Custom colour nitrocellulose lacquer in aerosols

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Nitrocellulose lacquer frequently asked questions

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 but I don't know of any suppliers in other countries.

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. 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.

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 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:

  1. seal the body with clear gloss
  2. grain fill thoroughly and sand smooth.
  3. Spray a couple of thin coats of clear to lock it all in and flatten.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. Follow with more coats of clear gloss, and leave for 2-3 weeks to harden
  7. 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:

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 strip the existing finish?

A.

To strip a guitar you have 3 options:

  1. 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.
  2. Heat. See Project Guitar How to Strip a Guitar Body (heat gun method)
  3. 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.

Copyright © 2003 - 2008 Steve Robinson

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