New Lacquer over old lacquer

[Doug Cannon]

I am cosmetically touching up a neck joint and a badly scarred "buckle" area on a guitar and would like to know what methods are used to prepare a surface to spray new lacquer over existing lacquer finish. I've seen Dan Erlewine's method of Flash Coat/Lacquer/Flash coat (Flash coat being used to soften existing finish) and have even heard of using acetone to soften the finish before spraying lacquer. ( i.e. Can you spray lacquer over a service where you've sprayed acetone to soften existing lacquer?) I don't want to use any grit less than 800 (don't want to hit the color layers) but need to know if the lacquer thinner (with retarder) or acetone will achieve sufficient etching on a thoroughly cleaned surface.

This guitar has an area from a previous neck reset where the lacquer flaked off up to a point (not enough drying time to integrate with old lacquer?) and I'd like to avoid that at all costs.

Thanks for all advice.....

Doug

[Kerry Krishna]

Doug, can you please post some detailed well lit pictures for us? This thread will be a great read in a week or two. Just so you know, many 'Folks Who Know' on this site only check in on the weekends so...