Mojave - The laquer was sprayed on via rattlecans - but it became clear that I need to invest in an HVLP gun so I can use my air compressor and save a bit of $$$ over the long term by using that and bulk laquer. During the first couple coats the veneer would soak it up pretty good, so I found that doing these coats a bit thick and leaving the boxes horizontal would let it soak in and keep from running. The annoyance here came from some spots of the veneer soaking it up more than others, and at times even some bubbles would form and would leave little "volcanoes" once dried - these would then need additional sanding. Sometimes a 2nd heavy coat was needed but I shyed away from that on the second speaker and it turned out just the same. This process took the most amount of time since I could only do one side at a time and have to wait a night until I could flip it and do the other. Once I got all 4 sides done I would sand it pretty heavily with 200 to even it out. I then placed the box vertically and rotated it as I did light coats, slowly building it up. After 3 lights coats(10mins between) I would let it sit over night to dry completely, and then hit it with 200 again the next night and do another round of 2 to 3 coats. At this point I typically had it built up enough to do a very light 200, then a wet 500, wet 1000, wet 2000. I then wiped it all down, and used a orbital buffer and foam pad with some polishing compound. Lastly was a hand wax...
I'm sure there are other approaches I could have done, and am welcome to any insight from others, but this labor intensive laquer method did turn out a good finish, it just took forever. My next set will use an awesome looking Mozambique veneer that has some sap stripes in it and it will be interesting to see how the wood does/doesn't soak up the finish.
