Thread: where can I get nitro lacquer in SA

Originally Posted by Mattyj

Hi All,
Im building a strat and have an unfinished neck.
Im looking to finish it with a tinted vintage yellow/honey color.
I was thinking nitro would be the best , Im new to tinting finishes etc ,
Can I get nitro from the hardware store , or any other product that will give me that vintage tint look
All advice welcome
Thanks

Welcome Mattyj!
What part of SA are you located - I'll assume Adelaide for this....
If you want nitro there are 3 places I know of you can get it in Adelaide:
- Miritone
- Wattyl trade outlet on Magill Road
- Haymes paint

All 3 sell nitro as precat lacquer. Downside is all sell minimum qty of 4 litres - overkill for a neck only.

Are you after a high gloss finish? If you dont mind satin or semi gloss finish there are a couple of options:

- polyeurathane (estapol) - fender use it on their modern necks for that satin finish, small can or aerosol would do a neck.
- wattyl industrial coatings lacquer - aerosol 30% gloss nitro. Comes in 50% gloss as well (only available from wattyl trade outlet as well).
- miritone semi gloss nitro aerosol (or something) in aerosol as well.

As far as that vintage look an easy way to get something similar is to seal the neck (maple?) with thinned french polish (shellac and metho mix). You can buy it premixed from ubeaut or hardware store (feast watson). Its not a perfect vintage look but gives the maple a slightly nicer amber look than plain old clear and enhances the grain. Wipe or spray it on, make sure you thin it. Check out the Newbie - First Build Tele thread for a neck finished with french polish as sealer and wattyl 30% gloss nitro aerosol.

If you really want to tint your lacquer and do it that way then I'm sure the guys in here have recipes for vintage neck look - I haven't done it yet, maybe Adam....????

Cheers
Archer

Wattyl sell a two-part nicocelulose lacquer which works well, but I don't know what the smallest size is (we get it in large drums at my woodturning club).

You can also try Protec on Regency Rd or at Gillman. Not sure of smallest size though, assume 4ltr.

Surely somone local can sell a sub-retail quantity to "help a brother out"? Maybe DeGruchy?

A single maple neck is barely going to need 150mls of neat lacquer. Many are yellowish to begin with (a couple are strikingly clear). Juggling Gold Teak and Maple Proof-Tint colours will get pretty close for most tastes, but allow for natural ageing too.

Cheers, Adam.

Ive been using Protecs nitro ($31 per 4lt)
They only have it in gloss
Good stuff and very easy to use
I bought it from their Gillman store
Their pre-cat is available in a few different gloss levels
and is only a couple of dollars more per 4lt than the nitro
Check out the link, VHT do nitro in a spraycan, but you may have to chase it up
http://www.speco.com.au/vht_special.html
Hope this is of help
dayvo

Dont bother trying to get the VHT spraycans from speco, I ordered some about 5 moths ago, was told it would be six weeks for the next batch which was ok , but then they stopped production entirely. ended up using durobond musical instrument lacquer and spraying with a preval unit.

I use Durobond as part of my blended lacquer. They will sell by the litre, but I'd expect with freight it will be far cheaper to buy a four of the local equivalent.

The VHT factory apparently blew up early last year! Would've been a special sight. Since then some supplies have been erratic - contact "Speco-Thomas" in Melbourne (as linked by dayvo) for the nitty-gritty on stock availability and supply locations.

Cheers, Adam.