Laquer Question

[Slackerprince]

I want to put a laquer finish on a painted guitar I just bought, and I've seen a lot about "Nitrocellulose Laquer." I went to ACE Hardware and they had several glossy laquers, but I didn't see any that had "Nitrocellulose" in the name. Would Polystyrene work? Do I need to get "Nitrocellulose" at a specialty place? Any info would be appreciated.

Slackerprince

[overdriver]

Some deal with this place ReRanch Guitar Refinishing google guitarrefinishing should be a few places to look at for ideas. never done a guitar not much help from me. Good luck and IMO poly will work for you you have to prepare the guitar first I would think using eithier! Taking the paint off ?

[shotgunlew]

+1 for rereanch

Originally Posted by overdriver

Some deal with this place ReRanch Guitar Refinishing google guitarrefinishing should be a few places to look at for ideas. never done a guitar not much help from me. Good luck and IMO poly will work for you you have to prepare the guitar first I would think using eithier! Taking the paint off ?

[b-squared]

Don't use Poly--it seals the guitar, and doesn't do your tone any favors.

Nitro is a finish that breathes, so it's a much better finish for instruments. You'll need to get a specialty place to do it, as Nitro is a hazardous product, and you need special equipment to apply it.

Your guitar would more than likely have to be refinished.

BB

[Slackerprince]

Hmmm...
I'll take that under consideration.
Thanks.

Slackerprince

[dwagar]

Reranch or Stew Mac, I believe Home Depot also sells a Nitro product?

Maybe some of the finishers can speak up, if the guitar is already painted, I'm not sure if you're going to get the benefit of nitro or not.

[Mr Bones]

Home depot and the like sell deft brand nitro. This stuff is not bad, but in my experience (which is limited), it tends to be a little softer than other lacquers, and just takes a little longer before you can sand and buff it out. The rattle cans are fine if you don't plan on finishing a lot, but there are definitely some tricks that will make them produce better results. For starters buy some lacquer thinner too. You can't thin that lacquer in the can (which is one of the disadvantages to it), but you will need it to make sure that the spray tips don't clog between coats. You will also want to buy a few, and keep them in warm water which painting, and alternate cans. This helps avoid spitting which happens when the cans get cold (which is a part of releasing any compressed liquid).

[Roman Rist]

Originally Posted by dwagar

Reranch or Stew Mac, I believe Home Depot also sells a Nitro product?

Maybe some of the finishers can speak up, if the guitar is already painted, I'm not sure if you're going to get the benefit of nitro or not.

exactly.

As far as Nitro in a can goes. almost all is bullcrap.

Even certain manufacturers claiming to use Nitro are not. lies, lies, lies.

Like the 70s Ibanez V's and Explorer copies. They said Korina, when they were actually ASH.

Nitro has become a slang generic word for the different types of Lacquer.

The re ranch stuff is REAL Nitrocellolose.

But who knows what the guitar is painted in right now...it could be Krylon


Roman

[Robster]

ReRanch ROCKS. You can also get nitro at Ace hardware & similar places. It's called Deft. Good stuff, Nitro!

R

[155]

i dont think deft is nitro, Ive used it many times and it works great out of a can, but nitro?

[Mr Bones]

yup, Nitrocellulose. Just more plasticizer.

[Wymore Guitars]

Like mentioned above I don't think you will see much advantage of using nitro unless you completely strip the guitar and start from scratch. For the best results you would want to use a nitro sanding sealer as a base, then color, then a nitro top coat.

Some of the cheaper nitro products will work OK if you are doing a dark color but I found out the hard way that the Deft product is very yellow in tint. If spraying a light or white finish it will end up a ugly dull yellow.

I have had good luck with Reranch products but get the best results using a small HVLP spray gun and a good quality true instrument lacquer. I can't remember the brand but I use the stuff Grizzly sells through their guitar builder catalog. It's really clear!!

Lacquer is actually much easier to work with than poly because it's very easy to finish sand and to fix mistakes. It just takes more coats, more time and it's not at all good for you. There are now some pretty well reviewed water base lacquers out there but I have not had a chance to try them out yet.

[BCRGreg]

I use Testor's model paint.










































Just kidding.

[mrkenny]

I'm a finisher by trade, 40 years. It's best to purchase your clears and colors from your local supplier but you'll need some sort of spray equipment. Spray can Lacquer is fine but it's reduced quite a bit in order to flow thru the small nozzle and a little touchy with runs and spits etc. I refinished the Goldtop in my Avatar using the ReRanch spray can for Goldtops and then my regular gloss Lacquer as a clearcoat. Gibson uses mica powders and not bronze powders for there Goldtop color and I believe they use additives in their clear. The original finish had a particular look and feel that acted sort of different when I stripped it off, although it could have been just Gibson's brand of clearcoat. I did the refin mainly because I wanted real metal bronze powder for the color. The mica powders will not green with age. My finish is much thinner than the original factory finish and it feels good to the touch.