How to Achieve a Glass-Smooth Lacquer Finish on a Guitar
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- čas přidán 23. 08. 2023
- In this segment of my series on building a dreadnought guitar, I apply the lacquer finish. I have shown myself spraying and sanding lacquer in other videos, so in this one I spend more time showing how I fill pores in the koa with Z-poxy before spraying lacquer. I also spend some time showing how I clean up the difficult junction between the neck and body, and between the soundboard and the fretboard.
I have found that I can get a much better scratch-free finish if I don't try to buff the guitar completely in one day. - Hudba
Excellent work! Very detailed explanation throughout!!
Thank you very much, I'm glad you liked it.
Pro level here. Soon I will be attempting a black transparent finish on a solid ash body. Very helpful thanks!
Good, I'm glad it was useful. Thanks for watching.
The craftsmanship outstanding!
Thank you!
I watched with interest the part where he used the big buffing machine. If you're not familiar with this piece of equipment it looks easy and makes fast work of it. Having said that you could easily damage your guitar if it catches an edge. This guy obviously knows what he's doing and did a great job. I enjoyed his video so gave him a thumbs up and subscribed.
Thank you very much. Once when I was buffing the body on one wheel, the peghead caught on the opposite wheel and snapped right off! I don't have very many disasters, but I keep that broken peghead hanging in my shop as a reminder of just how badly things can go if I'm not careful.
You can always repair that peghead ... good practice for your luthier skills... especially if it breaks in half instead of diagonally.. 😂 ... lots of fun splicing, gluing , and blending , dying , ect.... but I bet you could male it look great ..
Definitely going to try this. I usually use brushing lacquer with a squeegee to fill woods such as Koa, Walnut or Rosewood, sand out then spray the final lacquer finish.
Brushing lacquer to fill the pores sounds like a good idea, too. I wonder which is easier to sand?
@@zimnickiguitars311 Like you, if the lacquer builds too thick, I just scrape back first as a preliminary level measure. Sanding lacquer IS MUCH easier than epoxy, IMO. Give it a try and let me know your thoughts. I've been doing this way for 40+ years. Have you ever just left it with the epoxy and no lacquer as the final finish, curious as to how that would work? The only drawback that I might see, is a thicker finish with epoxy that could inevitably change the instrument's tone.
nice finishو
@@sinaTonewood thank you!
Amazing 👌
Thank you! It requires a great deal of patience and tolerance for repetition.
Nice work.
Thank you.
Really interesting video. I am looking to get the spraying equipment to start doing something similar as I come up to speed building electric guitars and more general carpentry projects and am curious to know how many coats of lacquer you use and how long you leave between coats. I was a little worried you were wearing your watch uncovered while spraying but if you have experience to know how wide your spray fan is I suppose its OK. I will probably play it safe until I have your level of skill.
I'm glad you liked the video. I use an HVLP system and there isn't much overspray, so I've never thought about covering up my watch. It's at least 15 years old, has been worn for at least 200 instruments, and doesn't show any signs of lacquer. I generally point my gun at a guitar 10 to 20 times, depending on the woods. Of course, this all really constitutes a single coat, as they all melt together chemically. I usually spray 4 or 5 coats, wait two days, then spray 4 or 5 more, and so on until I feel like I have enough to allow me to sand it level without breaking through. Bear in mind that the amount of lacquer going onto the surface depends on 1) viscosity, 2) nozzel setting, and 3) the speed of my arm. With that in mind, realize that my single spray "coats" will place a different amount of lacquer on the guitar than anyone else's. Thanks for watching.
Looking spectacular for sure..The Koa back and sides grain looks incredible.The Red Spruce top grain also looks incredible..Is this great Dreadnought going to someone in the states or another country?
Thanks Bill. It's going to someone in the States.
This is a great building series! Are you using nitrocellulose for the finish?
Thank you! Yes, nitrocellulose.
Excellent job. How many lacquer applications?
Thank you! I usually do several sprays over 4 no consecutive days. The actual number of sprays depends on how the finish builds. After doing this for so many year, I know when I have built up just enough finish to allow me to level and buff it without breaking through to the wood underneath.
hi, very interesting video thank you, is cellulose ok to use over z epoxy? many thanks in advance,
Yes, I have never had any problems spraying nitrocellulose lacquer over epoxy.
do you know shellac polish?
Where can you purchase Z Poxy? I’m having trouble finding it.
I have gotten it from both Luthiers Mercantile and my local hobby shop.
Thanks for the quick reply. Also, is pour filler necessary on a re-finish? I'm re-finishing an old Kalamazoo that has mahogany back and sides. Also, I really love your videos. @@zimnickiguitars311
@randyyount6293 I never have used pore filler on a refinish. Its pores should still be filled from the original finish
I'm glad you like the videos. Thanks for watching.
It appears you are left handed! Can you play these right handed guitars you build?
I'm not much of a player, but the only way I have ever played is right handed. I had tried to play guitar for several years before I realized there was such a thing as left handed guitar playing.