So does anyone like to paint guitars? Wanna paint mine?

[vibratoking]

I think the argument is that you can get a lighter/thinner coat with nitro. This allows the body to vibrate more freely rather than being constrained by a heavier finish. Whether that's true or not is like arguing about Sozo caps.

[Structo]

It's just easier to work with if you don't own a spray rig and compressor.

I never used anything but spray bombs.

Nitro lacquer is easy to touch up, wet sand and polish.

But the key thing that most don't know about is you have to let it cure for 30 days
before it is hard enough to sand and polish.
It shrinks as it dries so even if you sprayed 10 coats of clear, by the time it cures and is sanded/ polished
it has a pretty thin film thickness.

[cbass]

I can't imagine that making a difference on q solid body.on a well prepped surface I can get away with a coat of shellac a spit coat of cat the a heavey thinned down coat..I don't have anyway to measure it but that's a pretty thin finish
The main thing about nitro for me is it takes months to fully cure I ain't got time for that

I can buff catlaq the next day

[jestaudio]

Jest,

Can you explain your stain and oil process so that a dumbass like me can understand it and eventually achieve awesome results? I've done nitro finishes before so I do know a little bit about finishing.

Thanks

No probs, the first thing to do is sand the guitar to the highest standard, I grain fill mahogany and ash unless I am after a open pore look, I usually sand to around 600 grit as a rule then go over the guitar with ultrafine wire wool.
Colour wise there are some great dyes that can be dissolved in meths or pure alcohol, anything that evaporates is good, wipe the stain on with a clean rag and leave to dry, build up the coats to deepen the colour, it will look very matt and dull, once you have the colour you want I like Liberon finishing oil, I normally use 7 coats over 7 days then leave to dry for a week, thin coats applied with a rag in a circular motion works for me , once dry ultra fine wire wool again and 2 coats of wax, leave to dry and buff with a fine shoe brush
It should look something like this one I refinished a few weeks ago

[skyboltone]

I can't imagine that making a difference on q solid body.on a well prepped surface I can get away with a coat of shellac a spit coat of cat the a heavey thinned down coat..I don't have anyway to measure it but that's a pretty thin finish
The main thing about nitro for me is it takes months to fully cure I ain't got time for that

I can buff catlaq the next day

I don't get it either. But I have never been able to do any painting to my own satisfaction. I think it has to do with a natural hyper activity gene. If I can't get it done quick I lose interest and quit. Maybe it's the fumes.

[Jana]

Thanks for the info Jest.

[Structo]

Interesting jestaudio,

I've never heard of Liberon finishing oil.

Is it anything like Tru Oil by Birchwood Casey?

I love Tru Oil as a neck finish.
Hands down the slickest finish I have ever felt for a neck.

The great thing about a nitro clear finish is, you can polish that sucker until it is like glass.

I've seen a lot of other types of finish but I can usually see swirl marks or burns in the lacquer.

I would agree however, that a catalyzed nitro lacquer seems as if it would be very good.
Quick cure time and good wear factor.

People like to slather on a lot about pure nitro lacquer, about how it breathes and other bullshit.

It is probably the worst durable finish you could put on a guitar.
Let's remember that the guitar companies followed the automobile industry as far a coatings go.
In the 50's it was nitrocellulose.
But they quickly found that the nitro color coats faded and oxidized quickly so they came out with the Duco acrylic lacquers by the end of the 50's.
Fender used them but still used clear nitro for the finish on the guitars.

Especially the headstocks as they found that acrylic lacquer messed up the decals.

[Reeltarded]

Lacquer is the second easiest finish to repair and it's much lighter than all except for a french polish. Poly is impossible to repair and is more like velveeta made of plexiglass.

Using it from a can is annoying, and not even close to the atomization as with a spray rig. Lumpy piles.

Watch out for too fine of a final sanding. Instrument looks great until the finish comes of in a single sheet. I finish sand to 400. Moisture will turn steel dust embredded in wood grain into rust and the finish will get rust dots then come off in sheets too, so steel wool is umm.. not a good idea. #0000 wool is effectively 1800 grit. That is over sanding and the finish will not stay on forever.

If you hate lacquer you love to work really hard. If you use crap with plastic binders you may as well use poly. Use Deft brand, and not the premium, the standard is chinese without plastic binders. It shoots and works exactly as Gibson did it since the forevers ago if you drain the cans into a gun.



4 coats sealer, sand back, 4 coats clear within an hour and wetsand in 2 hours. Polish in 24. Boom.

[cbass]

The hardware store has deft in quarts .I'd recommend avoiding Cabot's at all cost

I'm gonna stick with SW catalyzed they put the catalyst in when you buy it.if you spray it on smooth enough takes very little sanding to get it flat and its vert tough and I already have it.

[skyboltone]

I've had better luck on woodwork, (not guitars) with Cabot's than Deft. Both go on pretty easily but the Cabot's I shot was smoother quicker. Just sayin'

Every time I read up about it I come up hard agains this whole idea of buffing the damn thing to make it shiny.

I have the prettiest tele body out there anywhere, and I've shown it here several times. It remains un finished and unfinished to this day. 6 years maybe? I'm scared to touch it and I ain't askeert of NOTHIN'.. I would pay one of you guys who actually knows what's up to finish it but I've tried in the past with no takers.

[IMG1200]http://i48.tinypic.com/5z4db7.jpg[/img]

[cbass]

That's purdy is it pine?

[Reeltarded]

Yeah its pine. Unless it's sitka. Looks like pine.

PM me D dood. Tell me what you have in mind and maybe i can make that happen.

[skyboltone]

That's purdy is it pine?alder?

It's Sitka Spruce. The cant that it came from was milled in 1957. Documented. It was glued up and routed in about 2006 near as I remember.

[Reeltarded]

Aha jist looking close and editing

[cbass]

Sweet bet its nice qnd light you should let Myles do stuff to it