Mixing opaque lacquer colors

[failsafe306]

if you are responding to failsafe's post no 13, i took it to meant the paint shop didn't have any pigments compatable with lacquer. i didn't take it that he was disputing laying lacquer over those other bases, but i may be wrong.

This is correct, I was not disputing anyone, just relaying what the uninformed people behind the counters were telling me.

I have decided to go the “urethane base color coat with lacquer clear” method that CM suggested. My only question now is....do I have to sand off the two light coats of nitro sealer I sprayed on yesterday?

 

[fatdaddypreacher]

someone else needs to weigh in on that, as i don't know. perhaps cm knows.

 

[cmjohnson]

I'd say, probably not. An easy way to test: The auto paint supplier almost certainly has an "oops bin" of mismatched paint colors that didn't meet customer needs. They can be bought cheaply. Pick up a small can that's closest to your desired color and test spray a small patch on your guitar body and see if there is an undesired reaction.

I have never had a bad reaction between sanding sealer and my automotive basecoats as of yet. But do make sure the sanding sealer is well dried/cured. If you can still smell it, it's still outgassing and not ready for basecoat color yet.

In order to simplify matters for you, ask whatever paint you buy from them to be made "ready to spray" where they will add the reducer to it so you don't have to buy a can of reducer separately. This makes it very convenient.

Got an airbrush? Use that for spraying the test patch if so.

I've bought a LOT of really cool colors from the oops bin. I've got a quart (half gallon after reducing for spraying) of Dodge Plum Crazy....and no current project lined up for it! And, the most eye-damaging candy apple metallic green, too.

I simply don't bother trying to do solid colors in lacquer anymore. Whether I shoot nitro or urethane as the clearcoat on top, the base color is always automotive and mixed to my specs. It just makes things that much easier for me.

 

[failsafe306]

I'd say, probably not. An easy way to test: The auto paint supplier almost certainly has an "oops bin" of mismatched paint colors that didn't meet customer needs. They can be bought cheaply. Pick up a small can that's closest to your desired color and test spray a small patch on your guitar body and see if there is an undesired reaction.

I have never had a bad reaction between sanding sealer and my automotive basecoats as of yet. But do make sure the sanding sealer is well dried/cured. If you can still smell it, it's still outgassing and not ready for basecoat color yet.

In order to simplify matters for you, ask whatever paint you buy from them to be made "ready to spray" where they will add the reducer to it so you don't have to buy a can of reducer separately. This makes it very convenient.

Got an airbrush? Use that for spraying the test patch if so.

I've bought a LOT of really cool colors from the oops bin. I've got a quart (half gallon after reducing for spraying) of Dodge Plum Crazy....and no current project lined up for it! And, the most eye-damaging candy apple metallic green, too.

I simply don't bother trying to do solid colors in lacquer anymore. Whether I shoot nitro or urethane as the clearcoat on top, the base color is always automotive and mixed to my specs. It just makes things that much easier for me.

Thanks for all the advice! I’ll make sure the sealer is completely dry before testing anything.
If the finishing on this project goes well, I may make the jump to full urethane base / clear coats with Simtec sealer in lieu of sealer and grain filler.

 

[LtDave32]

I would like to mix up some opaque black nitro lacquer. From what i can gather from reading online, the black TransTint that I have probably would not make a solid black color when mixed with clear lacquer.

So I got to thinking... I do have some white pigment from $tewMac. Could I make a solid opaque black from mixing the white pigment into my clear lacquer, then tint it with the black TransTint? Or do I just need to order black pigment?

Nope. You'll end up with varying shades of charcoal gray.

The white you have there? They make the same thing in Black.

 

[LtDave32]

I hope it's ok if I join the discussion. I also want to do an opaque finish except I want to do white. I did see white lacquer on the Mohawk site. This will be going over mahogany as it's an SG Custom type guitar. Would I just put down as many layers of white as needed or should I also do some kind of base coat first?

Rox, you can get a bottle of white opaque from SM, it's titanium oxide. All white is.

You can then take the trans-tint colors and add them to the opaque white and come up with custom opaque colors. It' how I do my TV yellow; white opaque base with a combination of trans tint additives.

But there's risks. I once wanted a straight up red opaque. A Fender "dakota" red. I tried the white pigment along with trans tint cherry, and it did NOT work. Not even close. So I ordered a bottle of the simple red opaque color tone pigment, and bang, i was right there.

 

[failsafe306]

One more question...

Do I need to scuff up the urethane color coat before spraying the nitro clear?

 

[failsafe306]

Oh, and thanks so much for all the advice up to this point!

 

[cmjohnson]

No need to scuff unless you've got dust nibs to sand out. Most especially you never scuff a metallic basecoat.