Target Waterbase Sanding Sealer

Reading all of the other reviews I couldn't help but chime in. First of all, it's a sanding sealer, not a top coat lacquer. It's meant to be sanded, that is it's purpose. If you were trying to use it as a stand alone finish, that was your mistake. it is designed to be used with target EM series top coat finishes. If you are finding the product too bumpy, strain it through a paint strainer. I double strain everything I spray. Also check your PSI. I find 40 psi works well on my setup. as for water reaction, it is a waterbase finish. it is meant to be dry sanded and top coated, not wetsanded. If you are seeing cloudy blotches, install a moisture filter inline in your spraying rig. And never spray when the dew point is above 65%. Buy yourself a hygrometer.They're cheap, 10 or 20 bucks. As for color mixing, I've had no issues.

I have used this sealer on at least a half dozen guitars. When used properly it works well.

Amazing for any finish afterwards

I found that if I use many coats of this product, the finish develops tiny hairline cracks, much like that of an instrument that was left out in excessively cold temps for too long. So I mix it up 3 parts sanding sealer to one part water, and only brush on two wash coats, to raise the grain, and to harden the surface of the wood. After the second coat dries, I sand it smooth and then go straight to clear, but extremely light coats, so as not to further raise the grain. This will prepare the wood nicely, and give you a nice base for the clear, without developing the cracks.

I have used four cans of this stuff on several acoustic guitars with excellent results. It's clean and fume free and does a great job of filling pores in everything from cocobolo to mahogany to even wenge. I don't like the color of other fillers and the off tone grainy look it creates. Most of my builds are natural wood and this clear pore sealer is perfect. You have to get familiar with it and time your combing of it just right and just do a few coats or it does lend a pearlesence to the finish. But it has been wonderful and I will keep using it!

This product is nothing like what I bought from StewMac in the past... Unless you spray ultra thin coats, it wants to clump up, leave craters and overall perform very poorly. Furthermore, used as a base for color pigments, it never seems to ever mix properly... Overall it is a shoddy product that spells trouble at every corner. I can't conceive how this actually passed the testing stage...

This product is super finicky. I got a couple of good (hard and clear) coats down, but twice since, I noticed white hazing in spots. After drying for days, the entire coat turns white immediately on contact with water when I first began to try to wet sand it. After a couple of minutes exposure to the water, it turns completely soft and grainy and can be wiped off with a rag! If not for the first hard layer, I would have had to re-dye the sunburst over figured maple. I am really frustrated. I plan to complete the finish using only the lacquer and hope for the best.
I consider my experiment with water based lacquer to be a bust. I'll go back to nitro until they can formulate a usable water based replacement.

Stay away from this product unless you enjoy sanding finish off.