) http://www.tipdoct.com How to paint a guitar. A link to Youtube video is there.
(2) http://www.acousticguitarforum project guitar finishing and refinishing
(3) http://www.tdpri.com telecaster guitar forum Paint drying box
(4) http://www.jimfogarty.co.uk/Higgs%20Decay'%20guitar Project 1

There is much more if scrolling down to other pages but I did find the same concerns about heat drying versus paint compatibility.
Because of my own projects some of these sites should clarify my own Q&A's

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"C'est parti mon Kiki "

I just had problems linking to the websites I posted except the Tele website.
Seems Googling and going straight from Google's page seems to work best
Could also be my listing of the sites.

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"C'est parti mon Kiki "

Admittedly, I'm totally "old school" when it comes to guitar finishing. Admittedly too, I know virtually nothing about automobile finishing procedures.

Having said the above, I could be totally wrong but personally, the last thing I'd want to do is to artificially accelerate anything related to wood finishing with nitrocellulose as wood has its own set of properties which even on its own must be singularly dealt with. This is especially poignant in the subject context as wood shares no inherent attributes with metal nor plastic.

Consider: Whatever the wood finish is subjected to (which may be nothing more than favorable climatic conditions), the wood itself surely is affected and reactionary.

Now I could be totally wrong about this but I've found that to have the absolute best finish on a guitar, especially when using traditional finishes such as nitrocellulose, shortcuts are virtually impossible and cure time must be fully allowed. Absolute patience is needed every step of the way especially when the project is winding down because it is at this point that people tend to get real 'antsy' and must remind themselves that after all the time, money and effort are spent on such a project, they certainly don't want to be in one of those, "The operation was a success but the patient died" situations.

YMMV.

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You dig?

Thanks fellas for all the replies. Seems it is unanimous that I'll be waiting until at least mid-Feb for sanding and polishing. This is my 2nd finish job and I think it will be better than the first, but far from perfect. It's tough having all the components and having to wait. I'm mad at myself for not getting the spraying done when the weather was nicer, due to pure laziness and other hobbies that take place in nice weather. This thing should have been done by now. I was never considering a conventional oven, but it is a funny suggestion. I guess I should take consolation that it's going to sound and play the same no matter when I get it done.

I'm also reading a very good book on Tube amplifiers right now and may have some other projects on tap for 2011 in new areas.

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Not all clears can be baked! There are non bake, No bake fast dry, UV dry ect ect. All about the catalyst in the product. Do what the can says

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

not worth the risk...let it dry