This happens a lot. It is really bad on some and not as bad on others. What really sucks is it happens to my work about 50% of the time on reproductions. even after waiting 5 months after it was made, even though I wait 2 weeks between coats, and 3-4 weeks after the last coat to sand it glass smooth. the wood keeps sinking or will move from the temp change. I have even redone pf's many many times to have it happen again. some pfs!!!! the nos pf's from 1995 and older only do it ocasionly, and it is when they are not that great to start with. what happens to my clear, is nothing like what happens to the stock repros. I had a couple titles a couple years back that were so drastic. FT was the worse. The quality of wood used now is way difrent than what was used before G W bush sr did the white owl legislation for the geezers out there. now some pfs are a paper thin sheet of maple on black gum wood which sucks, lord it sucks. wade krauss uses a very expensive wood that dosent do this phenomina.

I will say once the pf is installed the ball sort of levels it out quite a bit, but I am talking about the effect on my pf's not on stock reproductions.b
The biggest reason I moved up to 8 coats, and to wait to full cure before recoating, was to make a harder surface to battle this effect I talked to developers at PPG, and they helped me understand the material I use was designed to be used as a 2 coat surface. so to build it up, I better make dam sure it is done cureing. If I put more clear on it, the middle wont be as hard as it could be, and it will eventually harden, but a couple months down the line.

So that is what I have concerning that. hope it helps a little. half of my pf's are like glass, and half you can slightly feel the inserts. (sometimes just the big ones)

well epoxy under the back of the inserts will never hurt. I do it to any pf sys 11 or older!!! I dont think they are moving, its just that you have 2 different materials with way different mass and they are expanding and contracting at different speeds and amounts, with a shinny surface

I dont mean to bogart this thread. I just wanted folks to know what to expect.
as for your question on what to do, it is so depending on your direction and expectations. some people who do clearcoats will knock out the job in 2 weeks. I used to do it in 6, and that is way too fast in my opinion.
If you get it cleared, you want to wait 3 months, and what I do is sand off the existing clear asap to hurry the process. I am accepting jobs. In the winter I dont clear wen it is below 25 out because I cant keep my shop above 75 for 48 hours, so I can never say how long it will take. Obviously I try to do them as soon as I have the oppertunity because I want to get paid and I dont get paid till the job is ready to ship.
BUT, here is the big part. on the pf's with the worst examples (and if you search the old pinside material you will see the pics I posted of a FT gold with massive insert and wood grain issues after 4 months) I sanded off the clear, i waited a long time (over 4 months) and I cleared slowly. 2-3 weeks between sets of 2 coats. * coats total, and after the last coat I wait 3-4 weeks, sand the whole thing level 800 to 3000 grit wet block sand by hand. So it is still going to have a little of that effect down the line, but MUCH less. plus it will last much longer. In a production enviroment it is impossible for them to do what I do (and good for me because repro's are 80-90% of my work)

so that is my opinion. other customers of mine may want to chime in