Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi all,
Come spring and better weather I will be ready to spray a guitar I am working on. I am not set-up for spraying nitro and thinking water based lacquer. The guitar is a laminated maple ES-335 style guitar.

After scouring the web and YouTube the choice is down to EM6000 vs. Crystalac Brite Tone Instrument Finish. Crystalac has a 24-hour 25% off sale on November 24th which I might want to take advantage of. Crystalac dropped all of their Canadian retailers, so ordering direct from them is the only option other than Amazon. EM6000 is readily available in Canada via Lee Valley for example.

Which lacquer would you folks recommend?

One question I have never seen an answer too is how do these water based lacquers compare to nitro in terms of durability? My last water based experience was KTM-9 many years ago, and it didn't prove to be a very good choice.

Hello Anthony,
I have been spraying EM6000 for 14 years since I started building. Almost all of the 60 or so instruments I sprayed with EM6000, although I did try a quart of Crystalac a few years back. I experienced some witness lines that I did not like so i never went back. The EM6000 has good burn-in qualities so for build and repair it is a winner for me. I use a decent HVLP setup and have not experienced a run or sag since I can remember. Oh yes, and regarding durability - anecdotal of course, but one of my guitars from 10 years ago went to a player who has "toxic sweat". Strings corrode quickly and he had finish problems with other guitars - not so the the EM6000....

Hi Robbie,
Thank you for the EM6000 info. Much appreciated. I have read that EM6000 has good burn-in qualities, it is good to hear it verified by you after so many instruments sprayed with it. It sure is a lot cheaper to acquire than Crystalac in Canada.

I went ahead and ordered Crystalac due to the Black Friday sale that was about to expire. If I don't like it, on test spraying, I will be sure to try EM6000.