Repaint!

While applying the copper foil I noticed that even though the guitar body had a nice shine, there were deep scratches covering the surface. They seemed to only be visible in high-contrast light. After some deliberation I decided that even though the scratches might not be visible in average lighting, I would not be happy with the finish until I did something about them.

My first attempt to resolve this was to resand the existing lacquer. I stared with 400 grit and sanded in only one direction, thinking it would eliminate the random scratches I was seeing. I switched to 600 grit and worked my way up to my 12000 grit polishing cloths. I then used the Meguiar's and the shine was back.

The middle of the re-sanding process.

It didn't work. I could still see scratches but at least they were all in the same direction!

Later, I brought this up with my father and he recommend using only rubbing compound to polish the lacquer. It looked like I was going the have do my own version of Ralph Macchio's Daniel. In any case, the guitar was going to need some fresh lacquer. I had removed so much with my previous efforts that I wanted to make sure I filled the scratches and had enough paint that I would not rub though when I re-polished.

Having just lined the pickup cavities with copper tape, I covered it with 3M blue tape to try to preserve it. I also masked off the sides and back as I was really only concerned about the front.

Masked and ready for clear coat.

I sprayed the Rust-Oleum as I had before. This time I could lay it on a bit thicker as I could have the guitar dry while lying flat on my bench. This would prevent any runs. After several coats applied over two days I hung the body to cure for a few weeks.

Several heavy coats of lacquer were applied and then the 

guitar body was hung up to dry.