Update
Confirmed as a bug on JTable can't format given Object as Number when columnClass is Double (bug ID: 7051636). Feel free to vote for it, or if if you have an alternate (better) work-around, post it as a comment to the report.
I'm building a JTable with a custom table model built extending AbstractTableModel. My model need to support empty row to be displayed and sorted. So I follwed this post to implement that, and now works pretty fine.
I still have a problem whith formatted field in a JTable. Suppose I have the following model:
public class MyModel extends AbstractTableModel{
    public Object[] types= {new Integer(0), ""};
    public static final Object EMPTY_ROW = "";
    @Override
    public Object getValueAt(int rowIndex, int columnIndex) {
         return this.EMPTY_ROW;
    }
    public Class<? extends Object> getColumnClass(int c) {
      if (c > this.types.length - 1)
        return null;
      else
        return this.types[c].getClass();
    }
}
Everything works fine. But if I have a Double instead of an Integer:
public class MyModel extends AbstractTableModel{
        public Object[] types= {new Double(0.0), ""};
  .......
I'll get an Illegal Argument exception:
EDIT: new stack trace output after @Aaron Digulla suggestion
Exception in thread "AWT-EventQueue-0" java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Cannot format given Object as a Number at java.text.DecimalFormat.format(DecimalFormat.java:487) at java.text.Format.format(Format.java:140) at javax.swing.JTable$DoubleRenderer.setValue(JTable.java:5352) at javax.swing.table.DefaultTableCellRenderer.getTableCellRendererComponent(DefaultTableCellRenderer.java:237) at javax.swing.JTable.prepareRenderer(JTable.java:5720) at javax.swing.plaf.basic.BasicTableUI.paintCell(BasicTableUI.java:2072) at javax.swing.plaf.basic.BasicTableUI.paintCells(BasicTableUI.java:1974) at javax.swing.plaf.basic.BasicTableUI.paint(BasicTableUI.java:1770) at javax.swing.plaf.ComponentUI.update(ComponentUI.java:143) at javax.swing.JComponent.paintComponent(JComponent.java:752) at javax.swing.JComponent.paint(JComponent.java:1029) at javax.swing.JComponent.paintChildren(JComponent.java:862) at javax.swing.JComponent.paint(JComponent.java:1038) at javax.swing.JViewport.paint(JViewport.java:747) at javax.swing.JComponent.paintChildren(JComponent.java:862) at javax.swing.JComponent.paint(JComponent.java:1038) at javax.swing.JComponent.paintChildren(JComponent.java:862) at javax.swing.JComponent.paint(JComponent.java:1038) at javax.swing.JComponent.paintChildren(JComponent.java:862) at javax.swing.JComponent.paint(JComponent.java:1038) at javax.swing.JLayeredPane.paint(JLayeredPane.java:567) at javax.swing.JComponent.paintChildren(JComponent.java:862) at javax.swing.JComponent.paintToOffscreen(JComponent.java:5131) at javax.swing.BufferStrategyPaintManager.paint(BufferStrategyPaintManager.java:278) at javax.swing.RepaintManager.paint(RepaintManager.java:1224) at javax.swing.JComponent.paint(JComponent.java:1015) at java.awt.GraphicsCallback$PaintCallback.run(GraphicsCallback.java:21) at sun.awt.SunGraphicsCallback.runOneComponent(SunGraphicsCallback.java:60) at sun.awt.SunGraphicsCallback.runComponents(SunGraphicsCallback.java:97) at java.awt.Container.paint(Container.java:1780) at java.awt.Window.paint(Window.java:3375) at javax.swing.RepaintManager.paintDirtyRegions(RepaintManager.java:796) at javax.swing.RepaintManager.paintDirtyRegions(RepaintManager.java:713) at javax.swing.RepaintManager.seqPaintDirtyRegions(RepaintManager.java:693) at javax.swing.SystemEventQueueUtilities$ComponentWorkRequest.run(SystemEventQueueUtilities.java:125) at java.awt.event.InvocationEvent.dispatch(InvocationEvent.java:209) at java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEvent(EventQueue.java:597) at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpOneEventForFilters(EventDispatchThread.java:269) at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForFilter(EventDispatchThread.java:184) at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForHierarchy(EventDispatchThread.java:174) at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(EventDispatchThread.java:169) at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(EventDispatchThread.java:161) at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.run(EventDispatchThread.java:122)
Why this?
getValueAt returns always the same value to fill all tables entries with it. This is only for debug :
@Override
    public Object getValueAt(int rowIndex, int columnIndex) {
         return this.EMPTY_ROW;
    }
For example if i change to :
 @Override
    public Object getValueAt(int rowIndex, int columnIndex) {
         return new Integer(3);
         //or return new Double(3.3);
         //return new String("foobar"); doesn't work
    }
all works fine even if some field of the table are String. It suggest to me that because an Integer and a Double can be transformed into String, this won't cause problem. Anyway I would like to understand why a generic Object like my EMPTY_ROW can be accepted as value of a declared Integer field while this don't work with Double fields.
EDIT2:
If I remove getClass method in my table model. It works. Anyway I would like to solve this without having to remove that method, even if this will force me to implement some custom render methods.
EDIT3:
here's an SSCCE. There is some errors while adding new values to the table, but hasn't nothing to do with rendering problems.
import java.text.ParseException;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Comparator;
import javax.swing.BoxLayout;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JScrollPane;
import javax.swing.JTable;
import javax.swing.SortOrder;
import javax.swing.RowSorter.SortKey;
import javax.swing.table.AbstractTableModel;
import javax.swing.table.TableRowSorter;
public class TableExample extends JFrame{
    public static final  Object EMPTY_ROW = "";
    public class EmptyRowComparator<COLUMN_TYPE extends Comparable<COLUMN_TYPE>> implements Comparator<Object>{//extends RuleBasedCollator{
        private TableRowSorter<? extends AbstractTableMod> sorter;
    private int column;
        public EmptyRowComparator(TableRowSorter<? extends AbstractTableMod> sorter, int col) throws ParseException {
        //  super(arg0);
            this.sorter = sorter;
            this.column = col;
            // TODO Auto-generated constructor stub
        }
         private int getSortOrder() {
             SortOrder order = SortOrder.ASCENDING;
//           List<? extends SortKey> keys = sorter.getSortKeys();
//           sorter.getSortKeys();
//       
             for (SortKey sortKey : sorter.getSortKeys()) {
                 if (sortKey.getColumn() == this.column) {
                     order = sortKey.getSortOrder();
                     break;
                 }
             }
             return order == SortOrder.ASCENDING ? 1 : -1;
         }
        @Override
        public int hashCode() {
            // TODO Auto-generated method stub
            return 0;
        }
        @Override
        public int compare(Object arg0, Object arg1) {
            // TODO Auto-generated method stub
            //System.out.println("Comparing Integer arg0 " + arg0 + " arg1 " + arg1);
            boolean empty1 = arg0 == EMPTY_ROW;
            boolean empty2 = arg1 == EMPTY_ROW;
            if (empty1 && empty2) {
                return 0;
            }
            else if (empty1) {
                return 1 * getSortOrder();
            }
            else if (empty2) {
                return -1 * getSortOrder();
            }
            return ((Comparable<COLUMN_TYPE>) (COLUMN_TYPE)arg0).compareTo((COLUMN_TYPE)arg1);
        //  return 0;
        }
    }
    public class ConcreteTable extends AbstractTableMod{
        //
        private static final long serialVersionUID = 4672561280810649603L;
        private String[] columnNames = {"ID",
                                        "description"};
        Class[] types = {Integer.class, String.class};
        //Object[] types = {Double.class, String.class};
        private int minimumDisplayedRow;
        public ConcreteTable(){
            //System.out.println("DEBUG ARRAY length " + data.length);
            this.minimumDisplayedRow = 10;
            this.datas = new ArrayList<ArrayList<Object>>();
            for (int i = 0 ; i < this.minimumDisplayedRow  ; i++){
                this.addEmptyRow();
            }
            for (int i = 0 ; i < 5 ; i++){
                ArrayList<Object> row = new ArrayList<Object>();
                row.add(new Integer(i));
                row.add(new String("prova " + i));
                this.addRow(row);
            }
        }
        public String getColumnName(int col) {
            System.out.println("getColumnName " + col + " = " + columnNames[col]);
            return columnNames[col];
        }
        @Override
        protected Class[] getTypeArray() {
            // TODO Auto-generated method stub
            return this.types;
        }
        @Override
        protected ArrayList<Integer> getKeysColumnIndex() {
            // TODO Auto-generated method stub
            ArrayList<Integer> keys = new ArrayList<Integer>();
            keys.add(0);
            return keys;
        }
        public boolean isCellEditable(int row, int col) {
            System.out.println("isCellEditable row " + row + " col " + col);
            if (col == 1){
                System.out.println("TRUE");
                return true;
            }
            return false;
        }
        /*note: generated keys must be in the same order they appear in the table*/
        @Override
        protected Object getGeneratedKeys(int col) {
            // TODO Auto-generated method stub
            if (col != 0 )
                return null;
            return new Integer(this.rowNumber);
        }
        @Override
        protected int getMinimumDisplayedRow() {
            // TODO Auto-generated method stub
            return this.minimumDisplayedRow;
        }
    }
    public abstract class AbstractTableMod extends AbstractTableModel {
        ArrayList<ArrayList<Object>> datas ;
        protected int rowNumber = 0;
        protected abstract Class[] getTypeArray();
        protected abstract ArrayList<Integer> getKeysColumnIndex();
        protected abstract Object getGeneratedKeys(int col);
        protected abstract int getMinimumDisplayedRow();
        public int getRowCount(){
            return this.datas.size() ;
        }
        @Override
        public int getColumnCount() {
            return this.getTypeArray().length;
        }
        @Override
        public Object getValueAt(int rowIndex, int columnIndex) {
            if (rowIndex >= this.rowNumber ){
                return EMPTY_ROW;
            }
            try{
                ArrayList<Object> row = this.datas.get(rowIndex);
                if (row == null)
                    return null;
                Object obj = row.get(columnIndex);
                return obj;
            }catch(IndexOutOfBoundsException e){
                return null;
            }
        }
        public void setValueAt(Object value, int row, int col) {
            //System.out.println("setValueAt object : " + value.getClass().getName());
            Class<? extends Object> targetColClass = this.getColumnClass(col);
            if (!targetColClass.isInstance(value))
                return;
            if (value instanceof String){
                String stringVal = (String)value;
                if (stringVal.compareTo("") == 0)
                    return;
            }
            if (row >= this.rowNumber){
                ArrayList<Object> newRow = new ArrayList<Object>();
                ArrayList<Integer> keysIndexList = this.getKeysColumnIndex();
                for (int i = 0 ; i < this.getColumnCount(); i++){
                    if (i == col){
                        newRow.add(value);
                    }else if (keysIndexList.contains(i)){
                        newRow.add(this.getGeneratedKeys(i));
                    }else{
                        newRow.add(EMPTY_ROW);
                    }
                }
                this.addRow(newRow);
            }else{
                this.datas.get(row).set(col, value);
            }
            this.fireTableCellUpdated(row, col);
        }
        public Class<? extends Object> getColumnClass(int c) {
            System.out.println("AbstractTable: getColumnClass");
            if (c > this.getTypeArray().length - 1)
                return null;
            else
                return this.getTypeArray()[c];
        }
        public void addEmptyRow(){
            ArrayList<Object> emptyRow = new ArrayList<Object>();
            for (int i = 0 ; i < this.getTypeArray().length; i++){
                emptyRow.add(EMPTY_ROW);
            }
            this.datas.add(emptyRow);
        }
        public void addRow(ArrayList<Object> row){
            Object[] types = this.getTypeArray();
            if (types.length != row.size())
                return;
            for (int i = 0 ; i < row.size() ; i++){
                Class<? extends Object> targetColClass = this.getColumnClass(i);
                Object rowItem = row.get(i);
            }
            this.datas.add(this.rowNumber, row);
            this.rowNumber++;
            if (this.rowNumber < this.getMinimumDisplayedRow())
                this.datas.remove(this.datas.size() -1 );
            this.fireTableRowsInserted(this.rowNumber , this.rowNumber  );
        }
    }
    public TableExample(){
        super("JTable example");
        getContentPane().setLayout(new BoxLayout(getContentPane(), BoxLayout.Y_AXIS));
        ConcreteTable model = new ConcreteTable();
        JTable tab = new JTable(model);
        TableRowSorter<ConcreteTable> sorter = new TableRowSorter<ConcreteTable>(model);
        try {
            sorter.setComparator(0, new EmptyRowComparator<Integer>(sorter,0));
            sorter.setComparator(1, new EmptyRowComparator<String>(sorter,1));
        } catch (ParseException e) {
            // TODO Auto-generated catch block
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
        tab.setRowSorter(sorter);
        JScrollPane table = new JScrollPane(tab);
        this.getContentPane().add(table);
        this.setSize(600, 400);
        setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        setVisible(true);
    }
    /**
     * @param args
     */
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // TODO Auto-generated method stub
            new TableExample();
    }
}
If you try to change
Class[] types = {Integer.class, String.class}; 
with :
Class[] types = {Double.class, String.class};
you can see the problem.