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I finished my latest with Deft Waterbase lacquer from rattle cans. I don't know what happened... the finish is very soft! I even dented the back of the neck with a capo when I was holding the strings during set up. I pore filled with Z-poxy (no problem...) I followed that with shellac (no problem). I followed that with the Deft waterbase lacquer at about 4 or 5 coats per day, with approximately 1/2 hour in between (+/- 20 total coats). I waited 2 weeks before buffing out with MicroMesh. That went okay. Its been about 3 weeks since I completed the finishing. I used the Deft on my last build and it seemed to work okay (although, I'm not going to use it again...). I do my spraying outdoors and it was very hot during the days I did the spraying.... Could that have had something to do with it?

...and more importantly - Is there something I can do?

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

Oh, and here are some bad photos...

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

I've never used water based lacquer, but I believe I'd let it set a few more weeks and see if it hardened up; it were still soft, after the extra time period. I'd be prepared to remove the finish and start over... Nice looking guitar

Deft is a rather soft lacquer IMO and waiting 2 weeks is not nearly enough and actually, 4-6 weeks is much better to wait. It will get harder by waiting longer but it won't be as hard as nitro or probably the EM6000 from target coating.

How humid is it where you are? That has a bunch to do with your finish too. Also you got a lot of coats on there at a really short time period. Did you level sand between any of the sessions (4-5 coats would be a session). If not and you have 20+/- coats on it has not had nearly enough time to off gas. You'll also find that the finish will shrink back over the next several months.

What can you do? Leave it and move on. Strip it and use something more appropriate and wait longer before you rub out

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I finished an electric guitar with Deft once, NEVER again. It took 3 years for the finish to harden to the point where leaving it in the case for an extended period of time didn't require sanding/buffing. I'm not sure it's really fully hard even now.
I just looked at the bottom of the guitar where it's been sitting on the carpet for several years now. It's dull.
I think I'll have to strip it and refinish it if I want to have a hard finish.

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