NOTE Lacquer should only be used in a well ventilated area. You should wear a properly fitted vapour respirator during the application and drying of nitrocellulose lacquer. Machine Mart sell an ideal respirator for under £20 including organic solvent cartridges.
It is illegal in the UK for anyone under the age of 16 to attempt to purchase aerosol paints. By ordering lacquer aerosols, you confirm that you are over 16 years of age.
Please note that I cannot supply lacquer outside of mainland United Kingdom.
Nitrocellulose lacquer frequently asked questions
Before you buy
- Can you send lacquer to me in (France, Sweden, USA etc.)?
- Can I just use Halfords car paint?
- Is this stuff I have compatible with your lacquer?
- How many tins do I need?
- How do I get a butterscotch finish?
- How do I get a 3-colour sunburst finish?
- Do you stock Candy Apple Red lacquer?
- What should I use to give my guitar neck a vintage colour?
Preparation
- How do 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 authentic-looking finishes
- How do I get a butterscotch finish?
- How do I get a 3-colour sunburst finish?
- Do you stock Candy Apple Red lacquer?
Spraying technique
- How many coats should I apply?
- Why am I getting drips of lacquer on my guitar?
- Any special tips for metallics?
- Any special tips for satin finishes?
- How long do I leave the guitar before buffing?
- Why do this buffing thing?
- Why has my lacquer gone cloudy?
Other stuff
Q. Can you send lacquer to me in (France, Sweden, USA etc.)?
A.
I would love to be able to send lacquer outside of UK but cannot. Please do not ask.
If you are in USA you can buy from ReRanch or in Sweden from GitarrDelar.se but I don't know of any suppliers in other countries.
Q. What about grain filler and sanding sealer?
A.
It's essential for a professional looking finish to prepare your wood. Sand to 320 grit to remove any pits or scratches.
Open pored wood such as ash and mahogany will require grain-filling. You don't need to grain-fill maple and can generally get away without it on alder. I like the Rustins product available from Craft supplies but many people now are starting to use epoxies.
You can spray a thin coat of lacquer before grain filling but I don't think it's really necessary.
You can use any shellac or nitrocellulose-based sanding sealer under my lacquer. I don't tend to use sanding sealer myself as it can be soft and cloudy; I just use lacquer. If you are spraying a solid colour then the white primer will do the job well.
Q. Is this stuff I have compatible with your lacquer?
A.
I haven't a great deal of experience mixing finishes and only use nitrocellulose so you would need to test any combination yourself before use.
Generally anything that is cellulose or shellac based should be okay but again, you need to test it to be sure.
Q. Can I just use Halfords car paint?
A.
Although car sprays come in a wide variety of colours, many people have found that it doesn't harden very well on wood and can stay soft for many months.
If you want a special colour making up, please ask as I can have most colours put into aerosol cans. It takes a couple weeks to get manufactured and the minimum order is usually 4 cans of your chosen colour.
Q. How many coats should I apply?
A.
It's difficult to talk about coats as it depends how thick you apply it. Generally I'd expect three coats each of about 3 passes, with 1/2 hour between coats. You only need to sand between coats if you need to remove an imperfection such as dust or a run. You should spray thinly enough so that runs don't happen of course.
Q. Any special tips for metallics?
A.
Yes! The technique that I use when I spray metallics is to dust the final coat of colour on from a distance, allowing the flakes to stand at all angles instead of flat on the body. Then I dust on the first few clear coats (so as not to disturb the metallic) before building up thickness. This technique give the strongest contrast. See an example.
Q. Any special tips for satin finishes?
A.
What I do is to spray plenty of coats then flat sand with 400 grit. Then I spray a final coat all over and leave it. No buffing! That way you'll get a nice even satin sheen all over.
Q. How many tins do 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 economical you are and how much paint actually ends up on the guitar and this does depend on your skill level. Inexperienced refinishers may need more!
Preparation is also a key factor. Sand out those scratches first. Trying to fill them with lacquer can be a long and expensive process!
Q. How long do I leave the guitar before buffing?
A.
The longer the better! I'd say a minimum of a week. I tend to leave at least 3 weeks.
Q. Why do this buffing thing?
A.
It's impossible to get a flat finish with lacquer so it is always flat sanded and buffed to a high gloss. See the Reranch site for details.
Q. Why am I getting drips of lacquer on my guitar?
A.
If you press too hard on the nozzle, you can sometimes get a buildup of lacquer on the rim of the can (where it'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 can mimimise the chances of this by hanging the body rather than laying it flat for spraying.
Q. How do I get a butterscotch finish?
A.
If the body is ash (and it really should be as the look depends on ash's strong grain pattern) then you'll need to grain fill first. I like the Rustins product available from Craft supplies.
There are instructions for finishing blond at bottom of this page on the Vintage Guitar site.
Following this, to get an authentic-looking blonde finish with my aerosols:
- seal the body with clear gloss
- grain fill thoroughly and sand smooth.
- Spray a couple of thin coats of clear to lock it all in and flatten.
- Spray White Blonde gloss evenly so as to opaque the grain but not too much. Spray more white on the edges if you like as they were opaque to hide any joins in the body.
- If you want a "butterscotch blonde" spray (lightly) tinted gloss to give an amber shade to your taste. For a creamy colour use "lightly tinted" lacquer, for a full-on butterscotch use Tinted or Amber.
- Follow with more coats of clear gloss, and leave for 2-3 weeks to harden
- Finally flat sand and buff.
Don't sand the blonde before the clear coat as it's likely you'll rub through and expose wood.
To sand at the end you should use progressively finer "wet and dry" papers (from B&Q etc.) used with water that has a little washing-up-liquid added. Don't get your guitar too wet as if water gets in screw holes it can damage the wood.
Finish with P1200 paper and then use T-Cut to bring up the gloss.
The reason for the sanding and buffing is that it's impossible to get a completely smooth finish when spraying.
More good stuff on finishing on the Reranch site.
This is my own guitar that I finished using my aerosols. It has a very slight coat of tinted gloss.
Here's another that has a heavier coat..
You'll need:
- 1 can White Blonde
- 1 can (Lightly) Tinted Gloss
- 1 or 2 cans Clear Gloss
You'll also need grain filler (Craft Supplies) and some abrasives (B&Q, Homebase, Halfords) and some T-Cut (B&Q, Homebase, Halfords).
You might be surprised how easy it is to get good results. As you probably know, the key success factors are preparation and patience. Take your time and you'll have a far better chance of getting it right. Always practice your spraying technique on scrap wood. It's easier than stripping and repainting your guitar body!
Q. How do I get a 3-colour sunburst finish?
A.
Here's how to do it (briefly)
- Seal the body with clear gloss lacquer.
- Spray front and rear in amber.
- Spray black band on edges.
- Spray red transition band including over all black to "brown" it slightly.
- Follow with more coats of clear gloss.
- After a few weeks hardening, flat, buff and polish.
You'll need:
- 1 can Clear Amber
- 1 can Black Gloss
- 1 can Clear Red
- 1 or 2 cans Clear Gloss
See Reranch 101
It's a good idea to practice first on some scrap wood. Patience is essential. If you rush things, you'll end up with a less than perfect job.
I apply sunbursts freehand but you can use a masking template held above the body so as not to get a hard edge.
See my sunbursting page and Project Guitar.
Q. Do you stock Candy Apple Red lacquer?
A.
Candy Apple Red (CAR) is not one colour but a sequence of layers. See how Fender did it here: http://www.provide.net/~cfh/fenderc.html.
My colours work well to achieve a realistic Candy Apple Red.
The "recipe" is:
- White primer
- Inca Silver (or gold) metallic
- Clear Red
- Clear Gloss
You'll find that the brighter CARs have a silver basecoat whereas the burgundy ones have a gold basecoat.
Dust the final coat of silver or gold on from a distance, allowing the flakes to stand at all angles instead of flat on the body. Then dust on the first few coats of clear red (so as not to disturb the metallic) before building up thickness and colour.
You need the Clear Closs at the end for when you flat sand and buff you don't want to rub through your red. See http://www.reranch.com/101a.htm#final%20polishing.
Q. How do I strip the existing finish?
A.
To strip a guitar you have 3 options:
- Chemicals. I have had success with Nitromors. Although it won't touch the top finish on most modern guitars, it will go for the sealer coat. I get best results by smothering bodies in Nitromors, wrapping them in plastic (so that the solvent doesn't evaporate too quickly) and leaving them overnight. It might take a couple of goes but does work in my experience. Be aware that Nitromorse will also dissolve plastic binding so don't use on bound bodies. The alternatives (sanding and a heat gun) risk damaging the body and are a last resort, in my opinion.
- Heat. See Project Guitar How to Strip a Guitar Body (heat gun method)
- Abrasive. See Project Guitar How to Strip a Guitar Body (Time Honored Sanding)
You must get a smooth, faultless surface before doing anything else.
Q. How can I age (relic) the lacquer?
A.
I'm no expert 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 first and these act a centres for the checking.
The ReRanch site has some information on aging finishes and hardware as does the TDPRI.
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 want to use a tinted lacquer you need to understand that the colour depth increases with film thickness - the more you spray, the darker it gets. If you want to tint the neck I'd recommend sealing first with clear lacquer, spraying the tinted to get the colour you want (matching the back and headstock). Then more clear to build up final finish thickness. That way when you buff you won't be rubbing through the colour, making it paler in patches.
Q. Why has my lacquer gone cloudy?
A.
The milkiness (called bloom or blush) is down to spraying in humid conditions and it's caused by moisture getting trapped in the lacquer. You can mimimise this by spraying thinner coats so that the moisture can scape before the lacquer dries.
Often this milkiness will go away as the piece warms up or it can be removed by spraying more lacquer in less humid conditions.
Stainless steel neck fixing kits now available!