Official Luthiers Forum!

I'm looking for an environmentally friendly lacquer to brush-
finish my first steel string and was wondering if anybody had
any suggestions. LMI and StewMac each have something, but
your experience is certainly better than my guess.

Also....any tips on good brushes?

Thanks a lot,

Greg

I would get KTM9 from Grafted Coatings LMI is a reseller. Stewmac's Colortone is Target Coatings Either is good but the Target has a blue hue to it.

KTM-9 worked well for me...both brushing and spraying.

_________________
JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

Thanks, Michael...great money-saving tip!

Greg

KTM 9 is evidently only available from LMI. I just called Grafted
Coatings and unless one buys, say, 10 gallons of the stuff, LMI
is one's only recourse. The power of the distibutor, I guess

Greg

[QUOTE=hansonitis] Also....any tips on good brushes?

Greg[/QUOTE]

Greg, I know one builder that brushes KTM-9, and swears by the DaVinci Cosmotop (size 30, 30mm): DaVinci Cosmotop

I have seen 3 of his guitars, and thought they had been sprayed.

Dennis

_________________
Dennis Leahy
Duluth, MN, USA
7th Sense Multimedia

If you want the best looking film possible with a brush buy several 1 1/2" china brisil brushes. the best you can buy. They will run you about $20 ea. but the flow out from a high end china brisil bruch is much better than the mid priced and cheap china brisil brushes. Also they will not shead like the cheap ones. Get several so that you have a clean one for each coat. Clean them well and store them to dry on 18 LB bond paper (typical white copy paper) folded to shape the brisils. never use one that is still wet from cleaning.

You can do the job with foam brushes but be aware that you can get air bubbles in the film from open cells of the foam brushes.

Load the brush so that it jus barly drips. Rotate to stop the drip.Start the stroke at one end and very lightly pull toward the other, paying attention to the flow out. As the flowout slows, slow the stroke. Every stroke should start with a fresh load. Glide on Glide off. Overlap by no more than 1/8 of the brush width and never after it has started to skim over or jell (about 15-30 sec. from application). Don't brush it on let the finish just flow out of the brush. this takes some practice but is not hard to get the hang of. this will leave a near level surface except at the over lap, but with out the over lap you run the risk of voids.



MichaelP38615.6213657407