How To Refinish A Guitar With Nitrocellulose Lacquer Paint
Nitrocellulose lacquer frequently asked questions
NOTE Lacquer should merely be used in a well ventilated area. You should article of clothing a properly fitted vapour respirator during the application and drying of nitrocellulose lacquer. Machine Mart sell an platonic respirator for under £20 including organic solvent cartridges.
All my lacquer is supplied in 400ml aerosols, which by and large take adaptable elliptical nozzles allowing a vertical or horizontal fan. An culling round nozzle which is amend for sunbursts is available on request.
It is illegal in the U.k. for anyone nether the age of xvi to endeavor to buy aerosol paints. Past ordering lacquer aerosols, you confirm that you are over xvi years of age.
I'k sad only I can non send lacquer outside the UK at this time.
If you are looking for general information on how to spray a guitar, there is a series of posts in the blog on guitar finishing. More than to follow soon!
Before you buy
- Why do the colour swatches show ii different colours?
- Can you lot ship lacquer to me in (France, Sweden, U.s.a. etc.)?
- Can I but use Halfords car pigment?
- Is this stuff I have uniform with your lacquer?
- How many tins exercise I need?
- How do I get a blond or butterscotch end?
- How do I get a 3-color sunburst end?
- Practise you stock Candy Apple Red lacquer?
- What should I use to give my guitar neck a vintage color?
Preparation
- How exercise I strip the existing finish?
- What about grain filler and sanding sealer?
- What should I use to give my guitar neck a vintage colour?
Recipes for accurate-looking finishes
- How do I get a butterscotch stop?
- How do I get a 3-color sunburst finish?
- Practice you lot stock Processed Apple Red lacquer?
Spraying technique
- How do I refit the nozzle to the tin?
- How many coats should I apply?
- Why am I getting drips of lacquer on my guitar?
- Should I invert the tin to clean the nozzle?
- Any special tips for metallics?
- Whatever special tips for satin and matt finishes?
- How long do I leave the guitar before buffing?
- Why do this buffing matter?
- Why has my lacquer gone cloudy?
- Why does my finish look crude and powdery?
- Should I warm the droplets cans is a water bath?
Other stuff
- How tin I age (relic) the lacquer?
- Do I need to mask the frets on a maple neck before spraying?
- Why is commitment so expensive?
Q. Why do the colour swatches show two dissimilar colours?
A.
Where the lacquer colour shows a darker shade on the right hand side, it represents the color of the lacquer when sprayed over with my Light Tint Gloss clearcoat.
The left hand side shows a close representation of the actual colour.
Q. Tin yous send lacquer to me in (France, Sweden, USA etc.)?
A.
Since the finish of the Brexit transition stage, I'k unfortunately unable to export lacquer to whatever country.
If you are in USA you can buy like lacquer from ReRanch
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Q. What about grain filler and sanding sealer?
A.
Information technology's essential for a professional looking finish to prepare your wood then that y'all take a perfect surface for the lacquer.
Sand to 320 grit to remove whatever pits or scratches.
Open up pored wood such equally ash and mahogany will crave grain-filling. You don't demand to grain-fill maple and can mostly become away without it on alder. I like the Rustins grain filler available from my store merely some people now are starting to use epoxies. I've recently tried Stewart Macdonald'southward h2o based grain filler merely with mixed results in line with the reviews on the site.
See my step-by-pace grain-filling mail in the blog.
The next step later on grain filling is sealing, which is designed to give a smooth surface for the lacquer. You tin just utilise lacquer if you lot wish but every bit it doesn't fill
imperfections very well it can have a lot to get a smooth finish.
Y'all can use a nitrocellulose-based sanding sealer under my lacquer and I sell a loftier build sanding sealer in aerosol course. If you are spraying a solid colour then my white primer will do the chore well, plus information technology gives an even base of operations for lighter colours, increasing their brightness.
Whether using sanding sealer or primer, ever sand apartment and if imperfections remain, spray another few coats, allow to dry and sand once more.
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Q. Is this stuff I have uniform with your lacquer?
A.
I haven't a great bargain of experience mixing finishes and only use nitrocellulose so you would need to test any combination yourself before use.
By and large anything that is cellulose or shellac based should be okay but again, you need to exam it to exist sure.
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Q. Tin I just use Halfords car paint?
A.
Although car sprays come in a wide variety of colours, many people accept establish that it doesn't harden very well on forest and tin stay soft for many months.
If you want a special color making upward, please inquire as I can take nigh colours put into aerosol cans. It takes a couple weeks to get manufactured and is field of study to a minimum society of one litre of lacquer (around £50) plus £16 per aerosol.
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Q. How exercise I refit the nozzle to the can?
A.
If your lacquer arrives with the nozzle detached, the best style to refit it is with a twisting action. Trying to press it in will probably result in you getting lacquerall over your fingers.
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Q. How many coats should I apply?
A.
Information technology'southward difficult to talk near coats as it depends how thick you lot utilise it. Mostly I'd look three coats each of about 3 passes, and depending on ambient temperature, with betwixt v minutes and 1/two hour between coats. The transparent colours go darker the more coats y'all spray and so you'll need to spray enough to get your desired shade.
Y'all only need to sand between coats if you need to remove an imperfection such as grit or a run. Y'all should spray thinly plenty and so that runs don't happen of course.
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A.
Yes! The technique that I use when I spray metallics is to grit the final coat of colour on from a altitude, allowing the flakes to stand at all angles instead of flat on the body. And so I dust on the offset few clear coats (so every bit not to disturb the metallic) earlier building up thickness. This technique give the strongest contrast.
Meet an example.
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Q. Any special tips for satin and matt finishes?
A.
What I do is to spray plenty of coats of Clear Satin lacquer (or Clear Matt) get out to harden overnight and flat sand with 800 grit. Equally ever when flat sanding, take care on the corners as it is all to easy to sand through.
And so I spray a final coat of Clear Satin (or matt) lacquer all over and exit information technology. No buffing! That mode you'll get a nice even sheen all over.
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Q. How many tins practise I need?
A.
As a rule of thumb, refinishing a guitar body will take a can each of primer, colour and clear. It depends however on how well you gear up the wood, how economic yous are and how much paint actually ends up on the guitar and this does depend on your skill level. Inexperienced refinishers may demand more than!
Preparation is also a primal factor. Sand out those scratches first. Trying to fill them with lacquer tin be a long and expensive process!
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Q. How long do I exit the guitar before buffing?
A.
The longer the improve! I'd say a minimum of a week. I tend to leave at least 3 weeks.
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Q. Why do this buffing matter?
A.
Information technology's impossible to become a flat finish with lacquer and so information technology is always apartment sanded and buffed to a loftier gloss. See the Reranch site for details.
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Q. Why am I getting drips of lacquer on my guitar?
A.
If you lot printing likewise difficult on the nozzle, you can sometimes become a buildup of lacquer on the rim of the can (where information technology's crimped closed) and this can sometimes drop off or be blown onto your work. It's a good idea to wipe the rim every few passes.
You tin can mimimise the chances of this past hanging the body rather than laying information technology flat for spraying.
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Q. Should I invert the tin to clean the nozzle?
A.
Some people advise that afterward use you invert the can and spray to clean the nozzle.I DO Not recommend you exercise this.
The nozzles practice not tend to clog and cleaning them this way is a sure way to waste propellant, depressurise the tin and end up with half a tin can of lacquer that won't spray, or worse splutter lacquer onto your guitar due to depression can pressure.
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Q. How do I get a blond or butterscotch finish?
A.
If the torso is ash (and information technology really should be every bit the look depends on ash's strong grain pattern) so you'll demand to grain fill kickoff. I similar and use Rustins grain filler.
There are instructions for finishing blond at bottom of this page on the Vintage Guitar site.
Following this, to get an accurate-looking blonde finish with my aerosols:
- Sand the wood to 320 grit to remove whatsoever scratches.
- grain fill thoroughly and sand shine to 320 grit.
- Spray several thin coats of sanding sealer to lock it all in and flatten. The aim is to get a very shine surface for the lacquer. Repeat this step if necessary until you lot have a very smooth guitar body. There is sanding sealer demo here.
- Spray White Blonde gloss evenly so equally to opaque the grain simply not too much. Spray more white on the edges if you like as they were by and large opaqued to hide whatsoever joins in the torso.
- If you want a "butterscotch blonde" spray (lightly) tinted gloss to give an amber shade to your gustatory modality. For a creamy colour apply Light Tint
lacquer, for a full-on butterscotch employ Tinted Gloss or for a more xanthous colour, Clear Amber. - Follow with more coats of articulate gloss, and leave for two-iii weeks to harden
- Finally flat sand and vitrify.
Don't sand the blonde before the clear glaze equally it's likely you'll rub through and expose wood.
To sand at the terminate y'all should use progressively effectively "wet and dry" papers (from B&Q etc.) used with h2o that has a picayune washing-up-liquid added. Don't go your guitar likewise wet equally if water gets in screw holes it will swell the wood and crack your finish.
Finish with P1200 paper and and then use T-Cut to bring upwardly the gloss.
The reason for the sanding and buffing is that it's incommunicable to get a completely smooth finish when spraying.
If yous wish you tin can substitute my Butterscotch lacquer for the White Blond and omit the tinting steps unless you lot want to further darken the color.
More good stuff on finishing on the Reranch site.
These guitars were finished using my lacquer aerosols.
Y'all'll need:
- one can Rustins Grain Filler (natural)
- ane tin can Sanding Sealer
- 1 can White Blonde
- 1 can (Lightly) Tinted Gloss
- 1 or 2 cans Clear Gloss
You lot'll too demand grain filler (Craft Supplies) and some abrasives (B&Q, Homebase, Halfords) and some T-Cut (B&Q, Homebase, Halfords).
You lot might be surprised how easy it is to get skilful results. As you lot probably know, the primal success factors are preparation and patience. Take your time and yous'll take a far improve run a risk of getting information technology right. Always practice your spraying technique on flake forest. Information technology'due south easier than stripping and repainting your guitar body! There's a post showing the process of spraying a butterscotch body here.
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Q. How do I go a 3-color sunburst finish?
A.
Here'south how to exercise it (briefly)
- Seal the body with sanding sealer.
- Spray forepart, back and sides in bister.
- Spray red transition band including the sides.
- Spray Tobacco Brown ring on edges. Keep nice and tight in with this so the band isn't too wide. You'll need several coats to build up opacity, be careful to permit each one dry earlier the side by side to avoid runs – don't rush this step!
- Follow with enough of coats of clear gloss.
- Later on a few weeks hardening, flat, buff and polish.
Y'all'll need:
- one can Sanding Sealer
- 1 can Clear Amber
- 1 tin Clear Red
- i can Tobacco Brown
- i or 2 cans Clear Gloss
Run into Reranch 101
Information technology'due south a proficient thought to practise starting time on some flake wood. Patience is essential. If you rush things, you lot'll end up with a less than perfect job.
I apply sunbursts freehand but you can use a masking template held above the body and so every bit not to go a hard edge.
My aersols are normally supplied with an elliptical nozzle, which is smashing for large areas but a round spray pattern is better for sunbursts. Please let me know if you'd adopt a circular nozzle when you lot buy.
Run across my sunbursting demo.
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Q. Do you stock Processed Apple Red lacquer?
A.
Candy Apple tree Red (CAR) is not one colour merely a sequence of layers. See how Fender did it here: http://www.guitarhq.com/fenderc.html.
My colours work well to achieve a realistic Processed Apple tree Ruddy.
The "recipe" is:
- White primer
- Inca Silver (or gold) metal
- Clear Scarlet
- Clear Gloss
Fender used a silver basecoat up to 1965 and a gilded basecoat thereafter.
Dust the final coat of silver or golden on from a distance, allowing the flakes to stand at all angles instead of flat on the torso. And so dust on the first few coats of clear red (and then every bit not to disturb the metal) before edifice up thickness and colour.
I've demo'd the whole process here: Creating a Candy Apple Red finish
You need the Articulate Gloss at the end for when you flat sand and vitrify y'all don't want to rub through your ruddy. See http://www.reranch.com/101a.htm#final%20polishing.
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Q. How do I strip the existing stop?
A.
To strip a guitar you have iii options:
- Chemicals. In the past I take had success with Nitromors but recently learned that due to new regulations decision-making the utilize of methylene chloride, its formulation has changed and it at present won't have whatever effect on the majority of guitar finishes. Information technology will strip nitrocellulose finishes, as will cellulose thinners, acetone or ethyl acetate (ethyl ethanoate).
- Rut. Using a heat gun tin work well for synthetic finishes but be careful not to scorch the wood. Too much heat can lift veneers too so do caution.
- Abrasive. Sanding works when all else fails simply it is a time-consuming job. A mouse type sander is good for curved surfaces such equally a guitar pinnacle. Showtime with a fibroid grade to remove most of the finish then switch to effectively at the end. Be careful not to sand through any veneers.
Yous must get a smoothen, faultless surface before doing anything else.
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Q. How can I age (relic) the lacquer?
A.
I'm no proficient in weather checking but have had good results by putting Tele bodies into the freezer overnight. A couple of cycles of freeze/thaw works well. Add a few dings commencement and these act a centres for the checking. Here'due south a Telecaster that I finished and so distressed.
The ReRanch site has some data on aging finishes and hardware , and see the splendid article in Guitar and Bass Mag "How To Relic A Guitar Body With A Nitro Terminate " which uses my lacquer.
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Q. What should I use to give my guitar neck a vintage colour?
A.
You can spray my Tinted lacquer over bare wood or existing poly finishes. If the latter, scuff sand very lightly first to provide a key.
If you lot want to use a tinted lacquer you demand to sympathize that the colour depth increases with picture show thickness – the more yous spray, the darker information technology gets. If you want to tint the neck I'd recommend sealing first with articulate lacquer, spraying the tinted to get the colour y'all want (matching the back and headstock). And so more articulate to build upwards terminal end thickness. That manner when you vitrify you won't exist rubbing through the colour, making it paler in patches.
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Q. Do I need to mask the frets on a maple neck earlier spraying?
A.
There is no need to mask and you should spray right over the frets.
You tin can remove the lacquer using a scraper made from a small-scale nail equally pictured. The notch is filed in the nail head using a rat-tail file. Clothing centre protection though as bits wing everywhere!
You volition likewise detect that the lacquer will easily chip off when yous wearing apparel the frets.
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Q. Why has my lacquer gone cloudy?
A.
The milkiness (chosen bloom or blush) is down to spraying in humid weather and it's acquired by moisture getting trapped in the lacquer. You tin can mimimise this by spraying thinner coats so that the wet can escape earlier the lacquer dries. Often this milkiness will go away as the piece warms upwards or it can be removed by spraying more lacquer in less humid weather condition.
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Q. Why does my finish expect crude and powdery?
A.
It'south probably a combination of spraying also far away and the weather existence also warm. Warming the can can also crusade this then don't.
What is happening is that the solvents in the lacquer are drying earlier it hits the body and so that it can't menses to create a smooth surface.
Spray closer to your guitar so that the lacquer goes on moisture, but not so wet that you lot get runs.
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Q. Should I warm the aerosol cans is a water bath?
A.
Generally, no. The propellant in the aerosols is butane which boils at merely nether 0°C so unless you lot are spraying in sub-zero conditions (which I don't advise) then you should have plenty of force per unit area without warming the cans.
Warming the can besides causes the volatile solvents to flash off which can cause a dry powdery finish every bit the lacquer cannot flow, and the rapid evaporation of solvent equally the lacquer leaves the nozzle causes buildup of lacquer which tin can result in blockage.
The just time when I would recommend warming is if spraying a sunburst, where the extra pressure does help create a observe spray which gives a good feathering to the edge. Here you are mostly spraying very close to the piece of work which minimises the issue above.
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Q. Why is delivery so expensive?
A.
Lacquer aerosols are classed equally hazardous and very few couriers will handle them. Those that practise are trained appropriately.
I utilise a flat delivery price, dependent on location equally this is how I am charged by the courier.
Deliveries to areas outside of Great britain mainland are by sea and consequently take a niggling longer, typically two-three days.
Delivery on every parcel costs me more I accuse.
Source: https://manchesterguitartech.co.uk/nitrocellulose-lacquer/lacquer-faqs/
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