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ColorTone Waterbase Brushing Varnish from Stewmac.
Anybody try this stuff? Seems like a great alt to spraying.

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

Lance, I don't have any experience with it but I'm betting it is a rebranded Target Coatings product.

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Don Atwood
Arlington, VA

[QUOTE=LanceK] ColorTone Waterbase Brushing Varnish from Stewmac.
Anybody try this stuff? Seems like a great alt to spraying.[/QUOTE]

I thought a great alternative to spraying was calling Tony...   

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

I am not sure about the ColorTone, but I've just finished buffing out the waterbased varnish KTM-9 (LMI product) and it really turned out well. I'm actually amazed at the mirror finish on it.
Of course, as a rookie, I caught the edge of the neck on the buffing wheel and put a nice big 'ol dent in it. I'm too far along to stop and fix it now, though. That'll be a repair in a couple weeks or right after the new year.
I'll post photos next week when its playable and all cleaned up. I have to say that the biggest drawback to the KTM product is the cure time. 14 days. Its really worth the wait, though. There is only a slight blueing of the finish and if polished and finished right, I think its pretty negligible and maybe even completely gone after the final polish. Great product IMHO.

On the plus side:
Ease of application. Brushing is easy as can be and the HVLP wasn't too difficult to use with it. No thinning was necessary.
Ease of sanding down. It really took well to the final wet sanding.
Lack of noxious fumes. What a saver. I used it outside on my patio and in a small room with only a fan going to the outside. No headaches, no massive breathing apparatus needed, no nasty chemicals to clean up with...etc.

The big question is durability. Can it hold up over time? Who knows. Maybe, maybe not. We'll see. It looks great in the short term.

Sorry for the lack of info on ColorTone, but I thought I could at least let you know of my experience with a similar product.

-j.

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“If God dwells inside us like some people say, I sure hope He likes enchiladas, because that's what He's getting”
-jack handy

Um, Target's finishes (USL, anyway, ColorTone spray laquer) really also need AT LEAST 2 weeks before buffing. Nitro needs about a month.

I'm not wild about ColorTone any more, really. I've done several guitars with it, and all but one have held up perfectly well; the acoustic I made has some of it peeling off on the lower bout (where my arm touches it), on the Indian Rosewood (which was sealed with shellac). I don't know if it was sweat (likely), deodorant (unlikely), DEET (very, very unlikely..hardly ever use it here), but I'm none too pleased. It's my first guitar, so I don't mind too much, but still. I also have the feeling the finish is just a bit too soft. It does look good and polish well, though.

All this said, I'm planning on trying KTM on the next acoustics. Still have a bunch of USL which I'll be using on a couple of electrics, since I've only had good results on those.

Lance the Colortone waterborne brushing is the same as the Colortone waterborne except ther is a retarder pre added. Yes this is Target

I thought the ColorTone brushing varnish was Target's 7500 series varnish, not USL. Not sure if that's the same with with pre-added retarder, though.

I could be wrong here but I think I read that somewhere on their sight a while back.

Not trying to be anal here....but,
KTM-9 is not an LMI product. It's made by Grafted Coatings (in Seymour,CT). KTM-9 used to be available in gallons and quarts directly from Grafted Coatings, but since it has become so popular, they have made an contract with LMI to be the sole distributor of the product in those sizes to the luthierie community. Prior to that, all LMI carried was the KTM-4a, which was not as good of a product, but again a Grafted Coatings product. You can buy the KTM-9 directly from GC in 5 gallons sizes.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Didn't mean to insinuate that LMI actually made the product. Only that it was the waterbased product available from them.
Also, now that I've looked at my guitar again this morning, almost all of the blue hue is gone. I think it settled down a bit from the buffing and sunk into the finish. Looks great and seems pretty durable.
Of course I'm still left with the gouge from the slamming of the neck into the arbor bolt, but I don't think anything short of a steel or kevlar sheath could have prevented that. Mistakes are painful, but the lessons learned will carry a loooooong way.
-j.

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“If God dwells inside us like some people say, I sure hope He likes enchiladas, because that's what He's getting”
-jack handy

Thanks Don for sticking up for us.

As Don stated, we have that contract with LMI as they are a greart source of info and supply for the luthier of all ranges.

If LMI does not sell a gloss/sheen finish(semi-gloss, matte, etc...) you are interested in, either quart and/or gallon, we can then sell direct at LMIs pricing.

As always, 5 gallon pails are available in whatever sheen you are looking for.

My interest is this bluish hue.

We dont use epoxies, shellacs here but our KTM-sealer -we have never seen a bluish cast.

Would the bluish cast from the mixing of the underlying product with the KTM-9 topcoated? The only other thing I can think of could be the oily wood and a waterbased product over it - but then if the wood is sealed, that would take care of it.

matt
ktm

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Matthew Lawrence
R&D Technical Support
Grafted Coatings Inc.
www.graftedcoatings.com

Lance, I used the ColorTone waterbase brushing varnish from stewmac on my second guitar. I've seen pics of those guitars of yours that where finished by Tony, and the waterbase varnish is no comparison. I was pretty disappointed in it. The clearness and clarity was not good. I've also sprayed USL it's basically the same stuff but without the retarder and I was disappointed in it also. I'm now spraying nitro. If your determined to go waterborne I'd go KTM-9.